Adios Kevin Calabro

d-train · Post #1 » by **d-train** » Wed Jul 1, 2020 5:57 pm

Calabro is stepping down from his TV announcer job. I was just starting to get used to him.

Post #2 » by **DeBlazerRiddem** » Wed Jul 1, 2020 6:07 pm

Sounds like it was voluntary on Kevin's part (hope everything is OK) and I think replaced by former Oregon and Seattle football player Jordan Kent?

I agree though, this season I felt like Kevin and Lamar had finally grown some chemistry and I had gotten used to them. Oh well, change is good, hope it works out.

d-train · Post #3 » by **d-train** » Wed Jul 1, 2020 6:14 pm

I like Jordan Kent. I thought he was more of an analyst than a play by play guy.

Shem · Post #4 » by **Shem** » Wed Jul 1, 2020 9:45 pm

Read on Twitter

Shem · Post #5 » by **Shem** » Wed Jul 1, 2020 9:46 pm

Bring back this man.

Post #6 » by **Cactus Jack** » Wed Jul 1, 2020 11:06 pm

Come home, KC! :pray:

valleyman33 · Post #7 » by **valleyman33** » Wed Jul 1, 2020 11:30 pm

Shem wrote:Bring back this man.

Sinobas · Post #8 » by **Sinobas** » Thu Jul 2, 2020 12:22 am

I hope they bring mike and mike back.

Dame Lizard · Post #9 » by **Dame Lizard** » Thu Jul 2, 2020 1:25 am

Sinobas wrote:I hope they bring mike and mike back.

I don't. I think I am part of the minority who prefers Kevin and Lamar over the Mikes.

I did like the younger Mike, but the older Mike had way too much Portland bias for my liking. I do appreciate it's Portland commentary, so bias will always be there.

Goldbum · Post #10 » by **Goldbum** » Thu Jul 2, 2020 2:35 am

I'm in the bring back the Mikes camp. In these upside down time a little "crazy uncle Rice" would do my heart some good.

Post #11 » by **The Sebastian Express** » Thu Jul 2, 2020 12:04 pm

The Mikes were terribly biased and not fun to listen to. I'm pretty sure the over under on 'holy cows' in complaints by Barrett per game had reached 50.

Village Idiot · Post #12 » by **Village Idiot** » Thu Jul 2, 2020 12:26 pm

I always liked Calabro from my days living in Seattle and was really stoked when the Blazers hired him. Its a shame to lose him but since it was his decision its hard to fault him for wanting to leave.

Tell me about Kent? I only watch college football highlights and rarely full games

zzaj · Post #13 » by **zzaj** » Thu Jul 2, 2020 3:24 pm

I really wanted to like Calabro, but was never impressed. I'm not sure why, but I always got the sense this was a temporary gig for him. I never got the sense his heart was really with the Blazers.

The combo of him and Lamar could be pretty insufferable. I remember one instance where I timed an aside they were having about BBQ that was a little over 2 minutes of live game action long, without a single comment on the game. Mind this was AFTER it had already gone on long enough for me to decide to start timing it. I found myself just watching with the sound off most games.

Post #14 » by **Cactus Jack** » Thu Jul 2, 2020 6:54 pm

zzaj wrote:I really wanted to like Calabro, but was never impressed. I'm not sure why, but I always got the sense this was a temporary gig for him. I never got the sense his heart was really with the Blazers.

I don't listen to or watch Blazer games for the most part (like most of Seattle :wink:

). But that really isn't all that surprising tbh. His true allegiances have never been questioned. :wink:

The league needs to do the right thing.

monopoman · Post #15 » by **monopoman** » Sat Jul 4, 2020 4:08 am

Calabro was a class act and a pretty damn great commentator, I would love when he would go ballistic when Lillard would start dominating. For a guy that seems to love the Sonics about as much as life itself, I was impressed with how much love he showed to the Blazers.

He certainly did have many moments where he really did seem to get into the Blazer games, so while he might still love the Sonics more I think over time he did come to really enjoy the Blazers also.

