RIP Keith Jackson
- Thread starter DeanOfSelection
- Start date
RIP KJ...He's in the "Big House" now.......Keith Jackson was the Grandaddy of em' all....time for Joe Buck to step up....
In my opinion KJ was "the" voice of college football. Amazing delivery with that slight southern drawl and used phrases smooth as silk which just rolled off his tongue. Just wish I could one more time hear him say "We've got a ding-dong dilly of a barn burner here in Lincoln Nebraska!"
To me Keith Jackson was to football what Vin Scully was to baseball. I'd listen to those two guys announce a turtle race! RIP KJ.
Joe Buck is a shill for the entire crappy Fox networks. Keith Jackson was the soul of integrity. Buck's name should not be mentioned in the same sentence with Jackson's.
"Ding Dong Dilly" is an expression most closely identified with Red Rush, the great college basketball announcer. Perhaps, it was an expression in the public domain years ago,I don't know.
Rush was best know for saying (when a basket was scored) "In like Gonnella bread on your table, mom." "Or swisheroo means two!"
Relax Francis! Mentioning Buck just shows how pathetic broadcasters are today relative to someone like KJ...the greatest EVER!!...I think we're on the same page.
Many many things have changed in our society over the years. Announcers like Keith Jackson, Harry Caray, Jack Brickhouse, Dick Enberg, Vin Scully, Al Michaels and even Hawk Harrelson and so many others were so different because they brought more their personalities into the game they called which made them all unique. I don't think we see much of that today at all.
It seems, today, as if they networks are looking for some guy with a baritone voice who sounds smooth in his delivery. That is all well and good. But the thing I liked about most of the past personalities I just mentioned is and was they seem to be just talking to you. Hawk Harrelson sounds like he is in the Sox' dugout during the games. Hubris aside, I like Hawk. Harry Caray once said he announces games like a fan might because he was a fan. That showed in his play-calling. That type of thing showed in all the announcers from yesteryear.
The guys and those personalities are most likely gone forever except for the few who are still out there, Michaels, Hawk, Pat Foley of the Hawks, Doc Emerick, Sam Rosen who does the NY Rangers games and has been since the mid '80s and Bob Miller who did LA Kings games for over 40 years and just retired at the end of last season. It is sad, but it is reality.
With all that said, I think Joe Buck does an excellent job calling NFL games. I like his energy and excitement and Troy Aikman and Dan Fouts are the best analysts. In my opinion, Al Michaels is the best play by play man right now. I also would say I wasn't much of a Phil Simms fan, but it is going to take a while for Tony Romo to grow on me. I like his insight and energy as well, so we'll see.
Over all, I heard some very good NFL broadcasters out there this year. All is not lost, but times have definitely changed. Mike North recently said things have changed so much in sports. He doesn't like all the injection of politics and I couldn't agree more. I think there is a time and place for everything. North went on to say, back in his beginning, guys were talking about scores, standings, players and statistics. Now, they are talking about who was arrested and who kneels at a game. I guess he doesn't like all of that.
It seems, today, as if they networks are looking for some guy with a baritone voice who sounds smooth in his delivery. That is all well and good. But the thing I liked about most of the past personalities I just mentioned is and was they seem to be just talking to you. Hawk Harrelson sounds like he is in the Sox' dugout during the games. Hubris aside, I like Hawk. Harry Caray once said he announces games like a fan might because he was a fan. That showed in his play-calling. That type of thing showed in all the announcers from yesteryear.
The guys and those personalities are most likely gone forever except for the few who are still out there, Michaels, Hawk, Pat Foley of the Hawks, Doc Emerick, Sam Rosen who does the NY Rangers games and has been since the mid '80s and Bob Miller who did LA Kings games for over 40 years and just retired at the end of last season. It is sad, but it is reality.
With all that said, I think Joe Buck does an excellent job calling NFL games. I like his energy and excitement and Troy Aikman and Dan Fouts are the best analysts. In my opinion, Al Michaels is the best play by play man right now. I also would say I wasn't much of a Phil Simms fan, but it is going to take a while for Tony Romo to grow on me. I like his insight and energy as well, so we'll see.
Over all, I heard some very good NFL broadcasters out there this year. All is not lost, but times have definitely changed. Mike North recently said things have changed so much in sports. He doesn't like all the injection of politics and I couldn't agree more. I think there is a time and place for everything. North went on to say, back in his beginning, guys were talking about scores, standings, players and statistics. Now, they are talking about who was arrested and who kneels at a game. I guess he doesn't like all of that.
