Worst Announcer

[ranchwest]

My favorite bad announcer was Tim Conway. I heard him call a race at LaD one time.

"And, most of the horses are out of the gate, now they're all out of the gate, one horse has the lead and another trails the field."

Only Tim Conway could pull it off. He had even the crustiest racetrack veterans bent over laughing.

[RXB]

Conway's calls were hilarious. "Uh, can somebody lend me six dollars?"

My favourite Carol Burnett Show memories are of Harvey Korman, on the verge of busting out laughing during a sketch because of Conway's ad libs and antics, silently begging Tim to "stop it, stop it."

[racingrev]

Does anyone have an audio of Tim Conway calling..

What a hoot, almost like Billy Crtstal subbing for Tom Durkin on Breeders Cup Day... That is a thought ... LOL..

[Hosshead]

Ever seen one of those "practice (mechanical) horses" that jockeys use to practice on? Sometimes they have one in the jocks room. As you push on the neck,- the head and neck rock back and forth, like a real horse.

Chris McCarron had one in his house. There is a home video of Tim Conway visiting Chris and riding this "horse". He got it going real good, but forgot to place his head to the side of the horses neck. The neck came up hard and broke Tim's nose on the spot. All caught on tape. A real Kodak moment !!

[toetoe]

Dick Riley used to do the No. Cal. fairs. He would fumble for the names, call the field twice, and by then the race would be almost over so .. "In deepdeep stretch, it's Wild Gold, Al's Renee, and Blackjack Road up in there for third." Every race somebody was up in there. Your guess who, was as good as Dick's. Poor guy also did the morning line. As Bill Walton would say, "H-O-O-ORRIBLE!"
I've already posted about Craig Ingram (hakuna matata, etc,).

[Doc]

Another announcer some of you may remember is Bob Weems, who used to call at Monmouth and Atlantic City. Weems was color-blind and so had to identify the horses by number only. In his prime Weems was the best - straightforward, no nonsense and accurate - but towards the end he got confused and made lots of mistakes. He was very bitter when he finally retired - I remember him grumbling about the free airfare and trip that the track gave him as a going-away present. Seems he didn't want to go where they were sending him - can't remember exactly where - and he was bitching about the airline they chose. Poor bastard died not too long after that.

[andicap]

IMHO, Dave Johnson was one of the worst doing those calls on ABC for the Triple Crown. He bent over backwards to scream out his signature phrase, "AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME!!!!!" even if it interfered with the flow of the race. Thank God Durkin does most of those races now.

In my youth I liked Jack E. Lee at Roosevelt Raceway.
"And Adios Lobell Hanover can see 'em all!"

[sq764]

I was just reading James Quinn's book (On Track/Off track) and he mentioned 3 announcers - Denman (who he loved), Dave Johnson and Battaglia.

He seemed to echo the sentiment on here.. He said Dave Johnson sounded like he knew nothing about the sport and simply was a niche guy.. He said some of Battaglia's calls showed that he had no clue what was going on.

I guess this proves they have been bad for many many years..

[Light]

Hey Toe

Was Craig Ingram the guy who allways said"the others better get busy"?

Now I've go to listen to MB cause he seems really popular in this category. But Definetly the worst I've ever heard is the Tampa annoucer. In a 12 horse field his first call is allways so and so on the lead when he's really last,annouces the 2nd place horse only 50% correctly then skips the entire field and calls the last place horse who he just called first!(can this guy hear himself?)This is his standard call out of the gate:skipping most of the field in his first call and jumping to the last placed horse.And he can't get that right.

During one race I bet,my horse won and he never called it the entire race.I began to wonder if it broke down somewhere along the backstretch.It was only after they crossed the wire that he noticed and gave him a "oh, and he was right there too".Gee,thanks for letting me know.

[andicap]

Originally Posted by Hosshead

Ever seen one of those "practice (mechanical) horses" that jockeys use to practice on? Sometimes they have one in the jocks room. As you push on the neck,- the head and neck rock back and forth, like a real horse.

