A Missouri native, Matt joined ESPN in 2022 and also contributes to SportsCenter . "You can put this one in the refrigerator. Vin Scully is the greatest pure baseball announcer of all time, and it's not even close. ESPN layoffs: Jeff Van Gundy, Jalen Rose out as Disney cuts costs At this point, a lot of people probably think of Eisen as the face of NFL Network. Mike Golic (1995-2020): Golic and Wingo. . The 25 Greatest NBA Announcers of All Time - Bleacher Report "His ability to analyze the game was something everybody on the team recognized. FOX Sports Personalities | FOX Sports Stephen Anthony Smith yearly income $10 million and the estimated net worth $16 million. Gammons left ESPN in 2009 after 20 years, and his presence is still missed. Buccigross has been a part of ESPN since 1996. He was just as good at golf and tennis, announcing the Masters 26 times and the U.S. Open 21 times. Emailed daily. Sean Breen. I realize I am calling for the near-impossible on that last one because none of them do it consistently. "Yes!". Toggle Current ESPN personalities subsection, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_ESPN_personalities&oldid=1149736163, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from June 2020, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, Tina Dixon: 2006present (college football coverage), This page was last edited on 14 April 2023, at 03:48. NFL Lead Writer Ty Schalter added, "Mayock is fantastic in small bursts, and is willing to actually provide analysis rather than advance narrative. In that time, though, he got to call the three-longest televised NHL playoff games of all time. Weve been watching him don mascot heads for over a decade at this point, and it has yet to get old. The most recognizable British sports announcer of all time is Ian Darke. Alliss became the BBC's lead golf commentator in 1978 and earned a reputation to where he was called the "voice of golf." Those television and radio networks included must have national exposure, . Patrick joined ESPN way back in 1989, and quickly he and Keith Olbermann combined forces to help shape SportsCenter. Hes partially responsible for the catchphrase This is SportsCenter and reported he was one of the inspirations for the Aaron Sorkin show Sports Night. Patrick was also one of the voices of ESPN Radio for many years, until both his gigs ended when he left ESPN in 2007. In an era of truly terrible baseball with the Cubs, he was still a must-listen. Marv Albert is another announcer better known for calling a sport other than professional footballif you think he won't be one of the top announcers on the NBA list, you're crazybut he should be remembered, historically, as one of the great football announcers of our time. Nelson covered NFL football for CBS from 1966 through the 1981 season, serving as the play-by-play man for the Cowboys and Bears before moving to national and regional coverage in the 1970s. He famously thinks TV ratings are bogus. Maria Taylor is one of the youngest sports analysts on this list, and although she might make one of the lesser salaries, she definitely still can only grow from here. He was primarily paired with Stuart Scott, which was certainly a dynamic duo for seven years. Buck was in the booth for several NFL championship games, including the 1967 Ice Bowl. Glickman was an Olympic-caliber athlete but was asked not to participate in the 1936 Berlin Olympics because of, as rumors swirled, his Jewish heritage. Then, Gruden got the ax from the Tampa Bay Bucs and headed to the booth, and he immediately made an impact. Mostly, he just talks about gambling and betting with his buddies, but Van Pelt has certainly carved out his niche. He won Coach of the Year twice, once in 1978 and once in 2004, which he won after spending years not coaching but instead broadcasting. Levy was a great hockey broadcaster, though he hasnt had a chance to cover it much since ESPN limited coverage of the NHL. Cohn has been with ESPN as long as anybody, making her one of the first faces we think of when it comes to the network. Speaking of Get Up! Beadle was one of the first hosts of that show. Kurkjian has been sort of the heir apparent to Peter Gammons in some ways, though one person cant fill Gammons shoes alone. Kolber deserves our love if only for handling that Joe Namath incident with aplomb. I'll admit I had no idea where to put Howard Cosell on this list. McKay died in 2006, at 86 years old. Hes also quite good on SportsCenter or calling football as well, which he has done more of in recent years. Outside the realm of ESPN, Storm also made history in 2018. Al Michaels, making his famous call at the 1980 Winter Olympics, Bob Costas was only 22 years old when he caught his first break as the radio announcer for the St. Louis Spirits of the American Basketball Association. Good. ESPN has laid off its top NBA game analyst, former New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, according to the New York Post. Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News retold a story about Scully's dance withdoing Monday Night Football back in 1970, writing: He says he saw the trend of analysts taking over came back in the 1970s, whenhe was asked by ABC producerChuck Howardif hed be interested in becoming the first play-by-play man on Monday Night Football. Before there was Adam Schefter and Jay Glazer, there was John Clayton. While hes been a SportsCenter staple, hes particularly loved by hockey fans. That's why game analysts (the. At her talk this Sunday, Connie will try to clear up some misconceptions about the military. Whether shes a sideline reporter or working as an analyst on the call, Burke is one of the best announcers in all of basketball. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. You cant talk about the debate show era of ESPN without mentioning Smith. Executive Vice President, Disney Platform Distribution. Let's take a look at the 25 greatest SportsCenter anchors ever. Also, she used to be a hockey goalie and maybe still is. Top Sports Analytics Jobs [+ Salary Guide] - University of San Diego 25. With Corso, it all comes down to one thing. Plus, lets not forget her calling NFL games for Amazon Prime. In the 1980s, after Meredith left the booth, the powers that be shifted Gifford into the role of color analyst, teaming him with Al Michaels and, for most of his tenure in that position, Dan Dierdorf. He was a starting pitcher for most of those years and is best remembered for having set a National League record for 55 saves and for enjoying a 20-win season. From his March 2010 obituary in the Los Angeles Times: "I was amazed by his size just like everybody else, but more than that at his great intelligence," former CBS analyst Irv Cross, who played three years with Olsen on the Rams, told The Times in 1982. Gowdy was also in the booth with Al DeRogatis for the infamous Heidi game, for what that's worth. "I have been called all of these. 1. 2021 Highest-Paid Sports Commentators, Broadcasters & More - Audacy In today's sports media culture, there may not be many analysts I'd rather have on a call than Collinsworth. ", "This is going to be a long three minutes here." Sure, Madden had a tendency to get worked up in his own exuberance, but that was part of what made him so affable. 1 They're also on the rise. Tom leaned over and asked, "Are you all right?" Spoiler alert: Our series of announcers rankings will conclude with a look at the greatest announcers of all time across all sports. Enberg was great in whatever he covered, but what set him apart from his contemporaries was his ability to call sports outside the mainstream, most notably in tennis. One of the great corporate pitchmen of all time, Madden was reportedly earning around $5 million per year for the last decade of his career leading up to his retirement in 2009. Oh, can you believe this?! John Smoltz. It was a show that allowed him to get serious, get political and talk the straight talk. How good was Summerall in the booth? After his retirement, he went directly into the broadcast booth and carved out such an illustrious career that later generations would have to be reminded that he played the game at one point. During his MBL career he was named the Most Valuable . According to the New York Post, the network is letting go of top NBA game analyst Jeff Van Gundy, . Fox Corporation. At the same time, the Dolphins announced the hiring of sports science analyst Dave Regan, and in September, Tom Pasquali, with a graduate degree in applied statistics and experience in the Yankees . There's something soothing about turning on a game and hearing the familiar voice of an announcer we know, love and trust. Big Bill, the Hall of Fame player and renowned Deadhead, is not the most professional of broadcasters, but his whimsical, roundabout way of calling games is always a delight. Anybody want to tell us what's more iconic than his "Do you believe in miracles?!" An eight-time Pro Bowl running back and former NFL Most Valuable Player, Gifford became even more famous after he transitioned to the broadcasting booth. A New York broadcasting legend, Albert was a mainstay in the booth for NBC's NFL coverage for most of the 1990s, but personal (ahem) transgressions in the late '90s led NBC to fire him. Albert then joined TNT shortly after his return to the national spotlight, a home he has had ever since. Ian Darke, Born: Sept. 11, 1953 (Quincy, Massachusetts), Sports: NFL, college basketball, NBA, MLB, Olympics, Tennis, Horse Racing. Should he have been in the top two, because nobody in the history of announcing any sport in America is as memorable as Cosell? In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened. What's better than watching sports? He said it was going to be the hottest thing on TVand he was right, said Scully. "We will see you tomorrow night." When Maple Leaf Gardens opened in 1931, it came replete with a then-unheard-of broadcast booth, called a "broadcast gondola" specifically made for him by Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe. If we're talking about the most famous moments in sports announcer history, Al Michaels owns at least two of the top five and probably has the No. Frank Gifford started covering games on CBS after his Hall of Fame playing career was over, moving to ABC for Monday Night Football in 1971, taking over the play-by-play duties for Keith Jackson. While the league truly owes its success to pioneering media geniuses like Roone Arledge and Steve Sabol (to name two of many), it's the television and radio broadcasters who are welcomed into millions of homes