Harry Seaward wrote:
Good to see I'm not alone on this. Where did this guy come from? Wasn't he just doing sports updates on WBBM, then BOOM he's the voice of the Bears?
I seem to recall him doing his pre-meditated growly voice thing before, but right around the time he started with the "Devin Hester. You. Are. Ridiculous!!!" thing he really started to go fishing for the next big phrase (that would embarassingly be played over a big return/sack/interception etc) highlight.
Would love to know Thayer's true feelings as Joniak is crapping out his next "thing".
I honestly feel like I am taking crazy pills, as I have to listen to Hawk escalate his level of stupid phraseology each year....then Joniak growl out his next saying....then a below-average former NBA player yell at me about this city's next great thing (or white guy or bench or whatever he happens to scream about at any given moment). Seems like Hawk is universally panned, and Joniak doesn't seem to have a lot of fans (other than those paying him), my only issue continues to be the folks that LOVE Stacey King and his contrived nonsense. I think the biggest problem is that Bernstein is leading the way for people to have him as a "guilty pleasure".
Here's to hoping that the Bears can stumble on to a solid crew like the Cubs did with Len and Bob......who woulda guessed how well those guys would work out? And I'm not even a Cubs fan!
Jeff Joniak was actually hosting Bears' pre, halftime and postgame, in addition to his duties as afternoon drive sports anchor at WBBM 780 AM and since August 1st on WCFS 105.9 FM. This was before he got the gig as the PBP voice of the Chicago Bears Radio Network. Joniak got the job in large part because WBBM bosses were less than thrilled that Jeff's predecessor, Gary Bender, wasn't as close to the team as they felt he should have.
Bender, best known as a PBP voice on CBS Sports & TNT Sports on the NFL, NCAA Basketball & NBA on those networks, commuted once a week from his Colorado home to work the Bear game on radio and then go back home shortly thereafter. Bender was the Bears' radio voice on their final season on the defunct WMAQ 670 and the first season on WBBM before Joniak took over, I believe over a decade ago.