Wisconsin Sportscasters Not Named Bob or Jim

[Fike85]

How would you rank them?

 

1) In my opinion Wayne Larrivee is the best play by play guy in the state. He describes the game beautifully and is the epitome of professional.

 

2) When Brian Anderson was hired my first though was thinking "they're hiring a guy from the Golf Channel? Really?" But he's been terrific and got better as the season went on.

 

3) Brian Posick has the best voice of them all as far as I'm concerned. Furthermore, I'm always aware of what's going on in the game despite being only minimally aware of the finer points of the game of hockey.

 

4) I think that Matt Lepay is vastly overrated by Badger fans. He's a good announcer but becomes unintelligible at times (I thought his call of the Flowers' GW shot vs. Texas was awful), displays inconsistent enthusiasm, and allows his Wisconsin bias to influence his call of the game.

 

5) I enjoy the World's Greatest Sports Talk show very much, but Steve "The Homer" True is hard to listen to, and I'm a big MU guy. He's might be the easily the most biased announcer of the bunch, and one might even call him a homer.

 

I can't even tell you the name of the Bucks radio play by play guy.

[Glennron]

I'll have to disagree with you about Matt Lepay, I really enjoy listening to him. I think it's good to have that much enthusiasm, but that's just my opinion of course. While I don't mind Brian Anderson, I wouldn't call him "terrific". He really kind of overstates things. For example, if a Brewer hits an average ground ball back up the box for a single, it turns into "A line shot by Prince Fielder!" A lazy fly ball turns into "Just missing it", etc.

 

Has anyone ever listened to a UWM basketball game on the radio? Talk about awful, every foul against the Panthers is a terrible call.

[fondybrewfan]

I like LePay. If he is an anouncer for UW he should be biased in my opinion. He shows a lot of emotion, I like that in an announcer

 

Touchdown Wisconsin!!!!!

[trwi7]

1. Ted Davis (Bucks radio) smooth voice, knows his stuff and is funny.

2. Matt Lepay (smooth voice, gets excited but I like him.)

3. Brian Posick (Awesome voice and calls a great game.

4. Aaron Sims (Admirals radio) over the top at times but his enthusiasm is matched by no one and he calls a good game.

5. Brian Anderson (I like him, sometimes his calls seem forced but overall he's fine.)

6. Jim Paschke (Don't like him. Over the top homer. Can try to find a silver lining in any game (including a 43 point massacre against Philadelphia.)

 

Can't give Steve "The Homer" True a grade because I never listen to Marquette games.

[jason21nl]

Lepay is just awesome. I like how excited he gets after a touchdown or a big basket and a foul. We have really good announcers for all sports in the state of WI.

[BrewCrewForever]

Larrivee is great, I love the way he calls the Packers games on the radio. Before him Jim Irwin was just as good.

[bbrauch2000]

It's Ted Davis and everyone else. If i would take the time to listen to the radio with the game, it would take my enjoyment of NBA basketball through the roof. Paschke and Johnny Mac are simply terrible. Scott Williams has improved their broadcasts significantly

[PeaveyFury]

Matt LePay is first on my list without a doubt.

[dadofandrew]

I'd have to agree on LePay's fake excitement level. He's Matt V without the inappropriate sitcom bits.

 

The whole point of broadcasting is to relay what is going on. Raising your voice is fine, yelling is not.

[Fike85]

The whole point of broadcasting is to relay what is going on. Raising your voice is fine, yelling is not.

 

That's exactly how I feel as well. What I like about Anderson and Larrivee is that they can express excitement while staying within a reasonable vocal range. Lepay does not do that very well.

[jason21nl]

I must listen to a different lepay doing badgers games then you guys. Lepay is very good at telling you whats going on. Not sure what people have against guys getting excited doing the game. I would much rather have a broadcaster getting excited then sounding dead on the air.

[PeaveyFury]

A broadcaster getting excited not only conveys the excitement of the moment to the listener, but also the excitement of the crowd and atmosphere.

[M Skjellyfetti]

I'm with all the Matt Lepay supporters. I think he does a great job of giving all the pertinent information while also getting excited when a fan should be getting excited. I think Mike Lucas does a great job supporting him as the color guy. He seems to know his stuff and they work well together as a pair.

 

I'm not a Packer fan, but I really can't stand Wayne Larrivee. His voice bothers me for some reason. I know he gets excited and everything, but I feel like he's the one who goes overboard, not Matt Lepay.

 

I am also not a Brian Anderson fan. I think that he's too matter-of-fact with how he calls the game, and I get pretty bored with his calls. Maybe I'm just spoiled from not having cable for most of my life and getting to listen to Bob and Jim more often (or maybe it's BA's bad color partner), but I have a hard time getting excited about the Brewers' television announcing crew.

[burniebrewer]

4. Aaron Sims

 

I think he's the guy who also does P.A. at Madison Mallards games.

