FanHouse

To open up the NBA season, we at FanHouse got together with Brian from Awful Announcing to have a bull session about all the announce teams we'll be complaining about enjoying all season. (UPDATE: Part II is here.)

Ziller: I think it's impossible to listen to Mike Tirico call an NBA game and be able to discern whether it's a close game or not. It's not that there isn't any joy in his voice... it's that he doesn't fluctuate at all. Like he really doesn't care about anything which happens. Have I been desensitized by years of homer announcers?

Brian, Awful Announcing: Even worse is that they paired him with Hubie Brown. Last night he couldn't even get the year right. The fact that the season carries over into a new year really is a tough concept to figure out though. The biggest problem I have with the pairing of NBA announcers is that they take a great one, and team them with the worst possible partner. Breen-Jackson (although JVG helps), Albert-Miller, Harlan-Collins.

Marcel Mutoni: I couldn't agree more about Tirico. The man is terrified to show any kind of emotion (even during his Monday Night Football gig); maybe that's why he keeps moving on up like George and Weezy in the ESPN/Disney hierarchy. He's the Tim Duncan of broadcasting, an inoffensive and blandly efficient corporate entity that can be presented to a wide audience with the guarantee that not only will the task be completed, but no feathers will be ruffled.

Ziller: I also question the decision to allow him to hand out candy to children Wednesday night.

Brian: How about the decision to team up Stu Scott, Walton, and Stephen A. Smith for the studio show? I couldn't watch....unbearable. I love that they're all passionate about the sport (unlike Tirico), but this idea is going to end badly.

Bethlehem Shoals: Is it just me, or has NBA announcing gotten even more hackneyed. Have I just forgotten what it's like, or been spoiled by blogs? Is it all the Reggie Miller Effect? I swear, about half of what I've heard so far is beyond obvious or cliched.

It's like the league thinks there are two kinds of broadcasters: insiders like Jeff Van Gundy, or lowest-common denominator populists who will help spread the game around. They don't get that Hubie Brown exists, and does both.

Brett Edwards: I think of all the announcing teams mentioned, I would choose Harlan-Collins. Harlan is actually the opposite of Tirico, in that even in a 30-point blowout he'll scream about the losing team hitting a three RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES ... that cuts the lead to 27. But I'll take his overly-enthusiastic style over that of the emotionless Tirico any day. Plus, because he's doing that the whole game, it's hilarious when the game actually gets exciting and he has to take it up a notch, like at the end of the Lakers-Rockets game the other night. I thought he was going to have a heart attack.

Mutoni: To be fair, however, announcing a game - finding that fine balance between calling the action on the floor, building a rapport with the people in the booth, having a producer talking in your ear all night, and pulling off a few good jokes - is not an easy task.

There's a reason so many of these guys are terrible at their jobs; sublime talents like Marv and Hubie only come around once every 50 years or so it seems.

Brian: That's why I was so upset when Steve Kerr decided to go work for the Suns. He and Marv were the perfect balance of play calling, insight, and insider information. I bash Hubie all the time for little mistakes, but the guy loves the sport.

Does anyone approve of Reggie Miller? He's not exactly Emmitt Smith, but saying things like, "The key to Brandon Roy is going to be his size", makes him close. What does that even mean?

Shoals: Reggie Miller belongs in a NFL studio. I don't doubt that he understands the game, but he's not good at conveying any of that to an audience. I think half the stuff he says is an uncomfortable attempt to sound like he thinks a color commentator should. In closing, Miller needs to just be himself, which would mean hanging out with Kenny and Charles if he had half their personality or enthusiasm.

Ziller: I appreciate Kevin Harlan a great deal, I must say, just because he makes the game feel exciting right away if you flip over from something. Reggie wants too much to be Charles Barkley, I think. Shoals' observation that he's trying to sound like a color commentator is point on -- he's bad and unoriginal (even trying the Fratelloesque jabs when a third man is involved).

And I'll admit I couldn't watch ESPN's studio show last year, so I'm not giving the triumverate of terror a chance this year.

Don't forget about Part II!