Who is the worst announcer?

I think Sid Waddell (sp?) is completely entertaining in every way.

As far as the US commentary goes, there aren't many that ARE good. Mitch Lawrence isn't that great because he doesn't know a lot about the game. Maybe he does, but if he does, he dummies up the commentary perhaps to get his co-commentators to explain why things are being done.

Eva is mediocre and, as far as pros adding their input, she's probably the best. Jeanette is awful. And listening to Allen Hopkins can be painful.
 
Some of my favorites both on and off TAR are:

Sarah Rousey
Jay Helfert
Jerry Forsythe
Chris Bartram
Ronnie Wiseman
Scott Frost
Billy Incardona. I managed to miss him when I first posted. Dont know how. I could listen to him read the phone book. One of the greats.

I like Allen Hopkins best out of all the ESPN crew. Mitch Lawrence is a super nice guy but I don't dig his commentary. Same with Jim Wyche. Sid Wadell makes me want to scrape out my eyes with a dull rake.

This thread made me think of some of the funnier exchanges in the booth at TAR events. One of my favorites I just heard when cutting the Schmidt vs Harriman 14.1 set.

Nasty is in the booth and his partner leaves for a minute....Tony Chohan sits in the booth and here is the exchange:

Nasty: "I would like to welcome my large terroristic friend to the booth."

Choan: "Thank you."

LOL...cracks me up thinking about it. The other good Nasty quote was from the SVB/Frost match when he was talking about Shane's Cuetec:

Nasty: "Man that cue is shiny. When he spins it it looks like a bass fishing lure."


Damn I almost forgot the best commentator in the world: The Sleeve.
 
Last edited:
I'm surprised no one said Jim Wych...seriously, the content and tone that guy represents. Every match that guy announces, apparently, is the same.

I love the old Grady on Accustats, and Jay Helfert on the old Youtube.

Inside Pool should do an interview on that guy!
 
I cant stand Robin Dodson. She has to explain EVERYTHING!!!! Jeanette is not that bad. Mitch does seem a little slow in pool knowledge. Who was the asian guy that commented with mark wilson in the color of money match, he sucked too, spoke good english though!
 
i don't know about the worst................

Recently I watched the race to 100 between Shane and Alex and I must say everybody did a great job. I especially liked Ken Schuman and Jay Helfert.
Scott Frost seemed quick to criticize Shane, and at times was very sarcastic. I wonder if he has something against him.
Fred Agnir said something strange one point during the match. Shane was up by like 20 games; at the table he shoots a pretty difficult safety to put the cueball 3 rails behind a ball. It didn't quite get there. Fred then says that Shane needs to go to pool school and that he's playing terribly tonight. But then a few seconds later he says that Shane was playing the best 10-ball he had ever seen. WTH?
 
Impact Blue said:
I'm surprised no one said Jim Wych...seriously, the content and tone that guy represents. Every match that guy announces, apparently, is the same.

I love the old Grady on Accustats, and Jay Helfert on the old Youtube.

Inside Pool should do an interview on that guy!
Click to expand...

No one has mentioned Jim Wych because he's good and a great guy.
 
Wazuela said:
Fred Agnir said something strange one point during the match. Shane was up by like 20 games; at the table he shoots a pretty difficult safety to put the cueball 3 rails behind a ball. It didn't quite get there. Fred then says that Shane needs to go to pool school and that he's playing terribly tonight. But then a few seconds later he says that Shane was playing the best 10-ball he had ever seen. WTH?
Click to expand...

I certainly won't deny saying it, since it gets late in Vegas, but I can't believe I'd ever say such a thing with any sort of seriousness. Surely the rest of the race to 100 match would have confirmed that? Especially if after a few seconds, I said that he was playing the best 10-ball I had ever seen.

Fred <~~~ maybe irony isn't obvious
 
Last edited:
JCIN said:
Some of my favorites both on and off TAR are:

Sarah Rousey
Jay Helfert
Jerry Forsythe
Chris Bartram
Ronnie Wiseman
Scott Frost

I like Allen Hopkins best out of all the ESPN crew. Mitch Lawrence is a super nice guy but I don't dig his commentary. Same with Jim Wyche. Sid Wadell makes me want to scrape out my eyes with a dull rake.

This thread made me think of some of the funnier exchanges in the booth at TAR events. One of my favorites I just heard when cutting the Schmidt vs Harriman 14.1 set.

