Tuesday, October 27, 2015
The best way to enjoy the World Series
Both the Mets and the Royals have GREAT local radio announcers. If you have the AT BAT app or get Sirius/XM you can hear these broadcasts. The Mets have a sensational team in Howie Rose and Josh Lewin, and the Royals counter with terrific broadcasters in Steve Physioc and Ryan Lefebrve. Check 'em out. Especially now that Jon Miller isn't doing the national radio.
I do listen to the Mets' radio broadcast on Sirius/XM and I think that Rose and Lewin are the best. I've listened to other teams' radio broadcasts this year. I like the Blue Jays announcers. I enjoy when the announcers aren't pronounced "homers". Some, like the Cardinals broadcasters, definitely let you know where their alliegances lie.
ReplyDeleteI've been a lifelong Mets fan and have always enjoyed their announcers' lack of homerism. They've always had great radio announcers. Rose and Lewin are excellent. As Ken says, the Royals announcers are very good, too (as long as they don't put Hudler in the radio booth.)
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Denny Matthews in the Royals booth.
ReplyDeleteMatthews is one of those underrated small-market announcers, like the late Herb Carneal with the Twins.
DeleteMiller was fine, but what's the problem with Dan Shulman?
ReplyDeleteI'm listening to Howie and Josh as we speak. Sorry, Joe Buck's smug attitude may be fun if your team is the one he's rooting for, but on the other side it's more than I could take. #letsgomets
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ReplyDeleteHi Ken,
ReplyDeleteJust wonder what you thought of Fox Sports having both Pete Rose and Alex Rodriguez on their baseball coverage. It seemed like stunt casting of the most unqualified hated people in the sport.
It's just because the Nevada Prison system wouldn't spring O.J.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely can't leave out Denny Matthews --- he's been with the Royals since the team's very first year in the late 1960's and if anything, his voice and delivery have gotten even better over the years. He & Fred White were quite the broadcast team for many years.
ReplyDeleteI always liked Physioc when he did the Angels games. You didn't mention Rex Hudler (seen in the picture) but I thought he improved a lot during his years with the Angels and was sorry to see him go. It's nice to see they're both working for the Royals.
ReplyDeleteOf course, Vin Scully outdoes them all, to me, when he's in the radio booth.
ReplyDeleteI was in Cleveland while Herb Score was still broadcasting. He was a gem. People would listen to him on the radio while watching the TV with volume off. Any memories of him, Ken?
ReplyDeleteHey Ken, big fan of Steve Physioc. He, like a lot of announcers, has had to move around a bit, which I imagine would be tough on his family.
ReplyDeleteHow much did location affect where you took your broadcasting gigs? Were there any jobs you were offered that you turned down specifically because of location and not because of the job itself?
Pete Rose is TERRIBLE. The banter among the FIVE guys is bad enough, but he seems to play the doddering uncle who had a couple too many.
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad that Dave Niehaus didn't get to do a series. Number one with the Mariners involved, but even if they had not been, it would have been good to have worked a deal where he could do the national broadcast, he had a talent that was worth sharing.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, while your at it, put Barry Bonds on the panel. He would really fit in with that group.
ReplyDeleteListened to Howie Rose and Josh Lewin last night, so I didn't catch the Fox television breakdown (except as how they described it).
ReplyDeleteMLB At Bat app is a great option - Tune In radio app has now added MLB games as a premium option, also ad free (but it's twice as much as MLB At Bat on a monthly basis).
We've had a great season listening to Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler way up here in Toronto (Go Jays!) on our sports network, but things definitely "went south" when we were subjected to the Fox team during the semi-finals. We couldn't believe the inane chatter, weak analysis and overall dumbness of the coverage. (Our on-screen graphics are also superior).
ReplyDeleteSeveral others have jumped on the Denny Matthews bandwagon, and he's a wonderful broadcaster--and, presuming he stays well, he is going to do something unique: the only announcer outside of the Dodgers to spend an entire career of more than 50 years with one team. Others have broadcast for more than 50 years, but only our Vin and Jaime have done it all with one franchise (Ralph Kiner with the Mets? Sorry, he did the White Sox for a year).
ReplyDeleteAnd Denny Matthews was responsible for one of the greatest moments in broadcast history. When he started out as Bud Blattner's #2, he was doing an inning and had to do a drop-in for Guy's Foods, a snack company. Since the 4th of July was coming, he said, you all will be going to barbecues, so why not get some Guy's potato chips? Then, he said, he thought to himself, let's do more for the sponsor and added, "And while you're at it, why don't you grab Guy's nuts?" Blattner nearly had a heart attack, Matthews thought his career was over, and it turned out that Guy himself was listening and thought it was the funniest thing he ever heard. It's even better than when Young Scully was doing a Brooklyn game and tried to say, "Hot shot hit foul." It came out wrong.
Possible Friday Question:
ReplyDeleteHave -you- ever worked play by play when there was a major technical flareup like in last night's Game One? How did you adlib through it?
Howie and Josh are indeed a fantastic listen.
ReplyDeleteUs Mets fans have been spoiled with the announcers we have had since the beginning. From Lindsay Nelson, Ralph Kiner, and Bob Murphy to the current team of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling, our announcers, we have always had top-notch quality in the booth. By comparison, the national announcers have always been a painful listen.
Except when Vin Scully was on NBC, of course.
I wasn't a big fan of Physioc and Hudler on Angels games until they were replaced by the current team. It felt like Physioc was the setup man and Hudler was delivering the punchlines at times, kind of like the team who broadcasts the World Series of Poker. I can't listen to Gubicza at all.
ReplyDeleteAll this talk about the announcers, and not a word about that amazing 14 inning game? Man, it was poetry---someone should put some of those plays to music.
ReplyDeleteI was a big fan of Jon Miller when he was doing Sunday Night Baseball and World Series' games for ESPN, but I think Dan Shulman, Miller's replacement, is a great announcer in his own right who adds far more excitement to the games than Joe Buck.
ReplyDeleteBuck has a good voice for TV and radio, but it gets monotonous and he can never seem to find that extra gear to convey the drama and enormity of a game changing moment.
Diane D., the game couldn't have been poetry -- the Red Sox weren't involved. Do you want to give Ken Burns and his fellpw tweed-suited PBS/NPR types apoplexy?
ReplyDelete(Seriously, it was a terrific game.)
VP8….
ReplyDeleteLOL! I do like the Red Sox, but the Royals have been my team since George Brett's heyday (I lived in K.C. at the time). He came so close to breaking Ted Williams record during that time. I don't suppose anyone will do it now. Since your team isn't playing, root for Kansas City! They are overdue!
As a Nats fan, I can't bring myself to root for the Mets. Go KC!
DeleteAs usual I seem to be in the minority. I liked Shea Stadium and there was no reason to replace it with Greedi field except for greed. Rose and Lewin are not good radio announcers: the latter is bland and snooze inducing (not necessarily a bad thing) but Rose never shuts up and yammers on and on about some irrelevant thing. Don't understand all the love, unless it's simply this age of mediocrity and lowered expectations, but to compare those clowns with experts like Nelson/Murphy/Cohen, oy!
ReplyDeleteAnd P. Rose, A. Rodriguez? Might as well bring in Bonds, Shoeless Joe, Hal Chase, and whatever other miscreants they can find.