What Sports Commentators would make good emcees?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Sep 22 2004, 02:45 PM\'] For our fellow Canadians still suffering from the withdrawl of their beloved hockey thanks to the NHL lockout...what about Brian Williams, Ron McLean, Chris Cuthbert, or even Don Cherry?

 [/quote]
 Ronnie Mac could read the phone book and I'd watch him do it. On the other hand, you're insane to even mention the other three, particulary Grapes.
 

or Brent Musburger

Musburger is a horrifyingly bad sports broadcaster, I dunno what qualities he has that make you think he'd even be remotely competent as a game show host.

You know who would be an AWESOME host...Pat O'Brien. That guy's GOOD.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Sep 22 2004, 05:34 PM\'] Musburger is a horrifyingly bad sports broadcaster [/quote]
That guy had the gig of gigs when he hosted The NFL Today. Now he's reduced to back-end college football games and the Little League World Series. That darned greed bit him on the BEE-hind in 1990 and he never bounced back. He couldn't even cut it as halftime host on Monday Night Football, from where he was bounced after one year.

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'Strikerz04\' date=\'Sep 22 2004, 05:04 PM\'] He seriously cannot be that bad? Sure, he's no Skip or even the Great Harry, but he does what he could.... [/quote]
 He's a nice enough guy, but Chipster does have a tendency to overstate things.  But I credit Chip and broadcast partner Steve Stone for one thing--they're not afraid to criticize (even if the Cub players don't like what they say).  When I was in L.A. in June to see TPiR (did I mention the episode airs tomorrow?   ), two Chi. Cubs/Houston games were available to me on ESPN.  It was rather refreshing, as I tend to gravitate toward national announcers rather the homers that I hear every day.

Hawkeroo?  Too much of a company man--only really criticizes when he has no other alternative.

Nobody beats Harry in his prime (after the double whammy of his 1987 stroke and his 1993 fall in Miami, he was just never the same).

Doug

[GSWitch]

If I had to choose sports commentators...

1).  Dick Stockton; Steps in for Joe Buck (while he's doing baseball playoffs) doing the NFL with Troy & Cris.  His last CBS effort, Speed Skating @ the 1994 Winter Olympics when Dan Jansen finally triumphed.

2).  Chris Schenkel; He did do a form of a game show in 1988 when ABC Sports had a game show special, Make That Spare.

And forgive me for this choice...

3).  Tom Hammond; NBC's top commentator who does horse racing (Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont & The Breeder's Cup).

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Sep 22 2004, 05:45 PM\'] [quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Sep 22 2004, 05:34 PM\'] Musburger is a horrifyingly bad sports broadcaster [/quote]
That guy had the gig of gigs when he hosted The NFL Today. Now he's reduced to back-end college football games and the Little League World Series. That darned greed bit him on the BEE-hind in 1990 and he never bounced back. He couldn't even cut it as halftime host on Monday Night Football, from where he was bounced after one year. [/quote]
 If you can find a copy, there's a great book called The Game Behind The Game, which gives a great inside look at CBS Sports from 1981-86 from one of its executives (Musberger's ego is covered in a lot of detail--although I did meet him once in NY and he was very cordial).  It's out of print, but I believe Amazon.com has some copies available through other sellers.

Doug

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'GSWitch\' date=\'Sep 22 2004, 08:47 PM\'] 1).  Dick Stockton; Steps in for Joe Buck (while he's doing baseball playoffs) doing the NFL with Troy & Cris.  His last CBS effort, Speed Skating @ the 1994 Winter Olympics when Dan Jansen finally triumphed.
 [/quote]
 Ugh.  Stockton was very good a number of years ago, but listening to him work Chicago/Green Bay last week was painful (twice he called new Bears head coach Lovie Smith Lovie Jones).  I realize that all announcers make mistakes, but Stockton's good for a couple of misnomers/mistatements per game (which doesn't lend itself to competence in a rapid-fire question-and-answer-type game).

I'll see if he's any better on the Eagles/Bears game in a couple of weeks.

Doug

[Fedya]

Am I the only person here who can't stand Gary Thorne?  I can't stand to hear him do hockey, although that might have something to do with his "the goal light didn't go on" call in Game 7 of the Devils-Senators series two seasons back.  He just comes across as too loud, the way most sports commentators these days seem to.

[johnnya2k3]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Sep 22 2004, 02:34 PM\'] You know who would be an AWESOME host...Pat O'Brien. That guy's GOOD. [/quote]
Actually, Pat did host the unsold pilot of "The Krypton Factor" in 2000 for Fox. If it got the green light, he would've been better than Stuart Scott on Stump The Schwab.

Oh, since somebody mentioned Tom Hammond from NBC, I would throw in Dan Hicks. But let's hope and pray we don't see Al Trautwig. (By the way, this is my 100th POST!!!!!)

