The Wall Street Journal conducted a fascinating, yet highly tedious, study on Major League Baseball announcers recently. Writer David Biderman, watched every team's home broadcast, and for a half inning he tallied how many words each announcer spoke. After that he average that out to words per minute to come up with your winners....or losers depending on how you look at it....

Vin Scully (Dodgers)- 143.51
Dan McLaughlin (Cardinals)- 109.93
Bob Carpenter (Nationals)- 102.33
George Grande (Reds)- 102.06
Daron Sutton (Dbacks)- 100.36
Ryan Lefebvre (Royals)- 96.71
Brian Anderson (Brewers)- 96.06
Dick Bremer (Twins)- 94.81
Bill Brown (Astros)- 89.11
Dave Niehaus (Mariners)- 84.14
Tom McCarthy (Phillies)- 82.97
Don Orsillo (Red Sox)- 81.73
Tim Neverett (Pirates)- 81.55
Chip Caray (Braves)- 78.70
Drew Goodman (Rockies)- 78.51
Rich Waltz (Marlins)- 78.08
Mario Impemba (Tigers)- 75.39
Michael Kay (Yankees)- 73.40
Gary Cohen (Mets)- 73.04
Matt Underwood (Indians)- 72.02
Len Kasper (Cubs)- 71.5
Ken Harrelson (White Sox)- 70.98
Josh Lewin (Rangers)- 70.57
Dewayne Staats (Rays)- 69.69
Steve Physioc (Angels)- 68.26
Gary Thorne (Orioles)- 66.97
Glen Kuiper (Athletics)- 65.00
Jamie Campbell (Blue Jays)- 62.66
Mark Neely (Padres)- 61.64
Duane Kuiper (Giants)- 55.44

Obviously there are a handful of factors that go into this number, but the main one is how much each PbPer's color analyst talks. Vin Scully obviously doesn't have one at all, which is why he's at the top, but the rest of this sort of makes sense. At least it does in my market, where Gary Thorne's analyst (Jim Palmer), doesn't ever shut up.

Meet Baseball's Chattiest TV Announcers (Wall Strett Journal)

It's rare that I go with straight audio on the site, but this clip is so hilarious that I had to share it. Larry Brown Sports came across the audio from last night's Heat-Hawks game, and you just have to listen to Hawks' announcer, Steve Holman go off on Dwyane Wade.

My personal favorite was obviously the, “You can’t foul me when I go to the basket, I’m Dwyane Wade. I do commercials," one. However, using the word thuggery in a sentence is always a plus as well. Too funny.

Hawks Announcer Makes Fun of Dwyane Wade, Goes Berserk on Miami Heat (Larry Brown Sports)

One of AA's favorite announcers, the homerific Jack Edwards, was interviewed by Puck The Media, and not only did he say that he thinks ESPN won't give Hockey a good run, but he even called Disney execs "bozos". Here's a section of the interview....

Jack Edwards: We went from Toronto to Philadelphia, we were in (Bruins radio play-by-play man) Dave Goucher's room, having a couple cold ones. Now, the Sweet 16 is going on in college basketball at the same time, the only hockey we saw in the entire sportscast of "SportsCenter" was about 45 seconds of the UNH-North Dakota game, which was the one UNH tied with one-tenth of a second to go, that went into Overtime. That was 56 minutes into the telecast. There was nothing on the NHL in the entire show.

So, for those of you that hope that hockey gets back on ESPN, that's what you're gonna' get.

That's where it belongs in ESPN's hierarchy, because there are some bozos sitting in the accounting department in a bunker in Burbank, California running Disney, who look at the numbers and completely ignore the passion of hockey fans. They say "Poker gets better ratings because we can attract more compulsive gamblers to the screen than we can passionate hockey fans, so just for the sake of that number, we're gonna' run poker instead of hockey. We're gonna run women's basketball instead of hockey."

We saw highlights of the Division II NCAA basketball championship, we didn't see a single NHL highlight in that entire "SportsCenter". Case closed.

