Hawk and Stoney worst broadcast booth in baseball (according to GQ)

[RockRaines]

The fact that the Cubs team isnt in the bottom shows how out of whack their ranking are.

[JPN366]

Well, I grew up watching baseball on WGN, so I like Hawk and Stone. I do miss Harry Caray, he seemed like he was just another fan at the game. I don't understand why people wouldn't like a homer announcer on a regional broadcast. If it's a national broadcast with ESPN/FOX/MLB announcers, then they should be impartial. But it's ridiculous to claim dislike towards homer announcers doing regional broadcasts.

[BigSqwert]

I'd still like to see a Stone Pony/DJ pairing some day.

[JPN366]

The fact that the Cubs team isnt in the bottom shows how out of whack their ranking are.

 

Amen, those are the two worst announcers ever. No wonder Brenly got fired from managing, he's unbearable.

[chetkincaid]

I know I'm in the minority but I really don't like Steve Stone. He seems like a pompous arrogant jerk.

 

Bring back John Rooney!

[JPN366]

I know I'm in the minority but I really don't like Steve Stone. He seems like a pompous arrogant jerk.

 

Bring back John Rooney!

 

Or Wimpy.

[CanOfCorn]

I liked Hawk in the '80s and early '90s. But he's become really self-indulgent and his shtick has been stretched too far over the past decade or so. He's basically in post-stroke Harry Caray territory now: Not worth a whole lot in the booth anymore, but he's such an ingrained institution that showing him the door would be almost unthinkable at this point.

 

The Sox have one great and one good color commentator (Stone and Farmer, respectively). It's too bad that they don't have the play-by-play talent to match that.

 

Wow...that's rough, man.

[iamshack]

I live in Las Vegas, and so I have the Extra Innings package, and so I get to watch a lot of different broadcast teams. Sometimes I want to watch our broadcast; sometimes I can't; sometimes I don't want to. But I will say this much...I would rather listen to the guys that openly root for their team than the ones that sort of do, but try and hide it in the interests of professionalism. Because when that big moment does come for their team, they are usually unable to hide it, turn into this rampant homer, and that's when it gets really, really annoying.

[shago]

 

S^2 can go anytime he likes; boring and not all that insightful. It will be a sad day for all Sox fans when Hawk hangs-it-up. It's amazing to have an annoucer who cares that much about the Sox -- fun too

[kev211]

I love Hawk, and Stone too. Though I miss DJ even though I get to listen to him on the radio because I love him even if that is a rare opinion.

Edited July 12, 2010 by kev211

[Thad Bosley]

I live in Las Vegas, and so I have the Extra Innings package, and so I get to watch a lot of different broadcast teams. Sometimes I want to watch our broadcast; sometimes I can't; sometimes I don't want to. But I will say this much...I would rather listen to the guys that openly root for their team than the ones that sort of do, but try and hide it in the interests of professionalism. Because when that big moment does come for their team, they are usually unable to hide it, turn into this rampant homer, and that's when it gets really, really annoying.

I live in NYC and have Extra Innings, too, which means, as you state, we get to sample many if not all of the other broadcast teams. And having the opportunity to do so makes me appreciate the Hawk and Stone Pony so much more than I might otherwise. They actually "entertain" you during the game. I mean, if I had a dime for every one of these cookie cutter play-by-play guys out there with their rehearsed, professional voices just blandly calling the game - well, let's just say, I'd have a whole stack of dimes lying around.

 

Seriously, you go from one's team booth to the next, and one by one it's essentially the same 'ol thing going on. From that Josh Lewin guy in Texas, to Brennaman in Arizona, Staats down in Tampa, the guy doing play-by-play for the Brewers, to that dreadful KC team, so on and so forth - they are all pretty much the same. Snoozeville! Meanwhile, we have two very knowledgeable and personable guys describing in a terrific back-and-forth sort of way, the various nuances of baseball for two or three hours each night, peppered occasionally by a Hawkism here and there. Now that's what I call entertaining, and I, for one, absolutely and fully enjoy each and every telecast. I wouldn't change a thing or trade this tandem for any of the others out there!

 

Now for what I really think....... : )

[Quin]

I live in Las Vegas, and so I have the Extra Innings package, and so I get to watch a lot of different broadcast teams. Sometimes I want to watch our broadcast; sometimes I can't; sometimes I don't want to. But I will say this much...I would rather listen to the guys that openly root for their team than the ones that sort of do, but try and hide it in the interests of professionalism. Because when that big moment does come for their team, they are usually unable to hide it, turn into this rampant homer, and that's when it gets really, really annoying.

 

This is why I love Hawk.

 

His job is to call the game for Sox fans, not everyone.

[WCSox]

Wow...that's rough, man.

 

Well, OK, he's not THAT bad ("Sammy Sofa steps up to the plate...").

 

[Controlled Chaos]

I live in NYC and have Extra Innings, too, which means, as you state, we get to sample many if not all of the other broadcast teams. And having the opportunity to do so makes me appreciate the Hawk and Stone Pony so much more than I might otherwise. They actually "entertain" you during the game. I mean, if I had a dime for every one of these cookie cutter play-by-play guys out there with their rehearsed, professional voices just blandly calling the game - well, let's just say, I'd have a whole stack of dimes lying around.

 

Seriously, you go from one's team booth to the next, and one by one it's essentially the same 'ol thing going on. From that Josh Lewin guy in Texas, to Brennaman in Arizona, Staats down in Tampa, the guy doing play-by-play for the Brewers, to that dreadful KC team, so on and so forth - they are all pretty much the same. Snoozeville! Meanwhile, we have two very knowledgeable and personable guys describing in a terrific back-and-forth sort of way, the various nuances of baseball for two or three hours each night, peppered occasionally by a Hawkism here and there. Now that's what I call entertaining, and I, for one, absolutely and fully enjoy each and every telecast. I wouldn't change a thing or trade this tandem for any of the others out there!

