I have posted before about how boring Steve Smith is. ESPN irons out all humor from its employees, which is why Keith Olbermann was such a rare survivor there. Hey! I just thought of the perfect colorman for a liberal city.
Fuck. Id hire Olbermann just to piss off Bill Simmons. Hell. I'd hire the kid who beat him up and took his lunch money as color guy.
You're pretty good at your liberal act on the OT board, but here you just stop trying. Your handlers will agree with me--be consistent.
http://portlandtribune.com/pt/12-sports/314489-193314-a-look-at-moves-by-blazers-csnnw- I think Lamar Hurd would be great. Up and coming young broadcaster, former Oregon State Beaver, and has ties to Portland. And he sounds like a good guy, does a lot for kids. http://www.theothersideofbasketball.org/Leadership
Agreed. I know most former NBA players would make terrible broadcasters, but the ones that are good bring real insight and knowledge based on their experience. Barry is one of those, plus he's likable and has a droll sense of humor. Of course, if he is the pick, the resident forum Chicken Littles with use at as proof PA plans to move the team to Seattle, but keep in mind he played 4 years at Oregon State, was drafted by the Clippers, also played for the Heat, the Bulls the Spurs and the Rockets. He was well traveled. It's not like he was a lifelong Sonic. At least he never played for the Lakers! BNM
Why would a guy like Brent Barry or Steve Smith leave ESPN or TNT to take a local job for a small market team? Isn't that a step down in their broadcast career? I doubt the Trail Blazers can offer the same amount of $$ as TNT/ESPN. I think we need to have more realistic expectations for who our options are.
Brent Barry strikes me as a guy who would rather live in Portland than Atlanta ...flannel shirt, surfer, close friend of Pearl Jam..likes to vacation in Hawaii and Australia..he fits the culture here.
How many games a year does Barry work for TNT? That's a serious question. TNT broadcast 64 regular season games during the 2015-16 season. That consisted of 32 double headers (mostly on Thursday nights). That means Barry could work, at most, 32 regular season games for TNT. However, they have four full time analysts (Barry, Chris Webber, Grant Hill and Reggie Miller) plus two part time analysts (Steve Smith and Mike Fratello). So, realistically, that means Barry would work 12 - 16 regular season games per year for TNT. He would be working 82 regular season games for the Blazers. So, I don't think it's unreasonable to think Paul Allen would be willing to pay him more for 82 games than TNT pays him for 12 - 16 games. I know it's a different outlet, and probably plays a lot less, but our new play by play guy was THE voice of the NBA for ESPN radio, even calling the finals for them. He gave up that national gig to come call games for our little Podunk, small market team. So, it's not unheard of. BNM
I'm sure the Oregon State guy is pretty good, but I don't think they fired such popular announcers and took such a large pr hit from the fans to go after relative unknowns, the Seattle guy they hired suggests they're trying for some larger names that will bring credibility to like league pass listeners.
It cracks me up that people still refer to Calabro as a "Seattle guy" when he hasn't called a Sonics game in over 8 years. Maybe we should start calling Dame "that Utah guy" since he went to college there once upon a time. Just to add a little perspective, the last time Kevin Calabro called a game in Seattle, Damian Lillard hadn't played his first game at Weber State. Dame's entire college and NBA careers have all happened since the last time Calabro called a game in Seattle. BNM
Following him on Twitter you would never know he's a Blazer guy now. All he does is Tweet about Seattle sports and Democrat stuff, I'll learn his name when he starts calling games.