Has there ever been a worse broadcaster/color man than Jim Calhoun? He is absolutely terrible.
- Thread starter terrehawk
- Start date
Not to be critical & perhaps I'm showing my age but I can't understand him. He tends to mumble his words & does not speak with enough force behind his voice. In the end, I crank-up the surround-sound system so much so that the play-by-play announcer's voice becomes extreme. Whoever is responsible for the sound board @ ESPN needs to crank-up Calhoun's microphone.
He's brutal but I'd take him over Duke Vitale every time.
Nope it's not just you because I feel the exact same way. Great coach, but he wasn't born to be a color guy..
Exacly this. His voice is "Eastern soft", so his mike should be amped up. But he does give decent analysis of what teams are doing or should be doing. Does not go "all Dakich"!!!!
I can understand him fine and does a good job about talking about both teams. There a worse ones than him I feel he's average but nothing to complain about. I know I'm the only one that seems to feel that way but it's fine.
Calhoun actually provides great insight and tells some solid stories during games. He just talks so fast and mumbles making it often difficult to understand what he's saying. That said, I still like him more than Crispin and Dakich, who we are stuck with in the vast majority of our games.
He has gotten so much better than he uses to be. At least he knows a little about us know. And he makes some salient points, unlike Rafftery.
Bill makes no insights and says nothing but "onions" or "mantoman" That crap was old 15 years ago.
Bill makes no insights and says nothing but "onions" or "mantoman" That crap was old 15 years ago.
Switching sports to answer the original question....
Do you remember an ESPN segment on Saturday mornings called "Ask the Dr?" with Lou Holtz? Unwatchable.
Do you remember an ESPN segment on Saturday mornings called "Ask the Dr?" with Lou Holtz? Unwatchable.
He also tends to rush through and trail off at the end of his sentences. I agree that the analysis is pretty good. IMO he sounds like a genius compared to Vitale and Dakich, neither of whom I can stand for more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time.
mumbles'''''
....this is how he won those NCAA championships...when the NCAA started asking questions about recruiting & $...he mumbled his way thru it so the sanctions were less severe....it worked.The committee found that Calhoun, who has been head coach for 24 years, knowingly allowed a booster and certified NBA agent to participate in recruitment and make prohibited financial contributions to a potential student-athlete.
"Penalties include suspension of the head coach for three conference games during the 2011-12 season, scholarship reductions for three academic years, recruiting restrictions, permanent disassociation of a booster and three years probation,"
he was a hell of a recruiter...
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This. I hate that type of annoncing. At one point they were bushitting about some long ago Calhoun coaching stop and they completely missed an up & down the court trip by both teams. Its kinda a ESPN thing lately.
Analysis? He just rambles aimlessly and incoherently. He cant even put together a decent sentence. He interrupts the play by play guy and rarely even makes a decent point.
He is so bad i cringe with embarrassment for him almost the entire game and end up focused on his awfulness more than on the game.
This kind of thing is bothering me more these days, when the play-by-play and color people go off on a tangent while ignoring the game in front of them (what was that whistle? foul, travelling etc.?). It's been happening for a while though, like when Shaquile O'Neal was at LSU and Brent Musburger would spend half the broadcast talking about him, all damn season, every game.
My God for sure! Now there's a guy who talked like he was eating a crap sandwich while trying to talk!
Calhoun seems to really like us. The interview with Jordan at courtside afterwards was really good
I also can't believe Bennetti is only 33. Not only is his back story amazing but he is one of my favorites PxP guys already.
I also can't believe Bennetti is only 33. Not only is his back story amazing but he is one of my favorites PxP guys already.
I thought yesterday was his best effort (which isn't saying much). He is just horrible, eastern accent with a mouth full of marbles!
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Calhoun would be great in a nice retirement home where he could keep his old friends spellbound with his tales of yesteryear. Unfortunately, I don't give a damn. I'm interested in the game that's going on NOW. At one point, the announcer last night paused the storytelling long enough to say, and I quote, "And by the way, Iowa now leads by 16." And then it was right back to the court-side chat. Can't let a basketball game interrupt the mumbling reflections of a has-been.
