Top Ten "Sportscasters" of All Time

[Steve Williams]

Several come to mind such as
Curt Gowdy
Harry Caray Jr.

But when it comes to number one there will never be an equal to the voice of the Lakers. It's in the refrigerator, the butter's getting hard and the jello is jiggling

Chick Hearn. IMO you didn't need TV to follow his broadcasts and how about the terms he coined

dribble-drive
air ball
threw up a brick

etc etc

 

[Ron Party]

No harm, no foul (which, for a while, became no blood no foul). Put 'em in the popcorn machine.

 

[Ron Party]

Bill King. Someone please explain to me why he's not in the broadcasting HOF.

And whe he and Lon Simmons worked together, oh my. The intellectual (King) and the dry wit (Simmons). Absolutely hysterical. Pure poetry.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Here's a couple of names:

The Scooter
Marv Albert
Jim McKay
Tony Kubek
Ken Singleton

I hate Stan Fischler and Tim McCarver.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

I personally don't pay much attention to most sportscasters as they're more concerned about hearing the sound of their own voice and getting airtime, than about the content of what they are supposed to be broadcasting about and be conveying to the audience. Watch any pre-game show in any sport all over the world and you've 3-4-5 guys each trying to outdo one another with their own invented vernacular.

There is one person however who when he spoke, as a play-by-play announcer, that captivated his audience like no other before and since. And that person was Hockey Night In Canada's Danny Gallivan. What's not to love about a guy who always appeared humble, respectful, yet introduced more colourful descriptions of the action on ice. Here are a few:

" Cannonading drives", "scintillating save", "kicked out his pad in rapier-like fashion" and "spinerama". And from Wikipedia: When a university professor wrote to Gallivan protesting that there was no such word as "cannonading," Gallivan wrote back and replied, "There is now."

John

 

[RUR]

The American Sportscasters Association chose as their 20th C top 10:

1 - Vin Scully
2 - Howard Cossell
3 - Mel Allen
4 - Walter Lanier "Red" Barber
5 - Bob Costas
6 - Jim McKay
7 - Al Michaels
8 - Curt Gowdy
9 - Dick Enberg
10 (tie) - Jack Buck
10 (tie) - Harry Caray
http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/asatopten.html

Though I thought SI had a better list just a couple of weeks ago: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1005/top.20.sportscasters/content.20.html

 

[Gregadd]

Keith Jackson the Mr. Rogers of College Football. I guess it was too cool to remove his sweater. "Whoa Nellie !We got us a football game now!"

 

[MylesBAstor]

The American Sportscasters Association chose as their 20th C top 10:

1 - Vin Scully
2 - Howard Cossell
3 - Mel Allen
4 - Walter Lanier "Red" Barber
5 - Bob Costas
6 - Jim McKay
7 - Al Michaels
8 - Curt Gowdy
9 - Dick Enberg
10 (tie) - Jack Buck
10 (tie) - Harry Caray
http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/asatopten.html

Though I thought SI had a better list just a couple of weeks ago: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1005/top.20.sportscasters/content.20.html

#1 Can't like him because him and that other imposter Joe Morgan, hate the Yankees. They are so biased when broadcasting them it's a joke. Of course, no one can be better than Morgan's Reds--and how many times has he been outed on things that he said that just weren't true.

I think #2 is a joke and basically was a mouthpiece for a few people. He only made it because of his championing of Ali. Otherwise, he was a loser.

#3 and 4 are really great! Mel Allen unfortunately fell prey to that quack doctor aka Dr. Feelgood in the late '50s (who also treated JFK, Marilyn Monroe and a host of other celebs) who shot him up with all those sedatives, uppers, etc. That really led to his broadcasting career taking the Nestea plunge and eventually being fired by the Yankees. He later resurrected his career if I remember correctly with the game of the week highlights.

#6 Had the occassion when I was in college to meet Jim McKay--and he was just an incredible, down to earth person.

#7-9 Can't argue with any of those choices esp. Al Michaels.

#10 I'm also no Jack Buck fan.

And I agree with Greg that Keith Jackson should be on that list way before Jack Buck or Howard Cosell (now how can I say that about a fellow Columbia alum: the standing joke was could you imagine being Howard Cosell's roomate freshmen year? [freshmen always were forced to room together back then]).

 

[Steve Williams]

" Cannonading drives", "scintillating save", "kicked out his pad in rapier-like fashion" and "spinerama". And from Wikipedia: When a university professor wrote to Gallivan protesting that there was no such word as "cannonading," Gallivan wrote back and replied, "There is now."

John

If your're talking hockey broadcasters surely you have to include Foster Hewitt and subsequently his son Bill Hewitt

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

If your're talking hockey broadcasters surely you have to include Foster Hewitt and subsequently his son Bill Hewitt

No question as to Foster and Bill Hewitt. I only mentioned Danny as I grew up in Montreal and had more exposure to his descriptive analysis of the play-by-play. Foster Hewitt no doubt is the Grand-daddy of hockey broadcasters in Canada!

John