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The website Awful Announcing covers matters relating to broadcasting and sports media. On Monday, they released rankings of the broadcasting teams for all 30 Major League clubs, which were determined by fan votes. Oakland usually doesn't fare well in these types of popularity contests, unless Eric Sogard is involved, but this time it went well for the Athletics. Ray Fosse and Glen Kuiper finished in sixth place. Here's what they had to say about our beloved broadcasters:
Analysis: The A's were the highest-ranked team to have a B be their most popular grade. Kuiper is cut out of the same mold as his brother, while Fosse seems to fill his role well, but can get overbearing at times.
Reader Comments: "Kuiper does a very good job of calling the games, but Fosse tends to tell outdated stories and quite possibly makes the most mistakes out of all the AL West announcers." -DanielOrmsby
I don't really understand the "reader comments," because I thought every broadcaster told outdated stories and I have no idea what he's talking about with Fosse making "the most mistakes." I don't notice him making any major mistakes most of the time, and certainly not enough to warrant a specific mention. But then, I'm kind of a Fosse homer and just love him to death no matter what he does, so I'm incredibly biased here. And I'm definitely not complaining about a sixth-place finish. Also curious that they seem to praise Glen and dislike Ray, while I think Ray is clearly the superior of the two.
The most controversial part of this list comes in the top spot. Vin Scully and the Dodgers crew finished as a surprising runner-up, as they were out-polled by -- wait for it -- Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper. All Giants hate aside, that duo really is good even though they can be annnoying at times. Face it -- if we had Kruk and (the other) Kuip, we'd love them to death. Seeing massive love for them is not a big surprise, and I'm not going to get all hot-and-bothered about it. Check out the link to see the rest of the list.
As for Ray and Glen, congratulations on getting a bit of national respect! To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Glen; he seems lost sometimes and his home run call is only decent at best (as the article suggests, his brother is much better at this). What I like about Ray is that he always seems very fair -- when the A's get away with one or benefit from a favorable or outright blown call, he acknowledges it rather than sweeping it under the rug. That's a big one for me. And while he takes criticism for always talking about food, I don't really have a problem with that. He's got three hours to kill and discussing the stadium fare helps pass on a tiny bit of the ballpark atmosphere through the screen if you choose to see it that way. And at least his quirk is something silly and harmless rather than anything that Hawk Harrelson does.