33 replies to this topic

[mweb08]

Writers and/or TV guys

My top 5 in no real order:

Simmons: I don't always agree with him, but he has a lot of interesting takes and he's quite entertaining. Plus, he's a huge NBA guy, which is a bonus for me.

Posnanski: Tremendous writer, smart guy who is pretty advanced with his baseball thinking, and he seems to be a great guy. My one issue with him is that I think he became biased towards Paterno while writing his forthcoming book, and that led to some poor commentary on the situation, imo.

Whitlock: He's controversial, but I think he makes a lot of great points, including ones that I wouldn't otherwise think of. He's also quite entertaining on his Twitter and on his podcast.

Barkley: I've loved "Inside the NBA" for as long as I can recall and he's the biggest reason why. He usually has good analysis, but I just love how blunt he is and how he can be so funny and entertaining while being brutally honest.

Henry Abbot: There are a lot of really smart NBA writers that I like and I'm basically picking him to represent that group. Others include Hollinger, Lowe, Mannix, and Thorpe.

Some Considered: Bill James, Max Kellerman, Wilbon, Kornheiser, Van Pelt, Bomani Jones, Jonah Keri, Brian Kenney, Peter Gammons, Trent Dilfer, and Jim Palmer.

Least Favorite: Skip Bayless

[SammyBirdland]

In no particular order:

Tony Kornheiser
J. A. Adande
Bob Ryan
Kevin Blackistone
Harold Reynolds
Mitch Williams
Scott Van Pelt
Jim Palmer
Gary Thorne

[You Play to Win the Game]

I like SVP and Jaws. Outside of that, I only really pay attention to local people, Britt, Roch, Aaron Wilson, etc.

[mweb08]

I like SVP and Jaws. Outside of that, I only really pay attention to local people, Britt, Roch, Aaron Wilson, etc.

Jaws is really good too, I'd had him to my considered list.

[SBTarheel]

Great topic, Web..

1-Posnanski
2-Gammons (though he doesn't write anymore..when he did, there was no one better)
3-Simmons
4-Kornheiser
5-Cowherd

Basketball specific I really like Henry Abbott & David Thorpe.
Baseball specific I love listening to Vin Scully do the Dodger games, and Jon Miller do Giants games..Jonah Keri and Keith Law are great as well.

Not really a Football fan, but I do think Collinsworth is good, as is Jesse Palmer for college.

[Mackus]

I wish the Orioles would bring Ben McDonald in to do analysis more often. He only does it a weekend or two a year, but he's great on both TV and radio.

[Why Not?]

I increasingly don't care to hear the opinions of sportscasters.

I think 80% of expressed opinions are uninformed or underinformed BS that is only on the air to fill time between commercials. I know for a fact that ESPN talking heads don't always even believe what they are saying. Sometimes they are coached be provocative, sometimes it's just a case of needing to take the opposite position of the other guy sitting at the desk.

I'm in the sports media. Naturally, everybody wants to talk sports with me. I won't because I can't stand hearing everyone repeat verbatim whatever they heard on SportsCenter last night.

[Oriole85]

I wish the Orioles would bring Ben McDonald in to do analysis more often. He only does it a weekend or two a year, but he's great on both TV and radio.

He does ESPN College Baseball coverage, usually on ESPN U. I don't think he's been on MASN other than that "O's Legends TV series." I know he's done occasional weekend sub work on radio.

[Oriole85]

I increasingly don't care to hear the opinions of sportscasters.

I think 80% of expressed opinions are uninformed or underinformed BS that is only on the air to fill time between commercials. I know for a fact that ESPN talking heads don't always even believe what they are saying. Sometimes they are coached be provocative, sometimes it's just a case of needing to take the opposite position of the other guy sitting at the desk.

I'm in the sports media. Naturally, everybody wants to talk sports with me. I won't because I can't stand hearing everyone repeat verbatim whatever they heard on SportsCenter last night.

It's not so fun if everyone is agreeing with everyone.

[Don Quixote]

I guess not many names come to mind for me, primarily because I'm not as into sports as I was when I was younger, especially professional sports. Not much time to watch, and the increasing amounts of money involved have given me pause. Why Not? has good points. I don't remember the last time I watched an entire episode of SportsCenter, or pretty much any ESPN episodic programming, for that matter, and incendiary/bombastic offerings are too often the norm in sports media. To address the OP, though, I like Palmer and Thorne for the Os game broadcasts, and the same with Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen for their cycling coverage - Bob Roll as well. Some of the golf broadcasters are pretty good - Johnny Miller, Gary McCord, David Feherty, Nick Faldo, and others. I can hardly believe it's been a decade since Ken Venturi retired from broadcasting. Growing up, I really enjoyed listening to him. Cliff Drysdale, the McEnroe brothers, and a couple others do pretty well for tennis broadcasts. I read Gregg Easterbrook's TMQ column during football time. A few others in other sports I don't remember at the moment...oh well.

