A couple of weeks ago, USA Today released its first power rankings for sports announcers. You might recall back in the day the great Rudy Martzke’s coverage of sports media in our nation’s newspaper. I loved those columns. I took a sports-broadcasting class in high school, and Mr. Lyons (may he rest in peace) passed out Xerox copies of them every week.


But I digress. USA Today admitted it was a “fool’s errand” to compare broadcasters in different sports and media (Joe Buck was No. 1). So I wondered, could I take it a step further and localize it, comparing ALL sports broadcasters on Chicago’s airwaves – the analysts, anchors, reporters, talk-show hosts and play-by-play voices? Could I be that foolish?

The answer was easy: Yes. Yes, I could.

I came up with four categories to consider: appeal, longevity, quality and personal preference. I’m a big fan of new Cubs TV voice Jon Sciambi (I told Marquee Sports Network to hire him on these pages), but he didn’t qualify among the roughly 100 names considered because he hasn’t called a game yet. Sorry, Boog. If I’m not tarred and feathered for doing this, I’ll put you on next time.

There’s little about this list that’s scientific, but maybe it turns into something that broadcasters put in their contracts. Like a bonus for making the list and more for making the top 10. Maybe this gains the prestige of one of those Forbes lists.


Enough jibber-jabber. Here are the first Chicago sports broadcast media power rankings:

1.David Kaplan: It’s a shame NBC Sports Chicago scrapped Kaplan’s “SportsTalk Live,” but he still has a big megaphone on ESPN 1000’s first local morning show as a network affiliate. Kap knows everyone, and sometimes it seems he knows everything. But that’s part of his charm.

2. Len Kasper: You say moving from Cubs TV to White Sox radio lowers Kasper’s stature? It might raise it. If the Sox win the World Series, his calls will be remembered (no local TV voices in the postseason). Plus, the response to his move showed the appeal he has in the market.

3. Pat Hughes: He’s a renown broadcaster with 25 years as the Cubs’ radio voice and 38 calling major-league baseball. Hughes has won the Illinois Sportscaster of the Year award nine times. If voters are smart – and have ears – he’ll be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

4. Eddie Olczyk: Any hockey game is better with the Blackhawks and NBC analyst on the call. He educates and entertains. Some might not like the schtick, but I’m a sucker for it. I go around the league looking for games that are tree-tree in the turd. (Boy, that doesn’t work so well in print.)

5. Jason Benetti: Name a TV broadcaster who works harder than Benetti. He calls a full season of Sox games, then shifts to ESPN for college football and basketball. He has no offseason, and that’s how he likes it. He’s creative and clever, and he has become popular nationally.

6. Steve Stone: Benetti also has breathed new life into Stone, who didn’t always click with Hawk Harrelson. They were basically two analysts. With Benetti, Stone sounds as good as ever.

7. Pat Foley: My all-time favorite and a Hall of Famer. Foley calls the fastest game in the world with ease. When Hawks home games were only on radio, he drew the pictures of them in my head.

8 Laurence Holmes: It’s wonderful that The Score gave him a midday show, but he deserves more than two hours. Fortunately for fans, he takes advantage of podcasts and social media.

9. Mark Giangreco: He has been a TV sports anchor in this city since 1982. He became so big, his move from Ch. 5 to Ch. 7 in ’94 was huge news. He always has been good for a laugh.

10. Marc Silverman: An ESPN 1000 original, Silvy wears his fandom on his sleeve. He’s great with callers and is as personable as they come. He put in the work to earn the afternoon-drive slot.

11. Dan Bernstein: No one’s better at handling breaking news, and he can talk about anything.

12. Jason Goff: If you miss listening to Goff just riff, check out the Bulls host’s “Bulls Talk” podcast.

13. Ozzie Guillen: He lets you know exactly what he thinks about the Sox – and anything else.

14. Chuck Swirsky: He was talking sports here in 1979 on WCFL. Glad he returned to call the Bulls.

15. Leila Rahimi: She broke a barrier at The Score, providing a much-needed perspective.

16. Hub Arkush: An authority on football since the 1980s, he has been a Score mainstay.

17. Jonathan Hood: His shift changed from nights to mornings at ESPN 1000, but he hasn’t.

18. Danny Parkins: Still doing strong work at The Score despite a revolving door of partners.

19. Olin Kreutz: A must-listen/watch for Bears analysis on The Score and NBC Sports Chicago.

20. Stacey King: Great analysis, honest assessments and catchy lines. Now, let me step back and kiss myself

I'm not sure how this can really be done, but Stacey King seems like he got fucked over.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

That list/analysis reads like a third-grader wrote it.

