I think this rating from GQ — which ranked the five best and five worst broadcast announcing duos in the bigs — is a little unfair. Manning and Underwood are by no means good, but I doubt they’re in the bottom five. And the fact they’re this low is mainly the fault of Underwood, who has been, continues to be, and will be bad in the booth for a long time. I like Manning, though. Just wish he’d get a better partner.
Here’s the link to the rankings.
4) Cleveland Indians—Matt Underwood and Rick Manning
This is just an incredibly boring pair, from the timbre of their voices to the blandness of their conversation. To their credit, they don’t force faux-analysis down the viewers’ throats and they don’t resort to cheerleading, but there is a difference between letting a game breathe (vital) and listening to paint dry (brutal). On occasion, you may wonder if they’ve fallen asleep at the mic or if the audio cable has been cut, because there’s so much dead air. Perhaps the Indians lack of success has drained them of personality—hell, even the GM has admitted the season is over— but they could definitely use an injection of Harry Doyle.
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This article appears in Jul 7-13, 2010.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…Wake me up when the Indians make a change!
They are the worst! SOOOO Boring!
I think they do a fantastic job. Matt underwood is so knowledgable about baseball and its history. I think they compliment each other very well!
It’s TV, wants there to say. If your attention span is that short maybe you should click over to the cartoon network. It might help if the cheapskate owner would get some exciting major league talent. Tito’s done well with ”high” triple A talent.
I think they should learn how to speak the English language properly. I.E. the player ketches the ball? how about he CAT..ches the call Mr. Underwood Moreover, it becomes tiring and monotonous to hear them
tell us the ball was hit off the end of the bat! What diff does it make where the ball hits the bat? Off the handle, off the end? off the trademark? What ever happened to the old…foul ball. lazy fly ball, blooper to the out field??????Perhaps there is a new stat that I am not aware of? Underwood is the more guilty party on this issue ?plus, I have read the baseball rule book and can’t find the term PUNCHOUT????Is this some culture jargon?(just being facetious). Please some one get this complaint to Rick and maybe he can make my day!!!!!!
I think GQ is boring! What the hell do they know? I have the full MLB.tv package, and I’ve watched all the big town duos. Matt and Arch are the best of the lot! GQ subscribers can barely read. They only buy it for the soft porn ads! What do they expect? Ashley Greene in a thong sitting on Arch’s lap? Screw GQ!
Time for a change! I can’t even listen to them. Radio guys do a much better job calling the game and giving you tidbits of information about the past present farm clubs etc… Time for a change!!
Totally ridiculous ratings, who is GQ to critique baseball announcers? I’ve had the full MLB.TV package for several years, and I’ve checked in on many different announcing teams. I think Rick and Matt are among the very best, always enjoy listening to them announce a game. There are some horribly boring tandems for other teams, but always feel some joy listening to Rick and Matt.
These two need to cut BACK a wee bit.They go way overboard in conversation and lose track of their JOB…the GAME…Matt asks questions like a kid on career day…BORING!!! and whoever decided to do booth interviews should be fired. My goodness there are so, so many sports shows where that belongs. Sometime MUTE game and listen on radio. Good visuals and good commentator!!
I think they are horrible!!!! Rick gets so excited about the opposing team and praises them as he degrades and speaks negatively about the Cleveland Indians, the team he is supposed to support. I love our Cleveland Indians, but cant watch them on tv because the Matt and Arch comments disgust me!