Being an on-air talent has nothing to do with basketball playing ability. It has to do with being telegenic, being good at extemporaneous speech, being able to talk while someone barks directions in your ear at the same time, and understanding how the game is played. You don't have to be a great player to be a great coach. The playing skill requirements for TV color commentator are even less stringent.

Conversely, Isiah Thomas was a great player, but a terrible announcer. Just awful. He's not much of a coach either.

Posted by Pike:

Howard Cossell used to mock the fact that jocks were given jobs as announcers... while knowledgeable sports journalism majors were left out in the cold as a result. He was right.

this...is...how..ward..co...sell...here with the champ mo..hammad..ah...lee...champ they say you're not the man you used to be...they say that foreman is going to kill you in the ring...

well howard i just spoke with your wife and she said that you're not the man you use to be either



[Edited by - prodson on 05/27/2003 14:07:26]

Yeah, it falls into the "everyone's a critic" arena. Didn't Tolbert do some coaching before he got hired to do TV analysis?

I would rather here someone who has been in the wars( who actually played at crunch time) than some fly on the wall bench warmer(tolbert) who can't imagine how superstars actually think by taking big shots, knowing when guys are playing scurred(christie+Peja) LAST YRS SEMI-FINALS AGAINST THE FAKERS, HITTING BACKBOARDS SHOOTING AIRBALLS AT CRUNCH TIME.






You got to be in it to win it !

Lock this one too please