Joe Buck
galaxy27
Posts: 7,136 ✭✭✭✭✭
this guy has caught a lot of flak on here over the years, and i was just curious as to what it is about him that causes many of you to harbor disdain. as i stated in another thread yesterday, i've personally never had a problem with him. the only thing i can come up with is that he has the look/demeanor of a real prick, but seeing as i've never met the guy it's totally unfair for me to make that type of speculation. to my ears the guy knows his stuff and is easy to listen to, which is more than i can say for Troy "heck of a play" Aikman.
my only criticism of JB is his golf announcing. the first time he anchored a U.S. Open telecast on FOX i almost lost it. one memorable gaffe is when Brooks Koepka's girlfriend (Jena Sims) gave him a kiss right after he had won the '17 U.S. Open. Buck referred to her as Becky Edwards.......an ex.
but even in the golf arena he has improved greatly over the years
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If he stayed away from golf, I'd be a lot happier. The former golfers do it much better, Nantz is probably my only exception there. He was pretty decent for NFL from what I remember.
I personally don't have a problem with him. I just like to give him a hard time. I also like to give Lebron James and Philip Rivers a hard time, and occasionally Tom Selleck.
Well, the criticisms generally boil down to his demeanor. To many people, he comes across as unbearably arrogant or sanctimonious (see his over the top reaction to Randy Moss "mooning" the Green Bay crowd). There's also the perception that he's only gotten jobs because of his dad. And he's not particularly good at his job. Not terrible but not as good as the PBP guy on the #1 broadcast team should be.
I don't hate Joe Buck nearly as much as some other announcers but he's definitely not one of my favorites.
Joe did have one of the weirder addictions I've ever heard of:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/10/06/joe-buck-says-an-addiction-to-hair-plugs-nearly-killed-his-career/
I dont know, I like Joe Buck. always have. maybe it is because I grew up listening to him and mccarver calling the world series
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Now Tim McCarver, there's a guy I cannot stand.
Tabe pretty much nailed it. It's mostly the perceived arrogance and then relating that to nepotism. Same as Chip Carey except Joe is actually pretty good at his job...at least with calling baseball games. But if you ever hear a regional radio interview that he does when he shows up on a Friday to do media to pump up a Saturday Game of the Week, he's great. One of the better baseball personality interviews around. Sharp guy, pretty funny, exhaustive knowledge of 1980's obscure baseball players. I'd go out for a beer with Joe Buck any day of the week, and I pretty much hate everyone associated with St Louis.
Also depends on one's preference. Personally I don't want to be screamed at for 3 hours for a baseball game....ie Tom Hamilton (Indians). Generally really good at his job, but every call of an RBI single in a meaningless regular season game doesn't need to climb the octave scale. You're not Italian, take it down a notch.
But I don't see how anyone puts Joe Buck in the Insufferable Broadcaster category where the likes of Hawk Harrelson or John Sterling or that idiot radio guy in San Diego who sounds like a Jim Brockmire impersonator. Or hockey (PBP schmucks) like Jack Edwards or Joe Beninati currently roam. I honestly don't understand how any people in those markets listen to these dopes. I'd legitimately have to mute those broadcasts.
I can deal with the "analyst" being bad at their job since generally those are ex-players who didn't matriculate from some University TCOM-stronghold like Syracuse, Boston U, Emerson, Michigan State, Ball State etc. But the PBP guy should be above average at the actual art of broadcasting. It's not just that their style, or homerism, or their general content plain sucks, they are all legitimately bad at the job of broadcasting. Talking over people, not pausing to let the moment breath, the repetitive schtick, the loose grasp on basic English/lackluster vocabulary/5th grade reading level type stuff. And just the sound/cadence of one's voice matters. See Vin Scully. Yes he painted portraits with his stories but he was an easy listen just because of his voice. Same with (Cubs radio PBP guy) Pat Hughes. No one is currently better in baseball than Pat Hughes. No one.
Neither could Deion Sanders. Remember when he dumped the water on McCarver in the clubhouse?
It seems he announces every Vikings game I watch. I grew up listening to much better announcers.
Ray Scott was great to listen to, Pat Summerall, Curt Gowdy.
Buck started to annoy me and now listening to him is painful. Is he the worst ever? Probably not.
good post. you should do it more often.
i know you said you loathe most everyone associated with STL, but did you like Joe's dad?
Golf??? And I thought him doing football was weird and out of place for him...
