Artie Bodendorfer said:
Who is pools best comontator?
Comontarors that are hall off fame players cannot answer for themselves or to this thread.
This is for everyone but the commontators. That means I can reply. No doctors allowed.
Artie,
On all of the DVD's I own there are pairs of commentators so I will give my opinions based on the pairings followed by opinions on single commentators. These are all
One-Pocket match commentators. I'm just going to speak of the top few that I have, not all of them.
1. Incardona/Grady: The absolute worst in every way. If I wanted to spend $20 to hear people argue I'd go to a bar.
2. Grady/Anybody: Grady is a pompous ass who thinks he knows more than anybody he's paired with. He's constantly using "big" words to impress his adoring legions of fans even though most of the time he is using the wrong word to describe the situation at hand. It seems to impress his gullible fans though so they call him "The Professor". I mute the sound when he's on a DVD I watch.
3. Incardona/Benny Conway: Very good together. They made the "Lottsapapa"/Mataya match watchable and enjoyable even though it should have been killed at birth.
4. Incardona/Bill Staton: Almost the best I've ever heard. They do the Hopkins/DiLiberto match from 1991 LOP that I've been posting pics from. Both are laid back and relaxed in their approach to commentating the game. They defer to one another on many occasions and clearly respect each other. That shines through.
5. Incardona/Freddy: The best ever pairing that I've had the pleasure of hearing. They both know quite a bit, respect each other and know a lot about the game also. They know what the players will usually shoot and don't talk over the shots for the most part. Interesting old stories at slow moments in a match also make it more enjoyable and these two know some OLD stories
.
6. DiLiberto/Freddy: Burdened with the dead weight of DD, Freddy makes the Alex/Efren match from the 2008 DCC interesting and enjoyable.
7. Cornbread/Buddy Hall/Grady/Freddy: The Ervolino/Sigel match from the 1991 LOP-Philadelphia Style is co-commentated by these four guys. Red comes into the booth at the beginning of game 3 and Freddy comes into the booth at the beginning of game 8. When Freddy starts talking about AB & RA and the reasons they didn't play, it means more than anything written here by either one because it was 20 years ago when he said it.
Cornbread has a great and very funny line also when Buddy asks him if he ever played Artie.
Grady restrains himself in the presence of Cornbread and isn't his usual know-it-all self. He actually contributes to the match.
Buddy has an annoying habit in this DVD of asking Red a question and then talking over the answer while Red is speaking.
In case anyone hasn't figured it out yet, I think you should get this match and watch it. It's not only a great match but it's well commentated by all four guys for the most part.
Now for my single commentator evaluations.
Grady: I hope he never does another AccuStats one-pocket DVD match again.
Danny DiLiberto: Extemely annoying with his same old tired lines. Unless discussing frogs or WWII landing craft he should never again in life say the word "amphibious". It's not a huge surprise that a player can shoot with both hands, I've been doing it for 35 years. "Sleep-in-the street" is also worn out and old. He almost never knows the score. He doesn't know one-pocket all that well and is wrong about what to shoot quite often. Around the beginning of the game he does O.K. but in the middle and endgame he's often times lost as to the shot. He also has an adoring legion of fans that think he is a one-pocket guru. He's not.
Buddy Hall: A mostly good commentator who sometimes gets a little too corny for me. He at times talks over his cohosts and laughs way too loud and often into the microphone. He does know the game and speaks well if he feels like it. Definitely not a negative person but I wish he'd tone it down a bit.
Incardona: He makes his cohosts better with his presence. He knows the game and he speaks well. Shows respect for his cohosts. Is not shy about giving his opinion on a shot. If possible, he should find another word for "reposition" but I don't have one to suggest so what do I know?
All in all, Bill is the single best commentator that I've heard. Because he's on many of the DVD's I have, I've heard him more than anybody else. He never annoys me unless paired with Grady.
Freddy: The same as Bill I.. He makes his cohosts better by being there. He is informative, knows a great deal about the game, doesn't talk over people or shots. He has respect for his cohosts and it shows. He lets the game speak for itself and then comments on it, much like the great baseball announcers do. The only possible weakness would be his reluctance to give his opinion on a shot in advance, before the player shoots it. Too often he doesn't do that but it's not a great fault or anything. Enjoyable to listen to and has great old stories to tell.
In my opinion, you cannot go wrong with Cardone, Freddy, Bill Staton or a couple of others that I've neglected to mention . These guys don't yell, argue, talk over shots, criticize incessantly, or do many of the other annoying things that many guys do. They have a "sense" of their place in the broadcast and don't act like they are in a poolroom cutting up with the guys.
That's it for my opinions of commentators.
Dennis
