TBCB Better Off Without...

[Cap]

One thing I don't miss with TBCB is the mindless babble that often goes on between/amongst all the talking heads during a fight. Sometimes I just turn the sound off I get so sick of it. Someone should remind these guys that they aren't on radio and should let the pictures tell the story. I think it got worse when we lost Don Dunphy, Cosell, etc. and the networks decided we needed more talk so they needed to have broadcast teams. Big mistake.

Cap

[Mad Bomber]

Don Dunphy was the best at letting the picture tell the story,
and he made a seamless transition from radio to television.
I'm glad to say that in the collection of fight films that
I own thankfully I have some with Don behind the mike.


Greg

[IceTea]

Originally Posted by Cap

One thing I don't miss with TBCB is the mindless babble that often goes on between/amongst all the talking heads during a fight. Sometimes I just turn the sound off I get so sick of it. Someone should remind these guys that they aren't on radio and should let the pictures tell the story. I think it got worse when we lost Don Dunphy, Cosell, etc. and the networks decided we needed more talk so they needed to have broadcast teams. Big mistake.

Cap

Shaun O'Grady is the best I've seen since your above mentioned names. I might be in the minority, but I also like Max Kellerman. Roy Jones could nave been good if he would have been a team player and showed for production meetings and stopped mentioning his own name 98 times a round. He and O'Grady both know fighting and what the boxers were doing to set up the other guy.

MJ

[a87star]

Max Kellerman has one of the best boxing minds around today. He is articulate, intelligent, and knows the fighters. Personally I could see him replacing one of the big HBO broadcasters. Jim Lampley is one of the biggest buttkissers around. Replace him with Max and people will enjoy the broadcats much more.

[Scoman]

Originally Posted by a87star

Max Kellerman has one of the best boxing minds around today. He is articulate, intelligent, and knows the fighters. Personally I could see him replacing one of the big HBO broadcasters. Jim Lampley is one of the biggest buttkissers around. Replace him with Max and people will enjoy the broadcats much more.

I like Kellerman myself,and another guy i like is Teddy Atlas,who knows the game very well,and is not full of himself. Lampley was better in his earlier days,not sure what happen to him,i know that if i had Larry Merchant as a partner,it would probably bring me down also.

[Claybor]

Howard Cosell was one of the least knowledgable announcers I ever did see. I dont think he knew his ass from a hole in the ground about most of the sports he announced. Larry Merchant sounds like he knows what hes talking about at all times, I just dont think he watches the same fight everyone else does.

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by IceTea

Shaun O'Grady is the best I've seen since your above mentioned names. I might be in the minority, but I also like Max Kellerman. Roy Jones could nave been good if he would have been a team player and showed for production meetings and stopped mentioning his own name 98 times a round. He and O'Grady both know fighting and what the boxers were doing to set up the other guy.

MJ

I have to agree about O'Grady. I have never heard Roy in action but it sounds like he has Joe Morganitis. I guess that I should count myself fortunate.

[IceTea]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

I have to agree about O'Grady. I have never heard Roy in action but it sounds like he has Joe Morganitis. I guess that I should count myself fortunate.

I couldnt stand him (roy jones), but he had the ability to be good but likes talking about himself more. George Foreman didn't offer much either. Manny Steward is decent, he knows the sport and offers something but isn't too exciting. Teddy Atlas is really good he breaks down the sport better than anybody. The group they have doing Boxing after dark on HBO are lousy. Lewis has no voice inflection....sounds like a robot and the sidekick, host, is lousy too. Kellerman saves HBO after dark.

Give me O'Grady, Atlas, and Kellerman.

MJ

[a87star]

Originally Posted by Scoman

I like Kellerman myself,and another guy i like is Teddy Atlas,who knows the game very well,and is not full of himself. Lampley was better in his earlier days,not sure what happen to him,i know that if i had Larry Merchant as a partner,it would probably bring me down also.

I find Teddy Atlas to be very insightful, also. Being that he was a trainer, he has a ton of inside knowledge about the fight game. Lampley seems to always favor the fighter that represents HBO. He always has to have that inherent bias even if the fighter is losing. Larry Merchant is slightly skewed in that direction as well. Manny Steward is better than what he shows. Competing with Lampley and Merchant will keep you low key and quiet.

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by a87star

Jim Lampley is one of the biggest buttkissers around. Replace him with Max and people will enjoy the broadcats much more.

I wouldn't. I think Lamps is an excellent blow-by-blow guy. He talks just the right amout for my taste. Sometimes he lets the acton talk, other times he does the work. My take on some of the others that have been mentioned:

O'Grady: Good during bouts; does fairly poor interviews

Atlas: very insightful at times, but also frquently sounds like a writer on deadline at his keyboard . . . looking for the right way to say something, then starting over . . . or saying one thing, then finding a more appropriate tact . . . staring one line of thinking, then picking a different tangent . . . like when . . . Ok, ok, I'll stop now.

But he does that a lot, says the same thing 2-3 different ways in a row and sometimes I wish he'd just stop already and let the play by play guy get in a little bit, you know, about the fight in progress.

Steward: Very good in his role.

Merchant: One think you can count on is at least once a fight after Harold Lederman gives his scorecard, Larry will disagree. I'm glad his squaking with George Foreman is a thing of the past. He's past his prime, but I don't mind him.