 

Now for what I really think....... : )

Good post.

[Milkman delivers]

Hawk alone makes it unbearable for non-White Sox fans.

 

The second post in this thread completely nails it. Hawk isn't a very good announcer (he even bothers many Sox fans) and he's unabashedly biased. I would hate him more than I do now if it weren't for the fact that we share the same bias.

[Milkman delivers]

I'd still like to see a Stone Pony/DJ pairing some day.

 

Agreed.

 

Did they rank Morgan and Miller? Is there a worse place than last?

Edited July 12, 2010 by Milkman delivers

[greg775]

I'm an in-towner and I hate Hawk. He's an embarrassing buffoon.

 

Stone is fantastic though.

 

Hawk is not an embarrassing buffoon.

He's a homer and admits it.

Hey, if GQ listens enough they will find most team's TV crews are homers, but they try to act professional until they in their oh, so serious voices, get on the umpiring or criticize the other team's players while never criticizing the home team.

That grows old.

At least Hawk is out there, admits he's a homer and caters to Sox fans.

I mean my god, Hawk b****es about the umpiring but so do all crews. The baseball teams have the right to approve all announcers and the announcers know it.

I love Hawk. He's a blatant incredible homer. So what? The other crews I've heard are very dull and the announcers have voices that make you want to turn down the sound.

 

and this post said it all for me! How true.

I live in NYC and have Extra Innings, too, which means, as you state, we get to sample many if not all of the other broadcast teams. And having the opportunity to do so makes me appreciate the Hawk and Stone Pony so much more than I might otherwise. They actually "entertain" you during the game. I mean, if I had a dime for every one of these cookie cutter play-by-play guys out there with their rehearsed, professional voices just blandly calling the game - well, let's just say, I'd have a whole stack of dimes lying around.

Edited July 12, 2010 by greg775

[DABearSoX]

There's that evil "folksy" thing I heard such bad things about in the last election. If saying 'atta boy' or 'jam city' or 'he gone' is folksy and bad, then I don't want to be good. I love the homerism of Hawk and when 'he gone', I hope they replace him with another homer. The only thing I could do without is some of his old timer stories, but the excitement or dissapointment in his voice when something good or bad happens makes up for his digressions once in a while. He is a fan of the team he's calling...I like that. It's why I listen to the radio call for Bears games. Ilike the annoucers feeling the same agony/joy that I do.

 

this is exactly how i feel on the subject.

[AJUribe]

The Hawk is a big reason i am a sox fan today, when the choice came down to listening to chip caray or hawk i will choice the un-apologetic homer over the dorky kiss ass anyday

[SoxAce]

Most out of towners love Steve Stone. But even he can't help those other fans "like" Hawk.

 

Luckily white sox fans have one of the best broadcasters ever. People may hate Hawk's homerism, but they still say his "Hawkisms" to a tee for their team(s) they root for. I've heard plenty of it myself from Cubs fans.

[lostfan]

I don't know why people don't like Stone - yeah he's pretty dry, but he really knows his s***. "Uninsightful" is about the most inaccurate word to describe him I can think of. I especially like it when he says something like "now would be a good time for (pitcher) to use his splitter" and 10 seconds later is a swinging strike 3 on a splitter.

[Wanne]

I live in NYC and have Extra Innings, too, which means, as you state, we get to sample many if not all of the other broadcast teams. And having the opportunity to do so makes me appreciate the Hawk and Stone Pony so much more than I might otherwise. They actually "entertain" you during the game. I mean, if I had a dime for every one of these cookie cutter play-by-play guys out there with their rehearsed, professional voices just blandly calling the game - well, let's just say, I'd have a whole stack of dimes lying around.

 

Seriously, you go from one's team booth to the next, and one by one it's essentially the same 'ol thing going on. From that Josh Lewin guy in Texas, to Brennaman in Arizona, Staats down in Tampa, the guy doing play-by-play for the Brewers, to that dreadful KC team, so on and so forth - they are all pretty much the same. Snoozeville! Meanwhile, we have two very knowledgeable and personable guys describing in a terrific back-and-forth sort of way, the various nuances of baseball for two or three hours each night, peppered occasionally by a Hawkism here and there. Now that's what I call entertaining, and I, for one, absolutely and fully enjoy each and every telecast. I wouldn't change a thing or trade this tandem for any of the others out there!

 

Now for what I really think....... : )

 

KC is probably one of the worst I've ever heard. Brennaman's been gone from AZ for a few years...and so Grace has felt the need to "take over" and he's gotten pretty painful to listen to. I can't even sit down and watch one inning of a DBag game.

[witesoxfan]

Most out of towners love Steve Stone. But even he can't help those other fans "like" Hawk.

 

Luckily white sox fans have one of the best broadcasters ever. People may hate Hawk's homerism, but they still say his "Hawkisms" to a tee for their team(s) they root for. I've heard plenty of it myself from Cubs fans.

 

"He gawn" has most definitely become a colloquialism in modern day baseball lingo.

[EvilJester99]

I can agree with this now... Hawk to me has become as annoying as Harry Caray was at the end of his career....IMO

Edited July 14, 2010 by EvilJester99

[fathom]

KC is probably one of the worst I've ever heard. Brennaman's been gone from AZ for a few years...and so Grace has felt the need to "take over" and he's gotten pretty painful to listen to. I can't even sit down and watch one inning of a DBag game.

 

No offense, but I disagree with you about Arizona. Darren Sutton is the best announcer in all of baseball. He even is able to make a terrible team sound like they're having interesting games.