I couldn't agree more. He's so bad if I don't have access to TV, I will simply not listen to himAunBear89 said:
It's been too long since his second day on the job.
Since1975.
Me too. I wonder if someone here with connections could ask Knowlton to tune into the show and take a listen sometime. I'd hope that he'd be appalled by what he hears and take appropriate action.philbert said:
I switched stations during the postgame show when the Cupper started reminiscing about one of his old teams. Truly bad radio.
Yes, the worst ever.....periodAunBear89 said:
It's been too long since his second day on the job.
Since1975.
yeah I'm not a fan..... I'm just grateful to live in the Bay Area so I can go to the games and see the roadies on TV. If I had to listen to him "call" games I'd probably not .....CalBarn said:Yes, the worst ever.....periodAunBear89 said:
It's been too long since his second day on the job.
Since1975.
At one point he said "wherever we are." It's Corvallis - he's been there literally dozens of times. I know all the towns start to look the same after a while, but...HighlandDutch said:
And he just said the score was 35-7. (Ron Howard narrator voice: "It was 42-7 at the time.")
Starkey is ~ 77. Cupper will be 82 this December. I'd say Grandparents or Great Grandparents (not GGP unless we're talking very young parenting).Another Bear said:
Joe had a great run, Niners, Cal and a bunch of other stuff.
I'm bringing this up because no one should feel bad for Joe. He had a great career and now it's probably time to hang 'em up.
Besides the competence and slipping stuff, it's time. The new Cal AD has listened to the fans. Knowlton knows the fan experience needs to improve and by extension the whole broadcast crew needs to be updated. Post game show too. Joe and Cupper, they're now the age of current UC student's GREAT-grandparents (maybe great-great-gp). Get the age gap to about parents level or with a generation.
Did Roxy start at KALX?Another Bear said:
I had to run an errand the last 3 mins of the game, so I got in the car and turned on the radio. I have KGO on preset and KALX. Sorry Joe, the kids doing the KALX game broadcast did a better job calling the plays despite the tinny low power broadcast quality. They're the age of Starkey's grandkids.
No doubt (and keep in mind - I like Joe). It kind of sounded like an elderly dad talking to someone and his son gently correcting him as the conversation went along for portions of the game.Another Bear said:
Yes he did, and Kate Scott did time there too. I don't know who the kids were but they were fundamentally sound. Called the yard markers on the pick 6, and the players. Then I flipped back to Starkey. Seriously, if Pawlawski wasn't on, Joe would founder.
that's all cupper does. Nothing he says is related to Cal. It's his reminiscing, full time.philbert said:
I switched stations during the postgame show when the Cupper started reminiscing about one of his old teams. Truly bad radio.
SoFlaBear said:
10/20 Cal @ Oregon State
Joe has called Garbers "Bowers" three times that I've counted. He caught himself on one of the three instances.
1) "We're all told at some point in time that we can no longer play the children's game, we just don't...we don't know when that's gonna be. Some of us are told at eighteen, some of us are told at forty, but we're all told." - from MoneyballSFCityBear said:
I guess this is what Cal fans do when they don't have a very good football team - bash the Cal announcers. We even bash them when the Bears win 49-7. I guess we had to find something negative to say, something to complain about, even when Cal wins big. And to bash Starkey and Grosscup just for being old, that's cold. I just hope that all of you who bash these two loyal Cal announcers for being too old to do the job as well as you would like, well, I hope that none of you ever grow old and find the need to continue working at the job you love, either to keep your sanity or put bread on the table, and get forced to retire when you don't want to. Personally, I'm a lot more concerned about all the mistakes that highly trained gifted athletes make on the field of play, and the mistakes that coaches make preparing and managing the play, all of which causes Cal to lose games they could have perhaps won. Neither Joe Starkey or Lee Grosscup ever uttered a single word that caused Cal to lose a game, as far as I know.
That would indeed be Lee Grosscup. He played at Utah an is sometimes credited with inventing/being an early adherent to the shuffle pass (a.k.a. the shovel pass). He played Canadian ball and did a stint with the Raiders in the 60s. He did college football announcing at Cal as a color man in the 80s in a two-man booth with Starkey.LunchTime said:
Maybe I am thinking if another guy. Whoever the QB from utah is iirc.
