No offense to Toby Rowland

[soonertravis]

I was listening to Traber and he never remotely criticized the hiring of Toby. He did question why OU did not go after a national guy which is a legitimate point.

All he did was criticize the hiring of Rowland. How can you say Oklahoma doesn't care about the job without it being a slap at Rowland? You can't. Either he thinks he isn't good enough for the job, or his point is flawed. He was definitely attacking Rowland's ability and experience.

I am not worried about Traber. Don't care what he thinks about our PBP guy. To say he doesn't have enough experience is a legitimate criticism, but to say that means he wasn't the best cnadidate for the job could be wrong as well. There are a lot of quality guys looking to get into the business and it is tough to break into the field and get a great deal of experience. It doesn't mean he isn't better than some other national guy at doing PBP. I know these guys have tape of them doing PBP and so I am certain Castiglione has heard him do it.

Also, the new network is a major part of that job. He will be doing many other things besides PBP. His TV production work could have played a huge role in him getting that job.

 

[tycat947]

Does anyone know the PBP guy at USC, Florida, Ohio State, Northwestern, LSU or Nebraska???? Does the PBP guy affect their athletic play or records? Does it affect their recruiting??? 40 or 50 years ago it might have been a bigger deal since many, many games were only broadcast on the radio. That's not the case now. With the new Sooner network about to come aboard we're going to need not only radio PBP but television coaches shows, interviews, etc. etc. I 100% trust Boren and Castiglione (they both have degrees from OU) that they are doing what IS best for OU. How does a 'national' guy make any difference from a 'local' guy if they are both competent??? If Jim Traber said the sky were blue, I'd almost be positive that the sky was yellow! I wish someone would count the number of times he said "I" or "me" in his broadcast. It would blow your minds! And then there are different voice levels of 'loud'. He's 'loud', 'moderately loud' or 'extremely loud'! If he only knew a fraction of what he THINKS he knows, he'd be the reincarnation of Albert Einstein!!!

 

[genghis jr]

no it's not.

it's a lazy hire with little to no foresight.

This is a hire that was made with nothing but foresight. Toby is young and can do the job for 40 years if it works out. He has experience in doing play-by-play, its just not with something the caliber of OU football.

The other main thing to consider is that Toby has a huge resume when it comes to doing TV coverage and with the Sooner Network coming up, that is probably the main reason why he got the gig to begin with because he does a great job with News 9.

Everything Toby does is high-quality, like Tramel wrote in his blog yesterday. If you don't like the hire, then you obviously aren't that familiar with Toby at all.

 

[coolm]

seeing as how I have been inundated with Toby this and Toby that since he broke into this OKC market ... I am pretty familiar with him.

I don't dispute he has a place out there, I just questioned if we couldn't find a more dynamic voice for pbp. That's all. I have no problems with him being all over the OU map and commiting the rest of his years to OU lore - I just thought a very good voice would do a lot with this new network coming online.

just my opinion. heck, TR may end up being the next best thing to Walter Cronkite. I just don't see people 50 years from now waxing poetic about the golden throat of Toby Rowland.

 

[Section31]

seeing as how I have been inundated with Toby this and Toby that since he broke into this OKC market ... I am pretty familiar with him.

I don't dispute he has a place out there, I just questioned if we couldn't find a more dynamic voice for pbp. That's all. I have no problems with him being all over the OU map and commiting the rest of his years to OU lore - I just thought a very good voice would do a lot with this new network coming online.

just my opinion. heck, TR may end up being the next best thing to Walter Cronkite. I just don't see people 50 years from now waxing poetic about the golden throat of Toby Rowland.

Did you listen to the link Bouce gave us??? It was the first time I'd EVER heard him to PBP and, although I DO admit I liked him before, I was truly impressed.

 

[SilliSooner]

I like Toby Rowland. It may be the Barry Honore' of hires. It may be the greatest hire in the history of hires.

The only better person they might have got was me. But I'm going after Gilbert Gottfried's old job as the voice of the AFLAC duck.

I can do that voice with my eyes closed.

 

[Big Old Booger]

Did you listen to the link Bouce gave us??? It was the first time I'd EVER heard him to PBP and, although I DO admit I liked him before, I was truly impressed.

I was listening that day from my seat in section 6. I turned to my buddies and said that Toby just did the PBP and he was awesome.

I think in 10 years everybody will be as crazy about him as some were about Brooks. He's not the same style as Brooks and "Jiminy Christmas" is going to always go down in sooner lore as one of the great calls of a big play, but people will like Toby a lot.

They just have to be willing to give him a shot.

 

[Sid]

http://www.soonersports.com/allaccess/index.html?media=210888

@ 3:18 mark Toby starts PBP. Does very good.

Thanks for posting the link. I rest my case.

I don't dispute he has a place out there, I just questioned if we couldn't find a more dynamic voice for pbp. That's all. I have no problems with him being all over the OU map and commiting the rest of his years to OU lore - I just thought a very good voice would do a lot with this new network coming online.

^ Thank you. Buffoonery to Corn Pone = Excellence?

 

[Iknowzilch]

Chuck Kelly was in the mix.

I heard, from a pretty decent source, that Bob Carpenter declined the job. Not sure if that decline was an interview or a job offer, but I heard he wasn't interested.

I talked to someone who personally had conversation with Bob and he said he was not offered or even interviewed.

 

[coolm]

^ Thank you. Buffoonery to Corn Pone = Excellence?

what?

John Has a Long mustache... The Chair is against the wall?

I did listen to the tape and it was pretty good. I will give him credit there. I still think his voice is kinda "HS friday night" but I did like his energy and that certainly might make up for it.

 

[Iknowzilch]

So they did interview some national guys. Thanks. And yes I did listen and traber . never once said maybe they did interview some national guys but Toby still got the job.

No Traber has no inside information about the deal and nor did he pretend to. His theme was he was surprised OU did not go national which has been shared by many but several media because of their high esteem of Toby have refrained from saying the same thing. It now appears Toby fit the parameters Joe wanted and several others offered could not come to terms.

 

[colston15]

Toby's a boring hire. It's not bad, it's just not exciting.

 

[NotsoyoungJeezy]

http://www.soonersports.com/allaccess/index.html?media=210888

@ 3:18 mark Toby starts PBP. Does very good.

I will admit when I am wrong. Toby actually sounded pretty good. BOOMER

 

[SoonerLawyer05]

Should've hired the guy from uco.

 

[WTSooner]

He sounds fine to me.

Am I the only one that really doesn't care all that much? 1st, anybody is going to be better than what we've had to listen to in recent years. 2nd, I don't listen that often. I watch just about every football game on tv (or go to the home ones), and listen to those guys. It might matter a bit more with hoops, with the SSN games, but even those are limited.

This just isn't a big deal to me.

 

[Big Old Booger]

I talked to someone who personally had conversation with Bob and he said he was not offered or even interviewed.

I found out today the PBP for the KC Chiefs, Mitch Holthus, interviewed and I think he was offered the job. I hear he seriously considered it.

So, they didn't just default it to Toby.

And, Mitch would have been stellar at the PBP part. He's really good.

 

[Sid]

what?

John Has a Long mustache... The Chair is against the wall?

I did listen to the tape and it was pretty good. I will give him credit there. I still think his voice is kinda "HS friday night" but I did like his energy and that certainly might make up for it.

Kinda? LOL OU is becoming more like Okie State everyday.