Re: Announcers

[jmc@ptc.com (Jonathan McIntyre)]

> > >>I don't know about everyone else, but I think Cousey and Heinson are
> > terrible commentators. Heinson is not that bad, but he always
> > exaggerate. Cousey doesn't sound too exciting. I think the worst one is
> > Mike Gorman, he say some of the most non-creative, generic things...>>
 
> I pretty much agree.  Although I like Cousy better than Heinson because he
> is more honest in his comments.  If the C's stink, he pretty much says so.
> Heinson's support of Day always drove me nuts.
> 
> I like Gorman.  Keep in mind that his role is not "color man" or
> commentator, but play-by-play.  He tries to get to issues, I believe,
> although he is probably too diplomatic about it.  I've heard him try to pull
> comments out of Heinson, but Heinson just "rah-rahs" about the Celtics,
> instead of being truthful about their poor play.
 
I agree that Heinson (Heinsohn?) is way too one-sided.  He's always harping 
on the officials for missing calls that go against the Celtics.  Often
times he's clearly wrong on the replay, but he still won't admit to
it.  In addition to supporting Day too much, he was a major advocate of
Acie Earl, saying he was going to make a great NBA center, when clearly
Acie didn't have it.

Cousy's honesty is refreshing in the world of sports announcers.  He doesn't 
sugar-coat his commentary, he tells it like he sees it, and he has the ability 
to discern the good from the bad.  Sure, his voice is funny, and his
tone of voice is not exciting most of the time, but he hasn't had much
to get excited about lately.  When the C's did have brief flashes of
quality, fundamentally sound, exciting basketball last year, Cousy
*would* raise his voice and sound excited, making the impact even
greater since it wasn't the norm.  Cousy was the greatest point gaurd
of his time and has an understanding of the game that far exceeds most
NBA players or even coaches today.  I don't think he'd make that great
of a coach because he doesn't have the charisma or intensity to
motivate players, but I'd bet he'd be valuable as an assistant coach,
although he probably finds announcing more relaxing.  I hope Cousy
keeps announcing as the Celtics get better so we can hear him raise his
voice in praise some more.

I like Mike.  Gorman is like a friendly buddy coming over to watch the game 
with you.  He's clearly a fan and not a basketball insider, but he knows 
enough to do intelligent play-by-play and is not too biased in his coverage, 
giving credit to the other team's players when it's due. 

Jon McIntyre