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Thoughts , Douchebag ?

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

READS JUST FINE

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Chicago sports broadcast media power rankings
The rankings are based on appeal, longevity, quality and personal preference. There’s little about this that’s scientific, but maybe it gains the prestige of one of those Forbes lists.

By Jeff Agrest on January 21, 2021 3:15 pm

Len Kasper must have taken a mile of dick from people in the industry to see the esteem he is held in among them in comparison to that of the people who have to listen to his work

Jason Benetti works all the time so that he can avoid the harshness of reality

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

not bad for someone working on their GED

You lost me at Kaplan. Seems to be a Cubs bias here. Benetti and Olczyk do multiple sports. How does that not make them better than a loud mouth wind-bag? I think you put way too much weight in personal preference.

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Mulli is Howard Stern in his prime compared to Haugh.

was just about to say that but in different words

Yeah, the guy doing TV color for the Chicago Bulls, he's got some work to do if he wants to catch Danny Parkins in this town.

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Silvy should be higher.

Kaplan's a good lightning rod to start off the list. That's why when lists of the best, say, yacht rock songs are posted the authors put something that's questionable as to whether it's even yacht rock like Hall and Oates in the top position, to gin up controversy and generate discussion. also helps to make it an odd number of items, preferably a prime number btw 13 and 43

I didnt write it

Here is my list

#1 Laurence Holmes
#2 Chauncey Niziol
#3-20 Who gives a fuck?

How is it anything other than "What a Fool Believes"? That's how yacht rock set sail for a voyage to the top of the charts.

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I first heard What a Fool Believes on WBMX. They occasionally played at least one of the more Philly Soul-ish Hall and Oates songs too.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Yeah, "I Can't Go for That" is a bop, but I wouldn't call it yacht rock. It's not not smooth, but it's...slithery. I like that whole Private Eyes album quite a bit, but other than that they're Greatest Hits Only for me.

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I like how one of the categories considered is "longevity", then he puts someone who was just hired at #15, and doesn't reference any other rating category in the part explaining the ranking of that person.

holy crap those yacht rock history / parody / whatever videos are awesome

never knew Hall and Oates had a disco phase, "portable radio"? first I've heard it

Christopher Cross is the image under the dictionary entry for yacht rock

pina colada song gotta be in the running for best of

Bertie Higgins tooling around in his 12 foot skiff in the video for Key Largo

I don't know if Hall and Oates even qualify as yacht rock adjacent (see: Dr Hook), but they're fun
in that parody video series

I know this is a subjective list. It's just this Sun Times writers opinion.

But Jesus Christ, he has fucking David Kaplin as #1?

That's just wrong and he's an idiot.

It's not really fair to combine guys who call games with guys who do talk radio, in my opinion. Of guys who do talk radio, I think Kaplan is #1. He's been turning around a once-failing AM1000, he has a tremendous work ethic, and he's the dean of local sports talk guys at this point with Boers and Mac gone. He's the spiritual successor to Coppock.

I've noted that since Wayne Larrivee got fired and Red Kerr died (and even then, reach) Bulls broadcasting teams don't really inspire passionate feelings the way the Hawks/Cubs/Sox booths do, but Stacey behind Danny Parkins, the Roman Reigns of guys who did forensics in high school, just cracks me up. Ouch.

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Kaplan is so off-putting though. I'm not sure why or I can't put it into words but he just is.

He's an unabashed extrovert in contrast to 670's stable of sullen introverts (Boers, Mac, Bernstein, Murph, Goff).

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Hi, I'm Hollywood Steve...

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An unjust law is no law at all--St. Augustine of Hippo

Cause tried and true
I see the light in you
Oh, can you dig in my soul?
Could you smell my whole...
life?--Gener and Deaner

Oh hi! I'm Hollywood Steve. You've caught me attending the funeral of a loved one.
[dyew-dyew-dyew-dyew POWWWWW!]

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No he's not. He does horrible in the ratings. SCORE beats him all the time. The SCORE afternoon guys were ripping the list because of this fact. And his stupid TV show got cancelled cuz nobody watched it. He's an jock sniffing guy that has friends in management in media places. And he kisses their asses as well. That's why he gets gigs. That's it. It's that simple to describe Kaplan.

He’s not turning shit around. The Score is turning it over to AM1000. People want to listen to sports talk but don’t want all the other bullshit. He just happens to not be the other station.

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Mulli is Howard Stern in his prime compared to Haugh.

Where's the Kap mult to weigh in on this?

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Damn, bro...hater...