Suns TV announcers

[Iceman]

To me, Al McCoy brings back so many memories as a kid listening to the Suns games. I will always be biased towards McCoy and love his "Shazam" and "Zing go the Strings" calls. I am not too much of an EJ broadcasting fan. He seems way to slow and very plain to me. Tim Kempton is ok, but very Suns biased.

 

[AzStevenCal]

To me, Al McCoy brings back so many memories as a kid listening to the Suns games. I will always be biased towards McCoy and love his "Shazam" and "Zing go the Strings" calls. I am not too much of an EJ broadcasting fan. He seems way to slow and very plain to me. Tim Kempton is ok, but very Suns biased.

I think EJ is very good when his ego isn't driving him but his ego seems to drive him more each year. He understands the game and makes some insightful comments but all too often his comments are designed to bring back his glory days (glory day?). He's still better than probably half the analysts but he's worn thin on me.

I loved McCoy but at his age, he's no longer the answer. I like Leander quite a bit. I think he called the action very well. If someone could have just sat him down and told him to lay off the cornball sayings, he would have grown into the role and might have had a very long announcing career with us. I think he was trying too hard to be the next Al McCoy, who had his fair share of cornball sayings, but Al is a legend for us Suns fans.

Steve

 

[BC867]

Tom Leander is terrible (as play by play and pre/post game show)! You have it absolutely correct on him. "Elevates and detonates" indeed...

"Elevates and detonates". That is your example of Leander being terrible?

If you are trying to convince us that Tom is "terrible" as play-by-play and pre/post game show, you're going to have to come up with better examples than that.

I believe the only thing holding him back is his youthful voice and appearance. As an announcer, he was on top of what was happening on the court and presented it in a smooth way.

And now, back to pre- and post-game TV, he is remaining cool during Tom Chambers' tirades.

 

[Hoop Head]

"Elevates and detonates". That is your example of Leander being terrible?

If you are trying to convince us that Tom is "terrible" as play-by-play and pre/post game show, you're going to have to come up with better examples than that.

I believe the only thing holding him back is his youthful voice and appearance. As an announcer, he was on top of what was happening on the court and presented it in a smooth way.

And now, back to pre- and post-game TV, he is remaining cool during Tom Chambers' tirades.

"[BLANK] with the ORANGE CRUSH!!!" after a dunk, regardless of it being a Gerald Green like throw down or a Gortat barely touching the rim dunk. Also he would always refer to the Suns orange alternate jersey's as their "Orange Crush" jerseys, as if he was trying so hard to make "Orange Crush" work somewhere or somehow. Another thing he would say that bothered me, although he didn't use it all that much, was "[BLANK] takes a 3 from way out in Planet Orange" like Planet Orange was a deep 3. "Elevates and Detonates" was annoying to me because of how frequently he used it. The average game had at least 10 of those.

I don't mind him during pre/post games because he's a lot calmer than he was during games, also he is completely avoidable.

 

[Phrazbit]

Tom was far better at keeping up with the action than Steve is, but Tom was also really really annoying.

Along with the other examples previously listed, "DOWNLOADS A THREE" was one of the dumbest phrases I've ever heard anyone use... and he used it constantly.

 

[Superbone]

"rock bottom!"

 

[GYDevil]

I can't believe in a Suns Announcers thread that only one person has mentioned Tim Kempton. That guy is the worst color guy I have ever heard in my 40 years in sports. He sounds like he has marbles in his mouth, and you can almost hear the gerbil wheel spinning in his head when he tries to find something intelligent to say. I honestly feel embarrassed for the guy when I listen, and I shouldn't have to do that when listening to a sporting event. He must have a J. Edgar Hoover file cabinet filled with dirt on Suns upper management, or perhaps he's Al McCoy's adopted son. Any other explanation of why he still has a job just doesn't make any sense.

 

[BC867]

I can't believe in a Suns Announcers thread that only one person has mentioned Tim Kempton. That guy is the worst color guy I have ever heard in my 40 years in sports. He sounds like he has marbles in his mouth, and you can almost hear the gerbil wheel spinning in his head when he tries to find something intelligent to say. I honestly feel embarrassed for the guy when I listen, and I shouldn't have to do that when listening to a sporting event. He must have a J. Edgar Hoover file cabinet filled with dirt on Suns upper management, or perhaps he's Al McCoy's adopted son. Any other explanation of why he still has a job just doesn't make any sense.

