What are your thoughts on John Murphy as our radio announcer?

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

1 hour ago, eball said:

Murph is by all accounts a super nice guy.  He’s an awful PBP announcer.

 

Not all accounts … not at all

[elcrusho]

Never liked his style...Great guy but never personally cared for the way he announces games

[Einstein]

46 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

If/when Murphy retires, I hope they dont go the route of that dummy for Minnesota or have someone in like Ron Wolfley for Arizona.  I get being a homer, but yelling and screaming, calling the team "us" and "we", and taunting the other players over the air is terrible.

 

Minus the taunting, Van did all of those things. He was a big homer.

 

And I loved it. It is “we”. He is part of the teams staff. His paycheck says “Buffalo Bills”. 

 

“Touchdown! Andre Reed for the touchdown! It is bedlam! It is pandemonium! It is fandemonium! It is… fantastic!” (all while screaming it)

 

.

Edited November 18, 2022 by Einstein

[May Day 10]

58 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

Minus the taunting, Van did all of those things. He was a big homer.

 

And I loved it. It is “we”. He is part of the teams staff. His paycheck says “Buffalo Bills”. 

 

“Touchdown! Andre Reed for the touchdown! It is bedlam! It is pandemonium! It is fandemonium! It is… fantastic!” (all while screaming it)

 

.

 

That is fine.  I dont mind homerism, I get these are regional radio casts.  The "us" thing comes across as awful and should be relegated to DIII sports (actually, I did PBP for DIII football and my color guy was reprimanded for saying "we' a few times, lol)

 

The loud cheering though.  "GIVE IT TO US!!!" is over the top and not professional at all.  Calling the Bills "Lucky Suckers" for stopping them on 3rd or 4th and short was a bad look too.    Jack Edwards for the Bruins in the NHL is another that takes it too far.  I wouldnt like it if a Buffalo announcer went that far.   Van Miller wasnt screaming into the mic like a beast either.  He was still in his announcing voice.

 

I listened to some of his other stuff (Allen) since I wrote that.  He is a really good announcer.  Great voice and effect on the air.  

[Einstein]

6 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

 

That is fine.  I dont mind homerism, I get these are regional radio casts.  The "us" thing comes across as awful and should be relegated to DIII sports (actually, I did PBP for DIII football and my color guy was reprimanded for saying "we' a few times, lol)

 

The loud cheering though.  "GIVE IT TO US!!!" is over the top and not professional at all.  Calling the Bills "Lucky Suckers" for stopping them on 3rd or 4th and short was a bad look too.    Jack Edwards for the Bruins in the NHL is another that takes it too far.  I wouldnt like it if a Buffalo announcer went that far.   Van Miller wasnt screaming into the mic like a beast either.  He was still in his announcing voice.

 

I listened to some of his other stuff (Allen) since I wrote that.  He is a really good announcer.  Great voice and effect on the air.  

 

I agree with you on the taunting. That’s a bit much and those things you mentioned that he said simply didn’t need to come out.

 

Not sure you hate the “us” or “we” part though. They’re literally a member of the organization. 

[DeltaDigital]

murph is trash. dude has no passion or ability to modulate his goofy voice. 

[Never NEVER Give-up]

Never liked Van Miller at Channel 4 - but his announcing was excellent.
Murphy is terrible - I cannot listen to him - I only turn him on when I am in the car and need to know what's going on in a game.
Darling was awesome and I thought he couldn't be replaced.
RJ replaced him and then some - some of the greatest calls the game has ever had.
Dunleavy is growing on me.

Murphy's high point was at Channel 7 as their sports reporter.  His color work was never good and his announcing of games - worse.  And to pile on - have you ever listened to any of his interviews?  He drones on and on giving his opinion before offering-up the question leaving the interviewee with a yes or no answer - terrible

Edited November 18, 2022 by Never NEVER Give-up

[HopelessNJBuffaloFan]

I am 100% not a fan of his. Do not even have to listen to him, but hearing his voice on the GR highlights makes me cringe.

[Irish Dave]

John Murphy was good as a color commentator to Van Miller.  When Van retired he took over - but he's NEVER been very good at it.  He's too stacatto and sharp and doesn't paint a picture for you on the radio the way Van used to.  Van Miller and Rick Jeanerette were masters at Radio and it's a lost art. 

