Best Columnists and Announcers

[BlueintheFace]

Bonner and Johnson are two of the most underrated guys in the profession in my opinion. They are great!

[Festus13]

As much as many of these columnists and announcers pretend to know about sport, to be on my list of great you would have to be more like Dizzy Dean was to baseball...a character! Too many of those on your lists are no more than pre-programmed machines (by their employees) who spout off statistics and other dribble as if they were reciting something they had memorized! I could go with 'ol Lefty in the squawk box, but throw all writers into the den of lions.

[Bostondevil]

I'll toss ouit my obligatory answer: I miss Lefty.

He was the best color guy I ever heard - great knowledge of the game (and not afraid to share it), good humor, good stories, and not not at all full of himself.

I learned a ton every time I watched one of his broadcasts.

-jk

You know, I agree with you. Once he started announcing, I became a big fan.

In the immortal words of Lefty - "Ain't no flies on Duke!"

[Huh?]

Gus Johnson is by far the best announcer, I look forward to March Madness not just for the Devils, but to hear Gus Johnson say, "Rise...and Fire.!!"

[BlueintheFace]

If only How-ard Co-sell and Lefty could rise and return to their primes to announce our championship game next year together...

[DevilDan]

Glad to see Dick Enberg back; but I wish Musberger would just GO AWAY. The early team of Enberg, Packer, and Al McGuire put the college game on the map.

My all-time favorite was Bill Currie, the Mouth-of-the-South (self proclaimed). He worked as color man for Ray Reeve of WRAL, then burst out on his own, helping to form the Carolina Sports Network. He did other Big Four home games, if the Heels were not playing. He was the best.

Nowadays, Gus Johnson makes it exciting, and I am finally starting to like Kevin Harlan. I wish Jim Durham would do the ACC games. And also he's TOO MUCH, I have to believe Dicky V is the real deal.

[Verga3]

Verne Lundquist and Dick Enberg are both excellent, esp. considering they are called on to do so many different sports.

sagegrouse

Amen....two of the best-ever at their craft.

Here are some pairings I would love to see:

Lundquist or Enberg or Jim Nantz - Bill ("send it in") Raftery
Lundquist or Enberg or Jim Nantz - Mary Carillo (does mostly tennis, but is one of most articulate, prepared and entertaining analyst in any sport)
Packer - Thacker (one for the old days)

Dream team: Nance - Carillo

[Ignatius07]

How does Gus Johnson not get any love? The guy has had some of the more memorable calls during the NCAA tournament in the past few years, and he obviously loves the game.

He's not as well known since he only does a few March Madness games a year (though I expect his stature in the CBS pecking order to continue to increase, as it did this year over last year), and hardly any (if at all) during the regular season.

How about the antithesis to GJ - Joe Buck? Granted, it's in football, but could anybody downplay this historic play (Eli's escape and pass to Tyree) any more than JB does? Not to get on an enormous tangent, but the casual viewer would have no idea that this single play (see here for YouTube) threw a monkey wrench on the Patriots drive to 19-0 glory!

Contrast that with this clip (no images, just sound) of GJ.

[Bluedawg]

Contrast that with this clip (no images, just sound) of GJ.

Don't understand the yelling. My idea of an announcer is one who can explain the game from a technical prospective and give insights to a coaches thinking process.

[sagegrouse]

Bill ("send it in") Raftery

Raftery does something that EVERYONE should imitate: He treats a basketball game as a GAME, where everyone should be having fun. And if a team is playing badly, it ain't life-and-death -- it's just a game.

sagegrouse

[cruxer]

Don't understand the yelling. My idea of an announcer is one who can explain the game from a technical prospective and give insights to a coaches thinking process.

A play-by-play guy describes exactly what's happening on the field. They really shouldn't analyze what's in the coach's head, that's what the color guy is for. While GJ probably gets too excited at relatively routine plays, JB doesn't get excited enough, or describe all the drama that's unfolding before him, during truly spectacular plays. That much was evident by watching the youtube clip.

-c

[godukecom]

Bob harris will allways be the only one I can listen to during a Duke game...

[roywhite]

This is tongue-in-cheek, right? I know neither gentleman personally, but Tudor has an incisive but bitter way of stating the obvious. Dascenzo murders the English language -- or at least the concept of logical discourse.

As an exemplar of a columnist, I might offer Lenox Rawlings of the W-S Journal.

sagegrouse

Another vote for Lenox Rawlings---perceptive, incisive, funny.

Caulton Tudor? The Digger Phelps of the print media? Mostly states the obvious.

Also like our own Al Featherston.

[devildeac]

Bill Brill and Jim Sumner are pretty good guys, too. Anybody heard of them?

[burnspbesq]

He doesn't write about college basketball all that often, but no newspaper columnist in America can come close to Mike Lupica.

Ditto on Johnson and Bonner as the best TV team. It's a shame that Martin Tyler can't be persuaded to come over and do basketball.

[devilirium]

Sean McDonough is funny as hell....still remember his crack about Pocius not being able to "wave hello" in Boston. Very knowledgeable as well. I'm a fan of Majerus,too...though his rounded o's kinda drive you crazy, but he is very good at extracting the technical stuff.

Rick Reilly is pretty good columnist, and I like Mitch Albom as well.

I'm definitely not a big fan of Lupica, though I admit he's a proficient writer (along with Feinstein). I just haven't liked Lupica since The Sports Reporters---Lupica is the smart pottymouth!pottymouth!pottymouth! kid who never got over being picked on in class, and uses the bully pulpit entirely too much.