I agree with you. At least on radio, the play-by-play man has to call the action. He can't turn it into the Steve Albert comedy hour while we watch the play. So the color commentator gets about 1/5 the airtime.

As far as Leander's corny expressions, was anyone cornier than Al McCoy as he established his career? "Swisheroo for two", "Shazam". Although it was the only game in town.

 

[TRW]

"Elevates and detonates". That is your example of Leander being terrible?

If you are trying to convince us that Tom is "terrible" as play-by-play and pre/post game show, you're going to have to come up with better examples than that.

I believe the only thing holding him back is his youthful voice and appearance. As an announcer, he was on top of what was happening on the court and presented it in a smooth way.

And now, back to pre- and post-game TV, he is remaining cool during Tom Chambers' tirades.

Oh, there were others, that one just was especially lame to me. If you like him, great, I simply don't.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I agree with you. At least on radio, the play-by-play man has to call the action. He can't turn it into the Steve Albert comedy hour while we watch the play. So the color commentator gets about 1/5 the airtime.

As far as Leander's corny expressions, was anyone cornier than Al McCoy as he established his career? "Swisheroo for two", "Shazam". Although it was the only game in town.

I mentioned this earlier. But it was our first exposure to this stuff when Al did it (for most of us). And he was doing it on radio where it was his job to create a picture for the audience. He continued doing it once he started with the simulcasts but he was well-established by that time and so was his routine. Leander tried to mimic that style and it backfired. I'd have still stuck with him though because other than Bender, he's been our best announcer as far as actually seeing and calling the game.

Steve

 

[Superbone]

Albert drives me crazy when he gets calls wrong and then blames it on the refs. He does this all the time. Early in the game in Boston, Dragic had the ball near the sidelines and Plumlee set an illegal pick, foul called. Albert says, "Dragic steps out of bounds, Celtics ball." Then, a few seconds later he says, "Now they're saying it's a foul on Plumlee." as if they just changed the call.

It's as if he guesses at the calls half the time. I could see it plain as day from home. This guy is at the game and I'm sure he also has a monitor showing what we see on TV. Drives me crazy.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Don't like Albert much... He's really not very good. But I love Eddie. I like his style. I like his input. I like his candor...

 

[AfroSuns]

Don't like Albert much... He's really not very good. But I love Eddie. I like his style. I like his input. I like his candor...

I agree and i like Anne too. Albert seem to be getting worse each game, there are sometimes he bashes the Suns player like he is an opposing team commentator...dude is either hitting the bottle hard, blind or both!

 

[Mainstreet]

Many posters complained about Tom Leander doing play-by-play but I miss him compared to Steve Albert.

 

[BC867]

Many posters complained about Tom Leander doing play-by-play but I miss him compared to Steve Albert.

If the only gripe against Tom Leander is his catch-phrases, there are a lot of play-by-play announcers over the years who would have never made it. Most notably, our own Al "Shazam" "Swisheroo For Two" McCoy.

Tom is knowledgeable, sincere, pleasant to listen to, doesn't make the action about himself and doesn't degrade himself while doing his job.

On the pre- and post-game shows, despite his youthful demeanor, when Tom Chambers goes bonkers, raising his voice and not letting anyone else get a word in, Leander quietly gets him back in line.

On a personal note, I am pissed that watching the game on TV leaves me with two options.

Listening to Albert's self-deprecating routines with no idea of what is happening on the court.

Or (as I've mentioned), muting the sound and listening to the radio play-by-play while watching that annoying 5-second TV delay. Because a live TV camera picks up the cursing it is pointing at, whereas the radio mike does not.

How could the Suns front office not anticipate that hiring Steve Albert was far different from hiring his brother Marv or even Al?

Choosing the worst of the Albert litter was not a better choice than the best of all the announcers who have made it on their own.

No announcer is perfect. Steve Albert is perfectly flawed.

 

[Mainstreet]

If the only gripe against Tom Leander is his catch-phrases, there are a lot of play-by-play announcers over the years who would have never made it. Most notably, our own Al "Shazam" "Swisheroo For Two" McCoy.

Tom is knowledgeable, sincere, pleasant to listen to, doesn't make the action about himself and doesn't degrade himself while doing his job.

On the pre- and post-game shows, despite his youthful demeanor, when Tom Chambers goes bonkers, raising his voice and not letting anyone else get a word in, Leander quietly gets him back in line.

On a personal note, I am pissed that watching the game on TV leaves me with two options.

Listening to Albert's self-deprecating routines with no idea of what is happening on the court.

