If you want to start a good argument among a bunch of guys,
just raise the question: “Who’s your favorite sportscaster?” While talking
about their favorites, most sports fans also will readily tell you who they
don’t like.
Ever since I was very young, I have been a sports fan and one
of my true pleasures was listening to a good sportscaster describe the action on
the radio when I was driving or working around the house. I don’t listen to
sports on the radio very much anymore because so many games are on TV, cable,
satellite and streaming sports channels. But, I do have a few favorite announcers for
different sports. So, in no particular order, here are some sportscasters that
I really like.
My favorite sport is college basketball and my all-time
favorite sports broadcaster is Cawood Ledford, who was the radio voice of the
Kentucky Wildcats for 39 years from 1953 to 1992. Ledford’s smooth, tenor voice
with a slight twang was made even more distinctive by his use of colloquial
phrases to describe action. His call of a made shot was: “Bulls eye” or “Got
it.” A long shot might draw “Tickles the strings” or “String music.” An easy
layup was a “Snowbird” or a “Gimme.” A shot that hit the rim but went in was described, “Got a lot of iron on it, but it fell through.”
Ledford was great because, even though he was the home voice
of the Wildcats, he wasn’t afraid to criticize his team when they weren’t
playing well. When Kentucky trailed in a game, he would not shy away from
telling his audience exactly what the Wildcats weren’t doing well even when they
were coached by the legendary Adolph Rupp.
My favorite baseball announcer was
ranked number one in the book “The Voices of Summer: Ranking Baseball’s 101 All-Time Best Announcers” by Curt Smith.
Vin Scully was the voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers for 67 years.
I first heard Scully in the mid-60s when I had a shortwave radio and his
broadcasts of Dodgers games were carried on Armed Forces Radio. Like Ledford,
Scully knew so much about the game and was not afraid to tell listeners what
his team or individual players were doing right or wrong. By chance, I was
listening the night Scully described pitcher Don Drysdale of the Dodgers setting
the major league record by pitching 58 consecutive shutout innings in 1968.
During the summer in the 60s, I spent lots of evenings
scanning the AM Radio dial to listen to baseball broadcasters. Two other
announcers I also want to mention are longtime Pittsburgh Pirates announcer Bob
Prince and Harry Caray, who was the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals and the
Chicago Cubs. Both of them were much more entertaining than the cookie-cutter
announcers you hear today. Prince and Caray provided interesting anecdotes and
unique phrases when they called games.
Caray would describe an unusual play with his trademark “Holy
Cow!” and as a long fly ball headed for the fence, Caray would say: “It might
be. It could be. It is…a home run!”
Bob Prince had a unique take on the baseball cliché “can of
corn” used to describe an easy fly ball to the outfield. When an easy fly ball
was heading for the great Roberto Clemente in right field, Prince would say, “It’s
a number 303 for Roberto.” Since I worked in a supermarket as a teenager, I knew
that the number 303 described a standard size can of a vegetable or fruit. I
loved this unique call.
For college football and college basketball, another personal
favorite is the longtime CBS announcer Verne Lundquist who covered the SEC
football game of the week and the NCAA Men’s’ Basketball tournament both on CBS.
I especially enjoyed it when he was paired with Bill Raftery whether for a
regular season basketball game or the tournament. These two men had a terrific comic
rapport with lots of good-natured back and forth ribbing that made even a
blowout entertaining.
In 1992, Lundquist and Raftery covered the legendary
Kentucky-Duke East Regional Final for CBS, while Cawood Ledford announced the
national radio broadcast for what many have called the greatest college
basketball ever. There was a lot of talent at the broadcast table and on the
court that night.
I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the work
of Jim Nance, the number one sportscaster for CBS. I really enjoy his NFL work
with Tony Romo and the two do an effective and entertaining job describing a
game. Romo is one of those color analysts who always tells me something new
about the game whenever I listen to him. He and Nance have a more personable manner
than the number one Fox NFL team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.
My final mention goes to Ernie Johnson who hosts the NBA
pre-game and post-game shows for TBS. He also anchors studio coverage of the
NCAA Men’s’ Basketball tournament for TBS and CBS. His dad was the longtime
voice of the Atlanta Braves and gained national prominence in the late 70s. Media
mogul Ted Turner put the Braves games covered by his struggling independent TV
station in Atlanta up on the satellite for cable systems across the country and
the TV sports boom exploded.
The younger Ernie does a masterful job of managing the panel
of Shaq, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley. He allows each of them to provide
witty comments and insightful commentary, while keeping the show on track. It’s
usually both entertaining and informative.
