Chicago Sports Broadcasters analyzed by John Jackson

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: Telling it like it is : Cubs' TV duo, Bulls' radio tandem are the best of the local broadcast teams : April 29, 2008 : BY JOHN JACKSON : Being a broadcaster for a local team would be a dream job for many fans, but that doesn't mean it's an easy job. : Team broadcasters -- at least the good ones -- have to walk a tightrope of sorts while doing their jobs. They must slant the broadcasts to the interests of the home team and its fans without being overly enthusiastic cheerleaders. : Fans want positive broadcasters, but at the same time don't want broadcasters who sugar-coat everything and can find a silver lining in every cloud. Even in a provincial area such as Chicago, they don't want someone saying everything is great when it's not. : Here's a look at the best (and worst) of the broadcast teams working for local teams in the four major professional sports: : BEST AND BRIGHTEST : CUBS TV : 1. Len Kasper is underrated as a play-by-play man. He's solid in every category and does a nice job in holding a conversation while doing a game, which is essential in baseball. Bob Brenly is solid as an analyst, bringing the knowledge he acquired as a player and manager into the booth and educating the audience on the finer points of the game. : BULLS RADIO : 2. Neil Funk is a solid basketball play-by-play man, which is probably the toughest sport to do on radio. I'd like to hear a few more score and time updates from Funk because few people listen to a basketball game on the radio from start to finish. Funk has a good working relationship with partner Bill Wennington, who has developed into a very good analyst. This duo has gotten better every year it has worked together. : AVERAGE : CUBS RADIO : 3. Years from now, broadcast journalism students should study tapes of the current Cubs radio tandem because it's mind-boggling how popular the duo of Pat Hughes and Ron Santo has become. On his abilities as a broadcaster, Santo might be the worst analyst I've ever heard. He's never prepared and doesn't try to hide it. Recently, he had to get help from Hughes on the Cubs' record. Somehow, it works, partly because Santo is so bad he's entertaining and mostly because Hughes -- with the patience of a saint -- makes it work. : BEARS RADIO : 4. The last time these rankings were done a few years ago, the Bears' radio team didn't rate highly. But since dumping Hub Arkush -- a long-overdue move -- the team of play-by-play man Jeff Joniak and analyst Tom Thayer has steadily improved. Joniak has a better command of the game, and Thayer has become an informative analyst now that he's not being distracted by a third wheel in the booth. : HAWKS TV : 5. Quick, name the play-by-play man for Chicago's NHL team? No, Pat Foley is not the correct answer. Dan Kelly took over the team's play-by-play duties a couple of years ago and is a young guy with a bright future. Eddie Olczyk is one of the best analysts working in the market. Hopefully, as the team improves and regains its rightful place in the consciousness of local fans, people will notice Olczyk's work. : BULLS BROADCAST TV : 6. When the Bulls are on WGN-Channel 9, Wayne Larrivee is the play-by-play man and Johnny ''Red'' Kerr is the analyst. Larrivee is a top-notch announcer who excels at football and basketball and might be the busiest broadcaster in the world during the months when the sports overlap. Larrivee does a nice job in bringing some analysis out of Kerr, who often spends too much time cheerleading. : COULD BE BETTER : SOX TV : 7. Ken ''Hawk'' Harrelson has developed two of the most popular signature calls in all of broadcasting with ''You can put it on the board -- yes!'' and ''He gone.'' But it's maddening how he can go mute for extended periods when the team is struggling. Darrin Jackson has improved just about every year he has been in the booth and has developed a decent chemistry with Harrelson, which is no easy task. : BULLS CABLE TV : 8. The trio of play-by-play man Tom Dore and analysts Kerr and Stacey King probably is the tallest crew in all of broadcasting, but they don't stand as tall when compared to their peers in broadcast quality. The trio is basically mediocre, but that's actually quite an improvement over previous years. King, in his two seasons on the job, has provided solid analysis that was missing before he arrived. : JURY'S STILL OUT : SOX RADIO : Sadly, the folks in Sox management and WSCR-AM (670) broke up one of the best radio tandems in baseball a few years ago after they tried to cut John Rooney's salary when the team moved to the Score. Rooney predictably left and found another job -- some would argue a better job -- with the St. Louis Cardinals in about five seconds. Ed Farmer still is adjusting to being the main play-by-play man. Steve Stone is a welcome upgrade over Chris Singleton, but it'll take time for the pair to develop chemistry. : HAWKS RADIO : For years, Hawks fans heard the same voices whether they were watching a game on television -- the few games that were actually shown on television -- or listening on radio. Two years ago, the Hawks split the jobs with play-by-play man John Wiedeman and analyst Troy Murray becoming the team's radio voices. Chicago is still getting used to the duo.

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