Broadcasters aplenty

Today, I have no particularly original thoughts, so I'm posting a link to someone else's blog. One of the authors of Waiting for Next Year has put together a list of his five favorite Cleveland sports announcers of the last 30 years, along with a paragraph about why he likes each of them. His five are, in order, Joe Tait, Nev Chandler, Tom Hamilton, Michael Reghi and Jack Corrigan.

Naturally, any time someone puts together such a list, there will be disagreements, and I respectfully disagree slightly with this list. No argument against Joe Tait; he's the best there is. I'm old enough to remember when Tait did Indians games with Bruce Drennan, and I thought those guys were fantastic together. But he's mostly made his mark as the radio voice of the Cavaliers, and he is brilliant at that job, working without a partner. It's a rare broadcaster who can both entertain and illuminate by himself, and Joe is that guy.

The late Nev Chandler did a fine job as the radio voice of the Browns, and I'm also a big fan of Tom Hamilton, even though he sometimes goes a little bit too crazy for my taste. I really liked Jack Corrigan too, and he was kind enough to reply to an e-mail I sent him a few years ago in which I lamented the fact that he was the odd man out when Channel 43 stopped carrying Indians games. Why they held onto John Sanders over Corrigan is beyond me. People who say baseball is boring must have been watching John Sanders broadcasts.

So that leaves one guy on the list, and it's Michael Reghi. Let me start by saying I really don't have anything against Reghi, and thought he was treated unfairly when the Cavs sent him packing on the cusp of the 2006-07 season in favor of Fred McLeod, whom I consider his inferior as a play-by-play man. Reghi now hosts the afternoon drive-time show on WNKR, and I've listened to him from time to time. He knows his Cleveland sports, and expresses himself articulately about them. But there's always been something that bugged me about Reghi, that I've never been able to quite put my finger on. He somehow seems a little bit cocky, I guess, even though I've never heard any stories that indicate he really is.

I would have liked to see Herb Score on the list. The guy from WFNY obviously didn't care for Herb, saying he "suffered through so many years of Herb Score." Herb misspoke sometimes, and gave some players' names creative pronunciations that he stuck with, but he was a colorful character who knew his baseball and loved Cleveland.

The other glaring oversight I see is the current radio voice of the Browns, longtime Channel 3 sports anchor Jim Donovan. Donovan is similar to Chandler, in that he calls it like it happens and doesn't sugar-coat anything, and will crack the occasional joke at the Browns' expense, which I really like.

So I guess my list would be six. I think I'm entitled to that.