Absolutely agree, the NOH announcers were by far the most ridiculous. They acutally sounded drunk. We muted as well and listened to Portland radio via internet
I'd agree with that in terms of them being in the middle. MB though is just WAY over the top sometimes with his homerism, it borderlines ridiculous. The sad thing is I actually think he feels he's being objective when he's being such a homer. But I'd rather have him as our PBP than most of the guys in the NBA. He's a smooth talker. Rice is cool, and provides some comedy relief while giving respect to the opponent at times. Luftman needs to go. A lot of his emotion seems to be fake, and he could care less about the Blazers IMO. My favorites to listen to on league pass: Knicks - Marv, Frazier, Kenny Smith sometimes, Gus Johnson Nets - Ian Eagle is great IMO Sacramento - They do their job well Golden State - So homerish that it's entertaining Clippers - Ralph Lawler is entertaining too. Worst Denver - So homerish that it's obnoxious Memphis - Pete Pranica. Enough said. OKC - Some former FSNW guy is there, and he sucks. Lakers - Joel Meyers (zzzz.....) Boston - The egos of the team seem to infiltrate the announcing booth too.
I think we as fans are lucky to have Barrett and Rice. Barrett is a national-level talent who is also a life-long Blazer fan, and Rice is humorous yet also knows what he is talking about. I don't mind at all that they are heavily slanted toward the Blazers. Just never bring back Eddie Doucet. That guy just mailed it in when he was the play-by-play announcer. I'm not even sure he was aware that the Blazers employed him.
Honestly, I don't really understand the fans who don't like a little bit of homerism when watching the hometown team. It's not over the top on Barretts part, so why is it such a bad thing? Personally when I watch a game I don't care to hear our guys gushing over the opposing teams players. The Lakers, or the Cavs, or the Celtics are the enemy, no need to tell me how great Kobe and Lebron are.
I think the Mikes are in the upper half of the league. My favorites are the Clipper guys. Very respectful, accurate and appreciate good basketball. Worst: Lakers (IMHO, worst homers in the league) Denver NOH (just don't know what's going on)
Exactly. I'll keep the 2 Mikes and trade all of the fans who complain about "homerism". Sheesh, if you want a clinical play by play approach, maybe Paul Allen can get somebody to write a software program that can deliver the entire game in a monotone, stat-filled, snoozefest for you.
We've talked about this a few times. I'm biased of course, but I've had the LeaguePass for 8 years. Trust me when I say the the Mike's are in the top 5 of the league. There are some really bad announcers out there, and their hommerism is rediculous!
I like Barrett and Rice but something I absolutely hate about them is they always have some kind of excuse why the Blazers are not playing well during the game. I would be fine if they said it once or twice during the game but they always talk about the reason behind the Blazers not playing as well. They just never let it go! I know that their reason could have some impact but come on! I don't know how many times I've heard Mike & Mike say "the reason why Blazers are not playing well is because...the Blazers are playing a back to back, they are just young, Blazers have a big road trip coming up so they are not as focused on current game, Blazers got into town late, Blazers just had a long road trip. Those are excuses why the Blazers may not be playing well on a giving night but give me a good reason why like the Blazers are just not moving on offense so, they are not getting open shots. Alright, I've let my frustration out about those too. GO BLAZERS!!
Roye is pretty good, but he's their radio guy. I was really impressed with the Clippers tandem. I don't know their names, but those two are insightful, not too hyperbolic, and pretty even keel on the homer scale STOMP
I really like M&M, and I don't want them replaced. However..... I absolutely can't stand Tony Luftman. He's barely tolerable after a win. After a loss, I already feel like I've been slugged in the stomach. Then, I watch Luftman and feels like I've been slugged AGAIN. I don't know why I keep watching after a loss, maybe it's like not being able to look away from a train wreck. Sack TL!!
While I enoy their sense of humor, their homerism drives me crazy sometimes. Some announcers I have had good experiences because I feel they are pretty objective are Dallas, Toronto, and even NY. I like Walt Frazier. What I don't like about Mike and Mike, is that they go stretches where if the team isn't playing well, they almost seem like they are apologizing for it. Over and over and over. You don't have to apologize, we know you aren't responsible. Don't make excuses. There aren't any. If the team doesn't show up to play, it doesn't. That's just the way it is sometimes. The other thing I don't like is that they often seem to try and make role players better or more important to the team than they are. Like the other night where I had to listen to them basically lament about Steve Blake being out (It was the beginning of the injury period) for a whole half of the game. That is all they did. After about 1.5 quarters of it, I just turned off the sound, and turned on some music. I would respect them so much more if they were more objective. I feel sometimes (please note, sometimes) like I am being fed propaganda by the gistapo.
They are employed by the Blazers. I'm a bit surprised that people seem upset or turned off that they tend to give a Blazer perspective on the game.
One of the many things that I enjoyed about Bill Schonley was that, if he felt like the team wasn't putting out the effort or that the schemes that they were using weren't working, he would say so. He was "Rah-Rah Blazers!" as big as they came, but had enough integrity to call out the team if they deserved it.
I used to not like them at all, but now I appreciate them and they only rarely get on my nerves. Mainly Barrett when he is passive-aggressive, overly homeristic (i don't mind him being a little homer at all) and his excuse making. Mike Rice is cool and funny, his homer-ism is just funny as hell though and he always seems drunk and its entertaining. Sometimes I wonder if a radio commentary of Wheels and Rice is the way to go. I really like Wheels overall, but sometimes he depresses me, which is ok cuz i'd be depressed if we were sucking anyway.
I haven't heard much local stuff outside of Portland. Think our guys are decent. I enjoyed the Eddie Doucette and Steve Jones combo back in the day. Mainly because Steve woud laugh at everything Ed said.
I actually enjoyed Eddie as well. I think he went off on a lot of tangents that Steve Jones just had to laugh sometimes. They were a good pairing. Loved how he just called Sabas, "The Big Man from Lithuania." Pranica was just terrible though. He was kind of a fake, and is doing the same with Memphis. And who could forget old-school Pat Lafferty?
I've said this before, that Mike and Mike are actual Trailblazer employees. They work FOR the team! I'd have to do some digging, but I can't think of another team that does this. The other teams guys are employees of FSN,CSN,MSG, etc.
Wow, your list is so close to mine it's scary. I live in Denver so I have to listen to Marlowe and Hastings ALL THE TIME--they're unbearable. You have them on there for different reasons, but I would remove GS and NYK because they're too homerish and replace them with only one team--the freaking L*kers. I hate to say it, but their broadcasting team is top notch. If I had to vote only for one, I'd go with the Clippers' team. They strike the balance of being supportive of the home team, informative and able to see a game fairly better than anyone else in the league. As for M&M, they're below average.