Max: Obviously knows his stuff. The first time I saw him on an HBO PPV card his hands were visably shaking. He's getting better.

Lewis: Fair.

Dunphy: No thanks. Maybe he was past-prime, but I've seen fights where it was a one-man crew and he didn't say a damn thing for about an entire round. Contrary to what was said in the thread, I think he made a poor transition from radio to TV. But so did many who had to make the change. They went from an environment where every bit of minutiae was important to one in which everyone could see the pictures and they weren't sure what in the hell to do. It took a while for people to realize some analysis was in order.

I'll also pass on Bob Sheridan.

[CONN CHRIS]

Oh, I forgot to mention my conflicting thoughts on Cosell.

On the one hand, I like him in the same way I like Elvis. I love Elvis in an abstract shtick sort of way. I can't pass up a velvis on the street corner and count it a good day when I have the chance to see multiple impersonating Elvi. Same thing with Cosell, I love a good impersonation and always have that line "Look...at...that... little monkey go" from MNF in mind. (How he kept his job after that I'll never know).

As an actual announcer of any sport, I found him immensely annoying. A blowhard always waiting for that one moment when he would be able to pounce with just the right turn of words at just the right moment that would live in infamy and make him immortal. It made for abject over dramatization of every freaking moment of every event that he covered. The good old days of broadcasting and Cosell are mutually exclusive notions in my mind.

[Thunder]

Ok Chris, Best Elvis song?

My pick is suspicious minds.

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by Thunder

Ok Chris, Best Elvis song?

My pick is suspicious minds.

Stranger in my own Hometown off the Back in Memphis album.

That album is beyond good. He cut it in 68 or 69 when he briefly left Vegas and for a moment forgot how famous he was. Other than the early gospel and R&B stuff it is his best work by a country mile in my opinion.

Go buy the album! Quick!

[IceTea]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Oh, I forgot to mention my conflicting thoughts on Cosell.

On the one hand, I like him in the same way I like Elvis. I love Elvis in an abstract shtick sort of way. I can't pass up a velvis on the street corner and count it a good day when I have the chance to see multiple impersonating Elvi. Same thing with Cosell, I love a good impersonation and always have that line "Look...at...that... little monkey go" from MNF in mind. (How he kept his job after that I'll never know).

As an actual announcer of any sport, I found him immensely annoying. A blowhard always waiting for that one moment when he would be able to pounce with just the right turn of words at just the right moment that would live in infamy and make him immortal. It made for abject over dramatization of every freaking moment of every event that he covered. The good old days of broadcasting and Cosell are mutually exclusive notions in my mind.

* Cosell was great in the movie "Bananas".

MJ

[IceTea]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Stranger in my own Hometown off the Back in Memphis album.

That album is beyond good. He cut it in 68 or 69 when he briefly left Vegas and for a moment forgot how famous he was. Other than the early gospel and R&B stuff it is his best work by a country mile in my opinion.

Go buy the album! Quick!

* Kentucky Rain!

[Cap]

The point I was trying to make is broadcasters talk too much now. I can see the punch land. I don't need someone describing every one as though I'm blind. They talk as though they fear the dead air of radio. Let the pictures do the talking. Dunphy was great because he knew when to shut up and let the fighters fight. I don't need to know what the guys had for breakfast or what their favourite rap artist is. Teddy Atlas is a funny guy, but he rambles on. Take a breather guys! You don't have to talk all the time. Boxing is a simple sport. I don't need someone to provide me with second by second analysis. This is why I often just turn down the sound. I get so fed up with all the blah blah blah they spew. Thank gawd TBCB doesn't have actual voice commentary like that. I long for the good old days when one guy would give you a little background and the highlights of the action. I have two eyes and I have a modicum of boxing knowledge, I don't need the bafflegab.

Cap

[hamed]

I like Max & Lampley's blow by blow accounts can be exciting - I'll never forget the excitement in his voice when Oscar was finishing off Vargas.

I respect Lennox as a fighter but for a guy who's been there & was @ the top of the sport, he doesn't add many insights from a fighter's perspective. Most of his statements are so obvious - you don't have to have been a fighter to even make them.

George Foreman seems to be the fighter who's statements from a fighter's perspective are the most interesting. Atlas provides good insight as well.

[mh2365]

I have no problem with Lampley ... except his choice in women ... not a big fan of merchant ... if I had to pick a team it would be Lampley, Atlas and Kellerman with Lederman as the ringside expert

[hamed]

Originally Posted by mh2365

I have no problem with Lampley ... except his choice in women ... not a big fan of merchant ... if I had to pick a team it would be Lampley, Atlas and Kellerman with Lederman as the ringside expert

Isn't Lamp married to a woman who was/is a local TV reporter in LA?

If this is the same person, I think she has some condition where her hands are not fully developed.

[mh2365]

was married to her ... while it's nice that he overlooked her deformities ... she's still pretty gruesome

There was this new crab found a few months back that had blonde hair all over it (probably to blend with the environment) but Chick on Bob and Tom kept saying I wander if Lampley has called and asked it out yet.

**** as a side note, yes I know I am a horrible person ... I also laugh at midgets can't help it I was born bad ****