[hawing]

Got it! Count it! AND a foul! Yeah, I'll add to the Matt Lepay love. For whatever reason, he has never struck me as over the top.

 

I also like Brian Posick's calls - he has even done UW volleyball a few times, which is harder than it sounds. Some of Brian's goal calls are a little shrieky, but I accept it because hockey goals are relatively few and far between.

 

Wayne Larrivee amuses both me and the S.O. with his "dagger" calls, but that doesn't stop us from listening for them, so I guess it's still successful.

 

Aaron Sims used to do UW women's basketball and, I think, hockey on WPT. I liked his call just fine.

 

I'll add Jay Wilson to the mix. When WIAA tournament time rolls around, he is head and shoulders above the other network dudes. I was at a girls' basketball tournament game at the Kohl Center once when he walked by and the fans started chanting "It's Jay Wilson" (clap clap clapclapclap). Now I always think that when I see him. I don't know if he'll be doing state tourneys now, though.

[burniebrewer]

I'll add Jay Wilson to the mix.

 

Funny thing about Jay Wilson is that I convinced myself long ago that he was a closet Cubs fan because he'd always show their highlights/score before the Brewers on the 10 o'clock news. We had a brief email exchange where he denied such affiliation...but I still believe it, so he's on my list.

[bjkrautk]

1) Matt LePay is my one-man support group; without him, I couldn't get through Big Ten Network basketball season.

2) Wayne Larivee would be first, as he's a great announcer....but "The Dagger" thing just bothers me.

3) Brian Anderson is solid and calls a decent game, but there's no spark to his calls, IMO.

 

 

I don't really watch/listen to anyone else, so unless we start talking color commentary (Larry McCarren gets points for being the one guy who actually watches and consistently talks about line play....and for the power of one-word exclamations) that's all I've got.

[stoops17]

I enjoy Matt LePay also, he's one of my favorites.

 

I also really enjoy Wayne Larrivee, I was really sad the day he left the Bears broadcasts. (Don't hate) But now he makes listening to the Packers, tolerable.

[patrickgpe]

i don't listen to as many bucks game as i used to but i like Ted Davis. He is especially good in blowouts on the road when he doesn't have Krause. He definitely has a very unique style to him.

[colbyjack]

Matt LePay and Ted Davis are awesome. LePay does get excited, but he also raises his voice when the opponent makes a big play as well, so you can't call him too biased. That's his style, and it carries over to his call of the entire game. 20. 15. 10. 5. TOUCHDOWN WISCONSIN.

 

Davis is incredibly underrated in a state filled with great broadcasters.

 

Brian Anderson really impressed me in his first year. I enjoy the dryer, more mellow (but not lacking in personality) style to his game-calling following the over-exuberance of Sutton.

 

I'm not a big fan of Larrivee. I really don't think he has any distinguishable qualities like Ueck, LePay and Davis. He calls a fine game, but there really isn't anything about his style that endears me to the Packers broadcast.

 

I enjoy both Homer and Bill Johnson on the daily ESPN radio programming, but don't care for either as play-by-play announcers.

[PaulRigdon]

Bob Brainerd

[TooLiveBrew]

I love BA. Can't stand McGlocklin, Pashke almost is hurt by association. LePay's solid.

[ttsather]

I think LePay is great - I don't mind one bit that he gets excited. One of the biggest positives about Lepay in my opinion is that when he does get excited you can still understand everything that he says. There are so many announcers out there that become completely unintelligible at a higher voice level. Lepay's versatility is also outstanding. Incidentally, I consider Mike Lucas one of the best color commentators out there anywhere, at any level. Perfect complement to Lepay in that he's totally level-headed and is an unmatched concentration of information.

 

Wayne Larrivee is great; I think his finest trait is how smoothly and effectively he sets up the play before the snap. He has about 5 seconds, and by the time he's done you know exactly how each team is lined up, what personnel is in, and can visualize the entire play as he continues. I've never heard anyone better at that aspect. It's the core of the call.

 

Ted Davis does a great job at making the too-often atrocious Bucks games listenable. He's extremely entertaining.

 

Brian Posick does a very good play-by-play. He loses me sometimes on big plays, but he's doing well in a high-difficulty job.

 

I like Brian Anderson. I'm reserving further judgement.

 

 

All in all, with my own bias recognized, I think we're hugely spoiled in this state.

[TooLiveBrew]

ttsather, I know others will agree... just from watching MLB.tv/MLB Extra Innings, you get a pretty darn good picture of just how good we've got it. 'Spoiled' is probably the best way to put it - you're not being biased.

[twobrewers]

Can't stand McGlocklin, Pashke almost is hurt by association.

They are both so horrible it can't even be quantified. But then, Herb Kohl runs the entire team the same way. Just hire a bunch of nice guys who can't do their job very well.

 

I can't stand listening to McGlocklin. If I hear him laugh one more time - I am going to kill someone.