[whampyl03]

...[of which those of me in Chicago get blacked out; which is unfortunate because I'm not the biggest fan of Chip Caray]).

Frankly, I have had enough of Chippy for the next few lifetimes.  I personally would like to see the Trib. not renew Chip's contract for the next upcoming few years, and give the TV play-by-play job to Pat Hughes, who very rightfully deserves it.

Might as well toss Pat's right hand man Ron Santo up there as well, and make it a three man booth with Stoney.  Pat would supply the play by play, Steve would supply the color commentary (as well as the various jabs at Moises Alou), and Ron would supply everything else.

Yeah. If I hear Gary doing an NHL or college football game, I'll stop and watch.

Geez, I guess I'm not the only one.  In my opinion, Gary Thorne and Mike Emerick do fantastic jobs when it come to hockey play-by-play. (And further off topic, Is it just me, or did Mike Emerick do an excellent job with the Olympic water polo play-by-play?) But I'm getting well off on a tangent somewhere.

Anywho, I personally think that Dan Patrick would do a good job with some type of hosting gig; Bob Costas could do pretty well too, perhaps.

[Ian Wallis]

Ronnie Mac could read the phone book and I'd watch him do it. On the other hand, you're insane to even mention the other three, particulary Grapes.

There was one "Hockey Night in Canada" personality that hosted a game show...Dick Irvin, who still occasionally does spots for "HNIC", hosted a show in the '70s for CTV called "Know Your Sports".  It was on once a week and lasted about two years.

[Jimmy Owen]

I'm not as familiar with today's sportscasters, but back in the day, I thought Jim Simpson or Don Criqui might make good Q&A hosts, Bob Uecker or Warner Wolf for less serious games.

[Johnissoevil]

I know wrestling is just a form of entertainment, not a sport, but if we were to throw those commentators in there, the only two possible candidates I could see is Michael Cole (SmackDown! commentator) and Josh Matthews (Velocity commentator).  I don't know about serious Q&A game shows, but Cole and Matthews would be good for the less serious shows, such as Family Feud, Match Game, shows that fit in that category.  I can think of at least two commentators from RAW who wouldn't cut it hosting ANY game show (and get this...I prefer RAW over SD!).  Here's why:

For Jim Ross:
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are live from (Insert studio here) for (insert game show here).  Folks, we're going to have a slobberknocker on this episode!"
"You need to catch up and get in this game!  Your opponent is beating you like a government mule!"
"BY GAWD, YOU'RE GOING TO THE BONUS ROUND!"
And for if someone wins the bonus round:
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THIS WILL GO IN THE HISTORY BOOKS, FOLKS!"

For Jerry "The King" Lawler:
(When a female with big boobs is a contestant) "WHOA!  PUPPIES!"
"Wow, you're looking hot tonight!"
"We're going on to the bonus round!  It will be you two ladies in a catfight!  WHOOHOO!"
"No losers here tonight!  I think all of us men are winners, especially me, since I'm up here with these fine young ladies!"

[davemackey]

Here's the problem with today's sportscasters vs. the sportscasters we grew up with: guys like Chris Schenkel, Keith Jackson, Frank Gifford, Dick Enberg in his prime, Vin Scully, etc.: There is too much ESPN SportsCenter influence in a lot of the new guys coming up, so they feel they have to be either smartasses or prone to random vocal utterances. I can't understand the appeal of guys like Jim Rome or Jim Gray (the interviewer who blindsided Pete Rose a number of years ago) or "I, Max". Do these guys even know sports, or do they play guys who know sports on TV? The old guys knew sports and could impart their enthusiasm for same to the viewer.

That's why you could put a guy like Dick Enberg on a non-sports game show like "Baffle" and he could make it work just as good as a "traditional" game show emcee. He could break down "Baffle" to its essentials, just as though it were a UCLA basketball game. (Sadly, Enberg, now 70, couldn't work that same magic today. He's just too precious.)

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'Johnissoevil\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 04:41 AM\'] For Jerry "The King" Lawler:
(When a female with big boobs is a contestant) "WHOA!  PUPPIES!"
"Wow, you're looking hot tonight!"
"We're going on to the bonus round!  It will be you two ladies in a catfight!  WHOOHOO!"
"No losers here tonight!  I think all of us men are winners, especially me, since I'm up here with these fine young ladies!" [/quote]
 Sounds like a pig. Which means he'd probably end up with the job for shock value.

[Jay Temple]

In no particular order:

Among people who cover individual games, John Madden is the best one who would not be good on a game show.  At first, I didn't think Joe Buck would be good, but his appearances in the Leon commercials suggest that he might do okay as the straight arrow on a funny show.  (He's already under contract to Fox if What the Blank ever needs a guest host.)

I agree that Bob Costas would be good on a tough-material quizzer (J/WWTBAM).  So would Keith Olbermann.

Chris Rose (Best Damn Sports Show Period) would probably be good.