[81alum]

I often turn off the TV commentary and listen to Kevin Dana.  He uses an old fashioned radio announcing personality--where you have to inject enthusiasm into your voice to give a blind game a sense of life.  What I like about his announcing is not the excessive dramatic interpretation he uses, though, but the fact that he actually calls the game.  He knows who every player is and describes the action completely.  He is a better radio than TV announcer for this reason.  A few of you might remember the days when some games were only available on radio!  His pregame interviews with Tara often elicit meaningful information.

In contrast, the 2 ESPN announcers when Tara broke her record did not know who all the players were and spent many minutes talking about things other than the action on the court.  Some of that was justified given Tara's accomplishment, but they just let the teams run up and down the court while they held their Tara praise chat--at times the game was merely a backdrop.

Blount and Murphy are my favorite TV announcers since they also call the game and teach a bit more about how to appreciate it with each broadcast.  Murphy has always seemed close to Tara and sometimes a bit pro-Stanford, but in the Oregon game she went the other way a bit.

Walton I can take or leave.  I do get tired of him after one game, but if I only had to listen to him once a year he wouldn't be too bad.  Blowhards are just that way.

[81alum]

I often turn off the TV commentary and listen to Kevin Dana.  He uses an old fashioned radio announcing personality--where you have to inject enthusiasm into your voice to give a blind game a sense of life.  What I like about his announcing is not the excessive dramatic interpretation he uses, though, but the fact that he actually calls the game.  He knows who every player is and describes the action completely.  He is a better radio than TV announcer for this reason.  A few of you might remember the days when some games were only available on radio!  His pregame interviews with Tara often elicit meaningful information.

In contrast, the 2 ESPN announcers when Tara broke her record did not know who all the players were and spent many minutes talking about things other than the action on the court.  Some of that was justified given Tara's accomplishment, but they just let the teams run up and down the court while they held their Tara praise chat--at times the game was merely a backdrop.

Blount and Murphy are my favorite TV announcers since they also call the game and teach a bit more about how to appreciate it with each broadcast.  Murphy has always seemed close to Tara and sometimes a bit pro-Stanford, but in the Oregon game she went the other way a bit.

Walton I can take or leave.  I do get tired of him after one game, but if I only had to listen to him once a year he wouldn't be too bad.  Blowhards are just that way.