NCAA Final Four on Radio

Okay…I realize no one may really care what I think about sports announcers. I live in this little town of Fall City which is right on the edge of nowhere.

Anyway, I’m listening to the radio broadcasts of some of the NCAA March Madness and I want to make a cuppla comments about what I’ve heard so far on this second day of the First Round of play.

First…it IS the second day of the First Round…NOT the second round as so many radio guys seem to insist upon. The second round begins tomorrow (Saturday)…not today (Friday). I find it particularly offensive, hearing so many announcers calling it the second round.

Next…I realize I’ve been critical of Dave Sims as a Mariner voice. However, he’s great for basketball!

John Thompson is as good as it gets! He knows his shit and doesn’t pretend to be something other than he is…a basketball genius!

I do enjoy listening to (and watching) Charles Barkley. He’s real…and he’s honest!

Kevin Calabro is the best broadcaster I’ve ever heard…anywhere!

On the negative side…I wretch when I hear some of the characters on this NCAA thing sometimes. I can’t stand hearing all these old characters with such a gross, New York accent. They often say “dis or dat” instead of “this or that”. They seem to be unable to pronounce the letter, “R”. If they can’t speak proper English they should stay home. They get paid for this!!?? It’s bad enough listening to all the southern accents but I’ve almost learned to accept that. (Not entirely, though.) Like Dave Niehaus pronouncing the word "national" with a long I instead of a short A. Sometimes, I think these guys are speaking an entirely different language.

I may add to this as the tournament progresses…keep in mind that I don’t have ready access to television broadcasts…only a scratchy-sounding radio. That’s why I listen so carefully (and critically) to audio broadcasts. 

Another thing...I think the rules need to be changed for college basketball. I was listening to the last minute of a game (in the first round, day two). That last minute used at least fifteen real minutes. Each time there was a foul and a stoppage of time. Each time there was another time-out called. Each time, when there was a free throw, both teams substituted offensive or defensive players as needed. That's REALLY stupid! The league has to put an end to this final-minute madness! It makes most of the game seem almost meaningless.

...and...I just heard the very end (on the radio) of the Illinois game against Colorado...the guy comes out and says that Illinois is advancing to the third round. It's NOT the freeking third round! It's the SECOND round! What's wrong with these people? Are they really that stupid?

...and...this is Saturday...round two...listening to Michigan vs VCU on the radio...the announcer comes out with, "the difference-maker", referring to some player in the game. I think that term, "difference maker", is one of the stupidest terms I've ever heard. Difference-maker? It just sounds stupid and childish. I've heard "difference-maker" in so many sports! I hate it! Can't these people come up with anything more appropriate? Difference-maker?! They sound like idiots!

Sunday, I'm listening to Iowa State and Ohio State. The "color" guy on the radio is one of those New Yorkers (or Boston or something)...anyway, he's one of those guys (Pete something) who says dis and dat and says "god" instead of "guard". It's Really annoying! Fawteen...fawty-faw...Doesn't it make sense that someone being paid to speak on American radio should learn how to pronounce our own language properly? Doesn't it? Am I right or am I right?

Another thing...the guy they have on the radio...the "Westwood One" guy...I hate it. He sounds just so phony that I can't stand it. There are some things I hear on the radio that cause me to turn it off immediately...that guy...the breathy-sounding, gravelly, fake-deep-voiced guy...I shut off or change the station as soon as I hear him.

Getting back to the "first round, second round" issue...so...Gonzaga loses the second game...it's Saturday...they're calling it "round three" of March Madness. Does that mean that Gonzaga made it through the second round? No. Saturday and Sunday are both "round two". What say the announcers get this right, eh? It's bad enough already that the players generally sound stupid and illiterate, and it's astounding to think they're actually in college rather than grade school...but the announcers should be, at least, a cut above. I'm embarrassed for the United States.

I just HAVE to mention this...in the area of so many mispronunciations...they're running some kind of ad on the radio...and the woman is talking about getting regular oil changes for a car...but she says, "awl" instead of oil! Welcome to America! We're a country of morons!

Okay...since I'm doing nothing much but complaining...I'm listening to North Carolina and Kansas on the radio. Kansas scores and the announcer says they're within one. They are NOT within one. They are still down by one. If they were within one, we'd be counting basketball games in fractions rather than whole numbers. I must add...the same stupid description is rampant throughout American sports broadcasts. If a baseball team is down by a run..."They're within one!" Bullshit! They're down by a run...not within a run. The same with football. What say we use proper English, eh?

Radio and TV Announcers I hear in the Seattle area

For sure, I'll get back to this but I'm listening to a Mariners game on the radio right now and I just must say I think Ron Fairly is absolutely awful. He's boring. His low-keyed, matter-of-fact delivery is boring. His constant, "Uh" is boring. He seems to slur his words at times so that I don't have a clue what he's talking about. I think he might be a bit senile since it seems he tends to forget what he was talking about sometimes. I should mention that I do enjoy hearing some of the stories from the past.

I think I'll just keep adding to this post about people I've heard on radio and television in the area.

Oh! Still along the line of baseball announcers...I lived in Los Angeles a long time ago. I did not like Vin Scully. I did not like Dave Niehaus when he worked with Dick Enberg, doing the Angels broadcasts. I was very disappointed when I learned that Niehaus was the Mariners' voice. I didn't like his raspy voice, I found him to be boring and I didn't like his southern-like pronunciations of many words such as...he said "Nitional" with a long i, instead of "National" with a short a. He did grow on me eventually. I definitely did not like Rick Rizs especially when he said, "kerplunk". Also, he runs his words together too much for my taste. He might say, "Frinning" instead of "four inning". He often emphasizes the wrong words or syllables...with the score 3-2 Mariners over the Yankees, the Yankees score another run and Rizs says, "It's now 4 to 2", placing the emphasis on the 2, as though the Mariners had just scored. It's just weird. Now, with Dave Neihaus gone, Rick Rizs is sounding pretty darn good to me.

