Give me Kevin Harlan any day of the week.

As far as signature lines go, I think that you either love them or you hate them. I don't have a problem with Wheeler's lines, but Marv Albert's "Yes and it counts" is almost as grating as Bill Walton opening his mouth. Chalk it up to personal preference.

Go to the opera if you like poetry and fine linen.

For about two thirds of the games this year, I will at some point get so tired of the broadcast, I will use Audio League Pass to  switch over and listen to the opposing team's announcers.  A few are so bad I may go back to Wheels but a good percentage of them are far better.  

Then, perhaps irritating me on an equal basis, I  don't like the protocol that Wheels and Tone have seemingly established regarding the broadcast. There is little ongoing interchange between the two during short breaks in the game action. Tone only seems to get to talk during long breaks such as when a player is shooting free throws and then he feels he has to drone on and on until the game action starts again, whether or not he has enough interesting/meaningful material to fill in the entire slot.  

I would simply love it if he would just say what he has to say, then get out; shorten those long and laborious deliveries, and instead offer up more frequent, concise insights and analysis (which often are good) as the game rolls along.

Kind of strange, but in the last game against Minnesota, I thought he started doing exactly that (and I stayed with our local guys the entire game).  But such an adjustment would probably be too good to be true ... must have been my imagination ... or maybe I just had one beer too many.

I do disagree with you though on the panty-wearing, girl biting Albert.  I got soooo sick of him on TV, I think mostly because of his extreme unabashed fandom for Michael Jordan .... but that's beside the point.  

Regarding the posters here that are defending Wheels as being a good or even great announcer:  I'm guessing most of them have Comcast in their homes and have not had to listen to Wheels game after game as we have done so far this year.

I was glad to see your Diary as I was contemplating doing one of my own on the same subject.
   

I realize that hearing is believing.  If you poke around on-line, you should be able to find some clips of King's old Warrior broadcasts.  (I found some a few months ago when gripped with nostalgia after listening to a Brian Wheeler performance.)

But I have to disagree with those who appreciate that you can always tell what's going on by his tone.

In the heat of the final few minutes of a close game, his tone is just as excited when the Blazers make or miss a shot, and just as excited when the opponent makes or misses a shot. He gets so worked up you can't really tell what's going on,  That frustrates me.

I like how Marv Albert basically cheers for good plays from either team.  If Wheeler could be a little less manic depressive, he would be more entertaining.  I still like him though and I am one of the few people who did not like Bill Schonely.  I only heard Schonely at the end of his broadcasting career and it felt like a grandfather telling his grandkids about a game, using expressions taken from The Little Rascals.  

In other words, you're entitled to your well-articulated opinion....but Wheeler will never be Schonely, or Albert, or King, or anyone else who you happen to prefer.  Did you hope that by posting this that he would change?  What are your goals with this post?  

In my view, Wheeler's enthusiasm for what he does (laced with homerism as it may be) are easier for you to recognize and attack during a winning streak.  During the last few years, when the Blazers had the worst record in the league, Wheels was as hard on them as anyone else, and frequently would describe their performance in appropriately negative terms.  In other words, I believe that he CARES about how the team does but does not paint them rosier than they really are.  

Finally, try listening to the Utah Jazz's woeful commentators if you want some examples of what terrible commentary is like in the radio medium.  

Yah, I know I sound like a "True Homer". Well then so be it, Dammit! There is no shame in being a Blazer Homer. Wheels may make mistakes, who doesn't, and he may do some thing that annoy some people, who doesn't?

I say, want to call him a knucklehead, fine but he is our knucklehead, and until you are one of us, mind your own knuckleheads.

Freaking LOVE the guy.  Great radio personality.

The reason why I love the Blazers so much, is less about the team themselves, and more about all the time I have spent over the years watching the games and discussing the team with my friends and family.

Granted, most of the time I am watching the games, often with my friends and family, but when I'm not I listen to Wheels call the game on the radio. And it is like watching the game with a good friend, with a fellow Blazer fan. I don't think he has any pretense of being an objective journalist. He's excited when I'm excited, he's down when I'm down. For the east coast games which are under way when I get out of work, I turn the game on in the car and I know how the game is going before I hear the score.

I think Wheels does a great job. I'd rather hear the game called by a fan than an objective journalist.