Originally posted by Paul_Hofer: I must be an army of one. Joe Starkey was a terrible game caller. He had stock phrases that he returned to constantly, no humor, little football insight, was error-prone, and spent too much time explaining and excusing why he was wrong.
If you want to hear a great call, hear Lon Simmons' call about Steve Young's TD run against Minnesota.
So he is human he did make errors but he was still one of the best. I love Lon Simmons as well. I love how he did "The Drive" and how he starts it off... "Well the 49ers have a long way to go". Its just how he says it. The Steve Young run is an instant classic.
Lon Simmons was the voice I grew up with. I recall him and Hugh McElhenny doing the 9er games in the 60s. They were a good team. Simmons also did the Giants games with Russ Hodges for many years...another good team. A few years ago I used to do play by play for Rockport-Fulton when Dat Nguyen played there. I tried to fashion my style after Simmons. He is still the best in my ears...
I think there are "classic" football play by play guys and there are "new school" guys. The 49ers replaced a classic guy with a classic guy. I think they should have gone with an enthusiastic new school guy myself. A great example of an enthusiastic new school guy is Paul Allen who does the play by play for the Vikings.
Originally posted by niners_guy: I think there are "classic" football play by play guys and there are "new school" guys. The 49ers replaced a classic guy with a classic guy. I think they should have gone with an enthusiastic new school guy myself. A great example of an enthusiastic new school guy is Paul Allen who does the play by play for the Vikings.
I also like the Bears and Cheifs broadcasters. Merril Reese from Philly is also one person I like to listen to.
Bill King was right up there as an all-time Bay area broadcaster. He had the advantage of doing the Raiders when they were good and interesting, and not weird, and the Warriors when they had Attles, an actual coach, a real superstar in Barry, a fun owner... oh, well.
It was all good. We have had the good fortune of having a lot of really good broadcasters.
People will come to appreciate Robinson's accuracy and delivery. He is one of the very best in the business of sports broadcasting.
I, for one, never put Starkey even close to Lon Simmons or Bill King. It seemed Starkey was deathly afraid of dead air time. Once the play started, so did his mouth. Instead of waiting one second to confirm what was happening, he would make a call and then have to go back and correct it. Further, for a guy who did a lot of football broadcasting, he never seemed to develop a sense for the subtle nuances of the game.
Yes, he had some emotion-building phrases but they do not overshadow the facts.
Originally posted by Paul_Hofer: I must be an army of one. Joe Starkey was a terrible game caller. He had stock phrases that he returned to constantly, no humor, little football insight, was error-prone, and spent too much time explaining and excusing why he was wrong.
If you want to hear a great call, hear Lon Simmons' call about Steve Young's TD run against Minnesota.
Originally posted by joebbadass: Lon Simmons was the voice I grew up with. I recall him and Hugh McElhenny doing the 9er games in the 60s. They were a good team. Simmons also did the Giants games with Russ Hodges for many years...another good team. A few years ago I used to do play by play for Rockport-Fulton when Dat Nguyen played there. I tried to fashion my style after Simmons. He is still the best in my ears...
I can remember Simmons a bit myself and I agree. He was the best. It's a shame that he wasn't the guy calling play-by-play for the Niners during the Dynasty years. When the Niners sucked in the 70s Simmons still made it entertaining. He had a great sense of humor and would not hesitate to tell it like it was when the team sucked. My take on Starkey was that he was a dedicated pro, but that his iconic status has as much to do with the positive association with the great teams he covered and the warm memories of the fans. I will say that his call of the Cal-Stanford kickoff is a classic that will live on for many years.
That is so true. We lived in Mountain View when I was a kid during that game. I got to see every bit of that the fact that the Stanford Band went out on the field to this day leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But Starkey called it the same for both sides, win or lose. Just made it sound better for the teams that were sposed to win.
Joe Starkey isn't doing play by play anymore?!?
Ack!!! When did this take place?
No cool, no cool...
~Ceadder
[ Edited by Ceadderman on Aug 28, 2009 at 9:16 AM ]
Originally posted by nvninerfan1: You don't have to like Starkey, but he was a lot better than the crap you hear on TV.
I for one got sick of Madden and his BS.
Madden is eclectic. But he doesn't always work for everybody. Me I think the Madden/Summeral team had to be the best broadcast duos on TV of my time. I watch all NFL and when our guys weren't on I looked forward to at least hearing games called by these guys.
Madden could dumb down quantum physics for anybody and make it sound good.
And Summerall, well that guy is puuuuuuuuuure class.
Originally posted by Paul_Hofer: I must be an army of one. Joe Starkey was a terrible game caller. He had stock phrases that he returned to constantly, no humor, little football insight, was error-prone, and spent too much time explaining and excusing why he was wrong.
If you want to hear a great call, hear Lon Simmons' call about Steve Young's TD run against Minnesota.
You're not alone. Starkey was terrible and the "Oh what a bonanza" line is a horribly overused piece of crap. Seriously Joe, NOT EVERY GD TD WAS A BONANZA especially when the Niners have been terrible for nearly 5 years.
Ted is a much more professional and well versed broadcaster. He isn't a complete homer which is probably why some folks here prefer Starkey.
Originally posted by nvninerfan1: You don't have to like Starkey, but he was a lot better than the crap you hear on TV.
I for one got sick of Madden and his BS.
Madden is eclectic. But he doesn't always work for everybody. Me I think the Madden/Summeral team had to be the best broadcast duos on TV of my time. I watch all NFL and when our guys weren't on I looked forward to at least hearing games called by these guys.
Madden could dumb down quantum physics for anybody and make it sound good.
And Summerall, well that guy is puuuuuuuuuure class.
~Ceadder
I will never forget listening to Summerall trying to pronounce Houshmanzadeh. By the second half he just said, "that guy."
Originally posted by NineFourNiner: Joe Starkey
Chick Hearn
Vin Scully (even though I HATE the #&$_#&$ Dodgers)
All irreplaceable.
LOL... Starkey was a good announcer but to put him in the same breath as those 2 is wrong. The one Bay Area sports announcer that I always believed was the best and most versatile and could be compared... Bill King. Lon Simmons was a notch below King in my opinion but still far better than Starkey.
[ Edited by Ninerjohn on Aug 28, 2009 at 9:42 AM ]