Misc. Monday 06-27-2011 - Who is the best and worst ESPN personality?
As soon as you turn it on, and your wife complains about it, you see familiar faces that you have become accustomed to, who deliver your fix of sports. Like a kid who has just been given a pixie stick, men light up when they hear their favorite ESPN anchor, insider, radio host or columnist spew sports in their face.
ESPN has had personalities come and go, and maybe the best have already parted. Like current Fox radio host, Dan Patrick and MSNBC's Countdown host Keith Olbernmann. These two are pretty much the reason that ESPN and SportsCenter, the greatest show in the history of shows, took off the way that it did. You were able to relate to these goofy, yet witty anchors.
So who do you relate to now? Who is your favorite? Here is my list of favorites to choose from. If your guy or girl ESPN personality isn't on this list, then write in your vote in your comment.
1) Bob Ley - The former public address announcer of the New York Cosmos, Ley earned his first major position at ESPN in 1979. Ley, the current host of ESPN's Outside the Lines, is one of only two original SportsCenter anchors still with ESPN, the other being Chris Berman. Bob Ley is my personal favorite.
2) Mike and Mike - You ever read the annoying post on your friend's Facebook wall that reads, "Morning… that means I need coffee!" Well, every morning, I could answer their post with, "Morning… that means Mike and Mike." Golic and Greeny make mornings tolerable for men. Mike and Mike have the best combination of knowledge, likable personalities and humor.
3) Scott Van Pelt - Van Pelt reminds me the most of Patrick and Olbermann. He has the most humor and is the cleverest of the current ESPN SportsCenter anchors. When Van Pelt is covering golf for ESPN, which he often does, he keeps the jokes to a minimum, but you know when he's not directly on camera, he is nothing but ornery.
OK, and here are the guys I don't like. Who don't you care for?
1) Chris Berman - Unlike Bob Ley, Chris Berman's schtick has been so overdone. Chris Berman is like that Lady Antebellum song that was good when it first came out, but now, you just want to stab yourself in the eye every time that you hear it begin on the radio. Berman needs to take his nicknames and his rumbling-bumbling-stumbling garbage to retirement.
2) Mark May - The college football analyst thinks he is the best thing since the yellow line that shows viewers where the first down marker is, and he talks like he must know every single thing imaginable about the game of football. Shouldn't you be a coach then, Mark? I can't wait to hear what he has to say about Jim Tressel and the Ohio State football program, because I know he will be right about that whole situation.
3) Mel Kiper Jr. - Another college football guy, I know, but Mel Kiper Jr. has got to go. Maybe it's because I am jealous of his thick luscious hair, while I battle with male pattern baldness, but really, it is simply the fact that anyone with any knowledge of college football could tell you who the top five or 10 picks in the NFL draft are going to be.
So I know there are several other personalities on ESPN and SportsCenter that you love. Who are they and why do you love them?
Misc. Web Video of the Week
Shin-Soo Choo would have probably swung at this pitch. Other than Fausto Carmon's at-bats against the Giants, this is the most unathletic thing I have ever seen a professional athlete do.