PTM: Well Jack, you're gonna' be a big hero to a lot of hockey fans when this goes up...

JE: I'm not a hero, I'm just telling you the facts. I mean, that's what it is and you know, this whole idea that hockey will do better if you put it back on ESPN is a delusion. It is completely delusionary [sic]. It's more convenient, certainly. But it's not going to be better for the sport, because it's going to be behind golf, it's going to be behind women's basketball and, you know, I'm not dissing those sports.

I'm not sure if I exactly believe all of that, but it certainly could be turn out to be true if the "Leader" gets Hockey back. Hockey ratings aren't anything to right home about, but the NBA hasn't been faring all that well either. There has to be a way to capture the extreme passion that Hockey fans have, but a network hasn't pulled that off besides the Winter Classic on NBC.

And just for good measure, here's Edwards giving it to Sean Avery over the weekend....



Puck the Media’s Interview with Jack Edwards (Puck the Media)
Jack Edwards says ESPN boosting NHL's fortunes is 'delusional' (Puck Daddy)

NESN's Jack Edwards, has been redefining homerism as of late, and today we have yet another fine addition to his resume. During yesterday's Flyers-Bruins game, Milan Lucic sent Philly's Randy Jones into the boards with a huge hit, and Edwards handled the situation the only way he knows how. By laughing maniacally!

Muhahahaha! Obviously there is some history between the two teams, Jones knocked out Bruins center Patrice Bergeron with a dirty hit in 2006, but that's just about as over-the-top as it gets.

Video: Bruins announcer laughs manically at hit against Flyers (Puck Daddy)

NESN's Jack Edwards has been making headlines this year with his over-the-top calls, and now thanks to a Bruins Forum, he has his own game.


Looks fun! I don't know how many of you get the NHL plan, but if you do and want to try the game out tonight, let me know how it goes.

Jack Edwards hockey bingo: For the cliché lover in you (Puck Daddy)

A Columbus radio station, that has on ESPN analysts as regular guests, has been talking all week about the upcoming UM-OSU game. They've had both Chris Spielman (OSU alum) and Desmond Howard (UM alum) on in the past few days, and both have pulled no punches in laying into the team and the coaching staff....

Desmond Howard- "That would be the popular thinking after watching them lose eight games this season, and the way they've lost some of those games. I made a comment (Sunday) on our show that it's not like they were trying to learn a spread offense (as much as) like they were trying to learn how to play football in some of those games, they looked so bad. This isn't Michigan, this is like Michigan Tech.

"I said, 'If they win six games, Rich Rod is one of the best coaches in college football.' Then I said, 'If they win seven, he has to be finalist for the best coach in college football, if they win eight, he is the best coach in college football.' I expected them to struggle.

"Now, there's a way to lose, and there's a way to look embarrassing. Earlier in the season, when guys couldn't field kickoffs, that to me that goes beyond coaching.

"There's a lot of blame to go around, so Rich Rodriguez, and (defensive coordinator) Scott Shafer and the rest of the coaching staff -- those guys definitely have to shoulder some of the blame, there's no doubt about that. But as a player, you have to have some pride to go out on the field and do certain things that show you're a football player."

Chris Spielman- "[The Wolverines] stink, they're not very good. They don't play offense ... they can't run it consistently, they can't throw it consistently, they can't stop the run, they're not very good defending the pass, they're not very good covering kicks, they're not very good returning kicks."

"I love seeing them beaten down, man. It's great."

Well how's that for journalistic integrity? I understand the rivalry and the hatred, but saying you love seeing them "beaten down", is just a little over-the-top if you ask me. I think Herbstreit has always taken the right approach when he discusses the two teams, and there's always going to be some level of love for your school, but let's tone it down some there, Chris.