Nasty is in the booth and his partner leaves for a minute....Tony Chohan sits in the booth and here is the exchange:

Nasty: "I would like to welcome my large terroristic friend to the booth."

Choan: "Thank you."

LOL...cracks me up thinking about it. The other good Nasty quote was from the SVB/Frost match when he was talking about Shane's Cuetec:

Nasty: "Man that cue is shiny. When he spins it it looks like a bass fishing lure."


Damn I almost forgot the best commentator in the world: The Sleeve.
Click to expand...

***cough, cough*** Hi Justin!:D
 
My vote goes to the tandem of Mitch and Ewa...unlistenable.

I've got one hole tape of corey vs shannon with Johnny Ervolino as the commentator and although I like what he has to say his constant wheezing and hacking into the mike made me turn the sound down. I realize he's was a legend but on that particular day he needed cough drops and not a microphone for sure.
 
Some of your favorites, may not be the favorites of others.

So with that being said...Jim Wyche and Sid Wadell are two of my least favorites when it comes to pool commentating!! :mad:

Great guys when not doing it, but just not my cup of tea when they are.

I think Kim Davenport does real well.
 
Cornerman said:
I certainly won't deny saying it, since it gets late in Vegas, but I can't believe I'd ever say such a thing with any sort of seriousness. Surely the rest of the race to 100 match would have confirmed that? Especially if after a few seconds, I said that he was playing the best 10-ball I had ever seen.

Fred <~~~ maybe irony isn't obvious
Click to expand...

I thought you did a great job, it's just that comment was a little strange. But hey I understand, it was late and you were probably a little tired.
Don't worry, I make strange comments all the time, luckily they are never caught on tape!
 
easy-e said:
***cough, cough*** Hi Justin!:D
Click to expand...

Damn.

The shear awesomeness of your commentary skillz made me forget about you. My bad yo.

LOL...you talking to Nasty on the Bartram/Moore match is pretty hilarious.
 
SpinDoctor said:
My vote goes to the tandem of Mitch and Ewa...unlistenable.

I've got one hole tape of corey vs shannon with Johnny Ervolino as the commentator and although I like what he has to say his constant wheezing and hacking into the mike made me turn the sound down. I realize he's was a legend but on that particular day he needed cough drops and not a microphone for sure.
Click to expand...

I had the same tape. I think it was the one where Corey was using the 8 ball break and ended up beating Shannon.

I was in the same boat the wheezing had me completely on tilt. Since then I have been on the production end and had some of our stuff tilt me too. :D
 
Cornerman said:
I certainly won't deny saying it, since it gets late in Vegas, but I can't believe I'd ever say such a thing with any sort of seriousness. Surely the rest of the race to 100 match would have confirmed that? Especially if after a few seconds, I said that he was playing the best 10-ball I had ever seen.

Fred <~~~ maybe irony isn't obvious
Click to expand...

Going back and listening to yourself is brutal. :blush::groucho: I went back and listened to one of my first shows and needed prozac afterwards.

But it really helps..... going back.

The thing that bothers me the most is people eating in the booth. It really sounds disgusting from this end! LOL.

I literally cancelled my subsciption to accustats because of our very own Billy Incardona (sorry Billy).

After becoming more aquainted with him from the forums and TAR interviews......now I get him. Now I'm liking Billy's commentary especially when him and Grady are together.

Ray
 
Brozif said:
Jim Wyche and Sid Wadell are two of my least favorites when it comes to pool commentating!!
Click to expand...

Those would be my bottom two for sure.

With respect to Mitch (and Ewa, and Allen), we need to remember who they are working for and who their audience is. While the typical ESPN viewer may imagine himself to be knowledgeable in all sports, the broad ESPN audience typically DOESN'T know much of anything about pool. Unless the shot is explained, a great safety can look like a bad miss to an unsophisticated viewer.

With that in mind, I really think that Mitch and the rest of the ESPN announcers do quite well. Sure, most people here would rather listen to Billy, Danny, or Grady on an Accu-Stats match-- so would I.

But we are a very small fraction of the ESPN viewership.
 
justin.powell said:
Mitch for sure. He should be content in the world of pool with being married to Eva and leave the announcing to someone else. I like Mark Wilson and Danny D.
Click to expand...

Never knew he was married to Eva. Mitch plays good and obviously has some game off the table as well.
 
Last edited:
I liked John Bender who I had never heard of and who did a good portion of the recent straight pool tourny.
 
The guy who did the commentary for the Hoffstatter v Charlie Williams match was horrible. He kept talking about the wrong ball! Unreal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top