I can agree that Worrell is a little biased sometimes (most of the time he "cries" foul, he's actually right anyways...though sometimes he's wrong), but I disagree about Bullard. He's not as down the middle as Clyde (who is incredibly unbiased for a commentator), but he's rarely biased himself- and if the replay shows he's wrong, he will flat out admit that he was wrong and that it was a great call by the refs. That said, I do love Worrell and Bullard. It took me a little bit to get use to Drexler, but I've come to love listening to him as well. The Rockets have one of the most entertaining broadcast teams I've ever seen. They remind me a lot of Bill Brown and J.D for the Astros back in the day- except Brown is less humorous than Worrell (not that it's a bad thing- Brown is probably my favorite play by play commentator of all time in sports).
Bill Worrell is a Houston sports broadcasting icon. This thread should be locked and buried somewhere Bill can never find because we're so lucky to have him. It's as if we have our own Clutchfans member as our broadcaster for the last few decades. Do people really want some cold, objective play-by-play guy from the Northeast to do our games?? Do people really want someone whose voice doesn't ring with true excitement when Harden scores a 3-point play?? COME ON CLUTCHFANS! STOP B*TCHING ABOUT EVERYTHING!
I actually think Bullard and Bill work well together. Not having Clyde there allows Bullard to break down plays, and analyze the game a little more. Most of what he says is pretty common basketball knowledge, but its nice to have him explain it and give a little education of the game to the newcomers. Bill, Bull, & Clyde is just too clunky. Too many silly puns, and not enough basketball analysis. Take away Bull from that broadcast and maybe it forces Clyde to talk basketball a little more.... maybe not, but I do know that Clyde is capable of giving up good analysis from time to time... his problem just always seems to be forcing comedy, and not being prepared enough. Bill is an old timer and sometimes says some stupid crap (which most old timers do anyways), but he's still one of the best calls in basketball, and is a living legend of Houston sports. As long as he can keep going, I'd love to keep him as the voice of the Rockets. If it was up to me, I'd go with Bill & Bull from now on, but I understand that its hard to essentially fire a Houston legend and hall of famer like Clyde Drexler. I'd want to find some other way to keep him involved in the franchise if possible. Bill and Calvin again would be great, but I dont think Bullard deserves to get fired just to give Calvin more air time. Still... of course I'd be ok with it though if Les decided to move him back up to the front seat.
I actually think the humor between the three is great. I often find myself laughing throughout more than half of the entire game. I don't think Clyde has the best announcer voice or anything, but I love his humor and analysis- and I think his completely unbiased nature is a good complement. You have Worrell who is fairly biased but makes you feel good as a fan. You have Bullard who is usually unbiased, but will occasionally throw in a biased comment. Then you have Drexler who, at times, seems biased against the Rockets (even though we know he's not) due to how absurdly unbiased he is.
Lately, it seems that, for a local TV play-by-play guy, Bill Worrell is complaining a ton about the home team. Usually, local TV guys get irritating by being excessive homers and complain too much about the referees being unfair to their teams and how the opposing team are a bunch of dirty no-good bastards. Like this: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Yu8Da3pe9h0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Bill seems to have gone the other way-- delighting in taking shots at the Rockets. He's like the Bizarro Sean Elliot-- same tone, except with the gun pointed at his own team. Some of his favorite targets seem to be defensive mistakes (both lately and at the start of the season) and Jeremy Lin. Not to say that some of the observation aren't fair-- just like a good portion of Johnny Most's observations about the Bad Boy Pistons and many of the homer TV guys complains about referees were probably fair-- but Bill seems to just get irritating and bitter about this. Yeah, I know the team isn't playing well, and I'm yelling at the TV already, don't need the TV guy to keep harping on it and annoy me more. Not sure it's the right thing to do. Isn't the whole point of having commentators to entertain fans and let them enjoy the games-- even the bad ones-- a little more so that they are more likely to tune in? Bill seems to be doing the opposite. I've found myself choosing the opposing team's feed on League Pass Broadband multiple times, especially when the opposing team has a decent broadcast team (Minnesota, Golden State, etc.).
I will always appreciate Bill's dedication to the Rockets and the job he has done for decades, but it is just painful to listen to him nowadays.
You're totally on point about this, I always choose the opposite team's broadcast. Bill doesn't seem to like Lin for whatever reason.
Bill is a Rocket's institution. He will leave on his own terms. I still think he does a great job. I hope he stays for as long as his health permits. He still looks great to me. Love Bull's analysis. Drexler is O.K., not great.
Bill is the best. I met him when I was sitting courtside the other night. I lost it tonight when he called Bonner "the red rooster". lol :grin:
Frankly, he's saying what most of us are thinking as we are watching the game. The defense sucks, and why does Jeremy jump in the air with the ball with no idea what he is doing. Bill complains a lot less than most of the posters on Clutchfans. When he sees the Rockets do something horrible is he supposed to pretend he didn't see it? Maybe he is too much of a fan of the team. He wants the team to do well, and he vents a little when they under-perform.
While I admire Bill's fandom and consistency, he's pretty bad. But then again, most local announcers are. I'm one of the people who prefer the commentators on ESPN or even TNT. They're usually way more knowledgeable than the average local broadcasters and are also objective. But since we can't get all our games to be nationally televised, I'd rather listen to most other broadcasts tbh. They're usually better and less annoying (and it's fun to listen to them while the Rockets destroy their team). Bill is annoying and can be the biggest homer at times, and Clyde doesn't know what he's saying half the time. Bullard is the only decent one.
Bill has earned the right to do what he wants and leave when he wants He is terrible now, but if don't care
