Fred Manfra's a Lousy Announcer Thread

[weams]

I can't stand anyone who starts a thread by talking about himself in the 3rd person.

weams finds that odd as well.

[bannanawho]

Fred Manfra is easy to listen to. Some of the other teams use announcers without personality and sound down right monotonous. We are lucky to have him.

[TonySoprano]

Fred easily gets confused and is hard to follow, no doubt, but I have to say that hearing his and Joe Angel's voice is just......well soothing, it means baseball, it means Orioles baseball.

Fred may be a goofy announcer, but he is our goofy announcer!

Agree with this. Joe Angel is outstanding in my book.

People have had their say and then some on the third person business. Can we move on?

[weams]

Agree with this. Joe Angel is outstanding in my book.

People have had their say and then some on the third person business. Can we move on?

Yes. Please.

[clapdiddy]

Manfra definitely has some bad play-by-play moments, but I think he and Joe have a nice chemistry on the air.

[Morgan423]

I appreciate you identifying yourself this early in the season. Now I can put you on ignore forever and ever, and not waste my future time with any more of your threads. Good stuff.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

[schittenden]

Compared to the Nats announcers, I think Fred and Joe should get some awards.

[DrungoHazewood]

Billy B. can't stand this guy. So instead of getting all heart attacked up everytime he says something stupid, I shall record it here and then I will feel better. Thank you.

You're getting there. You're almost reached a level of self-aggrandizing cynicism where it's funny instead of annoying. Bump it up a couple notches and you're there.

[LookinUp]

I'm proud of most posters in this thread for sticking up for Fred Manfra. I've never taken the time to critique the man. I'm sure he has his flaws, just like the rest of us, but he seems like a great guy and I'm really happy he's one of our guys.

On the other hand, while I know the internet is out there for all to use and message boards are here for opinions, I just don't get people who take their own time to initiate what amounts to personal attacks. It must be hard - depressing - to be a public figure of any stature these days because you just know that some maroon will come along and beat you down. I'm sure Fred would like to tell Mr. Button to stick it where the sun doesn't shine. However, if he did, that would be giving him too much attention.

My advice to Mr. Manfra is simple: ITA.

[Roll Tide]

Billy B. can't stand this guy. So instead of getting all heart attacked up everytime he says something stupid, I shall record it here and then I will feel better. Thank you.

1) Really?

2) talking in the third person says your pretty self absorbed

3) if that's your photograph .(your avatar) ..I'd suggest a diet in order to avoid the hear attack you speak of in your post.

In fairness to Fred he's pushing 70... Even the best announcers aren't as sharp as they age. If you can't deal with it listen to the telecast elsewhere.

[LAOSfan]

Manfra definitely has some bad play-by-play moments, but I think he and Joe have a nice chemistry on the air.

My favorite is when Joe says, "Well alright Big Boy!" when they go back and forth.

[The Wedge]

Fred Manfra has two problems. 1) he's paired with Angel, and the gap in their PbP styles is noticeable, and 2) his style is far more suited for television where we can see the action for ourselves, as he tends to "over call" any given situation (the common joke is to say by the time he announces the result of the previous play, the count is already 1-1 on the next batter). Neither of these make him awful, just idiosyncratic. I would personally prefer it if they got Angel a true color man instead of a co-PbP guy, made Manfra the B-team TV PbP instead of Hunter, and relegated Hunter to the pre and post (while his homerism doesn't bug me as much as it used to, his lack of depth perception on fly balls is annoying as hell). They could even keep Manfra in the radio booth when he wasn't needed on TV, as long as there was a proper color analyst and him and Angel weren't trading innings back and forth (relieving Angel for a spell now and then instead of a set structure like they do now).

He's not lousy by any stretch, but he is weaker than Angel. Most are.

[PeteU]

As a fan living outside the O's broadcast range, I for one would love to get a chance to hear any home broadcaster on a daily basis.

Even the so-called "lousy" ones.

[Babypowder]

Remus is impressed with this thread.

[Redskins Rick]

Fred's a real nice guy. I met him once at ST. I'd much rather have Fred than Hunter. But Fred really sucks at play by play. He drives me crazy. I just wish they wouldn't give him so many innings. Or if they have to, give him remedial play by play lessons.

I agree that for sure with that. Only met the guy once at a special function at the Oriole Warehouse, but wow, was he a great guy to talk with and somebody I would have gladly talked to again, if I ever had the chance.

Us old-timers are spoiled by Jon Miller and Joe Angel, and everybody else doesn't come close.

Is Fred perfect, heck no, nobody is. But, listening to him, is like listening to a friend, very enjoyable.

I love Chuck Thompson too, and you know, he made mistakes like Fred does, but we just laugh them off.

For those in fandom land that are overly critical of Fred, need to listen to the other fools broadcasting, and you would appreciate what we have more.

For those years when the Orioles sucked, you could hear the pain in Fred's voice talking about losses, he bleeds Oriole Orange, just like Roy Firestone does.