I am watching FUCLA v Wash St. and the total professionalism with which Roxy can juggle the play by play with responding to Walton's stream of consciousness Fear and Loathing in Westwood routine is nothing short of amazing. I have a hard time believing he will not be on the national stage someday soon.

I agree, but ESPN is a national stage.

Walton: where did you go to college?
Roxy: the #1 public university in the world.

Roxy needs to drop his dream of being the next Joe Starkey and concentrate on being the next Bill King

Yogi Bear said:

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Roxy needs to drop his dream of being the next Joe Starkey and concentrate on being the next Bill King

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Bill King the best. No one in their right mind would want to be the next Joe Starkey. I am going to buy some of those books Walton plugged, especially the Kareem and Wooden one.

Roxy is the only one who can do a game with Walton and make it seem semi-cogent. He's a great announcer. I suspect he's reasonably happy with his current gig, since it keeps him home most of the time, and I would guess he'd only leave for a regular play-by-play job with one of the Bay Area teams. At one time, he was the play-by-play guy for the Florida Marlins, but gave that up because it required being away from his kids for so much of the year.

No one topped or tops Bill King. No one.

Yogi Bear said:

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Roxy needs to drop his dream of being the next Joe Starkey and concentrate on being the next Bill King

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FWIW, I thought he did a great job as the voice of the Marlins. I could easily see Roxy becoming the voice of the A's or of the Giants.

Jeff82 said:

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Roxy is the only one who can do a game with Walton and make it seem semi-cogent. He's a great announcer. I suspect he's reasonably happy with his current gig, since it keeps him home most of the time, and I would guess he'd only leave for a regular play-by-play job with one of the Bay Area teams. At one time, he was the play-by-play guy for the Florida Marlins, but gave that up because it required being away from his kids for so much of the year.

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It was partly that and partly because the Marlins wanted him to give up Cal Basketball and commit to doing sports talk radio in the off-season. I had mixed emotions when he came (he took over for John Sciambi, who I'd also watched climb the ranks), and mixed emotions when he left (I loved him with the Marlins, but wanted him to stay with Cal).

SoFlaBear said:

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Jeff82 said:

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Roxy is the only one who can do a game with Walton and make it seem semi-cogent. He's a great announcer. I suspect he's reasonably happy with his current gig, since it keeps him home most of the time, and I would guess he'd only leave for a regular play-by-play job with one of the Bay Area teams. At one time, he was the play-by-play guy for the Florida Marlins, but gave that up because it required being away from his kids for so much of the year.

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It was partly that and partly because the Marlins wanted him to give up Cal Basketball and commit to doing sports talk radio in the off-season. I had mixed emotions when he came (he took over for John Sciambi, who I'd also watched climb the ranks), and mixed emotions when he left (I loved him with the Marlins, but wanted him to stay with Cal).

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Thanks for the clarification. As I recall, Roxy's first big shot was when Charlie Finley couldn't get a radio deal completed in time, and actually had a few A's games broadcast on KALX, with Roxy doing the play-by-play. I think Roxy is similar to Bill King in that he's done every sport, and does them all quite well. Baseball is so different than football or basketball, that not everyone can make the transition. King, yes; Simmons, yes; Roxy, yes.

Jeff82 said:

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SoFlaBear said:

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Jeff82 said:

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Roxy is the only one who can do a game with Walton and make it seem semi-cogent. He's a great announcer. I suspect he's reasonably happy with his current gig, since it keeps him home most of the time, and I would guess he'd only leave for a regular play-by-play job with one of the Bay Area teams. At one time, he was the play-by-play guy for the Florida Marlins, but gave that up because it required being away from his kids for so much of the year.

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It was partly that and partly because the Marlins wanted him to give up Cal Basketball and commit to doing sports talk radio in the off-season. I had mixed emotions when he came (he took over for John Sciambi, who I'd also watched climb the ranks), and mixed emotions when he left (I loved him with the Marlins, but wanted him to stay with Cal).

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Thanks for the clarification. As I recall, Roxy's first big shot was when Charlie Finley couldn't get a radio deal completed in time, and actually had a few A's games broadcast on KALX, with Roxy doing the play-by-play. I think Roxy is similar to Bill King in that he's done every sport, and does them all quite well. Baseball is so different than football or basketball, that not everyone can make the transition. King, yes; Simmons, yes; Roxy, yes.

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Roxy really gets baseball. As one critic noted, what was so great about Simmons is that he didn't call a baseball game so much as he conversed it. The best baseball announcers are like a real knowledgeable guy in the next seat; Roxy gets that as well.

I don't think Roxy was the one involved with the Charlie Finley issue. He's not that old.
But as everyone on this board has said, he's a great play by play guy. Also be said that NO ONE did play by play better than Bill King.

RedlessWardrobe said:

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I don't think Roxy was the one involved with the Charlie Finley issue. He's not that old.
But as everyone on this board has said, he's a great play by play guy. Also be said that NO ONE did play by play better than Bill King.

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Correct. I got confused. My memory is that Bob Mansbach, who went on to work as a producer for CBS, did the broadcasts, but the printed sources say that it was actually Larry Baer, now grand poobah for the Giants. That was in 1978, a year before I got to Cal. At the Presidents Cup at Harding a few years ago, Baer was standing near me beside the first tee, and I offered him $100 to yell Stanford sucks when Tiger was on the tee. No takee.

The scandal is that it took so long to get Bill King into the Hall of Fame. He was incomparable in ALL THREE major sports. We will NEVER see his like again. You can easily argue that he was the greatest of all time.

Bill King was definitely the best. In terms of announcing multiple sports, I first heard Joe Starkey--including his "What a Bonanza" line--when he called Oakland Seals games back in the 70's. He then went on to do Cal basketball, Cal football and the 49ers. I'm not a big fan of Joe's football calls ("He's got a man!"), but he was able to handle multiple sports pretty well, and he sure achieved longevity in his career.

Took my children to UCLA on Friday to check out the campus and ran into Walton and Roxy. They were leaving campus around 12:30 (post-shootaround? post-meeting with coaches?) and we asked to get some pictures. Walton was a little gruff but all smiles for the photo; Roxy seemed genuinely pleased when I asked him for a photo.

Agree with another poster here, Roxy is the only guy who can make a game with Walton a good view. Would love to see him get more time with the A's and ultimately become the main play by play guy when the time is right.

Roll on... I spoke to Roxy after a game last year... on the floor and talked about Walton. He really enjoys Big Bill and says he's a great guy and very sincere. (I was calling a lot of his stuff his "schtick" and Rox wasn't having it). Roxy is a great announcer and a friendly guy. Glad he's on our side.

And I totally agree about calling the A's.... he'd be a great play by play guy...

I first met Roxy when he was a counselor in Todd Bozeman's basketball camp and my son was enrolled (he was actually UM Jr's counselor). totally cool dude, although a bit of a funky jump shot.

UrsaMajor said:

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I first met Roxy when he was a counselor in Todd Bozeman's basketball camp and my son was enrolled (he was actually UM Jr's counselor). totally cool dude, although a bit of a funky jump shot.

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Did they teach the famous Jelani Gardner chin high dribble technique at that camp?

I went to camp under Campanelli with Roxy. He was very popular with the assistant coaches. Wheeler always called him out. And btw, Roxy isn't a stage name.

BC Calfan said:

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I went to camp under Campanelli with Roxy. He was very popular with the assistant coaches. Wheeler always called him out. And btw, Roxy isn't a stage name.

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No, but his given name is Allen Samuel. And as everyone knows, his sister is married to the kicker.