I was out last night and was driving home while listening to the game. I was pretty shocked at the lack of enthusiasm down the stretch in the 4th quarter.
Charles Barkley backin' it in ... backin' it in ... backin' it in ... backin' it in ... backin' it in ... Another classic Peterson call. During the Finals of the first championship, we had the TV on and the radio broadcast. Kenny Smith at the free throw line. Chucks one up, it rattles around the rim and falls in. Peterson's on-air call, "And it's a swish, of course!"
Peterson was the voice of the Rockets, classic. I frankly have never heard the other guy; I can't get Rockets radio where I live.
We were all extremely spoiled by Gene Peterson's brilliant calls. Craig Ackerman was put in an impossibly situation to replace Gene and has probably done a B-level job. I do agree with the complaints that his play-by-play calls for other teams scoring is randomly exciting. Sometimes it just feels like he's falling behind the live action and struggles to keep up -- and that's when his calls get really boring. Petersen did an incredibly job painting the picture without falling behind.
Have you guys heard Matt Thomas do the rockets games? He's pretty damn good. I think him and Blank should do it or him and a former player as the color analyst. I'm thinking Steve Francis
Ah, the good ol' days! <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NQmQH_nU6Sc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
See my sig. :grin: I don't care for Ackerman but maybe that's because Geno and Foley set the bar high.
Objectivity. He's just appreciating a good play when he sees one. I think we get enough of our homer dose from Worrell and crew anyways.
There's one thing that the Genie has that Ackerman will never, ever have: timbre. The tone of his voice was p-e-r-f-e-c-t for broadcasting live sports. It was strained, yet strong. It was low, yet every word was audible. He was able to portray the action without slowing it down. His catch phrases were cheesy AND classic. And he was as much of a fan as you were listening. Somebody mentioned Matt Thomas, honestly, he's got the voice for radio and broadcasting as well. I assume he's decent at play-by-play now too, hasn't he been the UH guy for a while? Ackerman is an ok play by play man. Tough act to follow. His sidekick though.... And the Worrell/Drexler/Bullard combo is....well....not my favorite lol. Worrell's been doing it so long though, it's almost like Peterson. Whoever is next in line will never measure up. Bullard comes in to reiterate or homer-ize anything Worrell says and Drexler just chuckles and says, "well if that was me I would've just dunked it". Which is probably true but doesn't make for decent commentary.