Or (as I've mentioned), muting the sound and listening to the radio play-by-play while watching that annoying 5-second TV delay. Because a live TV camera picks up the cursing it is pointing at, whereas the radio mike does not.

How could the Suns front office not anticipate that hiring Steve Albert was far different from hiring his brother Marv or even Al?

Choosing the worst of the Albert litter was not a better choice than the best of all the announcers who have made it on their own.

No announcer is perfect. Steve Albert is perfectly flawed.

I'm glad we agree about Leander.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Steve Albert has a decent voice and a good delivery. I'm not fond of his jokes but I have no problem ignoring them. My only real issue is that he doesn't call the game. He either can't see well enough or he can't process information quickly enough but regardless, his words do not match up with the action. I don't listen to him much. I typically hate other team's homers but I'd rather listen to them than Albert. Dish doesn't give me the choice of broadcast(like DTV does) so I just watch them with the Broadband version that's now included with League Pass.

Steve

 

[Superbone]

I'm sorry but there's a big difference between McCoy's catch phrases and Leander's. But maybe that's just me growing up listening to McCoy. If Leander had knocked out his catch phrases, he would have been fine.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'm sorry but there's a big difference between McCoy's catch phrases and Leander's. But maybe that's just me growing up listening to McCoy. If Leander had knocked out his catch phrases, he would have been fine.

I think there's more a difference in what our society was like at the time and the fact Al was creating a story for a radio audience. IMO, as much as I love McCoy, if he'd been calling TV games in today's world he'd have been mocked as readily as most people mock Leander. But I would love to see them promote Leander back into the role. Dear Mr Sarver, please stop motivating your TV fans to listen to your opponents broadcasts instead of the Phoenix telecast.

Steve

 

[Mainstreet]

I think there's more a difference in what our society was like at the time and the fact Al was creating a story for a radio audience. IMO, as much as I love McCoy, if he'd been calling TV games in today's world he'd have been mocked as readily as most people mock Leander. But I would love to see them promote Leander back into the role. Dear Mr Sarver, please stop motivating your TV fans to listen to your opponents broadcasts instead of the Phoenix telecast.

Steve

Good stuff.

 

[BC867]

If Leander had knocked out his catch phrases, he would have been fine.

Past tense.

But I would love to see them promote Leander back into the role.

Future tense, hopefully.

I still say that if Leander's catch phrases is the only gripe against his doing play-by-play, that's a pretty good recommendation.

Hey, maybe we can trade Albert and Bledsoe in a package deal.

 

[Hoop Head]

I'm glad Majerle isn't a color commentator for the Suns anymore. Can you imagine listening to him and Steve Albert? Both EJ and Anne are able to cover for Albert in their own ways, both of them provide good insight and are able to rope him back into the action.

I enjoyed Majerle doing color on the games in sort of a like a America's Funniest Home Videos/Jackass type way. He was lost, a lot, and Leander probably caught the brunt of that when Dan left the booth for the bench. Majerle came off as either drunk or your typical meathead jock trying to announce. I'm not sure what happened to Gary Bender, I think that was his name, but he was good. I'm not sure why they didn't keep him around for longer.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'm glad Majerle isn't a color commentator for the Suns anymore. Can you imagine listening to him and Steve Albert? Both EJ and Anne are able to cover for Albert in their own ways, both of them provide good insight and are able to rope him back into the action.

I enjoyed Majerle doing color on the games in sort of a like a America's Funniest Home Videos/Jackass type way. He was lost, a lot, and Leander probably caught the brunt of that when Dan left the booth for the bench. Majerle came off as either drunk or your typical meathead jock trying to announce. I'm not sure what happened to Gary Bender, I think that was his name, but he was good. I'm not sure why they didn't keep him around for longer.

I thought Bender was excellent, I'm not sure why he left. I like Anne a lot and when Eddie is not stroking his own ego, I like him too. But I have tired of his ego grabs, always twisting a situation back to when he played and what he did.

Steve

 

[SirStefan32]

I thought Bender was excellent, I'm not sure why he left. I like Anne a lot and when Eddie is not stroking his own ego, I like him too. But I have tired of his ego grabs, always twisting a situation back to when he played and what he did.

Steve

If I remember correctly, he took a job at Kansas, or something like that.
The best thing about Bender was that, in addition to being an excellent play by play guy, he was able to keep EJ from drifting too far.

 

[Superbone]

I thought Bender retired and that's why he's not broadcasting Suns games anymore.