Annual Announcer Kvetch Thread, 2021-22

[jimmymax]

Didn’t realize the Fab 5 recruited Corey and he turned em down. Could have ben the Fab 6. That’s all I know from listening to the game.��

Cory talks a lot. Not just about himself, but about other things unrelated to the game he is "announcing."

[MChambers]

Cory talks a lot. Not just about himself, but about other things unrelated to the game he is "announcing."

Have you ever listened to a game where Dick Vitale was announcing?

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Have you ever listened to a game where Dick Vitale was announcing?

Vitale made me crazy for decades, but his passion for college basketball and love of the game is indisputable. I was happy to see a clip from him on the ESPN site this week.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Vitale made me crazy for decades, but his passion for college basketball and love of the game is indisputable. I was happy to see a clip from him on the ESPN site this week.

Agree with both sentiments. What drove me crazy was that he did not announce games per se....he had the same schtick every single game...told most of the same stories, waited for the moments to drop in the very same Vitalisms...praised the same coaches (...Robert Montgomery Knight...et al) and only spoke of the game in progress in between all the other.

That said, no one loves the game more than he, and it helped grow the sport, especially on ESPN. And he was very familiar with Coach K even in the very early years at Duke. And a K supporter from day one it seems. So I do NOT like watching games on TV he is doing....but I greatly appreciate what he brought to Duke and to the game over the years.

[brevity]

The Andrews Sisters are taking over ESPN like it's The Mike Douglas Show, circa 1965.

[brevity]

Awful Announcing: ACC Network’s ‘Packer and Durham’ morning show will end on Friday

Both Packer and Durham will continue to be involved with ACC Network.

If there’s a time to end a college sports studio show, it’s in the middle of the summer, so the timing here makes sense. ESPN did not immediately announce its plans to replace Packer and Durham on the air, but another studio show would make sense. The short-term plan appears to be live event replays (which, given that we’re going to be in July in a couple of days, makes sense for the time being), and depending on how much ESPN wants to cut costs, that might be the long-term play as well.

Nepotism and Nepotism may be the cheapest show on television, so if ESPN is keeping both guys, I'm not sure how this is a cost-cutting measure.

The Andrews Sisters are taking over ESPN like it's The Mike Douglas Show, circa 1965.

The sequel:

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Awful Announcing: ACC Network’s ‘Packer and Durham’ morning show will end on Friday



Nepotism and Nepotism may be the cheapest show on television, so if ESPN is keeping both guys, I'm not sure how this is a cost-cutting measure.



The sequel:

Wow. Very surprising to me and very disappointing. They covered ACC sports more thoroughly than anyone else in media. They had a great focus on women's ACC sports, especially basketball. It's a loss for our conference.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Wow. Very surprising to me and very disappointing. They covered ACC sports more thoroughly than anyone else in media. They had a great focus on women's ACC sports, especially basketball. It's a loss for our conference.

I guess no one else is moved by this news?

[killerleft]

I guess no one else is moved by this news?

I've never watched them. I watch games, and leave all the other stuff for others, though.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I've never watched them. I watch games, and leave all the other stuff for others, though.

Guessing DBR doesn't count as "other stuff?"

[arnie]

I guess no one else is moved by this news?

They were Ok, but couldn’t get past their lineage (Billy Packer and Homer Woody Durham). Figure they hate Duke since they both grew up with it.

[killerleft]

Guessing DBR doesn't count as "other stuff?"

Yeah, I chose... poorly. No sports talk radio, tv, satellite, etc. DBR serves not only as my source of Duke news, but as a way to filter out the noise I want to avoid. I admit that I'll link to some things if they seem interesting, but I'm not going to wade through hours of talk to get to them.

[roywhite]

I guess no one else is moved by this news?

Frequent listener (on the radio in Triad, and on ACCN at times) to Packer and Durham, esp. during hoops season, enjoyed their knowledge and coverage. They both did their homework on the full spectrum of ACC sports, men and women.

Surprised to learn of the cancellation.

[brevity]

I guess no one else is moved by this news?

I did watch a few minutes of the last episode Friday morning. They were taking phone calls from random fans, which was unfortunate, because the audio quality tends to be poor, and the random fan never has anything interesting to say.

I've seen some of Packer and Durham in the past, usually during hoops season, and have listened more often to Mark Packer's afternoon show on the ESPNU satellite radio channel. At best, it's okay. It helps if he's interviewing a more dynamic sports media personality.

One takeaway I got from the excellent ACC Tournament documentary series, also on the ACC Network, is that there are a lot of people who can talk about ACC history. That was specific to men's basketball, but it would not be difficult to gather contributions from the media members under ESPN's employ who already cover the other sports (football, lacrosse, soccer, women's basketball, etc.). Maybe promote one of the many interchangeable studio hosts to become the official ACC Network morning/late morning anchor and do a real TV show, rather than what is essentially televised radio. Add contributors as in-studio or call-in experts when their sport is in season. There's no reason ESPN can't make a better ACC show with the personnel they already have.

Right now the ACC Network shows live sports and the occasional original documentary, but my worry is that it wastes away to become something like the Longhorn Network, which may be the most useless channel in my cable package. It's all archival. I have never seen a live, original broadcast there; even something like volleyball (you would think Texas volleyball would be a live exclusive) is a day-old rerun.

[weezie]

They were Ok, but couldn’t get past their lineage (Billy Packer and Homer Woody Durham). Figure they hate Duke since they both grew up with it.

Never watched but stumbled on the last show yesterday while packing for trip. I had to hunt for the small small small Duke D in their pile of basement sports junk.

[chrishoke]

I found the show to be inane.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I found the show to be inane.

Really? Compared to other 3 hours morning shows? Have you heard the alternatives?

[chrishoke]

Really? Compared to other 3 hours morning shows? Have you heard the alternatives?

Ha! One alternative is to read a good book.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Ha! One alternative is to read a good book.

Sure.

In the realm of sports shows, I thought there's was one of the best. Much better than any other morning crap (ESPN with Jay is absolutely the worst) and the only place spending three hours talking about all our conference sports.

I'm legit surprised that no one else here is mourning the end of this show.

[Indoor66]

Really? Compared to other 3 hours morning shows? Have you heard the alternatives?

That kinda begs the question of whether it is inane (which I find applies to the other three as well).