I've looked around, and I see he has lived in LA and is inspired by Scully and Hearn... but inspired by someone and longing to be something are two different things. Any direct quotes?
Yes, I'm a believer in the Pacific Northwest. Idaho skinheads defend Washington's Eastern Front. Maris can handle Oregon's Eastern Front. Marzul is on the watch on the Southern Front. And I'm here to handle naval attacks from the Pacific. You guys need to watch the Columbia Inlet. DID SOMEONE SAY J.J. HICKSON?? HE'S AVAILABLE. DO NOT WAKEN A SLEEPING DRAGON. Clicking on Calabro's name leads to a more salient role he had. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783392/?ref_=nm_knf_t4
Calabro is better than Shonz was. And Calabro used to be even better, especially in his Sonic years with humorous colormen like Mychael Thompson and Marques Johnson. Brent Barry is weak and unfunny when paired with Calabro. Terrible. Calabro is not as funny now, and not as deep-throated. His speech is more clipped (he used to dwell on the last syllable longer) and a little higher pitched than 20 years ago. ---------- Only to younger Sonic fans. The great Bob Blackburn is the Sonic equivalent of Schonely. Blackburn had a more flowing, musical voice than either Schonely or Calabro. Calabro learned from Blackburn how to look down at stat sheets and cite numbers while simultaneously calling play by play. Blackburn was very good, and it's one of the few moves made by the great Bob Whitsitt that I question. Calabro, Kemp, Karl, etc. were just some of a string of Whitsitt finds of previous unknowns. Whitsitt was magically pulling rabbits out of his top hat every year while with the Sonics. ----------- That's a plausible theory for why Calabro tolerated piecework for a few years, but now at age 59 has changed his single ways and married a specific team again. -------- After being a Laker fan in California, when I moved to Bellingham in 1974, the Sonics had a TV game about once a month. In the 80s they increased to maybe once a week. So it didn't make economic sense to pay a separate TV guy. In the 90s, charging for special game channels, the teams with extra money (Blazer fans don't appreciate Paul Allen) hired separate TV broadcasters who left out many details as they spoke, since viewers could see what was happening. The Sonics were in the poorer half of teams and used the same guy, which was fine with most fans, since we loved hearing every detail and didn't want to hear small talk filler. Occasionally the Sonics experimented with Pete Pranica and guys like that, but 99% of the time, the radio guy was the TV guy. Calabro was both, and I wish it would stay that way for all teams.
I don't have any quotes but I could have sworn Wheels applied for the Lakers job a few years back, even stating it was his dream job?
I remember and I can hold a grudge!!! Isn't it weird how we all thought Hubie was old back then?!? That was 20+ years ago.
Mike Barrett is not Schonz. Nice guy, did a good job but never was and never will be a HOF level announcer like Bill. Kevin, on the other hand, already has one foot in the door. I'm excited we're finally stepping up and thinking big!
The only thing I was worried about with the turnover initially is that I wasn't sure McGowan actually had a plan - change for change's sake. Knowing now that he had a deal in principle with Calabro beforehand assuaged all of my concerns. He went out and got an A+ announcer to replace some C+/B- guys (D+ if you want to count 'Tone). I've had to listen to national broadcasts for years, or Wheels with the TV muted because M&M were unbearable. I'm stoked.
The NBA is becoming an international sport. Maybe it's a pipedream but, I feel like we have the opportunity to become a competitive "large", well maybe "medium", size market if we get the entire PNW and Asia on board. I'm excited to see the Blazers putting themselves out there to compete with the "marquis" franchises. I think they have exactly the right stars in Lillard and McCollum to this with and I appreciate the effort by Mr. Allen to make this a team elite players want to join. I really like the direction this team is going.
Yeah I think Portland management is finally realizing that to win in this era of the NBA you first have to show the NBA you have a TV market (unless you're the Spurs and just have godly Duncan and Pop).
We'll get one once we build a couple of hotels closer to the stadium. Paul just needs to bite the bullet and build a 100 story hotel were the coliseum stands.
The allstar game would be the worst showcase for Portland we could offer....February in Portland? Just bad timing.
Just got a email survey from Justin Souvannasane as "Your New Front Office Contact" for the trailblazers. I wonder if they hired him from Seattle somewhere. They're moving the teammmmmmmm!!! AHHHHH
