Faithful SMG fan SSreporters wrote a FanPost over at my home for MMA. This caused the Goldie apologists to come out of the woodwork. Which caused me to go all Bruce Banner on their ass with the following:
The thing about the Goldie hate isn’t just that he’s still a near-dunce when it comes to the technical aspects of the sport. He can’t accurately or eloquently tell the story of the action in front of him. Goldberg’s the commentary equivalent of “playing not the lose.” Yeah, he gets the very basic aspects of the job done and he’s REALLY GOOD at hyping products. But can you name a really classic Goldberg call? Or name a fight in which he significantly added to your enjoyment of the fight?
I certainly can’t for either question posited.
Go listen to Jim Lampley call a big boxing fight. Or any boxing fight for that matter. He adds an additional level of emotion to the proceedings. THAT is what a play-by-play man should strive for. Yelling retarded catch phrases like “It’s all over!” and “You gotta watch for the upkicks!” not only makes for boring listening, but detracts from the presentation for anyone who has followed the sport for awhile with a critical ear for these sorts of things.
It’s nice that the UFC rewards loyalty within the company. Unfortunately, that comes at the cost of quality for the fans. For the sabermetrically inclined, Goldberg is the prototypical “replacement level” broadcaster. When a guy like Gus Johnson, with no prior combat sport experience, can come in and do a similar if not better job than you after something like a decade of experience, there’s something critically wrong.
Yeah, it’s more of the same from me, but I don’t think I’ve ever really been able to articulate with the appropriate amount of vitriol that accurately reflects how much Mike Goldberg grates my nerves during a broadcast. I think this is a good start.
2 Comments
Yeah, I see your point. I feel bad (because I’m a bit of a softy) but he is kind of like what a WWE commentator is; as you said, he’s good at hyping it up, but it gives it a bit of that WWE feel. Well it used to but I’ve since become kind of used to him.
But he still always, too frequently, appends his sentences with “if you will” which grates on me.
Gus Johnson is okay but I’ll never forgive him for saying after Kimbo got knocked out by Petruzelli, something to the effect of:
“THIS IS THE GREATEST MOMENT IN MMA HISTORY!”
I gotta admit, Goldie wouldn’t sink that low
I don’t mind a pro wrasslin’ influence on commentary. In fact, you can look at Jim Ross, Gordon Solie, and Gorilla Monsoon to find plenty of good things to utilize in your own commentary.