B1G announcers

Elevator · February 3

On a big night they did a nice job. Not too much. I have found the enthusiasm of Sparks too much at times, but seems like he dialed it back just enough and was enjoyable. “Will Lewan doing Will Lewan things” after his ride out escape in .02 and win was a great line and just right.

CHROMEBIRD · February 3

Agreed. Thing to remember about Sparks though is that he's not really for us. He's the hype guy to keep more casual fans engaged while we nerd out and analyze strategy and technique.

Jason Bryant · February 3

Shane isn’t there because he’s a hype guy - he’s there because he works his butt off and earned the right to be the lead guy. He’s always “on” and his hype isn’t a schtick. Hype guys don’t do research and appreciate action like Shane does. He’s excitable and has a nearly unmatched passion for the sport.

Wrestleknownothing · February 3

#teamsparks

CHROMEBIRD · February 3

Shane's passion and hard work cannot be denied, but he simply isn't the type of wrestling analysis geek that a lot of diehard fans are. He even admitted as much on Flo's NCAA bracket show last season when Pyles and Askren were deep diving into seed placement, record, hypothetical matchups, etc. and Sparks was like "okay, guys!"

FanOfPurdueWrestling · February 3

48 minutes ago, Elevator said:

On a big night they did a nice job. Not too much. I have found the enthusiasm of Sparks too much at times, but seems like he dialed it back just enough and was enjoyable. “Will Lewan doing Will Lewan things” after his ride out escape in .02 and win was a great line and just right.

I too find sparky a lil annoying at times, but I love his passion for the sport we all love.

tonight was a great night of wrestling. Everyone won today (except Iowa )

Threadkilla · February 3

The guy doing Hawkeye Radio with Ironside. accidentally said "shit" on air. It flustered him a bit.

Jason Bryant · February 3

1 hour ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

Shane's passion and hard work cannot be denied, but he simply isn't the type of wrestling analysis geek that a lot of diehard fans are. He even admitted as much on Flo's NCAA bracket show last season when Pyles and Askren were deep diving into seed placement, record, hypothetical matchups, etc. and Sparks was like "okay, guys!"

Because he's a play-by-play guy, he's not an analyst. They are two different roles. The color commentator goes into the weeds with technique, nuance. That's not what the lead broadcaster's role is. Shane's knowledge on the sport is more than the basic "down and distance" type of thing, but he's also not going to throw things at you that drown out the important things - the action on the mat.

I will whole-heartedly agree with you on one point though - we aren't the target market. Hell, I'm fortunate enough to be a voice at the NCAA championships and I know most of the fans in the building know more about the sport from a technical point of view than I do - but my role isn't to explain the sport to people. It's "down and distance" with a sprinkling of stats, history and nuggets of information. I live in the weeds with the stats and records, but I don't with the technical parts of the sport. Those of us on the boards usually fall under the umbrella of "we already know about what we're watching" so you're right there. We aren't the target demo.

I've spent a lot of time on the broadcast side for a number of sports - the guy leading the broadcast is going to focus on leading the broadcast and setting up the analyst. Too much inside baseball for a niche sport like wrestling would turn more viewers away than it would bring them in. We'd still watch, but that's about it.

dragit · February 3

Sparks is a plus for sure. The caffeination can sometimes overwhelm you but it's hard as a wrestling fan to hold it against him that he unabashedly loves wrestling.

He does handle the PBP job professionally. He does a good job of getting a lot out of Gibbons, who we're lucky to have, and whose calm demeanor matches up well with the Sparks enthusiasm. And Sparks is way better than Tim Johnson at working stats and history anecdotes into the flow of the match rather than as a data dump that interferes with the action.

Rassling · February 3

6 hours ago, Elevator said:

On a big night they did a nice job. Not too much. I have found the enthusiasm of Sparks too much at times, but seems like he dialed it back just enough and was enjoyable. “Will Lewan doing Will Lewan things” after his ride out escape in .02 and win was a great line and just right.

BIG announcers did an excellent job last night as they always do. The sport needs a dozen more Sparks to bring more excitement and attention to the sport. He's one of the best in my opinion.

4.4k · February 3

I usually like Tim Johnson, but he was pretty horrible with the name pronunciations

JuanMogen · February 3

Shane likes Vision Quest. Good enough for me.

silver-medal · February 3

Both broadcasts last night were well done by exceedingly knowledgable people. Shane Sparks does a great job on social media as well as on the air.

pokemonster · February 3

Love Sparks. Not sure of the other guys, but the constant mispronunciations of the wrestler's names in the Ohio State Penn State dual was annoying and amateurish.

