REDS APRIL GAMES THREAD

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(04-04-2021, 11:08 PM)kevin Wrote: So you haven't heard Barry Larkin, but you are going to take Forever Spinning Vinyl's opinion that he is lousy.  Fine, go ahead.  As for me the Reds announcers have bored me completely the last few years. I watch other games, and Reds announcers were the worst.  Barry Larkin as a Hall of Fame Red does bring knowledge of the Reds and Baseball to the games.  I was sick of 9 innings every game of these guys talking launch angle and spin rotation and what The Old Cowboy is eating after the game. Barry is actually talking Baseball, not non stop computer charts. 

I find it interesting you have decided on Barry Larkin though you admit you have not heard him yet.  Considering the Southern Ohio, Kentucky area, some people of this areas reasons for not liking Barry may be as simple as black and white. 

I enjoyed Joe Nuxhall as a Reds radio announcer. I enjoyed Johnny Bench as a Reds TV announcer.  I enjoyed Joe Morgan as a Reds TV announcer. So far I am enjoying Barry Larkin as a Reds TV announcer.

Joe Morgan was outstanding, no doubt about that. He's one of the few greats to make the transition. Another great to have a successful transition to in-studio analyst was Dan Marino. His first year was awful and I was convinced that he was going to be gone the following year. I was disappointed the following season when I saw him there on opening day at the sports bar. Then I realized that they let him utilize his strengths . . . they gave him the tele-strator(sp?) and he was amazing breaking down plays, pointing out many things that my QB coaches and Offensive Coordinators had no clue about. I learned a lot about reading a defense from his examples. I wish I would have seen stuff like that when I was a player.

I'm sorry that you don't appreciate Welsh. I think he's one of the best analysts in any sport. Scroll down the Reds page to the "Larkin Joins The Broadcast Team" thread to see why I think he's so great. And my apologies if I come across as a know-it-all, but I've been studying live broadcasting off and on for over 30 years. When I first got into broadcasting at our local college, the guy that taught me the most was going to do a live broadcast of a volleyball match. Now he was knowledgeable about the game as he was dating a college volleyball player for three years and he and his partner absolutely sucked on the live broadcast. I told him afterwards "Bro, you've taught me a lot and I look up to you but that was painful to sit through." His answer was simple. "Live Broadcasting is a special skill that needs to be developed. Your eyes see something and tell it to your brain. Then your brain needs to translate that to your mouth while your eyes are telling more things to your brain. It is NOWHERE as easy as it seems. That's why pro Play By Play guys have broadcasting degrees and analysts learn on the job at age 35-45."

Hopefully Larkin gets some tips from analysts from other teams because I doubt that he'll get honest criticism from the guys that he's competing with for air time. Dave Sims of the Mariners should talk to him. He's the one that mentioned how his broadcasting of Basketball games wasn't a good training for broadcasting Baseball because he didn't know how to follow the pace and let the game breathe(That's where I got the phrase). I'm still learning.