ESPN should probably keep Chris Spielman away from Michigan games from now on (Dr. Saturday)
Howard: 'This isn't Michigan' (Detroit Free Press)
Desmond Howard Interview (1460 The Fan)

Former ESPN Sports Center Anchor, Jack Edwards has been the Bruins play-by-play guy for a few years now, so you could understand some level of attachment to the team. On Saturday though, he was probably a bit over-the-top. The Bruins were in the midst of a handful of fights following several cheap shots by the Dallas Stars, and for eight minutes, Jack completely loses it. Watch for such highlights as Edwards calling a player a "scud", the announcer mentioning the Hanson Brothers and actually using the words, "having his kisser rearranged"....

While there were a lot of cheap shots in there, calling players cowards and flipping out like that was just a little too much. I've gotten a few emails saying people complained to NESN, so Jack just might want to reel it in a bit.

Jack Edwards Enjoys Hockey, Beating Up Dallas Stars (Puck The Media)

Troy Aikman made an appearance on Boomer Esiason's MSG show last night and the two former QBs wasted no time in addressing the topic of their feud over the past few weeks. Via Barry Horn at the Dallas Morning News....

Boomer: "All right, joining us now is my new bias, I mean best friend, Troy Aikman from Dallas. First let me say this publicly Troy, in front of everybody: I do apologize for our little tiff about two weeks ago. I'm sure your week has been a little calmer than it was two weeks ago."

Aikman: "Yeah, you know it was a bit calmer and hey, I appreciate it. We both know we've been in the business long enough, we say things we regret, maybe wish we hadn't have. I will tell you though, for a couple of old, washed-up, has-been quarterbacks, it was kind of nice being back in the headlines again."

Boomer: "Yeah, it made us relevant, for all the wrong reasons, though."

Well isn't that special? See how boring things are when people are nice to each other??? Get back to talking trash and the accusations you two! Seriously though, I'm surprised that Aikman isn't holding a bit of a grudge because in the broadcasting world, the homerism claim is about as serious as it gets. He's a bigger man than I.

I'll also try and find the video at some point to see if there was actual kissing. Glad that's over....I can finally get some sleep.

Esiason to Aikman: "I do apologize" (Sports Media Blog)

I meant to get this up last Friday, but for some reason Comcast Cable decided to randomly shut my service off for a day and a half. Boomer Esiason finally addressed the "Esiason Affair" at the end of last week and ultimately stood by his comments on Troy Aikman (as he should have). The topic of the "raging debate" came up on PTI on Thursday evening, and Boomer and radio host Craig Carton decided to listen to that audio and comment on the whole
"affair" after the clip.

I agree with just about everything on Boomer's end, buuuuut the part where he and Carton question why Aikman is so pissed. I don't believe he's trying to be pro-Cowboy, but rather that it just comes out from time to time. I think him firing back shows that he certainly tries to not favor the team, and if someone called me out like that....I'd have done the same thing.

Neither Boomer or Aikman mentioned the debate on-air yesterday (not that they should have), so that's probably the last we'll (and you'll) hear about this.

PTI on the "Esiason Affair" (WFAN)

I honestly thought that Troy Aikman did a pretty good job of keeping the pro-Cowboys talk down during the Redskins game, and maybe it's because he knows people are paying attention, but last Sunday's call was just way heavy with praise for Dallas. You wouldn't have even known the Cardinals were playing if it was just the audio of the game, and apparently I'm not the only person who thought so.

Boomer Esiason was on WEEI's Dennis and Callahan Show yesterday to talk all things Football, and he pulled no punches with bringing up the FOX analyst....

I couldn't agree more, but there are two really interesting things that this little tiff brings up. First, is that you rarely here two ex-players from the same position ever call each other out. As if that wasn't enough, it's almost equally as rare that an analyst would even bring up another analyst's name up. Nevermind the fact that he works for a rival network.

With that said, I'm all for people holding each other accountable in the Sports Media World. Buck and Aikman have honestly improved as a team, but they seem to regress every time they call a Cowboys' game. Another Cowboy, Daryl Johnston, is calling the Dallas-Rams this week, but he'll more than likely be on the call for weeks 8 (TB-DAL) and 9 (DAL-NYG).