Edited February 3 by pokemonster

Fadzaev2 · February 4

This is "good stuff" and all of the above mentioned guys are good for our sport, including Tim Johnson, who I was watching do this a long time ago with Doug Brown even on IPTV. (there, I even used an acronym). Recently, I saw Malik Amine in one of the broadcasts, and he did a nice job as well. I used to have a hard time with S. S., but I really think he adds a lot! I miss his "returns to the mat" this year, unless I'm missing something. I will also add that my favorite may be a guy who is still competing and I don't want him to give that up yet.....his motto is "All I see is Gold" and his initials are JB (the other JB...lol)

dragit · February 4

42 minutes ago, Fadzaev2 said:

I will also add that my favorite may be a guy who is still competing and I don't want him to give that up yet.....his motto is "All I see is Gold" and his initials are JB (the other JB...lol)

He and Gibbons are a very pleasant pair together. I think they did Iowa - Iowa State.

Elevator · February 4

3 hours ago, Fadzaev2 said:

This is "good stuff" and all of the above mentioned guys are good for our sport, including Tim Johnson, who I was watching do this a long time ago with Doug Brown even on IPTV. (there, I even used an acronym). Recently, I saw Malik Amine in one of the broadcasts, and he did a nice job as well. I used to have a hard time with S. S., but I really think he adds a lot! I miss his "returns to the mat" this year, unless I'm missing something. I will also add that my favorite may be a guy who is still competing and I don't want him to give that up yet.....his motto is "All I see is Gold" and his initials are JB (the other JB...lol)

JB is among the best on the mic

Fadzaev2 · February 4

3 hours ago, Fadzaev2 said:

This is "good stuff" and all of the above mentioned guys are good for our sport, including Tim Johnson, who I was watching do this a long time ago with Doug Brown even on IPTV. (there, I even used an acronym). Recently, I saw Malik Amine in one of the broadcasts, and he did a nice job as well. I used to have a hard time with S. S., but I really think he adds a lot! I miss his "returns to the mat" this year, unless I'm missing something. I will also add that my favorite may be a guy who is still competing and I don't want him to give that up yet.....his motto is "All I see is Gold" and his initials are JB (the other JB...lol)

Upon video review of the PSU/OSU dual, I remember thinking this about another dual I watched recently and Tim Johnson does a lot of "ah's"......just sayin" as in but ah, a ah major, etc.

MPhillips · February 4

Anyone complaining about Sparks and Johnson don't watch wrestling on B1G+ or ESPN+ and it shows...

Nittany · February 4

Gibbons is a plus, Sparks not so much.

4.4k · February 4

15 minutes ago, Nittany said:

Gibbons is a plus, Sparks not so much.

Please don’t tell me you like Jeff Byers then.

I much prefer Sparks. And if it’s Sparks’ excitement you don’t like, then liking Byers doesn’t make sense as the dude is basically always screaming. I don’t hate it, but I’m surprised at the number of people that think he’s one of the best announcers ever.

SetonHallPirate · February 4

One thing I will say...Tim Johnson is a much better play-by-play guy than he is analyst, and the Big Ten Network is doing him a disservice by putting him in that role. Can they, say, put a rotating guy as analyst for the #2 broadcast team? Just a thought.

Fadzaev2 · February 4

2 hours ago, 1032004 said:

Please don’t tell me you like Jeff Byers then.

I much prefer Sparks. And if it’s Sparks’ excitement you don’t like, then liking Byers doesn’t make sense as the dude is basically always screaming. I don’t hate it, but I’m surprised at the number of people that think he’s one of the best announcers ever.

Byers sounds like he's announcing the Kentucky Derby.....I just turn off the audio

ionel · February 4

5 minutes ago, Fadzaev2 said:

Byers sounds like he's announcing the Kentucky Derby.....I just turn off the audio

Got to be one of the worst. I do the same but makes it difficult keeping up when streaming audio only broadcast.

Edited February 4 by ionel

Fadzaev2 · February 4

32 minutes ago, ionel said:

Got to be one of the worst. I do the same but makes it difficult keeping up when streaming audio only broadcast.

I "hear" your pain!

B1G announcers

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