every weekend. Gifford was at his best on "Monday Night Football." I was just there. Some of the early championship games wouldn't even sell out. His personality was always at the forefront. Imagine how different things might be if CBS picked Scully to be the permanent partner for John Madden, instead picking Pat Summerall after each had a four-week stint with Madden during the 1981 season. He surely made up for whatever time he may have lost in the national spotlight, being named to nearly every major announcing Hall of Fame in existence. The Action Network is the market leader and most trusted source for sports fans, enhancing their betting and entertainment experience through original. There is literally no major event that Costas hasn't had a hand in covering in that time. Scully died in Aug. 2022, at 94 years old. Bill Walton (who actually was in "Ghostbusters"), Born: April 10, 1943 (Orange, New Jersey). With his infinite knowledge and elegant voice, you can drop him into any sport." Without Scott, would Boo Yah! have ever become a catchphrase? Jones was a throwback to the old AFL days of the 1960s, working with NBC from 1965 through 1997. They were the first voices many people heard in the morning. The iconic moments of Michaels' career are too numerous to list here, but aside from the "Miracle on Ice" game, it was Michaels who walked audiences through the devastating earthquake in San Francisco before Game 3 of the 1989 World Series. ESPN 1993-94, ABC 2000-2002 (as studio analyst), 1993-94, 2003-04 (as color commentator) NBC 2006, New York Rangers 1986-2006 (MSG Network) Jack Dennett - CBC; ESPN has been built on sports coverage but its also on personalities. Back to Moneyball for a moment, perhaps you've only heard about analytics in the context of sports thanks to Brad Pitt. Seriously, she started the gig in 1992 and shes still there. In the history of football, there is one voice that stands above the rest. In a job that often gets analysts noticed for things they do wrongreally in doing this I've found that nobody likes any of today's color analysts all that muchAikman should be lauded for what he does right. Ranking NFL's top 10 EDGE rushers of 2023: 49ers' Nick Bosa No. The 28 best TV game analysts in sports, ranked Justin McGuire 28 slides Helping TV audiences make sense of the sports action unfolding before them isn't easy. He called some great games in his day, none more memorable than the epic comeback by the Buffalo Bills over the Houston Oilers in a 1993 Wild Card Gamepaired with Todd Christiansen who surely deserved more consideration for this listthat featured Buffalo's comebackfrom a 35-3 third-quarter deficit to win in overtime. Assessment: Let's start off with the relatively unknown figure on this list. But that doesn't make him the best. Even after Tom left the show in 1999, I continued to hear his voice. Brookie, as he was known, worked three Super Bowls in the booth and several more in studio. All rights reserved. And so unnecessary." actionnetwork.com. These are the greatest sports announcers of all time. Few announcers have made themselves as synonymous with a single event as Jim Nantz has done with the Masters, where it's hard to imagine anything but his voice narrating the action, which he's done since 1989. Ley joined ESPN in 1979, just a few days after the network hit the air. Enberg eventually replaced Curt Gowdy as NBC's lead football announcer, calling the top games for NBC's NFL coverage as well as the annual Rose Bowl game. Seattle Times columnist Steve Kelly once wrote of Jackson: "That voice, low and rumbling, like the first shake of a giant earthquake, told us this game was worth watching. Jackson retired in 2016 but not before winning the Pete Rozelle Award for broadcasting excellence from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. NFL College Football NBA MLB USFL FIFA Women's World Cup. 1 for sure. Dandy Don was an original member of the Monday Night Football crew, working NFL games from 1970 through 1984 at ABC and, for a stint, NBC. David Remnick, The New Yorker, Died: Dec. 5, 2020 (age 89, Surrey, England). Now, all of that could make him boring. Who are the top sports analysts in the world? A spectacular move by Michael Jordan!" 10 football analytics influencers you need to know - TRACK160 Especially if someone runs on the field. Analyst Grade: B. Summerall was asked to handle the play-by-play duties, which he did for seven years in the lead announcing tandem, before Madden's ascendance changed the course of football announcing history. Madden is one of the great television characters of all time, and yet, he was as real as they come. Throughout his tenure, however, those contributions were massive. Few have ever been better on the play-by-play side of things. Curt Gowdy is best known for his baseball coverage. "Unlike any other sport, the objective in boxing is chillingly simple: One man purposefully endeavors to inflict bodily harm on another man." Costas worked for NBC for 40 years and won 29 Emmy Awards, and no game ever seemed too big for the Queens, New York, native. Nantz is a quintessential game manager in the boothwhich is exactly what CBS wantsso if it ever decided to put him with a more dynamic color analyst for football and/or give the Final Four to Marv Albert or Verne