Calling Them as They See/Saw Them

Hm..weird that I would write about sports announcers twice in a week. However...

Normally, I watch sports with the sound off. After you've watched enough games there's really not much more they can say on TV (having said that, I LOVE listening to games on the radio). With all of the super-loud people on TV, it is hard to remember how different John Madden, who announced his retirement today, was.

I loved his enthusiasm when he was the RAIDERS head coach and was glad that he brought it to the broadcast booth. He thoroughly enjoyed football, knew it inside and out and expressed both. He also brought a coach's view of strategy to the booth (as I recall, there were plenty of ex-players calling games, but no coaches).

I'll admit that I haven't listened to him in a couple of years, but I don't recall anyone saying that he had lost it. Though, I know some who were tired of his shtick. He retired from the RAIDERS before he had to, so it's not surprising that he would do that again. I wish him well and hope that his next chapter is as good as his last one.

Coincidentally (I think), the LA Times ran a story on the Clippers' long suffering (as any long term employee of the Clippers is) announcer, Ralph Lawler. Actually, the coincidence was that I watched and listened to him do a game the day before. He's as good of a play-by-play man as they come, but has languished in LA in the shadow of Chick Hearn (Lakers) and Vin Scully (Dodgers).

He has a job of extremes. On one hand, when I was doing college radio, I would have given my left nut to get a professional play-by-play gig. But, if I knew that the team I was covering would lose 2/3 of their games almost every year, that would give anyone pause. Who wants to deliver bad news to fans just about every night?

What's amazing is that he's one of the only competent employees that is visible to the public that the Clippers' owner Donald Sterling keeps around. To work for such a cheap ass who puts a barely passable team on the court must be tough. One can only conclude that Lawler is a) a crazy optimist and/or b) he LOVES basketball and/or c) he's as loyal as can be. Of course, he's well paid, gets to travel in style, etc. But, still. You'd think that after Hearn died he would have had his agent at least call over to the Lakers. Maybe UCLA or USC basketball?

He's a pro. Too bad he's had to slum it with the Clips.