Dennis and Callahan: Boomer Esiason (WEEI)

(Thanks to AJ for the link)

Over the years, Hawk Harrelson has some crazy things when it comes to his White Sox. Being the most homerific announcer in Baseball doesn't help things and neither does blaming the teams road woes on varying sound waves within certain stadiums. From Sox Machine via Big League Stew

Hawk (revealed his) totally insane theory on how home field advantage is grounded in the way that sound waves affect the subconscious minds of players.

According to Hawk, who stated that he has been formulating this theory for thirty years, the subconscious 'eats whatever the conscious feeds it,' and when the sound waves in a stadium "bounce around" the inside of a player's skull, it creates "positive vibes" or "negative vibes," depending on whether that player is home or away. There you have it folks--the science of home field advantage.

Now I don't know the intricacies of how these elements (vibes, sound waves, the conscious and subconscious mind) interact — perhaps I wasn't listening closely enough — but Hawk rambled on about this for the duration of half an inning. The hilarious part is the fact that this wasn't enough for DJ, who, after a commercial break, brought it up again and asked Hawk to delve deeper into his theory. "Now I don't know anything about sound waves," Hawk clarified before summarizing his theory once again. Really, Hawk? No formal training in acoustics? He was probably too busy studying how the conscious "feeds the subconscious." Whatever, though. I was just waiting for Hawk to command DJ to board the Spruce Moose at gunpoint.

Wow. I don't even know where to even start with that one. I mean noises can obviously distract players, but "positive and negative vibes" whether you're on the road? That's a little too "New Wave" for me. Hopefully Steve Stone can rein Hawk in a bit next season before he starts wearing tin-foil hats into the booth.

Hawk Harrelson believes 'sound' is key to winning and losing (Big League Stew)
Four goats feeding on plastic grass (Sox Machine)

The chatter last week was about Erin Andrews and Kirk Herbstreit's allegiances when covering College Football, but I think everyone completely forgot about Bob Griese. The team of Brad Nessler, Griese and Paul Maguire were at Purdue when the stadium decided to get Bob to get his alma mater hyped before the fourth quarter. Here's the video evidence via Brahsome....

Wow. That's just about as over-the-top as it gets. The worst part is that Oregon ended up twelve points to Oregon's six in the fourth and beat the Boilermakers after being down fourteen in the first quarter.

Bob Griese Is an Impartial Announcer, Clearly (Brahsome)
On Favoritism In Broadcasting (Awful Announcing)

This comes up every year when one fanbase decides that so and so announcer didn't treat their team with respect during a blowout or an upset win. The notion that an announcer or journalist should immediately drop their allegiances with a school or Sports team is something that has always bugged me.

Well recently two of ESPN's more highly profiled employees felt the need to defend themselves in the press after allegations of bias littered the Internet. Via the Florida Times-Union comes Erin Andrews' defense and via the USA Today comes Kirk Herbsreit's rebuttal....

Erin Andrews: "I was upset when I heard this was an issue," Andrews said in a phone interview with the Times-Union. "I'm no dummy. I know people look at me in a different way. I know there's people when I go back to Florida, they say, 'Aha, she's biased [toward UF].' But there's an absolute separation between my feeling for the school and my reporting. If I once showed favoritism [on the air] or acted out in a biased way, [ESPN] would get rid of me in a minute." (Editor's Note: I seriously doubt that)

Kirk Herbstreit: "But I'm paid to have an objective viewpoint," he says. "I work so hard, I work so hard during games that I don't have a rooting interest."

He realizes that "you can't please everybody" but is understandably proud that he manages to do that even with fans of archrival Michigan: "I can't tell you have often I hear from Michigan fans — it's probably 100-1 — that even though I'm a Buckeye, they say they appreciate my objectivity."

Still, Herbstreit acknowledges the obvious, that he can't escape being "human." He doesn't make on-air pregame picks on games he's calling. (In the wake of Ohio State's lackluster win against Ohio last week, he will say that the "Buckeyes have been bored the past two weeks. If they lose against USC, it won't be because of how they played Ohio.")