Tom Brokaw was working with a Los Angeles news show and it drove me nuts listening to him struggle with his speach impediment, unable to pronounce the letter "L". I was horrified to learn he was moving up to national prominence and wondered how no one seemed to care about how poorly he spoke.

Seattle weather rporter, Harry Wappler looked and sounded so wimpy that I just couldn't watch him. Then, it got much worse! They replaced him with his son, Andy! He had such a small, cartoon-like voice that was only made worse by the fact that he couldn't pronounce the "L" either. Hearing him say, "meteorologist" or "little" was downright funny (and pitiful). He did change a bit though. After a while, he started wearing black suits and actually lowered his voice so he could appear more grown up I suppose. It wasn't much better and he's finally gone.

George Karl, the Supersonics coach...he did radio commercials for a Cadillac dealer but he never pronounced the "D" in Cadillac. He said something like, "Caa-lac. Very funny.

There's a guy on some sports broadcasts for Westwood One. When he says "Westwood One" he uses a fake, breathy, unnatural, deep voice (to sound macho) and it's just too phony for me.

Vaughn Palmer comes on the local NPR station once a week, reporting on Canadian issues. He's interesting and I appreciate what he has to say...when I can hear him. He has an extremely sing-song voice that often shoots into the soprano range. The main problem is that he tails off at the end of every sentence to the point that he's probably not really speaking. I turn the radio as loud as it goes but I still can't hear what he says. Then, the local guy speaks and it's deafening. I just change channels when Vaughn Palmer comes on. It's not worth the aggravation.

Barbara Walters...how in the world did she ever get a job in broadcasting? She can't speak.

There are FAR too many women on the radio with a real problem...at the end of almost every sentence, their voices have tailed off so much that the only sound coming out is a choppy, rattling, unpleasant, throaty, guttural noise. How can they not know their voices have been spent?

Mike Blowers sounds like he has a clothes pin on his nose.

Fortunately, I don't listen to the radio all that much and I haven't been able to watch much television since the switchover to digital broadcasts. (I just have an antenna on the house.)

Sports talk radio...there are too many guys on the radio with New York accents. This is Seattle! The guys on KJR all sound like buffoons far too often with their nonsensical laughing. Also too common is the way interviews are conducted...they might be interviewing a great sports legend (for example) and they spend so much time and hot air in the process of phrasing the question that there's no time left for a response. I don't want to hear the local guy at all. I want to hear what the star has to say.

When KOMO radio is on in my car, I can only listen until the guy who seems to be the "Voice of KOMO" comes on. Then I change the station as soon as I hear him. He has an overly, breathy delivery and doesn't pronounce consonants clearly or properly. He slurs through them and sounds extremely phony. Too phony for me to stay tuned to that station.

When Dave Grosby comes on KIRO radio, I turn it off or change stations. I was very disappointed that he became a regular on KIRO/ESPN. His voice kind of gurgles and what he has to say is of very little interest to me. In fact, there are far too many sports radio people who talk about themselves too much.

Speaking of talking to oneself, that brings Dory Monson to mind. He talks about himself as much as anything else and is extremely rude to anyone who disagrees with his opinion. He's okay working in the Seahawks broadcasts but that's all. I don't ever listen to him any more.

The two guys on afternoon KIRO, Ron and Don are two more who talk about themselves too much. Also, they seem to make themselves out to be saintly with only the best interest of the public in mind...to a fault. I don't listen to them any more.

There isn't much TO listen to on local radio. Of course, I listen to most of KUOW/NPR. However, I think of NPR as having a place in the area of news and I don't usually have any interest in hearing about musical performers. There's too much of that.

I like it when the BBC comes on in the afternoons on KUOW. Their reporters don't let any interviewees get away with anything and challenge them at every turn. It's refreshing.

There was a time when I listened to Tavis Smiley but I've heard enough of his "Brother", Homey" and other African American jargon. He just comes across as a bit of a racist to me and I don't like the way he seems to try so hard to pronounce some words so correctly while ignoring so many others. I don't listen to him any more.

Derek Wang (I think) is the guy who goes overboard when saying "KUOW". His "W" is over-emphasized. He says, " double-you", and no one else I've ever heard makes such an effort to get the "double" part in there. It just sounds weird.

There is an incredible number of people in broadcast and in the public eye who don't pronounce "Washington" properly. It comes out as "Washtin" or some other, similar shortening of the word. It sounds lazy.

What about all those people in broadcast and the public eye who say "nuculer" instead of "nuclear" How could a person NOT know the correct pronunciation! It makes the speaker sound ignorant.

Needless to say (perhaps), I don't listen to much radio any more and almost never watch television. It's all too much "chalk-scraping-on-the-blackboard" for me.

On radio and television there are numerous, instant "turn-offs" or "channel-switch" occasions for me. As soon as I hear Tom Shane...off. The first notes of the annoying Kars for Kids ad...off. When someone pronounces "either" or "neither" with a long "I" sound instead of a long "E"...off. When Dave Ross pronounces the word "err" with a short "U" sound...off. When a sports broadcaster talks about "difference makers"...off. When a weatherperson says "precip"...off. Why do so many (most) sports announcers have nearly soprano voices?