As a professional broadcaster, Greg Papa is among the elite; I've said as much in this space and his interview technique on Comcast "Chronicle Live" is always top-notch.
Papa's play-by-play on the Raiders is another story.
I didn't attend the game against the Chiefs Sunday, (apparently not a lot of other folks did either) but I did listen to the game periodically to hear what Papa and color analyst Tom Flores were saying. (We won't delve deeply into the game itself; that would be nauseating)
Papa's been under attack for his overly-enthusiastic calls despite the overall Raiders ineptitude. Flores too, but Flores can be excused because he's close to Al Davis and was once a Raiders coach.
This is a most difficult time, professionally, for Papa. Like a lot of other play-by-play announcers, he is paid by the team and not the radio station.
Papa is good enough and respected enough by his peers to at least offer some degree of hardened criticism of the Raiders performance. He doesn't have to refer to the Titanic, but he also has to acknowledge the Raiders abysmal failure on the field.
After the game, his interview with Tom Cable bordered on ludicrous.
Instead of opening the segment with an appropriate summation of the game, (i.e., "coach, tough day for the team in all aspects of the game; JeMarcus; lack of offense; dropped balls, etc") he shuttered straight on with a rather mundane, rudimentary take on Cable's offensive game plan.
Again, Papa is in a semi-catch 22; he works for the team and that of course has to be balanced; on the other hand, he owes it to the listeners who expect a much more credible account of what took place, however bad it was, and indeed it was bad on Sunday.
**The post-game show wasn't that much better, and each and every week it gets worse.
Rich Walcoff is a seasoned, steady and ultimate pro at his craft. His post-mortems at least give some degree of the Raiders failures. It would be boring and repetitious to go over the team's massive problems on a weekly basis, but Walcoff tries.
George Atkinson's takes have become a farce. The one-time player's post game comments are so patently ridiculous, they've become comical. Atkinson has zero credibility; he consistently chastises anything even remotely critical of the Raiders play. Memo to George: this is the Bay Area, not Happy Valley.
**You know its a slow news day when the opening of the crab-fishing season dominates the entire local news media; TV, radio, print and internet stories galore about how lousy the catch is this year.
Is it my imagination, or doesn't it seem, lately, that EVERY year has been lousy?
**What is it about the famous, (or infamous) Walnut Creek fountain that has almost every Bay Area TV news director's attention? It seems anytime there's a significant news story, every 'pulse reporter is required to go to Walnut Creek and get an opinion from anyone hanging around said fountain. Like what? Walnut Creek is considered nirvana? Wait, it IS. Gotta get those A25-54 WHITE, SUBURBAN, folks to opine on events of the day. Coincidence? You be the judge.
**"Traffic and weather on the 'eights, nines, fives"--one day they're going to run out of numbers, which wouldn't be so bad, come to think of it.
**The Sarah Palin media machine begins in earnest Monday; her book is released. I smell a topic for Ronn Owens first hour on KGO.
**Caught up with the jovial Ted Robinson in the Memorial Stadium Press Box Saturday night; Robinson was broadcasting the Cal--Arizona game for Versus network. Question. What sports event does Robinson NOT broadcast?
**Wonder how the late, great Bill King would think of our beloved local sports play-by-play guys? Actually, knowing Bill, he'd kind of puke, trust me. Minus Robinson, Ken Korach, and the San Jose Sharks trifecta of Randy Hahn, Drew Remenda and Dan Rusanowsky, we're left with mild audio dreck.
**Speaking of Versus network, if you're wondering where to watch Saturday's suddenly big, Big Game, it's on that cable outlet at 4: 30 PM. (Check your local cable channels)
**Bizarre, Bizarre, Bizarre: woke up early Sunday morning and caught the Chron's Phil Bronstein interviewing famed White House correspondent Helen Thomas on, where? Get this!, KNBR, of all places...knibber's homage to the FCC's community affairs obligation is run from 5- 6 AM every Sunday; listening to the entire hour I wondered how ironic that only an hour later, I'd hear ESPN radio updates. Weird. Oh, by the way? Bronstein's Q and A with Thomas was pretty good, take note knibbers.
**Moratorium on the S' curve news. Stop. Enough already. Shut up.
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Following up your comments on local pro football broadcasters, yes, Papa seems a bit prejudiced at times, however, it could be much worse. Last night, driving home, I listened to the Indy Colts braodcast team on Sirrius. Starting with the kickoff, I was surprised to hear the play by play man, Bob Lamey, and the color man Will Wolford refer to the Colts as "we" and the players by their first names only. In their view, the Pats were the evil empire. We don't know how good we have it here in the Bay Area
ReplyDeletePapa was great as a Warriors announcer. As far as baseball goes, I felt that he talks too fast and his inflection was too wide, same with Ted Robinson. Don't get me wrong, both are upper echelon sports announcers but not to my baseball tastes. I prefer the cadence of a Lon Simmons, Greenwald, Jon Miller, Kuiper.
ReplyDeleteTo borrow a term from from George Carlin, "Baseball is pastoral".