Terrible commentators in sports

[The_Admiral]

Well, it's a video, but not the one C2C was asking for. That's from a year later! He keeps doing it!

[AndrewMLind]

Austin Carr (FS Ohio, Cavaliers) and Thom Brennaman (FS Ohio, Reds). Carr because of his obnoxious quotes (deep in the Q, throws the hammer down) that he finds a way to use in every game and overemphasized love and bias of the Cavaliers, and Brennanan because his voice brings back terrible memories of the 2007 and 2008 BCS Championship Games.

[Fox]

I think Kevin Harlan is awful

[2001mark]

Please...

With all due respect to our Phil Simms, Pierre Maguires, or Hawk Harrelsons of the sporting universe...

There is only one king of this castle...

@HeardonMLBT

"If I'm playing against the Angels I want Mike Trout on base." - Harold Reynolds

...btw that is my favourite tweet of all time by anyone. Anyone who says twitter is a waste of time, doesn't get it lols.

@HeardonMLBT

"He's too good of a hitter to hit in the 2-spot." - Harold Reynolds, on Joey Votto

@HeardonMLBT

"The problem I have with WAR is that it's not legit." - Harold Reynolds

[JasonFromMiami]

I think Kevin Harlan is awful

He used to be pretty good, but now he is talking nonstop, don't know how he breathes, it´s just a barrage of words !

[JasonFromMiami]

Jeff Gundy has to be one of the worst, when he goes on his endless rants that has nothing to do with the game we are watching ! Does not help that the sound-mix on espn is really bad, you can barely hear the crowd noise, commentator sound is way too high, compared to the audio from the arena....TNT sound is way better, there you can hear the crowd and court noises.

[LAWeaver]

In the world of NASCAR, I can't stand Wally Dallenbech (sp?), Adam Alexander, and recently, Darrell & Michael Waltrip as the worst broadcasters/analysts.

[Alex Houston]

This thread reminds me of how surprising it is I've never seen a thread where members post themselves doing PBP. Or recreating a famous call for your team,something like that.

[WSU151]

The Washington Nationals crew is awful. Back when I still lived in the States I was watching a Braves game but their brodcast was blocked (Chip Carey is really bad too) and had to watch the Nationals feed. They were acting like every single Nationals player was an all-star.

*Dude 1; Pete Orr is quite the player, don't you think...

Dude 2: oh yeah, shame that David Wright is the NL allstar, Orr was robbed.

Dude 1: what a great injustice.

*did not actually happen, my interpretation of what they think of ANY Nationals player.

This is really true. FP Santangelo (Dude 2) is really awful. He analyzes baseball like Harold Reynolds (in the vain of "See how he's holding his bat at a 62 degree angle? He knew it was going to be a fastball four inches inside the strikezone") and tries too hard to promote the Nats. Bob Carpenter (Dude 1) is a nice guy but just boring. The Orioles are fun to watch just because Thorne and Palmer are so much better at what they do, and they're kinda goofy, which is nice on a lazy afternoon.

I like Kevin Harlan and Mike Emrick.

Other announcers I enjoy listening to: Dick Stockton, Sean McDonough, Jim Nantz (love listening to his CBS College Football intros from the 90s on Youtube), Chris Fowler.

This worst announcer, and it's not even close, is Chris Myers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTxn_Qt0UQA

[JayMac]

Just to name a few...

Mcguire and Emrick

Simms and Nantz

Beth Mowins

Musberger (now, not back in his prime)

Tom Mccarthy (Phillies PBP)

Kenny Albert

[pmoehrin]

I wonder how many of these are the result of bad announcing or bad producing.

I say this because for years I dispised Joe Buck, until I heard him do a local Cardinals broadcast and it was like listening to a totally different broadcaster.

Always on point with the game, no side stories that went on for more than a minute. (I remember one Fox game when him and McCarver went on for an entire inning about Paul Simon's new album.)

To be clear I'm still not a huge fan of Buck's. I think his rise to success is one of the most blatant instances of nepotism in the history of sports. But it may be fair to say that a lot of the flack he gets really should be geared towards Fox without people realizing it.

[JayMac]

In regard to baseball, Buck is tolerable but somehow I can't stand him in football. So I give him C-, overall.

[WSU151]

I wonder how many of these are the result of bad announcing or bad producing.

I say this because for years I dispised Joe Buck, until I heard him do a local Cardinals broadcast and it was like listening to a totally different broadcaster.

Always on point with the game, no side stories that went on for more than a minute. (I remember one Fox game when him and McCarver went on for an entire inning about Paul Simon's new album.)