Lundquist, the network's overall sports coverage would be much better served. In a way, those years were some of the best in the history of Monday Night Football, but the three-man boothwhich Gifford helped establish as a weekly stapleeventually began to marginalize his contributions. Each week as they begin the countdown on Eagles Postgame Live, I still hear it. In an industry dominated by white, male broadcasters and bosses who have never given much room for women or minorities, Lesley Visser was a trailblazer. There is no one remotely close." Chris Morgan is a sports and pop culture writer and the author of the booksThe Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000andThe Ash Heap of History. Even people who arent hockey fans are quite familiar with Melrose. The main card is set for 10 p.m. Sometimes the weight of sports can get a little too heavy, with equal guilt shared between fans and broadcasters. From NFL Lead Writer Mike Schottey: "When Pat Summerall passed away, I wrote on Twitter: 'If you're thinking of a football play and it's not being announced by Pat Summerall or Keith Jackson, you're doing it wrong.' Pat Summerall was a star kicker at the University of Arkansas before playing a decade in the NFL, where he even won an NFL championship with the Detroit Lions in 1952. Tom Brookshier was born in New Mexico and went to college in Colorado, but he was as revered in Philadelphia as any sports personality could be. Emrick's mix of encyclopedic knowledge of the game and humor is what endears him to fans. Reali began life at ESPN in a fairly small role. He now calls NFL games for CBS, getting its third- or fourth-tier assignments behind Jim Nantz, Greg Gumbel and sometimes Ian Eagle. That didnt last, but PTI certainly has. It was just unbelievable that any one person would be gifted in so many ways.". Having seen Tirico balance the time between the likes of Tony Kornheiser and Joe Theismann and Kornheiser and Ron Jaworski, then manage the egos of Jaws and Jon Gruden, he should have won an Emmy. The current plethora of talking head debate shows can all be traced back to Pardon the Interruption. For a while, Kornheiser also brought his curmudgeonly presence to Monday Night Football, where he worked as one of the announcers. Copyright 2023 YB Media, LLC. Rob Caroll (Twitter and Website) With his website, The Video Analyst, Rob Caroll pushes the field of football analytics further and further.While his personal Twitter is a combination of his own insights and thoughts and a lot of great work he promotes, the website he manages is an invaluable resource for anyone looking into sports analysis. If there was a big game, Chris Schenkel was probably calling it. Matt Miller is an NFL draft analyst for ESPN, providing in-depth scouting on the nation's top pro prospects. There's something soothing about turning on a game and hearing the familiar voice of an announcer we know, love and trust. In fact, to some, Cosell's penchant for overshadowing an event made him the worst. It wasn't all gravy with Musburger, however, as he never backed off some controversial comments on Olympians Tommy Smith and John Carlos and once got in a fistfight with "NFL Today" gambling expert Jimmy The Greek. Chick Hearn was the Iron Man of sports announcers. I had very little TV experience, and I was terrified at the thought of doing a live two-hour show. Saunders was always a reliable presence in the studio for ESPN. And because of his dynamic chemistry with former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and color analyst Tony Romo. He became the highest-paid sports analyst of all time when he signed an insane 375 million dollar contract with FOX for the next ten years, following whenever he decides to retire from the NFL . One is for his roles in those classic This is SportsCenter ads, like the Y2K one. Sage Steele 1 of 27 Name: Sage Steele Years on SportsCenter: 2007-present Where she was then: WFTS Tampa The Skinny: After. Merlin Olsen's impact on the game, both on the field and calling the game, certainly warrants recognition. Or is it just that we've grown tired of him already? Jack Buck got his big break in the early 1950s, calling St. Louis Cardinals games on the radio in a booth that included him, Harry Caray and Joe Garagiola. Greg Anthony. Aikman joined FOX in 2001 and was paired with Buck in 2002 as the two have gone on to call six Super Bowls together. Brookshier played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1953-1961he missed the 1954 and '55 seasons while serving in the Air Forcestarting in the defensive backfield for the 1960 NFL Championship team. Mike Breen. Debating top 2024 NFL draft prospects at every position - ESPN His calls during the 2010 World Cup, especially the United States win over Algeria, will keep him in the hearts of soccer fans in the USA for years to come. Sure, but they also wanted to see their favorite hosts. 