NBC, I believe, experimented several years ago by broadcasting an NFL game with NO commentators. The sound was exactly what the fans in the stands got: the PA and crowd noise. I would welcome that on a regular basis for college basketball. If ESPN wants to save some money, that would be the way to go, IMHO.
NBC, I believe, experimented several years ago by broadcasting an NFL game with NO commentators. The sound was exactly what the fans in the stands got: the PA and crowd noise. I would welcome that on a regular basis for college basketball. If ESPN wants to save some money, that would be the way to go, IMHO.
I agree with ya. He's not that bad. I can name at least a few who are worse.
Calhoun analysis is ok but as many have said, his voice is not easily heard or understand. I think I saw the worst yesterday from Bill Walton when flipping back and forth to Kansas game. Walton actually changed his t-shirt on camera and that was nasty but then spent the whole time talking about his league of champions, the PAC 12. He didn't know any of the players in the big 12, at least Calhoun knows the teams and players
Some of his insights, when he's talking about the actual game in front of him and not just shooting the breeze, are interesting and on target. When you can understand them. Unfortunately, I don't think his delivery is going to get any less mush mouthed at this point in his life.
I'm not sure he's even speaking english at times. I would like to hear what he has to say but couldn't make out much most of the times.
I too thought Calhoun did a great job of giving insight to the game. Like when he talked about the big guyys taking the ball low..."it is like them becoming the smallest man on the court....you just went from 6-10 to 5-8.
Loved those comments thatnI am sure he used as a coach to make kids think and understand.
This.
I have been saying it for years, if what the announcers say matters that much to a person, they're paying attention to the wrong things.
I guess as I've grown older, I've figured out for myself what's going on enough to understand and comprehend the play itself. I'm no expert and never claim to be...but the commentators are like crowd noise to me, the music in the background during time outs, the canned arena sound effects to get the crowd to clap.
They're peripheral.
My enjoyment of the game itself is in no way being hindered by the announcers. Just give me some informative stats and actual facts when needed that I can't deduce myself from the screen, and I'm good.
Yes, Jim in somewhat a hard listen, but he didn't hinder watching the game.
Now, radio...that's a different story entirely. I've thought that Gary Dolphin has been 10 years past his prime for 10 years. I guess I'm pining for the past, having grown up on Ron Gonder and Mike Reilly for football, and for the life of me I can't remember who The Big Shoe had with him for basketball.
We beat Iowa State and Maryland while he was the color guy
I like him
I like him
You know I think it is great when ESPN can get someone with the basketball knowledge of a Jim Calhoun to come do color commentary for a game. But if Jim took the gig seriously as he did coaching, he would get some broadcasting training. I worked at a radio station for six months and learned to use a microphone and to enunciate my words. I learned vocal exercises to make my diction better. obviously a guy like Calhoun doesn't bother with such nonsense, but if he did it would make all the difference in the world. It is not hard to do. Why does the network not see to it that their announcers can be understood? It makes no sense to me.
Did you catch his commentary about bounce passing into the post throughout the game? Probably not because you were too busy not caring and just waiting for your opportunity to complain about an announcer on Hawkeye Report (like we need more threads on this).....
But you got your point your across, so that surely must count for something to you at least!!!
We all have opinions about the announcing crew. And these are frequent topics on these boards.
IF YOU DON'T LIKE THEM, TURN THEM THE F DOWN AND DO YOUR OWN ANALYSIS!!! YOU DON'T NEED SOMEONE ELSE TO TELL YOU WHAT YOU'RE SEEING!!!
That's all.
Peace, Hawk fans.
IF YOU DON'T LIKE THEM, TURN THEM THE F DOWN AND DO YOUR OWN ANALYSIS!!! YOU DON'T NEED SOMEONE ELSE TO TELL YOU WHAT YOU'RE SEEING!!!
That's all.
Peace, Hawk fans.
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