Chris McCarron had one in his house. There is a home video of Tim Conway visiting Chris and riding this "horse". He got it going real good, but forgot to place his head to the side of the horses neck. The neck came up hard and broke Tim's nose on the spot. All caught on tape. A real Kodak moment !!

Anyone remember the Emmy Awards from about 20 years or so back when Harvey Korman won some award and Conway comes up to the stage with them, holding onto to his tux while kneeling beside him like a little boy.
Conway is the voice of "Barnacle Boy" along with Ernest Borgnine's "Mermaid Man" on "Spongebob," the second-funniest show on TV.

(Isn't that great casting putting McHale and Engisn Parker together? And why did McHale's writers name the captain after a run-down city in upstate NY?)

[toetoe]

After McHale's Navy and Rango, Timmy went downhill. As to Light's query, C. Ingram almost always had two pace battlers "quarterhorsin'", often predicted as they hit the stretch,"these two are gonna git it on" and just about every race said,"hoofhearted in front ... hakuna matata. It means ... no worries. And yes, the others ... better get busy; or, the others ............betterhurry. Actually, the text is not bad, forgetting for the moment that he said these things EVERY RACE! But he thought he was the black Marv Albert. He had that controlled roar that seemed to say, "I'm such a LOOZAH."
Somebody mentioned Tony Calo, and I won't dwell on his 4 indispensable tag lines (killer crossover,these two together as one,WHO WANTS IT MORE {@ the top of his frigging lungs}, and FRONT & CENTER), sometimes All worked into one race; no I come not to bury calo, but to further fink on him. He used to pronounce the name "Kabuki Theater" so that it rhymed with weirder, and with a soft 'th' diphthong, almost as "their-dur." What's up with that, Tony? Couldn't you foresee that I would spend hours on the Internet correcting you? Well, one of us is a loser, and it's not YOU! ... imean me.

[trying2win]

My choice for worst thoroughbred announcer...Mike Battaglia at Turfway Park. He must be reading the horses' names while looking at a program, during the running of a race. Seems there are too many lulls during the call of a race. I was at our local track lately, and listened to MB's call of a race at Turfway. Near the end of one race, a horse was drawing away by 5 or 6 lengths, and if I remember correctly, MB shouted out..."and so-and-so (whatever the horse's name was) is G-A-A-A-I-N-G...G-R-O-U-N-N-N-D". That sounded strange!

As for my choice for worst harness announcer...Jonathan Huntington of Northlands Park. His announcing of a race, in my opinion is really dull! One of his favorite cliches at the start of his race, is "And they're off to a G-R-R-R-E-A-T START".

To RXB...Actually, you may find this odd, but I get a kick out of Roger Huston's announcing. I guess after all that hollering he's been doing at the Meadows for years, that is why he's seems to have a permanent hoarseness to his voice". Again to RXB...Try listening to Rick Uppal's showboat announcing at Fraser Downs, especially when there is a tight finish..."At the wire............ C-L-O-O-O-S-E". I get a kick out of RU's announcing. At one time I used to find it annoying. Now I find it entertaining.

T2W

[RXB]

Harness racing, for me, is like a bad car accident; I find it gruesome, yet I still have to look for a split-second. And when I do, I can't help but notice that Rick Uppal is one of those guys who is actually a very skilled race caller but for some reason feels like he has go over the top with his voice.

Roger Houston-- well, T2W, all I can do is admit to the fact that I like some things that drive other people crazy. And on that note, it's time to throw some CD's into the player. Primal Scream, anybody? How about The Velvet Underground? The Jesus and Mary Chain?

[Ragingmike]

"The Bullet" Bob Meyer at Yonkers was the best -

[fouroneone]

Originally Posted by Buddha

Nor does the Penn National announcer, and I never hear any talk about him not doing it

Very true, a horse could win by 30 lengths, and he shuts his mic off as soon as the first horse crosses the line, even if it takes 25 seconds for the rest of the horses to finish.