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Tampa Bay Rays TV: Dewayne Staats - PBP, Brian Anderson - Analyst, Tricia Whitaker - Field Reporter Overview: Staats has been with the Rays since the beginning and has been calling games for a billion years. He started with the Astros in the 70s and has also worked with the Cubs and Yankees as well. Staats is the kind of voice you think of when you think baseball announcer voice. Whenever a Ray blasts one he'll say "And there's a drive, high and deep to (whatever direction) field," and he likes say "wave and a miss" as well. He's beloved by Rays fans since he's been at it for so long and he's really all we've known. He can be a bit aloof at times and he's never really been super great in big moments, but he's solid all around. Anderson is a wild card. While Staats is the image of an older veteran broadcaster, Anderson likes to be silly. Sometimes he can be too much, but more often than not the dynamic plays really well together and the chemistry in the booth has certainly gotten a lot better now that they've been together for over a decade. I think it's a good B+/A- crew. They do have the tendency to put on absurd broadcasts with a lot of dumb humor during late night west coast games. Staats is probably close to retirement since he's taking a bunch of road games off. Are they annoying homers? Anderson tends to be more homer than Staats. It's always hard to tell since I'm not a neutral fan, but I don't think they're ever annoyingly homer. It certainly comes out at times, but it's probably about average for most local broadcasts. Does anyone have a distracting or annoying voice? Not really. I've heard a few complaints that Staats voice is boring, but those seem to be few and far between. Would I recommend this broadcast to the casual viewer? The broadcast is solid if you can get past all the annoying poo poo that comes with any Bally Sports broadcast. gently caress Bally Sports you bankrupt shits. Radio: Andy Freed - PBP, Neil Solondz - PBP Overview: The Rays radio crew from 2006 until early March was the same. Andy Freed and Dave Wills would each do 2 innings of PBP and alternate with the other. I worked in the Trop from 2006 to 2011 and they played the radio feed in the hallways so I got to hear a ton of them. Freed is a more typical style announcer while Wills worked better in big moments. They played off each other extremely well and the stylistic mashup seemed perfect. Sadly during Spring Training, Wills passed away. It really sucks because you could tell how much Wills and Freed loved calling games and that there was a serious friendship between the two. Now Neil Solondz goes from being the pregame/postgame studio guy to announcing. Based on the highlights I listened to, he's fine for someone without a ton of work, but he's filling such a massive hole that will take a lot of time for him to build into. Freed is a great voice and I'm glad he'll be there to help Solondz out. While Wills was always more suited for big moments, Freed's call of the Longoria walkoff in game 162 is my favorite Rays related call ever. I wouldn't be surprised if Freed moves to TV when Staats retires. I'll really miss that big strikeout late in the game and the call of "Swing and a miss. He. Struck. Him. Out." Are they annoying homers? Wills would get more outspoken at times if he felt the umps were wronging the team, but Freed and Wills both were not afraid to say the Rays were playing like poo poo. Remains to be seen if the new combo will be annoying, but I doubt it. Does anyone have a distracting or annoying voice? Solondz is clearly still working out how to call bigger moments. Do I recommend this broadcast to casual listeners? With Wills and Freed, absolutely. Now, I'd probably still recommend it just because I really like Freed, but man it feels different. I also vote the Mets TV broadcast as the best, it's just fun.
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Apr 1, 2023 02:46
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 23:08 |
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