Watch on YouTube

This is one where Calabro almost seems to lose his mind watching Lillard come back against the Lakers in LA. Hard to hear with the game noise for some reason being much higher though on the video.

Post #16 » by **Cactus Jack** » Sat Jul 4, 2020 6:38 am

monopoman wrote:Calabro was a class act and a pretty damn great commentator, I would love when he would go ballistic when Lillard would start dominating. For a guy that seems to love the Sonics about as much as life itself, I was impressed with how much love he showed to the Blazers.

He certainly did have many moments where he really did seem to get into the Blazer games, so while he might still love the Sonics more I think over time he did come to really enjoy the Blazers also.

I'm honestly kinda shocked reading some of the responses here lol. The guy is absolutely beloved by Sonics fans.

I grew up listening to him, like many fans here. I'm baffled that he didn't really catch on with fans in Portland. :crazy:

Fwiw here are some of his best calls!

Watch on YouTube

valleyman33 · Post #17 » by **valleyman33** » Sat Jul 4, 2020 12:31 pm

zzaj wrote:I really wanted to like Calabro, but was never impressed. I'm not sure why, but I always got the sense this was a temporary gig for him. I never got the sense his heart was really with the Blazers.

The combo of him and Lamar could be pretty insufferable. I remember one instance where I timed an aside they were having about BBQ that was a little over 2 minutes of live game action long, without a single comment on the game. Mind this was AFTER it had already gone on long enough for me to decide to start timing it. I found myself just watching with the sound off most games.

I really got tired of the back and forth during live game action. Also really tired of Kevin not getting the names of the players right. My son and I made a drinking game out of it. Every time he got a players name wrong we had to take a drink. There were a few games we never saw the end of because we got to buzzed.

Matt800 · Post #18 » by **Matt800** » Sat Jul 4, 2020 6:14 pm

Cactus Jack wrote:
monopoman wrote:Calabro was a class act and a pretty damn great commentator, I would love when he would go ballistic when Lillard would start dominating. For a guy that seems to love the Sonics about as much as life itself, I was impressed with how much love he showed to the Blazers.

He certainly did have many moments where he really did seem to get into the Blazer games, so while he might still love the Sonics more I think over time he did come to really enjoy the Blazers also.

I'm honestly kinda shocked reading some of the responses here lol. The guy is absolutely beloved by Sonics fans.

I grew up listening to him, like many fans here. I'm baffled that he didn't really catch on with fans in Portland.

I think it may be popular to complain about the announcers in general. I've seen complaining about portland's announcers over the years as well as frequent mentions of other teams having bad announcers. Maybe they are realistic complaints or not, but it does seem to be fairly common.

I liked Calabro in Portland for the most part. Sometimes he and Lamar would get on some random subject that was a little awkward, but overall I liked him. And obviously he was great with the Sonics.

Clipsz 4 Life · Post #19 » by **Tim Lehrbach** » Sat Jul 4, 2020 9:08 pm

I'm in the camp that found Calabro to be a poor fit here, but he was undoubtedly a great voice for the Sonics and the standard for national radio for years. For such remote outposts in the sports world, Portland and Seattle have boasted really top-notch broadcasters. Schonz, Niehaus, Calabro... I know Snapper wasn't everybody's favorite especially with Walton on NBC, but I thought he was consistently great on the local games, too... others I'm forgetting?

zzaj · Post #20 » by **zzaj** » Mon Jul 6, 2020 9:05 pm

Tim Lehrbach wrote:I'm in the camp that found Calabro to be a poor fit here, but he was undoubtedly a great voice for the Sonics and the standard for national radio for years. For such remote outposts in the sports world, Portland and Seattle have boasted really top-notch broadcasters. Schonz, Niehaus, Calabro... I know Snapper wasn't everybody's favorite especially with Walton on NBC, but I thought he was consistently great on the local games, too... others I'm forgetting?

In my opinion Brian Wheeler needs a mention. If I'm honest, I think he might be my favorite announcer of all time...and that's including the guys you mentioned. He brought an intensity to the call which was unparalleled in my experience. I would often be exhausted simply from listening to games that he called...