To be clear I'm still not a huge fan of Buck's. I think his rise to success is one of the most blatant instances of nepotism in the history of sports. But it may be fair to say that a lot of the flack he gets really should be geared towards Fox without people realizing it.

I think there are different expectations for national games (especially championship games) versus the local Wednesday afternoon game, and thus, different expectations for Buck when he announced a World Series.

Plus for those who remember the 80s, people realize the best announcer in baseball used to do World Series games but no longer does, so Buck has always been left with big shoes to fill.

[smzimbabwe]

I forget who the announcer was, he was a former player, but during one baseball game on TV, he railed on a player for going out of his way to slide hard and dirty into second and spiked the baseman. He said that was disrespectful of the game and other players and he would never have done that. Next inning, they showed a clip of him from his playing days doing the exact same thing. He stammered out a few excuses, then went back to calling the game and acted like it never happened.

[WSU151]

I forget who the announcer was, he was a former player, but during one baseball game on TV, he railed on a player for going out of his way to slide hard and dirty into second and spiked the baseman. He said that was disrespectful of the game and other players and he would never have done that. Next inning, they showed a clip of him from his playing days doing the exact same thing. He stammered out a few excuses, then went back to calling the game and acted like it never happened.

Joe Morgan came to mind when I read this, but it could a number of guys.

[DS729]

Jeff Gundy has to be one of the worst, when he goes on his endless rants that has nothing to do with the game we are watching ! Does not help that the sound-mix on espn is really bad, you can barely hear the crowd noise, commentator sound is way too high, compared to the audio from the arena....TNT sound is way better, there you can hear the crowd and court noises.

Most of the TNT/ESPN commentators are "the worst"... the only one who was tolerable, Kerr, is now coaching the best team in the league. How fitting.

[CMUBrent]

Jim Price: "Alright, gang, I spoke with The Great Al Kaline in Roseville yesterday about Verlander's Arsenal and The Art of Pitching. Wow, nice area." That sums up Jim Price's commentating. You could get hammered by the "Thiiiiiiiiirrrrrd" inning if you had a shot each time Price used one of his favorite lines. He was even worse as middle innings announcer.

Jim Brandstatter: Okay commentator, horrible as announcer. He was lost last season. Awful move by Michigan.

Dan Miller: Goes from mediocre homer announcer to shameless cheerleader ("STAND UP FORD FIELD!!!! STAND UP!!!!!"), depending on how the game is going. Big downgrade from Mark Champion.

[pcgd]

The guy that does the English Language Friday night MLS games on UniVision is really annoying. He's trying way too hard.

[48erhater]

Bill Walton is pretty bad too. I watched a game where he went on a rant about some call and wouldn't shut up about it.

[pmoehrin]

I wonder how many of these are the result of bad announcing or bad producing.

I say this because for years I dispised Joe Buck, until I heard him do a local Cardinals broadcast and it was like listening to a totally different broadcaster.

Always on point with the game, no side stories that went on for more than a minute. (I remember one Fox game when him and McCarver went on for an entire inning about Paul Simon's new album.)

To be clear I'm still not a huge fan of Buck's. I think his rise to success is one of the most blatant instances of nepotism in the history of sports. But it may be fair to say that a lot of the flack he gets really should be geared towards Fox without people realizing it.

I think there are different expectations for national games (especially championship games) versus the local Wednesday afternoon game, and thus, different expectations for Buck when he announced a World Series.

Plus for those who remember the 80s, people realize the best announcer in baseball used to do World Series games but no longer does, so Buck has always been left with big shoes to fill.

I don't know if expectations is the right word, but how you're produced is definitely different, so your main point I'm in agreement with.

I also don't want to replace Buck so much as I want to replace the notion of the same guy calling the World Series every single year. I'm assuming with your 80's comment your referring to Vin Scully, but even Vin Scully had Al Michaels to displace him every other year. Nobody had a monopoly over calling that game the way Joe Buck has today and I think it's hurt the sport more then some people may realize.

Sometimes change isn't so much a good or bad thing so much as its just a necessity and I think the MLB is long past due in having a World Series where Joe Buck, Bob Costas or Tim McCarver are on not on the microphone.

Harold Reynolds has been knocked in this thread and I'l agree there's probably better choices then him, but it was still such a breath of fresh air for me to hear him instead of Tim McCarver on the broadcast last year, simply because it was something different.

This isn't a knock on Joe Buck so much as its a knock on the TV Networks. Much the same can be said for CBS and how often they trot out Jim Nantz. Great announcer, but almost 30 years doing the Masters, almost 30 years calling the Final Four, almost 30 years doing the lead NFL guy at that Network. People wonder why there aren't more great sports broadcasters out there right now. I would argue in part its because hardly anyone even gets a chance.