 

2 hours ago, Einstein said:

 

Minus the taunting, Van did all of those things. He was a big homer.

 

And I loved it. It is “we”. He is part of the teams staff. His paycheck says “Buffalo Bills”. 

 

“Touchdown! Andre Reed for the touchdown! It is bedlam! It is pandemonium! It is fandemonium! It is… fantastic!” (all while screaming it)

 

.

YES!  Agree.  His high pitched Raspy voice was fantastic in those moments. 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Irish Dave

[quinnearlysghost88]

I can’t take the voice cracking. 

[LabattBlue]

Murph became irrelevant once the blackout rule was abolished.  Unless I am in the car, which is rare during a game, I never listen to him.  

[Big Turk]

19 hours ago, K-9 said:

Makes Dan Dunleavy look competent.

 

Dunleavy is worse because he goes out of his way to try and come up with cool goal calls and names for the players and they are mostly roll your eyes lame.

[Joe Ferguson]

I'm  not going to criticize John Murphy until he play calls the Bills in the Super Bowl. Maybe he'll get better by that time.

[WotAGuy]

18 minutes ago, SUNY_amherst said:

Murph is great

Hey Murph: how many profiles you gonna create for this thread? 🤣

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

For years he was the analyst along side Van, then when Van retired he became the play by play guy. 

 

IMO the problem simply is it's tough to convert from analyst to play by play.  In hindsight would have been smarter to get another play by play guy and let Murph stay in his familiar role.  But may have been Murph wanted the change ??

[WotAGuy]

16 minutes ago, SUNY_amherst said:

 

I am not murph

 

jeez this place is a little weird

“a little?”  You must be new here. 

[buffaloboyinATL]

I'm all for it.  Hire him.

 

[dave mcbride]

17 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Oh that was a GREAT call compared to him screaming "TOUCHDOWN!' on the critical Allen to McKenzie 4th down incompletion in the end zone that bounced 10 feet short late in the Miami game this season.        

 

He was never good but he's truly bad now.

 

I think teams just don't value the radio play-by-play guy.    Radio isn't very important anymore.

 

The Yankees have a couple of fossils calling baseball games and they are just woeful at this point but I guess they figure the radio audience highly skews toward senior citizens anyway so no urgency to change out the old familiar voices.  

Disagree to an extent about Yankees' radio announcers. While John and Susan are even worse than you convey here, not everyone is a senior citizen who listens to them. Driving around mid-day on weekends, you have no choice but to suffer their rank incompetence. And a lot of people drive.

[gomper]

For the older folk, he sounds like Peter Brady when his voice cracks lol. He's not terrible but he's no Greg Papa. 

[Nextmanup]

1 hour ago, gomper said:

For the older folk, he sounds like Peter Brady when his voice cracks lol. He's not terrible but he's no Greg Papa. 

When it's time to change, you've got to re-arrange!

 

Who you are and what you're gonna be! 

 

 

[bobobonators]

Better than Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling

[Goin Breakdown]

The Bills lose and John Murphy is on the hot seat. Crap rolls all the way down hill here. 

[Dr.Sack]

John is aight in my book

[Shemp]

A few years back I called into Murphy's talk show. I found him rude and short with me. He may have been a good sports director at WKBW and a second banana to Van Miller but he's a fail as a top dog PBP. Murphy has that hard "A" sound..."And the Snap" which is so annoying because he has repeated it over and over again through the years. When exciting things happen, he starts screaming but it all sounds like manufactured. He's not a natural PBP and further, he comes off as a pompous know-it-all. Van, who was a tough act to follow, connected with fans and captured the excitement without screaming all the time was infinitely better. Sometimes second bananas should stay second bananas.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Blah Blah

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

He is an embarrassment, and Wood has to correct him so often.

[Matt_In_NH]

9 hours ago, Goin Breakdown said:

The Bills lose and John Murphy is on the hot seat. Crap rolls all the way down hill here. 

Where is anyone equating/linking a recent loss with Murphy being a bad play by play guy?   Different topics completely 

[nucci]

Buffalo sports had Van Miller, Ted Darling and RJ...some of the best ever. Now not so much. Sabres broadcast is very difficult to listen to.

[LabattBlue]

 

Murph…

 

Touchdown Buffalo! Touchdown Allen! Touchdown Touchdown!

