A Southsider's top 5 announcer list

For me there is nothing better than on a Saturday evening to sit outside and listen to a White Sox game on the radio, but in order for this to be an enjoyable thing, there has to be good announcers. Throughout the years with all the sports I have watched, I have heard some good ones, but still have looked up video and audio clips of the legends from the past. This is my list of the top 5 announcers (color or play-by-play).

5. Ray Hudson
I am pretty new to Ray Hudson's work, but he still cracks my top 5. Not caring that much about soccer in Spain, I can sit back with a beer, and Hudson's passion and enthusiasm for the game makes me even get into it. He also has some of the best one liners out there. My favorite would be, "Real Madrid is a 5 pound chicken trying to lay a 6 pound egg". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x7gu-7WXvI

4. Johnny Red Kerr
In my life, Johnny Red Kerr has been a staple for the Bulls as a color man, and at his finest when teamed up with Wayne Larrivee. Johnny had good insight from being a player and a Bulls coach, and clearly loves the Bulls. The following is not a good clip of Red Kerr but he lays a great one liner around the 30 second mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX6CinctnbQ

3. Hawk Harrelson
Whether it's his hate of Jay Mariotti or his famous home run call, Hawk is a White Sox legend. At his best when teamed up with Wimpy, the Sox were very enjoyable to watch back in the mid to late 1990s even though of their record. The Hawk lives and die White Sox and his announcing during this past year showed that. Comcast asked Hawk to be quiet when he gets mad so he doesn't say anything dumb on live television, that is why in games the Hawk would be silent for minutes at a time because he couldn't see his Sox lose.

2. Pat Foley
After being gone for 2 years, Pat Foley is still the face of the Black Hawks organization. Growing up most of my life without cable and never going to games, Pat Foley was my way of knowing what Chicago hockey is. There would be nights where I would fall asleep listening to Foley announce a Hawks game. It is a shame that the Hawks let him go, but every now and then I'll watch a Wolves game just to hear Pat Foley's play by play call.

1. John Rooney
The worst move the White Sox made after winning the world series was letting John Rooney go. Having possibly the smoothest voice to ever call the game of baseball, John Rooney doing the play-by-play was magical. He is my favorite announcer of all time because he was almost the voice of reason and kept everyone calm during the White Sox slide almost out of the playoffs in 2005. From the calls of "it's a White Sox winner" to "it's a goner", Rooney, in my opinion, is what all announcers should aspire to be.



News and Notes
The Fire have a had great draft this past Friday and continue their wheeling and dealing ways by sending Jim Curtin to the Chivas USA for a draft pick, and acquiring the signing rights to Andy Herron for a 4th round draft pick in 2010. Also there are reports that the Fire will be announcing a new player signing soon.......For pictures of what most of the MLS home jerseys will look like, go here: http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8012/allmlsna4.jpg (takes a while to load).