Phx-Suns.Net

I miss All McCoy on TV. I never hear the game on the radio anymore because I DVR the game.

The Suns have experimented with various announcers over the years and it's been hit and miss to say the least.

"All of the sudden" Gary Bender was a really nice guy, but always seemed a little drunk and was slightly annoying to me. He was like some announcer they got from the F league.

Tom Leander is an AZ native I hink and a real nice guy. Hosting Suns Live he is good at. Play by play? No thanks.

Tom Chambers as a color guy? Meh.

This year they have Steve Albert, Eddie Johnson and Ann Meyers.

Eddie Johnson- He is and always is absolutely great as a Suns broadcaster color guy. He is An ex Sun and his personality is outgoing and fun. He calls the game like he sees it. He compliments the other teams players when they do good things and calls out players from any team if they screw up. Love the guy.

Ann Meyers- I see her and Its like my Aunt is calling the game. She is a great person just like my Aunt is, but I don't want to see my Aunt call the game either. She knows her stuff, but it's just kind of boring for me.

Steve Albert- I have grown to like the guy. He is on his game and sounds like a professional announcer like his brothers are. I think he has been a good pickup. He only has one line that annoys me after awhile and that's "Without hesitation". Other than that he he great. He's funny, not afraid to poke fun at himself. He was slightly annoying at first because he seemed to be stuck in professional Boxing announcer mode for awhile, but compared to some of the other Suns announcers over the years he seems much more professional to me.

What do you guys think?

i love all the suns commentators-- EJ, albert and meyers. wasnt a fan of leander and mccoy.

I love the commentators too.

Steve Albert got really better this year, and except for the fulton homes ad at every 3 we make, is very good.

I absolutely hated Tom Leanders. Everytime I listened to elevates and detonates I wanted to kill the guy

I like Ann's color better than EJ's.

Wait, that didn't come out right.

I could be wrong, but I thought I remember hearing that Al didn't like Eddie or at least doing games with him. That's a shame if true because they are my favorite two. I'm sure somebody else here has a better memory then I do on the subject.

Well I think you're wrong calling Gary Bender from the F league. He may not have been my favorite but he was no slouch and was nationally recognized. He was the first CBS play-by-play man to do the final four and did it 4 consecutive years. He called the NFL for a number of years in the '70s and even more recently on the radio for the Rams and the Bears.

Cap wrote:I like Ann's color better than EJ's.

Wait, that didn't come out right.

racist tell...

I think Gary was a better play by play guy than Albert. I know it is TV, so you need to be watching, but Albert doesn't call the game, play by play. He calls about every 3 or 4 plays. The rest of the time he is quiet, or correcting a call he made a few seconds ago that he got wrong.

He seems like a nice guy and seems much more comfortable this year. But he doesn't seem like this is his passion, like Al still does.

As for color, I am partial to EJ, but Ann is good too. She makes really good points, but they are usually a little too far past the play because she doesn't want to cut off Steve. EJ doesn't really care about that and cuts right in.

If I could pick my dream team, it would Al and EJ.

SDC wrote:i love all the suns commentators-- EJ, albert and meyers. wasnt a fan of leander and mccoy.

Hard to take any of your posts seriously when you say this.

SDC wrote:i love all the suns commentators-- EJ, albert and meyers. wasnt a fan of leander and mccoy.

Banned for life!

Nodack wrote:I could be wrong, but I thought I remember hearing that Al didn't like Eddie or at least doing games with him. That's a shame if true because they are my favorite two. I'm sure somebody else here has a better memory then I do on the subject.

I've never heard that.

Indy wrote:If I could pick my dream team, it would Al and EJ.

Yep.

Steve seems like a nice enough guy but he miscalls the action too much for my tastes. Either he doesn't know basketball very well or he's not paying attention. He'll often make the wrong call and then he'll say, "NOW they're saying it was an illegal screen!". No Steve, that's what they called it from the beginning. Dragic never stepped out of bounds. You called it wrong.

carey wrote:Well I think you're wrong calling Gary Bender from the F league. He may not have been my favorite but he was no slouch and was nationally recognized. He was the first CBS play-by-play man to do the final four and did it 4 consecutive years. He called the NFL for a number of years in the '70s and even more recently on the radio for the Rams and the Bears.

Perhaps I was a bit harsh. In reality I think Gary was just past his prime when he came here. My wife was a gymnast way back when and I we have a video cassette of her competing in college with Gary Bender calling the action on TV. I was kind of shocked to hear him. "Wow, that's Gary Bender," That was from the mid 80s I think.

Superbone wrote:

Nodack wrote:I could be wrong, but I thought I remember hearing that Al didn't like Eddie or at least doing games with him. That's a shame if true because they are my favorite two. I'm sure somebody else here has a better memory then I do on the subject.

I've never heard that.

I think I'm just getting senile and my mind is making up Suns history.

Indy wrote:

SDC wrote:i love all the suns commentators-- EJ, albert and meyers. wasnt a fan of leander and mccoy.

Hard to take any of your posts seriously when you say this.

i'm more of a chick hearn guy... oops, wrong team.

I love Al McCoy, but after listening to a few radio games, he has slipped a bit. Which is okay - he is 81 (and only a few years younger than Vin Scully!). My favorite Suns broadcast team ever is Al & Cotton, but I also enjoyed Al & Dick Van Arsdale.

EJ is probably the best of the bunch right now - he's pretty good, but not great. Ann Meyers is pretty average, and Steve Albert just makes to many mistakes in his calls. Sometimes he'll say that the referee changed his call when he was just wrong and didn't know what the official was calling, sometimes you don't get any explanation from him at all. I think the problem is that he's a little past his prime like Gary Bender was.

Still, all of them are better than Tom Leander and Tom Chambers. I'm glad they got Leander off of the play-by-play - he was just not an NBA-quality announcer.

EJ is decent, mainly when he talks about his playing days. Other teams have much better commentators. Bucks, Raptors, Portland, for instance.

EJ is the most knowledgeable and his commentary is usually spot-on. He does get on his high horse sometimes, but not to an extreme.
The worst team in Albert and Meyers-Drysdale because they start rambling and telling stories, and missing the action. Often their stories don't have a damn thing to do with what is going on in the game. Nice people, lousy announcers.
Al has been great, but he's getting a bit timeworn. Tim Kempton is hard to understand on the radio ... monotone and mumbles sometimes.
Bender had his ticks ("... and all of the sudden") but was a solid pro otherwise.

EJ is awesome. I like Ann Meyers though she can be a little boring. I also like the fact that we have a woman color commentator too, I usually watch the Suns broadcast when ever I can so I do not know how many teams have woman as commentator but I would wager we are the only one or at least one of the few teams that does. I have like Steve Albert ever since he randomly said he wanted Scarlet Johansson as a Christmas present during a live broadcast in his first year. I don't even think it was around Christmas time when he said either.

Tom Leander sucks. He seems like a legit dude and all but he just sucks. You can really tell that he likes the Suns so I don't wish for him to go or get fired or anything so I like the fact that they found him a role where I don't have to listen to him as much and potentially skip if I am watching on the DVR. No real complaints with Tom Chambes either I like him as a studio guy, overall I am okay how the broadcast team is currently constructed.

Like I said, I usually listen to the Suns broadcast whenever I can but I remeber absolutely hating the shit out of the Memphis Grizzlies commentators.