Powell leaves for the Braves - visit the Brewerfan home page for a farewell from Jim (see reply #84)

[Tbadder]

Geez..Jim's goodbye letter was classy, even-handed, gracious. I hope someday I can be that way.

[TheCrew07]

I've ready some very cool articles/posts in my time here but Powell's farewell letter to BF.net "is the top of the mountain"... for all you B&B fans.

[PrimeTime955]

Here's to one day being able to buy you a beverage of your choice. I'll never forget you Jim Powell, I'll never forget.

 

Baseball players make a lot of coin, you know who else does pretty well for themselves? Schneider National drivers.

[hawing]

Here's to one day being able to buy you a beverage of your choice. I'll never forget you Jim Powell, I'll never forget.

 

Baseball players make a lot of coin, you know who else does pretty well for themselves? Schneider National drivers.

Now I really hope Jim's still reading. You're free of Schneider National! Of course, you'll probably have to shill for Chick-fil-a or something.

"Peaches...they make it eeeeeeasy to be good." http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[topper09er]

Well this is very sad, hopefully this will not lead us into the same 4~5 year slump we had when Vasgersian left after the 2001 season. The good news though is that now there is finally room for Davey Nelson in the booth as the Brewers radio man for the rest of the Uke's career and hopefully many years after.

[BCZF]

I'll miss ya Jim..Your farm reporting alone made you a special broadcaster in a fans heart. During the extreme down years, when about 7,000 people milled about County Stadium to watch a Brewers/Buccos slugfest (har har), your insight and enthusiasm for the minors made us feel like hope was always "just around the corner"..

 

Thank you Jim..

[SenatorShriv]

I'm seriously going to miss Jim. He calls the game better than anyone I've heard.

[EdgarDiazRocks]

Jim Powell is the sole reason I ever came here.

 

So blame him.

[MNBrew]

I used to do a lot of cross-country driving and I listened to a lot of teams' radio broadcasts over the years. Few hold a candle to Uecker & Powell. You two are the best.

 

I thought the Brewers' radio team was in for a slide when Pat Hughes left. Pat was fantastic with Bob, too. But no, this new Jim Powell guy turned out to be every bit as good if not better.

 

Jim, you're a total pro. Too bad for us that you'll be gone. But our loss is Atlanta's gain, and congratulations on this "perfect storm" that gives you the chance to go back to GA.

[steve267268]

I was NOT expecting that from Jim. Wow.

 

Makes me very proud to be a part of this community and to have followed Jim's career here. I will definitely be looking forward to our series with Atlanta this year and i'll probably tune in once in a while to a random braves game here and there.

[AJAY]

Bob Wolfley of JS Online is reporting that WTMJ management is considering hiring a broadcaster who might have an expanded role with the station. I personally am not thrilled about this idea. I want a broadcaster who is all about the Brewers and MLB, and I don't want some generic sportscaster who also covers the Badgers, Bucks, and Packers during the offseason. I want someone who lives, breathes, and dies by the Brewers only. I want a real baseball guy.

 

I remember when Drew Olson started his radio show and started covering other sports besides the Brewers. Suddenly he didn't seem like the baseball expert anymore and it wasn't the same. I just don't want our new radio guy to be like that too.

 

I am not happy about this.

[Dragonbait]

As someone who doesn't remember listenin' to anybody but Bob and Jim, this is really gonna blow my mind this summer

with someone else in the booth. I still enjoy listening to Hughes occasionally, but Santo makes it intolerable (except when

something really bad happens to the Cubs)

 

Its been a pleasure listening to one of the best broadcasters in the biz for so long. Please hop back in the booth for a while

when your in town. Maybe do a joint broadcast for a game. Best wishes Jim.

[JohnBriggs12]

I read that all the finalists have major league broadcasting experience. To me that's not a good sign. It screams retread from out of town. Why not go after the best play by play man in the state, Matt Lepay? So he hasn't done baseball (that we know of)? He seemlessly transitions from football to basketball so it's not hard to imagine he'd be great doing baseball too. It's also not a good sign that Steve Wexler of WTMJ is involved in the hiring. The sports staff at WTMJ has gone steadily down hill since the days of Len Kasper and before him Brian Manthey.

[Invader3K]

I won't get worried until we actually find out who it is. No matter who it is, there's going to be a group of fans that are unhappy with the pick. A lot of people were fretting about Brian Anderson when his hiring was announced, and I think he's ended up being pretty good on the TV side.

[dvoiss]

Bob Wolfley of JS Online is reporting that WTMJ management is considering hiring a broadcaster who might have an expanded role with the station. I personally am not thrilled about this idea. I want a broadcaster who is all about the Brewers and MLB, and I don't want some generic sportscaster who also covers the Badgers, Bucks, and Packers during the offseason. I want someone who lives, breathes, and dies by the Brewers only. I want a real baseball guy.