[Pedro Cerrano]

I can tolerate most all sports personalities. I don't have huge love for anyone in particular but I really like Bill Simmons (despite his fan allegiances) and Colin Cowherd. Love the Inside the NBA crew but really wish they'd replace Shaq with Chris Webber (who is sneaky good). Also really like Chris Broussard after the NBA lock out stuff which I think he did a great job covering.

My can't stand list is fairly long but the ultimate 3 are Tony Kornheiser, Stephen A. Smith and the president of the group, Skip Bayless.

[Why Not?]

It's not so fun if everyone is agreeing with everyone.

You're absolutely right, of course.

But that's where reporting and analysis of sports becomes something very different than originally intended. If I want contrived conflict and finely-crafted "personalities" I'll watch American Idol.

(tells kids to get off his lawn, shuffled back into house)

[SBTarheel]

I can tolerate most all sports personalities. I don't have huge love for anyone in particular but I really like Bill Simmons (despite his fan allegiances) and Colin Cowherd. Love the Inside the NBA crew but really wish they'd replace Shaq with Chris Webber (who is sneaky good). Also really like Chris Broussard after the NBA lock out stuff which I think he did a great job covering.

My can't stand list is fair long but the ultimate 3 are Tony Kornheiser, Stephen A. Smith and the president of the group, Stephen A. Smith.

This.

Webber has been particularly awesome during the summer league games..

Yes, I watch a lot of the Summer league.

[glenn__davis]

I increasingly don't care to hear the opinions of sportscasters.

I think 80% of expressed opinions are uninformed or underinformed BS that is only on the air to fill time between commercials. I know for a fact that ESPN talking heads don't always even believe what they are saying. Sometimes they are coached be provocative, sometimes it's just a case of needing to take the opposite position of the other guy sitting at the desk.

I'm in the sports media. Naturally, everybody wants to talk sports with me. I won't because I can't stand hearing everyone repeat verbatim whatever they heard on SportsCenter last night.

Yeah, once I learned this truth, I really stopped paying attention to sports commentators.

One guy I will add that I enjoy listening to and having seen listed yet is Doug Gottlieb. He's really good when it comes to college b-ball and I find him to be pretty funny.

[SportsGuy]

There are a lot of guys that I will listen to mostly because I think they have a good show(like Mike and Mike for example) or have good sources and therefore, some info that I want to hear...But there are very few who I really respect for their knowledge/analysis.

Dilfer, Jaws, Kiper and Bilas are 4 guys that really jump out to me as people I really enjoy listening to and respect the hell out of.

Timmy K has always been my favorite baseball media member.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Yea can't believe I forgot Bilas. Easily my favorite college bball analyst, maybe my favorite basketball analyst overall.

Football guys, there are just so many but for some reason I really enjoy Gruden and Collinsworth on Monday and Sunday Nights respectively. They offer some pretty awesome insight on stuff that I'd normally miss.

For example, after a key pass, Collinsworth will go back to the telestrator and key in on the right guard or something that I normally would have totally missed.

This is what I dislike about Kornheiser. He doesn't really know sports. You could ask him "hey, Tony, what do you think about the Nationals shutting down Strasburg, with his K rate this year, you'd think that his arm is holding up just fine, right?"

And he'd say something like "well, I'm so OLD that I'd have to be shut down!"

It's nonsense.

[DJ MC]

I'm stunned that there is this much support for Colin Cowherd.

[Pedro Cerrano]

I know he makes fun of "stat nerds" (which I'd imagine you have a problem with) but I find his show entertaining and his takes on things interesting.

[mweb08]

I'm stunned that there is this much support for Colin Cowherd.

SportsNation was/is a relatively entertaining show, but I think a lot of that was due to the format and Michelle Beadle.

As far as the radio show, I neither liked or disliked what I heard of it. It's been a long time since I've listened.

[DJ MC]

I know he makes fun of "stat nerds" (which I'd imagine you have a problem with) but I find his show entertaining and his takes on things interesting.

I've always found him to be the bastard love child of Skip Bayless and Jim Rome, but without any of the self-awareness that even someone like Bayless has. He is the ultimate example of the type of personality that has driven me away from talk radio almost entirely.