And I'll ban anyone who doesn't agree with me. Also Wheels has been a great friend and huge fan of RipCityTwo. You'd be surprised how often he reads the forum.
My biggest complaint about Wheels is that he is almost impossible to listen to when the team is doing poorly. When the team is doing well, he's easily one of the best radio guys in the league, but with the highs also comes the lows. He gets so down. It's obvious that he has an extreme attachment to the team, he's just as much a fan as any of us, which is great when they do well. The guy goes absolutely nuts if we hit a game winner. He's extremely fun to listen to when we're winning or something amazing happens. I just can't stand to listen to him when we're playing badly. I'm already down if we're losing, but listening to Wheels only makes me feel worse.
He had huge shoes to fill when Schonley retired. IMO he's made the job his own. He's not the Ambassador of the team to the community like the Schonz was, but he definitely is fun to listen to.
It's called being a professional. If you listen/watch other teams, they're very complimentary of other teams. They obviously root for their team, but they're not as invested in whether their team wins or loses. And it's not about being honest. It's about the way he says things. "And the Blazers miss ANOTHER shot...." He gets so worked up when they're losing. I'm already down when the team does badly, I don't need to hear him crying in his beer.
I'll say it . . . I like Tone. I feel like you are basically hearing from one of the guys in the locker room. It sounds like he is social and keeps in contact with many current and ex NBA players. Maybe not the most articulate and he shoots from the hip a lot, but he really gives a player's perspective, IMO. (I also like Wheels and his sayings)
If Tone sticks to basketball, he's ok, problem is, too often he doesn't and ad libbing is not his strong suit. I like Orlando Williams or Michael Holten much better in his place.
I really like all of our announcers. M&M and W&T. All are fun to listen to and Wheels emotion is great!!!
Watching streams, I'd say our guys are among the most entertaining, but not the most unbiased. I've seen some guys that are about as interesting as watching paint dry, but I've also seen some guys that are entertaining and also fairly unbiased. They have nice things to say about the visiting team and actually impart some information about the other players. Our guys don't really do that.
Nate took what I was going to say 100%. I had to double check the screen name to make sure I hadn't already responded. I love the schticks. I think he's very good when it's a tight game or when we're winning. He calls a great game, does a great job with play by play to set the scene for you. But I can't listen to him because of the almost whiny tone when we are down. "Smith with another 3...of COURSE he hit it. I just can't stand it. Luckily, I'm almost never needing to listen on the radio. As for Mike and Mike, when I first started watching, I didn't care much for them, but I think that they've become much better. I really like listening to them call games. Really the only slightly annoying thing is when we're down like 15 with 3 minutes left, and we hit a 3 and Barret's all..."And still, only a 12 point game...couple of stops here...let's see if they have another run in them" when we've been playing shitty all night and you know that run isn't coming. But, he has to. And I get it. Can't just bag on the team. Well that 3 don't mean shit, could have used one earlier.
Yup. I agree with all of this but like I said, to get the really big emotional reactions when we do well, you have to expect him to be manic when the team is losing. Huge mood swings depending on how the team is doing. That's just how he is, for better or worse. I just won't listen to him. It's fun to hear his call after the game of an exciting play though.
A good example is the Best of Times, Worst of Times approach was the Phoenix game where Roy scored 52. Phoenix was making runs on us all game, and right before Roy really started going off, we were down 12, and Wheels was so mad after one made shot by Phoenix you could actually hear him throw something against the table. He was livid. Then Roy went HAM. And that run was absolutely amazing to listen to. Wheels went nuts, capping with his "It's absolute BEDLAM!" when Roy hit the shot to score 50. And because he was so down before, the highs seemed that much higher, that much more earned. I feel bad when he feels bad, and sometimes it's too much... but when it works, when the Blazers come back and the story has a happy ending, it plays out like a perfect narrative.
I'm actually a little worried about the guy when he completely goes crazy when something exciting happens. One second we'd hear Wheels flipping the fuck out about Dame hitting a game winner or something, and the next the line would just go dead and we'd hear a big crash.
