I mostly watch or listen to Angels games, and I can say that their radio announcers, Terry Smith and Rory Markus (I can barely tell them apart) are a total pleasure. They're smart, and have a biting, (but very subtle) dry wit which I really appreciate, and are unafraid to voice a critical opinion when warranted. They're a bit biased towards the Angels but not overly so (by contrast, Vin is the ultimate non-partisan). They're knowledgeable, and they know when to be quiet. I would say my only complaint, which is common among radio broadcasters, is that they get "excited" a little too easily, like deep but playable fly balls -- you get excited and the guy catches it.
On TV, their announcers are Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler, and for a while I found Steve fine and Rex insanely annoying. But since I've started watching other games in the Extra Innings package (or have heard other announcers during Angels games), I've come to appreciate Steve & Rex more -- I discovered that many local TV broadcasters make the game feel more like golf, their commentary and voices are so bland, inarticulate, and uninvigorating. So I don't know if I'd call Steve & Rex good, exactly, but I admit I now find them more entertaining that most, and now take Rex's cornball schtick more humorously than I used to be able to.
I like the Brewers' guys. I like Rem-Dog and the other guy on NESN broadcasts for the Red Sox. I HATE the Yankees' announcers. The Pirates are my favorite team so maybe I'm biased, but I like Bob Walk and the other guy on those broadcasts. I live in Seattle and the Mariners' old fogies, Ron Fairly and Dave Niehaus, are inane, with Fairly basically having only 5 mantras that he'll repeat every game, all season long ("this would be a good time to put the game in motion" is one of his favorites).
The Extra Innings package is the greatest thing ever, by the way.
Roger Angell: I was talking with Bob Gibson and I said: 'Are you always this competitive?' He said: 'Oh, I think so. I got a three-year old daughter, and I've played about 500 games of tic-tac-toe with her and she hasn't beat me yet.'
TheYanks04 wrote:There is nothing quite like an inane conversation with ones self intermixed with the spewing of meaningless statistical drivvel.
Izturis is hitting .288 during Tuesday day games on grass in which the opposition starting pitcher had a hamburger for dinner the night before but only .175 when playing on turf in which the opposition pitcher chose chicken fingers.
I love meaningless statistics
*Whoever* is the only right handed hitter to hit 5 homeruns in the month of May when the first one came after May 13th
Great stuff! Sounds like everyone's favorite announcers are their home guys! I like Joe Buck when he comes back and does the big Cardinal games, otherwise our TV guys aren't too great. Mike Shanahan doing the radio is always fun, as he always sounds drunk. When Jack Buck and Shanahan were announcing for years on the radio it was fantastic.
...Boston papers now and then suffer a sharp flurry of arithmetic on this score; indeed, for Williams to have distributed all his hits so they did nobody else any good would constitute a feat of placement unparalleled in the annals of selfishness. -Updike
He's a classic. His ability to call a game while sounding completely partial is what a lot of announcers lack. His call of the Gibson HR in the '88 series is pure baseball.
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by IvanX » Sat Jun 18, 2005 3:11 pm 