Howard Cosell? How much time do you have?
Just one man's opinion here. First of all Howard Cosell was an excellent boxing announcer. His, "down goes Frazier" call lives on. He was also ahead of his time. He loved the world of controversy and wasn't afraid to ask athletes very tough and controversial questions when pretty much no one was. For that, he was hated by many in the media and fans alike. I wasn't much of a fan of his either. He would fit right in with the media today.
But, like him or not, the guy brought in huge ratings for ABC and Monday Night Football. He was a giant in the broadcasting world in his day and achieved legendary status. I remember he used to have a two minute radio spot each morning that started with him saying "This is Howard Cosell, speaking of sports." Then he'd go into the sports news of the day.
I think people loved to hate him. To me, the man was possessed by the demons found at the bottom of the bottle. He drank before going on the air more than once and drank so much one time he wasn't allowed to go on the air. Eventually he wrote a scathing book, which I never read, in which he ripped several people he worked with. That contributed to his getting fired from ABC. At the time Al Michaels worked with him on Monday night Baseball. Michaels was happy Cosell was fired and replaced by Tim McCarver. I read Al Michaels' book "You Can't Make This Up" and it is very good.
On a side note. There used to be a guy here in Chicago named Irv Kupcinet. He had a TV show called KUP's Show in which he interviewed several people in the entertainment industry, athletes, etc. One night he had Cosell and Jack Brickhouse on at the same time and they got into a debate about Cosell's style (negative) versus the style of Brickhouse (more positive). I wish I could find the tape of it because my memory is that Brickhouse lit Cosell up in that debate. There was another time when Brickhouse debated Harry Caray on the same subject and Brickhouse took him to school too.
I think some of the hatred toward Cosell came from his relationship to Ali. He was basically Ali’s straight man and promoter. Although Ali became a beloved figure at one time he was hated by many. I always enjoyed the banter between the two and always loved Ali.
I am sure you are correct. Ali was a controversial man himself. I was going to post something about the relationship Cosell had with Ali (aka Cassius Clay) but it, most likely, would have made the post twice as long.
Brickhouse was terribly underappreciated. He was a classic, both on baseball, as well as football. He and Kup did some Bear games that will live forever.
I would agree that Brickhouse was a great announcer. But the main problem I have had with Brickhouse for many years now was outside the booth.
Some here may remember a Chicago announcer named Lloyd Pettit. He did play by play for the Hawks on WGN radio and TV in the 1960s and was absolutely outstanding. I think Pat Foley and Pettit are equal in that regard. As a matter of fact, Pettit is idolized by Foley and he always speaks highly of him. Pettit gave Foley advice to just be himself when Foley was trying to break in as an announcer. The Blackhowks song "Here Come the Hawks" has Pettit's signature line in it. "There's a shot and a goal." If you ever heard Pettit, you would never forget that excitable baritone voice.
Well, in the late 1960s the NHL wasn't broadcast nationally in the USA. When the NHL and CBS put the package together, Pettit was chosen by CBS to do the games on the national stage on Saturday afternoons. Jack Brickhouse ran WGN-TVs sports operations, would not release him from his contract to do the games. It was only once a week and Brickhouse wouldn't do it.
There was an announcer doing the Blues games by the name of Dan Kelly and after Brickhouse did what he did, Kelly got the assignment and became a hockey announcing legend and a hall of famer. I thought Kelly was very good but he was no Lloyd Pettit. Kelly's son, Dan P. Kelly, does the play by play for the Blues now and is also very good and sounds remarkably like his dad.
Anyway, the Brickhouse, Pettit situation caused a dispute which lead to the team moving to WMAQ in 1970 with Jim West doing play by play and West sucked in my opinion.
I think a lot of that whole thing was jealousy on the part of Brickhouse, as he wanted to be the number one guy. I don't think Brickhouse cared much for Harry Caray either although I could be wrong about that. Not long after Brickhouse left the Cubs, Harry Caray was doing the games and then the team went national with WGN becoming a superstation like TBS and the Braves. Caray was a national sensation.
When Brickhouse died, it was pretty much local news. But when Harry Caray died, it was national news. I can remember watching his funeral procession on CNN. All that from being a broadcaster nationally.
Similar threads
