Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Top 5 announcers for an NCAA upset

Sports announcers you'd want to call an NCAA tournament upset:

1. Gus Johnson: This Howard U grad got his start in D.C. area TV and we’ll forgive him for the over-the-top calls of Kimbo Slice in MMA fighting. No TV guy captures the excitement and emotion of a big upset like Gus. Dude’s got to be hoarse after every game.

2. Dickie V: A shame he doesn’t get to call tournament games anymore since CBS runs the show. Vitale is the best college basketball color guy ever. I love his passion and his knowledge and how he lets everybody have a little fun -- even at his expense.

3. Kevin Harlan: I’ve never heard somebody get so many words and catch-phrases into one sentence or one breath. And -- other than Johnson -- few can match his exuberance or energy. Plus, Harlan’s really clever, too. We like clever.

4. Bill Raftery: One word: “Onions!”

5. Ian Eagle: A veteran whose done high-level tennis and football, Eagle was formerly “the voice” of the Syracuse Orangemen. And with all these screamers around, you need someone to keep it calm.

-- Langston Wertz Jr.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This will be the first year I don't miss Dick Vitale. That's beacuse Billy Packer is gone. He's the only person that could make me miss Dick Vitale.

Vitale's head would explode calling a first round game. There's too much going on. He never covers the game he's watching, he's explaining who in the country is good. So, while the game is going on, he'd be telling us who may get upset, who won't get upset, which players will keep his team from being upset, which players will help his team get an upset, which teams did something something interesting before, then he will list his favorite freshmen, coaches, rebounders, and bench players. All because, everybody on the court can "flat out play."

baby

Anonymous said...

Dookie V has long been a bad, self-absorbed parody of himself. When the game turns against his ridiculous partisanship, he either starts babbling incoherently about anything EXCEPT the game (see: Carolina's 2nd half comeback at Dook) or he goes stone silent (see: Wake Forest last-second shot to beat Dook).

The best color analyst by far is Jay Bilas.

Anonymous said...

Bilas knows what he's talking about but Dickie V is def. fun to listen to. How can you not get excited listening to him. Plus every other word cracks me up.

Anonymous said...

Good list, LW and you were on the money this morning about WFNZ, too.

Unknown said...

so glad Bill "Fudge" Packer is gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I get it that Dickie and Dukie sound alike...
and I get it that alliteration amuses babies and resonates with morons...

But I don't get the earlier comment about Vitale's "ridiculous partisanship", basically accusing him of being in the tank for Duke. On ESPN the man predicted that (1) Duke won't make it to Detroit, and that (2) UNC will win it all!

Anonymous said...

"Dickie V: A shame he doesn’t get to call tournament games anymore since CBS runs the show. Vitale is the best college basketball color guy ever."

ARE YOU ON DRUGS OR WHAT?????