Alright, so I’ve been digging into this whole “best sports announcers of all time” thing, and let me tell you, it’s a wild ride! I mean, there are just so many voices that have shaped how we experience sports, right?
First, I started by just brainstorming, you know? Jotting down names that popped into my head. Like, who are the voices I immediately associate with big games? That was the easy part. I got my pen and a big piece of paper and just started, you know, like, writing down names.
- Jim Nantz, obviously. That guy’s voice is just smooth as butter. He’s the guy for college basketball, golf, and the NFL on CBS. It is just incredible.
- Then I started thinking about some older names, like Howard Cosell. I read that he was big with ABC Sports back in the day, from ’53 to ’85. He had that distinct voice. He was born in 1918 and died in 1995. I found that he was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S. and died in New York City, U.S..
After that, I started looking online. Found some lists, like the ASA’s Top 50 Sportscasters of All Time. I went through it and I was like, “yep, these are our choices.”
I found some interesting thoughts about how the “General American” accent was used by newscasters. But the writer made a good point that sports announcers are different, so the way they talk changed over time. I don’t know if that’s completely accurate, but it is a good theory. I also found a name, Dick Enberg from Michigan, USA. I will do some research about him in the future.
I even stumbled upon an article mentioning Keith Jackson. This guy said he was the greatest and that hearing him on was a pleasure. I also found that some sports historian named David J. Halberstam made his own list of the top 50 announcers. That guy is a broadcast sports historian and sales and media consultant.
This whole process has been pretty eye-opening. It’s cool to think about how these voices become so ingrained in our memories of sporting events. It’s not just about the games themselves, but also about the people who bring them to life for us. I gotta say, it was fun to go down this rabbit hole and learn more about the legendary voices of sports.