HoopDreams said:
I enjoy Joe and Grosscup
not for their play by play ... because it can be frustrating waiting for Joe to say how many yards a play got, but because they are true blues and for their good banter back and forth, and their sense of humor
but I prefer Pawoloski who also is a true blue and much more insightful about the play
It has absolutely NOTHING to do with age - but nice straw man...SFCityBear said:
I guess this is what Cal fans do when they don't have a very good football team - bash the Cal announcers. We even bash them when the Bears win 49-7. I guess we had to find something negative to say, something to complain about, even when Cal wins big. And to bash Starkey and Grosscup just for being old, that's cold. I just hope that all of you who bash these two loyal Cal announcers for being too old to do the job as well as you would like, well, I hope that none of you ever grow old and find the need to continue working at the job you love, either to keep your sanity or put bread on the table, and get forced to retire when you don't want to. Personally, I'm a lot more concerned about all the mistakes that highly trained gifted athletes make on the field of play, and the mistakes that coaches make preparing and managing the play, all of which causes Cal to lose games they could have perhaps won. Neither Joe Starkey or Lee Grosscup ever uttered a single word that caused Cal to lose a game, as far as I know.
The great Bud Foster did the Cal football and basketball games and Oakland Oaks baseball. He was our El Cerrito neighbor at that time with a very nice family.SFCityBear said:
Bud Foster was an excellent announcer. Bill King was the best announcer in the Bay Area I've heard in my lifetime.
One thing for sure, you could bring either Foster or Bill King in here to announce Cal football games, and it wouldn't help the team to play better. Not one bit.
Did you just arrive on this thread? I did not make age a straw man at all. Go back and read the entire thread. There are a number of posts written here by fans who specifically state that old age is at least part of the reason that they want Starkey and Cupper gone. And there are several fans here who imply that old age is at least part of the reason they also want Starkey and Cupper gone. But I never said this is ONLY about age.AunBear89 said:It has absolutely NOTHING to do with age - but nice straw man...SFCityBear said:
I guess this is what Cal fans do when they don't have a very good football team - bash the Cal announcers. We even bash them when the Bears win 49-7. I guess we had to find something negative to say, something to complain about, even when Cal wins big. And to bash Starkey and Grosscup just for being old, that's cold. I just hope that all of you who bash these two loyal Cal announcers for being too old to do the job as well as you would like, well, I hope that none of you ever grow old and find the need to continue working at the job you love, either to keep your sanity or put bread on the table, and get forced to retire when you don't want to. Personally, I'm a lot more concerned about all the mistakes that highly trained gifted athletes make on the field of play, and the mistakes that coaches make preparing and managing the play, all of which causes Cal to lose games they could have perhaps won. Neither Joe Starkey or Lee Grosscup ever uttered a single word that caused Cal to lose a game, as far as I know.
Starkey has SUCKED as play-by-play caller for Cal games since day one. You need look no further than his radio call of The Play from 36 years ago! Many of you Ol' Blues LOVE that call because you are so used to hearing it as you watch the video at the same time. As a narration of the video it works OK - but as a play-by-play call it is entirely useless.
A play-by-play radio call has to paint a mental picture for the fans listening who can't see the game. Starkey's calls have never done this. If anything, they obscure what is happening as he provides inaccurate down, distance, score and names. He. is. hot. garbage. as a play-by-play radio man. Always has been. Nothing to do with age other than his advancing age only exaggerates the problems that have been there all along.
I do seem to recall in past years' radio broadcasts, as Joe was signing off, he'd go through his acknowledgments (producer, etc.) and one of the people he'd list is the spotter. I vaguely remember the spotter also had the surname of Starkey, so I assumed it was someone related to Joe. I don't know if he still uses a spotter or not as I haven't listened to the radio broadcasts in recent years.SFCityBear said:
(I do think that Starkey could greatly benefit by having a spotter it can't be that Cal is too cheap to pay one, because they ought to be able to find a student willing to do it. But then again, maybe Starkey refuses to use a spotter.)
Bear19 said:
During the OSU game, Joe came up with a description during a play that made me laugh. (Paraphrasing): "They pitch the ball a third time - the band is not on the field, by the way..."
Agree that Joe does not give us a play by play, say with the accuracy of a Ted Robinson, for example, but he's not afraid to say what's on his mind, even if it is critical of the Bears, and he has a very wry sense of humor. I want a new play by play man only when Joe decides to call it quits. I enjoy his broadcasts.
He's stood by Cal while experiencing the same frustrations that all of us have, and imo is as much a Bear as any one of us.
