matt and jack...

[Cody73]

I always wondered how Jack would work alongside Smitty (Eric Smith) from our radio crew, as he's a much better straightman.

[rocwell]

I always wondered how Jack would work alongside Smitty (Eric Smith) from our radio crew, as he's a much better straightman.

Eric Smith is the future. He's great!

[S.R.]

For some reason our broadcasting team is incredibly polarizing. I for one love matt and jack but hate Leo. I would really prefer that they not get into politics and I would also like if matt would ease up on the stories and focus on commentary more but I still love them. They have good chemistry and they're exciting.

I'm with you. None of our guys have much depth in their analysis, but at least Matt + Jack have a good time without being massive homers. I find Leo irritating.

Matty D is a huge improvement over Swirsky. I never cared for chuck.

NY + Brooklyn have great duos and I always enjoy Mike Breen/JVG/Mark Jackson on national broadcasts.

We've had the Matt/Jack/Leo conversation a few times, I'd be curious to hear who everybody thinks is best league wide?

[Maury]

I'm with you. None of our guys have much depth in their analysis, but at least Matt + Jack have a good time without being massive homers. I find Leo irritating.

Matty D is a huge improvement over Swirsky. I never cared for chuck.

NY + Brooklyn have great duos and I always enjoy Mike Breen/JVG/Mark Jackson on national broadcasts.

We've had the Matt/Jack/Leo conversation a few times, I'd be curious to hear who everybody thinks is best league wide?

On comments of YouTube videos outsiders seem to love matt and jack. I also love the New York commentators. Breen is the best in the business if you ask me and Clyde complements him very well. I was watching the Brooklyn Philly preseason game today and I actually really like the Brooklyn commentators. Both knowledgable, had some fun but were definitely more on the play by play side of things.

If anyone wants to here pure play by play guys the commentators for Utah and Portland both do an excellent job at that.

[planetmars]

I've stopped listening to broadcasts.. over the years it gets a bit mundane and I don't really need to hear the same stuff over and over again.

From the odd time I do listen in though I can say that Jack is pretty intelligent and it was a pretty nice coup to get him all those years ago.

Matt is actually a pretty good professional talent. A little over the top sometimes but MLSE is lucky to have him. He's got a good voice for TV and hits his marks well. His off topic blather is really annoying. I could only imagine him doing a baseball game when there is so much air time to fill.

Never been a fan of Leo. No personality and that's terrible for TV. Should have been let go a long time ago but I guess since he's Canadian he'll still have the job. He's better than MoPete though.

Rod Black is hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

[Hotshot]

lol Rod Black is like the teacher that tried too hard to be liked by his students by attempting to sound hip.

[Scraptor]

I love Matt and Jack. They have made so many unbearable games bearable, and good games even better.

Matt is dorky and enthusiastic and is just like a fan.
Jack is honest and often hilarious.

I have listened to games with announcers from all around the league and our guys are among the best in the game.

Leo, on the other hand, is terrible.

[Machine]

I've stopped listening to broadcasts.. over the years it gets a bit mundane and I don't really need to hear the same stuff over and over again.

From the odd time I do listen in though I can say that Jack is pretty intelligent and it was a pretty nice coup to get him all those years ago.

Matt is actually a pretty good professional talent. A little over the top sometimes but MLSE is lucky to have him. He's got a good voice for TV and hits his marks well. His off topic blather is really annoying. I could only imagine him doing a baseball game when there is so much air time to fill.

Never been a fan of Leo. No personality and that's terrible for TV. Should have been let go a long time ago but I guess since he's Canadian he'll still have the job. He's better than MoPete though.

Rod Black is hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

The thing is, Matt is actually great when he does baseball games. He does a fantasitic job there. But for some reason when he covers the raptors he amplifies his totally obnoxious personality to the point where it actually fills me with rage listening to him while trying to enjoy basketball lol. He is given too much of a leash on our broadcasts. He could be great if he was more professional like when he does baseball games. He does his homework and is on point but he is too preoccupied with fueding with Jack and Leo and pretending he knows the game better than them when he is not hired to be an analyst.

I love Jack. Dislike Leo. Cannot fucking stand Matt Devlin.

[Joey]

Matty D is a huge improvement over Swirsky. I never cared for chuck.

[Nilanka]

ok seriously, jack armstrong has been on the air for the raptors for apparently 20 years, according to matt devlin pointing that out during the raps v pistons preseason game. matt devlin has been on air for the raptors for the last 10 years. I have had league pass for years, have heard every teams broadcast team. I would have to say that the raptors commentators are the worst or close to it. Jack has been doing the same high pitched one trick pony act for his entire time with the franchise. And Devlin feels the need to come up with a stupid nickname for every player on the team and call them that for every point, assist or defensive play that they make. Clearly they have a following, or have been blackmailing their bosses who put them on the air. Everyone i know can't stand to hear them call a game. Am i alone here?

The more time you spend with someone, the more annoying they become, lol.

If you spent as much time listening to other teams' broadcasts as you do the Raptors, I'm sure you'd find them annoying too. It's human nature.

[Scraptor]

He does his homework and is on point but he is too preoccupied with fueding with Jack and Leo and pretending he knows the game better than them when he is not hired to be an analyst.

He doesn't feud with Jack, he and Jack just mess with each other. It's banter and you can tell they genuinely like each other.

He has had some legendary moments of epic awkardness with Leo though.

Also: I'd much rather have a guy like Matt who is too passionate than a monotone guy who doesn't give a shit.

[Mess]

Matt & Jack - Like them. Enjoy their shtick apart from the incessant all star voting reminders. Always like it when they go off the rails when the game gets out of hand. Happens a lot less frequently these days though, thankfully.

Leo - nope. Rod Black - also nope. Swirsky - nope, but probably not as bad as I remember. Eric Smith - hm nah, just very bland, doesn't do anything for me.

[Nilanka]

He doesn't feud with Jack, he and Jack just mess with each other. It's banter and you can tell they genuinely like each other.

He has had some legendary moments of epic awkardness with Leo though.

Also: I'd much rather have a guy like Matt who is too passionate than a monotone guy who doesn't give a shit.

Leo comes across as genuinely offended/insulted when they start poking fun at each other. Almost like he's trying to bite his tongue from trashing talking too harshly.

"You think I'm old, Matt? Well SCREW YOU!"

[jacobdr4]

butthegameison.com/thebeat/2016/02/25/the-definitive-announcer-ra

This ranking has us at 7th. Other ranking I saw had Matt and Jack at 6th.

[golden]

Strange thing is that in the early days of Raptors on TV, we had broadcasting legends like John Saunders and Dan Shulman doing play-by-play. And we had legit NBA insiders like Doc Rivers and Rick Barry doing color commentary.

No offense to Matt & Jack, but how did we end up with this B-level broadcast team when everything else about the franchise is trending to world class?