Rick Rizzs

Rick...did I just hear you say, "the bat flied out of the hands of Shoppach"? Well...I know I did...kinda funny, eh? Flied!?

Rick...what say you get your partner, Aaron, to stop saying things like, "top two, bottom three" etc.?

That sounds just too much like California talk. I don't like it. Dave Simms does that all the time and I just turn off the radio.

It's better to say, "top of the second" and "bottom of the third", don't you think? What say we speak "Northwest" rather than "California"?

Okay...what say you convince "Bone" to get off those truck ads. He has no voice for radio and sounds downright stupid. If I were shopping for a car or truck, I'd definitely be swayed to go to the place where the guy always ends up saying, "yippee aye o kayea". (I have no idea how to properly spell that!) However, I would certainly NOT be swayed by Bone's ads!

Jack Ramsey

My word. I seldom listen to pro basketball broadcasts but the radio is on right now. There was just a brief interview with Jack Ramsey. Holy crap! Even though he's always been extremely boring, now he sounds addled. They pay him for this!!!??? There are far too many announcers who should stay home! Jack Ramsey is one of those.

Don't the big-ass media moguls care at all what the listeners think of these olde morons? Get rid of all the soprano-sounding dipsticks and all the olde coots! Generally, I just turn off the broadcast when I hear them...also, those with speech impediments...there are lots of them! I just can't take it...and I don't. Don't the advertisers putting up the money have any say in these matters? If people like me tune out due to such poor delivery, don't they care that we just...tune out?

Seattle Mariners New Announcer...Update

Update: Without regard to my comments below and with another year gone by...I really like the Mariners announcers. I think Rizzs and Goldsmith are just plain great. I only have access to radio broadcasts but I'm extremely pleased with experience.



 Okay...I listen to the Mariners on the radio and have many personal opinions about the announcing staff...

Many years ago, while living in Southern California for a while, I listened to Dick Enberg doing the Angels broadcasts. He was great! His sidekick was Dave Niehaus and I didn't like his gravelly voice and delivery at all. He just seemed...boring. (I was young at the time.) Then, after moving to Seattle so long ago, I was very disappointed to learn that Niehaus would be the Mariners' voice. After years of listening to him, Mr. Niehaus grew on me. While I never really adjusted to the gravelly voice or his un-Northwestern pronunciations of so many words...(for example, he always said "National" with a long "I" rather than a short "A".) In any case, I grew to appreciate all the nuances of Dave Niehaus and miss hearing him.

Then, along comes Rick Rizzs. Similar to my inability to embrace Dave Niehaus early on, I had great difficulty accepting Rick Rizzs. Even now, I take issue when he says things like, "Kerplunk". Also, he tends to shorten words to a single syllable. Somehow, he manages to turn the word, "scoring" into a single syllable. I don't know how he does that! There are many other words that are shortened and, even though I fully understand the meaning, it still bothers me when I hear such things. Also, he tends to speak for a long time during a sentence and takes a breath and pauses, mid-sentence, at the wrong time, before finishing a comment. It's very odd and totally alien to normal conversation!  Alas! After all these years, Mr. Rizzs has grown on me and the Mariners would not be the same without him. I am a fan for sure.

I do not like listening to Dave Simms....ever! His delivery is choppy and..."Southern California-ish". (This is not a good thing to be in the Northwest.)

I hate listening to Ron Fairly. He's the most boring speaker I've ever heard...anywhere. I do acknowledge that many of his stories of the past are very interesting but he should never be allowed to speak about a game in progress.

Mike Blowers needs to learn how to speak less nasally. If he can't adapt, he should not be on any broadcasts.

Ken Levine is the best!

Mike Blowers annoys me. I can't get over watching him swing for the fences for the last strikeout (against Boston?) some years ago. All he needed to do was hit the ball, not practically fall down while ending the game. (He seems to have never learned to hit the ball without swinging for the fences.)

Dave Henderson is great! I could listen to him all day long...even without a baseball game in progress.

Dan Wilson...I think I learn nuances of the game when I hear his comments and am in favor of having him on the broadcasts as often as possible.

I did listen to a few Youtubes of the new guy, Aaron Goldsmith. While I find it particularly offensive that the Mariners went ahead with all these "auditions" without input from me or (probably) any other fan, I'm not totally (yet) disappointed with the selection. Mr. Goldsmith seems to have a slight "S" issue in speaking whereby the "S's" are slurred a bit...becoming a "Sh" sound. In interviews he conducted, he did not over-speak and allowed the interviewees to express their opinions! (This is a wonderful thing. In listening to many, sports-radio broadcasts, the interviewer seems to use up all the time, framing the question with endless gibberish, leaving little (or no) time for a response.) It's also good that he (Mr. Goldsmith) doesn't have a soprano voice like so many other sports announcers have!

Okay...I'll get back to this, eh?

Slight addition...today is the Super Bowl. I turned on the television and there's Jim Nance! How in the world can a guy like that make it in that business? He can't pronounce the letter "L"! It makes no sense to me. If a person is in the business of speaking and has such an obvious (annoying) speech impediment, why is he on the air? I hate it!

I can't stand Ron Fairly...and Dave Sims

I can't stand it! Ron Fairly is just too boring and I'd appreciate it if the Mariners kept him off the air.

Uh...I apologize for the headline...I have nothing against Ron Fairly, personally. In fact, he's probably a wonderful man. It's just that his radio broadcasts are far below par...even for the Seattle area! (I also have to add that I do appreciate hearing many of his stories of olde...as long as he has nothing to say about any game in progress.)

Oh! Did I mention that I think Mike Blowers has an excessively nasally voice? It's not pleasant listening to him.

I might as well add Dave Sims to the list of sports announcers I'd rather never hear again. His choppy, incomplete sentences are often difficult to understand.