20 Best Sports Analytics Blogs & Websites To Follow in 2023 - Feedspot Hes been vital to ESPN for years, both as a writer and as a TV personality. "A tradition unlike any other." The two formed a duo way back in 1987, and they continued to work together on football coverage for decades. Enberg died of a massive heart attack in 2017, at 82 years old, and just one year after his official retirement. (Let it be known that this is the best video I could find after searching for nearly an hour. Burke's talent saw her rise to ESPN's NBA coverage in the late 2000s, and she became the first woman given a full-time analyst job on NBA coverage in 2017, which is a testament to her rare, amazing talent. He was right there, playing into Bermans quips but also providing his own style. That feeling doesn't just happen. Shes smart, insightful and knows how to ask great questions. Jim Nantz, Sports: NFL, Olympics, MLB, NBA, NHL, horse racing, boxing. Now, of course, he's going to be coaching for a while, as the Raiders gave him a staggering 10-year contract. Born in New York before his family moved to California when he was a boy, Michaels has always stayed true to his signature New York accent despite working on the West Coast and Hawaii. Jim McKay at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Born: March 25, 1918 (Winston-Salem, North Carolina), Died: April 23, 1995 (age 77, New York, New York). FOX SPORTS MLB ANALYST. This is a list of sports announcers and sports commentators. Marv Albert, calling 1991 NBA Finals, Born: Exact date unknown, 1954 (Portsmouth, United Kingdom), Primary networks: BBC/Sky Sports, ESPN, BT Sport. Joe still can't get out of his dad's shadow, even on a list for a sport for which his dad is less remembered than baseball. His legacy will not be forgotten. He was 85 years old. Hes also the man behind the popular Bucci Overtime Challenge on Twitter and perhaps the worlds most-famous college hockey fan. A kicker for 10 years in the league, Summerall started a career in radio in the early 1960s before hooking on with CBS as a color analyst until 1974 when he and Tom Brookshier teamed up in the booth to call games together. Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images. The 28 best TV game analysts in sports, ranked | Sporting News Curt Gowdy is widely remembered as a baseball announcer, but he was also the top AFL and NFL announcer for decades, working for ABC in the early 1960s before moving to NBC. But did you know the Dodgers' broadcasting legend also called a ton of football games in his career? As a player, the game was never about Aikman, even when he was lifting Lombardi Trophies or putting on a Hall of Fame jacket. After leaving ESPN in 2006, she moved to NBC, even working as a sideline reporter for a Super Bowl. And yet, the sport grew and grew through the years, becoming the monolithic entity we know today as the National Football League. Whether hes wrangling Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson or getting to call the game with somebody a little more straight-laced, Breens voice is always a pleasure to hear. He probably talked more about football than people recall.". ESPN even gave him a comedy show online for a little while, which featured a young, up-and-coming comedian named Ben Schwartz. After the . Hopefully being on this list will suffice as an honor. He's become just as famous in the last decade-plus as the play-by-play announcer for the lead CBS NFL football game every week. Charissa Thompson Charissa Thompson has made quite the rise in her sportscasting career. Oh, right, there was also that whole "Miracle on Ice" thing. But it made him beloved by fans. It's truly one of the greatest dunk calls of all time. A famous example highlighting the importance of a sports analyst was shown in the movie "Moneyball". Just check out the movie, will you?" He's also got his name on the best-selling video game series of all time. Before he moved to that new, fledgling network though he was one of the primary SportsCenter anchors. A former college hockey player, Saunders was an NHL studio hosts for years, but hes probably better known for being the studio host for college football. For many years she anchored the weekday morning SportsCenter broadcasts and also popped up on NFL and NBA coverage. Theres dry senses of humor, and then theres Kenny Mayne. She also did work on NBA games, college basketball games and was a substitute host on Pardon the Interruption. While she left ESPN for NBC in 2011, that gave us a decade of seeing Tafoya all over ESPN, especially if you are a football fan. Perhaps the greatest soccer commentator of all time, Brian Moore began his career in newspapers before moving to radio broadcasts for the BBC in 1961, then shot to fame as part of the broadcast team for England's 1966 World Cup victory. Brent Musburger's voice and presence on the biggest sports broadcasts in the world over three decades made him a household name fame that jumped into a new generation of fans in the 2010s thanks to his love of gambling and the internet era's obsession with that. Still more came from you, friendly reader, via Twitter. (This ranking is part of a series. Case closed.". Gowdy teamed with many great names in broadcasting during his time in the NFL booth, working for all three major networks (he moved to CBS later in his career). These two are tied together in the minds of ESPN fans forever. "Keep listening. He also worked for ABC and ESPN throughout his career. Collinsworth pulls zero punches in the booth, but his criticisms are handled in a way where he isn't necessarily ridiculing the man, more that specific decision in question. Frank Gifford was a true renaissance man.