[Goin Breakdown]

7 hours ago, Matt_In_NH said:

Where is anyone equating/linking a recent loss with Murphy being a bad play by play guy?   Different topics completely 

Forgive me. I didn't realize this was a post to give Murphy credit for a job well done. Seemed to me like "hey let's scrutinize someone else for not sounding as good as another guy". My bad. I understand being disappointed in a team but just finding ways to criticize someone else's job just doesn't sound great to me. This whole world is under a microscope with people giving opinions on others (most of them are negative and slanderous).
I understand the original poster did not say "hey give reasons why John Murphy sucks" but are we really going to read how awesome Murphy is? Instead we get "he's trash" "good guy sucks at his job" and so on. 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Goin Breakdown

[Xwnyer]

On 11/18/2022 at 8:55 AM, thenorthremembers said:

Its 2022 about to be 2023, why does anyone care how the radio announcer sounds?  Cant stream it legally, and most of the time the radio isnt in sync with the TV broadcast.  

 

I may be in the minority, but I cant even stand to listen to the TV announcers let alone the radio call.     That said, if I had my choice, and the radio was in sync with the TV, I'd turn off most of the guys on TV to listen to Murph and Wood.

 

Otherwise, I feel like arguing the ability of a radio announcer in 2022 is akin to asking who the best Chimney Sweep is.

Easy to sync.  With DTV pause your video for about 10 seconds if listening to OTA Sirius if streamed radio feed about 1 minute 15 seconds.  I pause game right about when kicker makes contact and listen for thump on radio feed. Bend doing this since 2003!

[BillsPride12]

11 hours ago, nucci said:

Buffalo sports had Van Miller, Ted Darling and RJ...some of the best ever. Now not so much. Sabres broadcast is very difficult to listen to.

The Sabres entire broadcast program used to be top notch A+ material from RJ and Jim Lorentz calling the game to Hockey Hotline afterwards with Mike Robitaille and Brian Blessing.  I miss those days so much 

[ArtVandalay]

It's not 1950 so i don't listen to games on the radio

[QCity]

On 11/17/2022 at 6:44 PM, Buffalo_Stampede said:

The guys we have now calling football and hockey games are just your average guys. Nothing unique or special about them.

 

This is where I'm at. There used to be a time where fans would go out of their way to sync Van or Jeanerette's radio call up to the television broadcast. It seems the opposite is true today and fans go out of their way not to listen to them.

[gomper]

11 hours ago, Xwnyer said:

Easy to sync.  With DTV pause your video for about 10 seconds if listening to OTA Sirius if streamed radio feed about 1 minute 15 seconds.  I pause game right about when kicker makes contact and listen for thump on radio feed. Bend doing this since 2003!

I do this with Greg Papa.  Pause when the ref whistles for the kick-off.  You should be good. 

[That's No Moon]

I listen to games rather than watch frequently because I'm driving my son home from hockey somewhere. Murphy sucks. He barely describes the action and is flat out wrong often. In the Dolphins game he called touchdowns twice in balls that were dropped. That's wildly frustrating to listen to. He was a good color guy for Van, he's been a bad PbP guy and as he's gotten older he's gotten worse.

Edited November 20, 2022 by That's No Moon

[Not at the table Karlos]

On 11/18/2022 at 7:37 AM, eball said:

Murph is by all accounts a super nice guy.  He’s an awful PBP announcer.

 

Said no one that has ever met him. To be very nice he's a complete POS

[eball]

32 minutes ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

Said no one that has ever met him. To be very nice he's a complete POS

 

Oh, I didn’t know that.  Well, then he just sucks in general!

 

[RichRiderBills]

He's decent but lacks the iconic grabbing voice. I think he does a fine job. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

On 11/18/2022 at 5:29 PM, gomper said:

For the older folk, he sounds like Peter Brady when his voice cracks lol. He's not terrible but he's no Greg Papa. 

"For the older folk"...just when do you think Hollywood foisted off on us that crap that was the Bradys?! 🤨 We've been suffering that bunch since the late 60s.  

[Bangarang]

He gives some of the worst interviews I’ve ever heard. He asks the most obvious questions but also has a habit of answering them himself. 

 

”Coach, I’d imagine you’re unhappy with the loss, no?”

 

”Protecting the football is important and I imagine you don’t want to see your team with that many turnovers, right?”