I couldn't agree more. I disagree with JBriggs when he mentions Lepay. I love Matt Lepay but like AJAY said we need someone who lives and dies with the Brewers. We need someone who knows baseball the way Poweel does. I don't want someone else doing the hot stove show (or spring training games for that matter) because Lepay is in Ann Arbor doing a Badger game. And I certainly don't want Lepay to leave the UW. He's that good at what he does. We need someone who can devote himself solely to the Brewers and not spread himself so thin that the listeners get less than what they deserve.

[DatHoser]

The ultimate would be someone who already does minor league games for one of our affiliates. That way he'd have knowledge of the system and hopefully keep up to date with it. Of course he would have to be a regular lurker of bf.net and pimp it every so often.

[davego]

How about we just don't let Jim leave?

[logan82]

Close the borders!

[fondybrewfan]

Did we previously know that Jim frequented this message board? Did he ever post?

 

Unless one of our minor league announcers has MLB experience he is not a candidate as it has been said that all finalists have MLB experience. We will probably steal an announcer from a bad team who is sick of announcing crappy teams.

[Invader3K]

fondy: It was known he read the board from time to time, as he mentioned brewerfan.net on the radio broadcasts occasionally. I'm pretty sure he did not post here, though. I'm sure Brian would know for sure.

[PeaveyFury]

It was known he read the board from time to time, as he mentioned brewerfan.net on the radio broadcasts occasionally. I'm pretty sure he did not post here, though.

 

I believe this is correct. Jim has been a friend of Brewerfan virtually since inception, but I don't think he's ever posted here.

 

Though Len Kasper did post here a couple of times when he worked for TMJ before he left for the Marlins.

[1992casey]

Did we previously know that Jim frequented this message board?

 

I believe he's specifically mentioned Jim G.'s Link Reports.

 

Bob Wolfley of JS Online is reporting that WTMJ management is considering hiring a broadcaster who might have an expanded role with the station. I personally am not thrilled about this idea....

I remember when Drew Olson started his radio show and started covering other sports besides the Brewers. Suddenly he didn't seem like the baseball expert anymore and it wasn't the same....

 

Three years ago or so, I remember Jim Powell subbing for Bill Michaels, and his main topic was the Bucks. Of course, like he always did with baseball, he did his homework and was interesting to listen to.

 

Like JohnBriggs12, I don't really value Major League experience in filling this role... unless Ryan Radke's spring webcasts count as Major League experience. The Brewers did well hiring Jim as an up and comer, and we've seen how good Brian Anderson can be.

 

I just don't see placing a high priority on having someone with a national reputation, especially when we already have one guy who fits that description.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, if we're looking for MLB broadcast experience, maybe Eric Byrnes is available.

 

I'm kidding...

[RU Rah Rah]

Could our new announcer be a 30-year old "diehard Cubs fan"?

 

JS reporting that this dude is one of two finalists for the spot. From the WGN web site below.

 

Cory Provus is the new WGN Radio pregame host. A native of Highland Park, Ill., Provus joined WGN Radio after working with International Sports Properties in Alabama as director of broadcast operations and "Voice of the UAB Blazers." He handled radio play-by-play for UAB football, men's basketball and baseball, and hosted a weekly coaches show on radio/TV. Provus was named 2006 Radio Sportscaster of the Year by the Alabama Broadcasters Association. A graduate of Syracuse University, he will handle the Cubs pregame show plus be the play-by-play announcer for one inning of each game.

 

This is from the Roanoke, VA, paper last summer:

On Monday, Provus turned 30 years old. On Tuesday, he headed to Wrigley Field and helped describe another Chicago Cubs victory on WGN radio. He anchored the pregame show and the postgame show. And in the fifth inning, he sat alongside Cubs legend Ron Santo and handled the play-by-play.

This is his job now.

If you want to call it that.

"I'm so lucky, man," Provus said by phone last week, a little less than two years after landing his dream job. "This is my hometown, my favorite team. I'm a diehard Cub fan, and the fact that I get to travel the country with the team and fly with the team and be on the bus -- it's fantasy camp and I get paid for it."

[Yeti73]

Aside from his allegiences, this really would disappoint me. I live in Chicago and when I can't get Brewer games in my car, I listen to WGN. I listen to a lot of Cubs games and Corey bores the living daylights out of me. It is a combination of his voice and lack of insight. He would be a terrible addition to the Brewers games. He doesn't fill the air well like Jim did. To his credit, he is accurate and knows a lot about the teams, but he isn't what we want in Milwaukee.