NOTE: As usual, long post from the Buck!
Kat, you hit the nail on the head. In the old days when Ken Squirrel was doing the race for CBS, at first it was great cause that was all that we could get on TV. For any of us who couldn't get MRN, we were truely greatful. However, this is like anything else, when you have a steady diet of it, you can pick and choose who you like and dislike. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say they dislike DW, but when you ask them if they liked him or disliked him when he was on the track, almost all of them didn't care for him when he drove. So for me, this dislike for him in the booth is just a carry over from when he was a driver. Of course, there are those who really don't like him and never got to see him drive a race car.
Announcers are what they are. The become successful because they are good, regardless of whether you like them or not. We could sit all the members of this forum down in a room and ask who is the best in the booth and wouldn't get a consensous on anyone. We might find the most hated, but that person might also be the most loved such as Howard Cosell was with Monday Night Football. As for me, I don't mind DW, but early on, I was a DW fan. I never really cared for Benny when he was racing, and though I enjoyed his new style in the booth at first, I can't stand the man now. Wally Dallenbach was never a great driver, not even in the open wheel series. It's been said that his wife was a better driver. However, I do like his style in the booth. He always seems to be the most honest of any of the anylists in that he tells it like it really is, even if it isn't liked. Benny and DW seem to be the most sycophants of NASCAR with Benny seemly being a part owner of the series with his bend over and take it where it goes with the sports sanctioning body. Larry Mac, what can I say about him. This man knows what he's talking about and if people don't care how he sounds, (my wife, being a southern born and southern bread NASCAR lover hates him) I say tough stuff. He adds charactor to the sport, which is needed. I never liked Alan Bestwick in the booth, but love him in the pits. Don't care for Webber in the booth, but liked him in the pits. Mike Joy has been around for years and I do like his style. Also, I pretty much enjoy both FOX and NBC's pit reporters. FOX does seem to have more fun and that's fine with me. As for ESPN, I don't mind Bob Jenkins as I've listened to him for years. I did like the late Larry Nuber, though it seems that the "in's" at ESPN never really cared for him and when NASCAR really took off, they canned him. Doc Punch is in a league of his own and for his part, I admire him totally for sticking to a network that gave him his start and not checking out to FOX or NBC. With his "homecoming" of sorts, it will be nice when ABC and ESPN comes back into the sport.
In closing, I must say that I'm just really glad that this sport that I so dearly love is being broadcast both on TV and radio, something that many years ago I never got.