It has to be extremely hard to not root for a team you actually played for, but I think most broadcasters do a great job of not going over-the-top with it. As long as someone is professional on-air, I could care less what they do off the clock. Now if we're talking about Al Michaels and his penchant for rooting for teams he's presumably wagered on....that's a completely different story.

Herbstreit puts aside Buckeye pride (USA Today)
Andrews' objective: Silence accusations about bias (Florida Times-Union)
Erin Andrews Quells Rumors of Florida Favoritism (Sports By Brooks)

It's no secret that I have been fawning over Bela Karolyi these Olympics. I think he's fun, boisterous and genuinely loves the Sport he covers. He's gotten some criticism for rooting for the Americans too much and he and Costas addressed that in a phone interview with The New York Times....

“I think people are getting a kick out of him,” Costas said by telephone early Sunday. “He’s provocative and entertaining. What else do you want?”

Karolyi is the only partner Costas has ever worked with, in a studio or at a game, about whom Costas reminds viewers, jokingly, about his lack of objectivity.

“I believe I try very hard not to go overboard or to step overboard,” Karolyi said, on the phone with Costas after the Tuesday night prime-time show ended. “But I must clear the air. You can’t let injustices go unnoticed. You have to fight. You have to take a stand.”

And when Liukin was performing her floor exercise during the individual all-round, Costas introduced video of Karolyi’s reactions as he watched the routine. NBC has not shown any other video like it, but Costas said there have been more moments of subjective, off-air reaction. “I’ve got the bruises,” he said. “He’s a hugger. He gives you the fist in the elbow or in the shoulder.”

If Karolyi were not working for NBC, how would he react? “I’d elbow the television set,” Karolyi said. “That would be my best friend.”

Again, I see nothing wrong with the way that he's been covering the Games as an American for an American network. Somebody seriously needs to add Bela to other sports throughout the year. I know one guy at NBC he could replace for Sunday Night Football this very year!

Karolyi Puts the Color in Color Commentary (NY Times)

Darrell Green is by far my favorite Football player to ever play the game, but yesterday was all about Art Monk. I think this four minute standing ovation shows exactly how every Football fan feels about his entrance into the Hall....

Congrats Art....it's about damn time.

I absolutely can't stand Hawk as an announcer but the guy sure is crazy enough to give one hell of an interview. The White Sox play by play man did a piece for the Chicago Sun-Times and here's a snippet....

I've called 4,500 ball games -- at least.

I was blessed to know Howard Cosell and Curt Gowdy. In separate conversations, they both told me the same thing -- don't ever try to please everybody. And I don't. My detractors? I've been around too long to let it bother me.

Put it on the boooard . . . Yes! just evolved. I was playing a PGA tournament and birdied a tough par 3. The guy working the scoreboard was reading a book, so I yelled, "Hey, put it on the board." One day at the old ballpark, somebody hit a home run and I said, "You can put it on the boooard . . . Yes." That's where it came from.

He gone! Grab some bench! Can-o-corn. All the phrases from my baseball vernacular are things I said when I played.

Can-o-corn is an expression used by old storekeepers 60 years ago. They'd have aprons on and use a hook to pull the can of corn off the shelf and catch it in their aprons. Easy catch.

The Cubs-Sox rivalry is huge. I get goosebumps just thinking about teeing it up.

Lou Piniella is one of my dear friends. I just want to kick his ass.

Annnnnnnnnd, Scene! Oh why not....one more line....

When I say, "This ball game is ovaah," that means we won.

And that my friends is Hawk Harrelson in his own words. Kicking ass and taking names baby! I always love the stories about how the White Sox decided to make him a General Manager in 1986. He spent his days on the Golf course, fired both Tony LaRussa and Dave Dombrowski and traded Bobby Bonilla for Jose DeLeon. Now that's a hell of a year.

