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Originally Posted by frankbmd
Is this significant? Did Scully’s entertainment value promote more interest in the game than the current crop of “borons”? I think so.
Even as a kid I think my interest in baseball was enhanced by the Game of the Week announcing pair of Pee Wee Reese and Dizzy Dean.
Is there really more interest in launch angles and exit velocities from the “borons” than there is in Dizzy’s rendition of “The Wabash Cannonball” or Scully’s anecdotes about da Bums of the 50s from Brooklyn?
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Frank, I do believe it is significant and partially explains my occasional apathy for the current game. Putting baseball aside for a moment, let me use the NFL as an example. When I was growing up, NFC coverage was dominated by Pat Summerall and John Madden. They were the #1 crew for CBS for many years and then continued on Fox. I would literally watch any game they were doing, because they added something. Sure it helped that they as the #1 crew had the top teams, but it was more than that. It was the intonation of Summerall that still rings in my ears, as well as the interplay he had with Madden. But Summerall was THE guy (for me at least). He was an anomaly in that he was a former player, and most former players go the route of color commentator. He brought a seriousness and a tact to his games that I can't totally explain. I just know that Joe Buck and anyone else you want to mention fall far short. Kevin Harlan sounds like he is about to try and sell me a used car. FWIW, the AFC guys on NBC in the 80s were amazing as well. Dick Enberg was pretty hard to beat, and Charlie Jones, Todd Christensen, and Merlin Olsen were good as well.
Fast forward to now, Al Michaels started as a relative youngster and has endured. However, he even has lost something for me. Which leads me to conclude that it is just a different world and a different environment that these modern announcers are trying to do their jobs in. I think most of them feel the need to mostly be entertainers and social media aficionados, rather than masters of their craft. Also, most of the aforementioned announcers that started young in a prior generation and wowed us often worked radio broadcasts. It seems that is a different kind of announcing and would truly require an announcer to sharpen his skills in that he has to paint the picture because the listener can't see it for themselves. Announcers now have audiences that can see everything they can and sometimes more thanks to TV and "behind the scenes" looks that some athletes provide via social media.