Dimes: 54S, 53P, 50P, 49S, 45D+S, 44S, 43D, 41S, 40D+S, 39D+S, 38D+S, 37D+S, 36S, 35D+S, all 16-34's
Quarters: 52S, 47S, 46S, 40S, 39S, 38S, 37D+S, 36D+S, 35D, 34D, 32D+S
74 Topps: 37,38,46,47,48,138,151,193,210,214,223,241,256,264,268,277,289,316,435,552,570,577,592,602,610,654,655
1997 Finest silver: 115, 135, 139, 145, 310
1995 Ultra Gold Medallion Sets: Golden Prospects, HR Kings, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings, Rising Stars
I think Joe Buck has a great voice which has made him a boatload of cash.
I don't like him and Troy doing games. I think Joe is much better with MLB.
He goes in the "insufferable" category because he does national games unlike Harrelson and Edwards. And he's doing the #1 NFL games and the biggest MLB games. So he gets the biggest audience, which magnifies all his flaws.
Never was a fan.
I have no problem with Joe, I put him up there with some of the great announcers including his late father.
For me, it is just a case of excess. It seems like the only month that I get a break from him every single year is in March.
I'm not really old enough to know Jack's work other than from highlights or the odd MLB Network retro broadcast. I'm sure he was good, most of those old timers were because radio was just as important as TV in those days when it came to baseball so teams didn't just stick the second-tier guy on radio like they do in a lot of markets now. Plus so many of those old baseball radio guys came from news, and/or did other sports broadcasts too.
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@lanemyer85 said:
But I don't see how anyone puts Joe Buck in the Insufferable Broadcaster category where the likes of Hawk Harrelson or John Sterling or that idiot radio guy in San Diego who sounds like a Jim Brockmire impersonator. Or hockey (PBP schmucks) like Jack Edwards or Joe Beninati currently roam. I honestly don't understand how any people in those markets listen to these dopes. I'd legitimately have to mute those broadcasts.
@Tabe said:
He goes in the "insufferable" category because he does national games unlike Harrelson and Edwards. And he's doing the #1 NFL games and the biggest MLB games. So he gets the biggest audience, which magnifies all his flaws.
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well sure, that's a given...much larger national sample size. But those two goofs both did do national games....at least Hawk did as an analyst in the mid to late 80's for the NBC National Game of the Week's B-Team. Most people would probably forget that he also did Yankee games for a couple years in the late 80's after he was fired as White Sox GM too. And Edwards did ESPN hockey games back in the late 90's/early 2000's. Usually the west coast game. It was either him or Steve Levy. You just don't remember those because of how good the Gary Thorne/Bill Clement/John Davidson/Darren Pang broadcasts were.
That said, look at how much crap Joe Buck takes, but Thom Brennaman basically has the same job, and takes next to nothing....aside from the odd column on Awful Announcing or Deadspin or whatever. The stupidly named Thom is the Reds' TV PBP guy and does national MLB and NFL on Fox. Same as Joe Buck, except the redundantly named Thom is on Fox's B-Team whereas Joe is the A-Guy. And Thom Brennaman sucks. His dad sucked (if you're unaware, Marty was just a whiny miserable Reds homer - think Hawk Harrelson on downers), his partner Jeff Brantley is an unlistenable redneck (and charter member of the "back when I played" level of analysis), and I'm guessing if you run a search on CU, you probably won't find any posts about how the Reds broadcasters are all garbage at professional broadcasting. I'm not a big football fan, but when the combo of Thom Brennaman and Daryl Johnston, or even worse, the Thom Brennaman and Chris Spielman pairing (which immediately turns into a 3 hour infomericial for Ohio State) show up for those NFC North games, I'm hitting eject.
But it's not even so much that as it is that fans are just dumb and it comes down to half of the audience thinks Joe Buck is rooting against their team because his voice soundtracks the offense/scoring from the opposing team. And because of Fox's reach, his voice is all over modern playoff baseball and football. Simple as that. But there isn't anyone that can realistically think that he's not in, or at least around, the top 5 of current MLB TV PBP broadcasters in any all-around measure. He may be smug sometimes, and I don't watch much football, and zero golf, so I don't care what he does there, but in baseball, he's a top 5 TV PBP guy, sorry.
Dan Schulman (Jays)
Joe Buck
Gary Thorne (O's)
Len Kasper (Cubs)
Jason Benetti (White Sox & partnered with Steve Stone, the best current TV booth in MLB)
Hawk and Edwards don't do national games now. Nobody cares that Hawk did B games 35 years ago.
not like an actual Fox-led production, sure, but that's not entirely true. Both MLB and NHL Networks pick up games that are simulcasted from RSNs regionally or nationally all the time. I'd estimate the amount of Charlie Steiner/Rick Monday led Dodgers games that have hit MLB Network over the last few years totals more than the Joe Buck/Fox games have since Fox has regional coverage so you may not get his game in one's designated market anyway.
Well, at least Joe Buck doesn't have vampire hooker parties like Marv Albert.
i hate that douche bob costas ten times more than joe buck