Ken "Hawk" Harrelson (Sun-Times)

Well here's an interesting twist to the whole "NBA is Fixed"/Tim Donaghy mess. I don't know if this is a David Stern inspired angle but Dan Wetzel has decided to talk to David Stern about that local announcers might have a role in this whole NBA mess.

“Sometimes you listen to a game from both (local) feeds and you’d think you were listening to completely different games,” NBA commissioner David Stern said Thursday.

The way the NBA is consumed by fans is mostly on the local level, either via television or radio. Night after night these days, fans hear that their team is being jobbed by officials; not just losing out on all 50-50 calls or the unfortunate victims of human error but downright cheated out of victories.

“I would say that there’s a lot of officiating done by local announcers,” Stern said

The broadcasters didn’t cause Tim Donaghy, the FBI investigation or the NBA’s current challenge with conspiracy catcalls from fans. The NBA has issues it needs to address; in some ways the league had made its own trouble.

But in a number of markets, the announcers create a distrusting environment. While there are plenty of exceptions, on many broadcasts objectivity isn’t a concern. Bias may come more from the color commentator, often a former player, and not the straighter play-by-play person, but the result is the same.

I urge you to read the whole article because it's a great read, and Wetzel even got some great quotes from Mike Breen regarding the issue. I find it hard to believe that local announcers could have any lasting effect in regards to the refereeing issue, but I guess anything is possible these days. Sure homeristic announcers put some spin on the game, but most (not all) NBA fans are smart enough to pick out these moments.

In the end David Stern just has to suck it up and get a third party to address it. Everyone knows this but it seems as if the NBA is too stubborn to admit it. I really hope this isn't just a diversionary tactic because as much as I pick on homer announcers they're there for a reason. Fans identify with them and at this point no ref should be getting the benefit of the doubt.

Refs caught in crosshairs of biased announcers (Yahoo)

I guess it's the person saying the quote (not the quote itself that he gets wrong), but this was hilarious none-the-less. The O's and Yanks were in the midst of a homerun battle and the Orioles had comeback from down four once and were trying to do it again. Luke Scott came up after a Melvin Mora homerun and nails a pitch to centerfield.

Listen closely as Thorne, first goes crazy, and then tries to use the crowd in his call....

I can't stop laughing after that for some reason. Okay, a couple of things. First, if Luke Scott actually hit it back near the scoreboard at Camden Yards it would be somewhere around 550ft. Second, as every 80s nerd knows Darth Vader never would have said, "May the Force be with you."

I love how he starts the quote and then trails off at the end because he knows he screwed it up. Good stuff as always from the ever-clueless Thorne.

Everyone knows about my love for WCBS Announcers John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman. Well John Sterling is at it again my friends and this one will crack you up. Via the XMFan.com forum....

Can you tell Robinson Cano and Jose Molina apart? Apparently John "I Am Legend" Sterling cannot. In the midst of the eighth inning rally today, he started with his "Robbie Cano, don't you know" and "a ribbie from Robbie" bullshit when the Yanks scored the go ahead run. The only trouble was that Jose Molina was the hero with his two out double.

Too bad we have an announcer more concerned with his self-made legacy than with calling a good game. What a dick.

Oh you don't believe the submitter? How about some audio and video???

The best part of the whole thing is not only that he mentioned Molina two seconds before the pitch, but that he freaked out the at-bat before when Cano hit the sacrifice fly to tie the game. I can understand getting lost during a game but to add a homertastic freak out on top of it is just unbelievable. Too funny.

(Many thanks to J from Vegas Watch for the tip.)

So AC Milan beat Inter Milan yesterday in Italian League play, and I'm pretty sure this announcer is still yelling about it. Via Rizzo Sports.....

Milan 2-1 Inter commentaire Italien
by t_m

And you get upset when Hawk Harrelson yells, "You can put it on the board. YES!" That guy just doesn't care. That guy next to him doesn't look the least bit excited.

AC Milan Wins (Rizzo Sports)