Gary Dolphin

I have season tickets and rarely listen to the games anymore. And thank god. Two years ago I worked every Saturday and was forced to listen to Dolph every game. I love the guy as a Hawkeye but not hearing a score or time left for almost a quarter while I hear about some new corn seed 5 times got me ticked off.

Then last year while at all the games I got those little radios that have the no delay broadcast. What was frustrating was trying to listen to what was going on at the other end of the field. By the time he got around to deciding if the runner got 3 or 4(when only getting 1) I had already seen the replay and it was already posted on the scoreboard.

The only time I listen to the radio anymore is to just get an update on injured players.
 
I used to be critical of Dolph but now he has grown on me. I know it's a cliche but he is what he is, a true Hawk fan who has trouble doing play-by-play. I only listen for Ed anyway.
 
I didn't listen to the AZ game Saturday, but did post similar comments sometime within the last two years. Dolph is not a good play by play guy. Having Jon defend him half-heartedly is actually very telling. Jon defends all things Iowa and all people he knows intimately. Just not really much objectivity there, which is understandable because his livelihood depends on access to these people.

But like I have said about what the poor job the Iowa Sports press does with getting us information about what is going on with the football program, Dolph does a poor job with play by play. But don't expect anything to change. Because most people don't know better and the rest don't care cause "Dolph is our guy."

That being said, he is good with the homer call on big plays. Just don't know if it makes up for the rest.
 
Palpatine said:
If Iowa won we wouldn't have this thread.
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:rolleyes:

Dolphin isn't that good. This thread is deserved, win or lose.

As for ESPN3.com access, even if you're trying to do the remote access thing, it's not guaranteed that it'll work. Or maybe it's just me: I was out of town when we played ISU and tried accessing the site from the hotel, and it just wouldn't load at all. ESPN.com, no problem; ESPN3.com, never wanted to load so I could watch the replay that night.
 
imported_golfinghawkeye said:
What so now it's off limits to criticize a radio announcer, just because he announces for our team? Sheesh, you gotta be kidding me.

Dolph flat out stinks as an announcer, I don't who he announces for. The three most important things for an announcer should be as follows:

1. Provide the listener with an accurate portrayal of what is happening on the field.

2. Shill for the sponsors.

3. Provide a little personality to keep things entertaining.

Dolph is great at numbers 2 and 3, but a miserable failure at number 1.

Mike
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You must be mistaken, Mike, not one time did Jon say we couldn't criticize Dolph. Not once! I personally love listening to him and I am happy to have him as our play by play. People with attitudes like yours make me sick. He makes it exciting and is better than alot of the play by play I have heard. I guess you should probably know that though because you are a professional radio talent scout from the sounds of your post. You are negative as all get out.
 
I actually enjoy Dolph calling the game, so much so I would almost rather listen to him on the radio than watch on tv. Part of that is I'm too active to sit and watch a football game for 3+ hours on a beautiful Saturday, so the radio option is quite appealing to me. But I really like Dolph. So much so his call on the Tate to Halloway play is my ringtone ;)
 
Trying to be as objective as possible, I agree that he is below average at the task of providing the simple details of the result of many plays in a timely manner. He broadcasts like a hybrid of play-by-play guy and color guy. I'd prefer he make sure that job #1 for him on every play is to provide basic facts before any other analysis.

He is good at providing analysis about who threw a good block, who missed an assignment, etc. However, he often will describe that a back got around the edge and was brought down by John Doe, and then will proceed to provide a good analysis of what went right or wrong on the play, but he won't simply say "... for a 4 or 5 yard gain..." until he goes through his whole play analysis. Sometimes the ball will be snapped on the next play without informing the listener if the previous play was a two yard gain, 4 yard gain, 6 yard gain, etc. That is frustrating.
 
mtnhwk said:
I echo what Jon says in that Dolph may not be the best but puts his heart and soul into the broadcast and along with Eddie, they make a fine team.

I watched the opening on ESPN3 and listened to Dolph & Eddie on the radio. I'll keep that in mind when this happens in the future.
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i enjoy listening to him.

I enjoyed growing up listening to Z as well. You want to complain about a guy who didn't call the game very well - he's a good candidate. ITS A TOUCHDOWN..........no, he dropped it......
 
Fors98121 said:
Trying to be as objective as possible, I agree that he is below average at the task of providing the simple details of the result of many plays in a timely manner. He broadcasts like a hybrid of play-by-play guy and color guy. I'd prefer he make sure that job #1 for him on every play is to provide basic facts before any other analysis.

He is good at providing analysis about who threw a good block, who missed an assignment, etc. However, he often will describe that a back got around the edge and was brought down by John Doe, and then will proceed to provide a good analysis of what went right or wrong on the play, but he won't simply say "... for a 4 or 5 yard gain..." until he goes through his whole play analysis. Sometimes the ball will be snapped on the next play without informing the listener if the previous play was a two yard gain, 4 yard gain, 6 yard gain, etc. That is frustrating.
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This. I really do like Dolph, great guy. And I do still like him as a broadcaster. Al Michaels or Vin Scully is the prototype play-by-play man. That's not Dolph. But I will occassionally listen to the radio with the TV on mute (particularly if Pam Ward is on the ESPN crew).

However, I was forced into continuing a streak thanks to ESPN: everytime I start the game listening on the radio and finishing it by watching on TV, we lose. Every time. MSU in 2003, Indiana and Western Michigan in 2007, Pitt in 2008, and now Arizona in 2010. ESPN3 wouldn't load on my computer, and I had to know what was going on. I will never forgive ESPN for this one lol.
 
Some people always find something to complain about after a loss....Dolph is not perfect but does a fine job. Either way it is not changing anytime soon so you may as well live with it.
 
Well for all you folks slamming Gary Dolphin, you must have really thought Jim Zabel sucked, because all we got there was "hug your radios baby" but I guess that is some top notch play by play! While Gary might not be perfect, he wears his emotion with his voice. It's not hard to figure out how the Hawks are doing just by the tone of his voice. Ed is a nice compliment for Gary, and they make a good team. So for all you radio play by play experts, who would you like to replace Gary? Let's hear some radio play by play people you think are the cream of the crop!
 
I agree Dolph is doing a fine job and all the bashers need to pipe down,he is much better than Zabel was but I would never bash Zabel myself he was the voice of the Hawkeyes and he was ours then,and now we have Gary Dolphin and he does a 1st class job of representing the Hawks on and off the air waves.
 
mediacom is the target of much criticism but leaving Qwest DSL for mediacom was a great choice. mediacom is $10 more per month for a much better product.

i kept directv though.
 
You guys are absolutely ridiculous for bashing dolph. He is a first class guy, who represents the hawks on the air as well as in our community. Dolph is human, like the rest of us. Nobody is perfect at what they do. Dolph gives us the jist of the play and Eddy fills in the gaps. They work great together. I couldn't imagine a saturday not listening to Gary and Edd. all the haters need to lighten up. seriously!
 
Palpatine said:
I think everybody is just cranky because of the loss. If Iowa won we wouldn't have this thread.
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Yeah thats it

Or maybe if the Clemson vs Auburn game didn't go to OT, I wouldn't have found out how awful Gary Dolphin is at his job.

And since when did being passionate become an excuse for not being good at what you get paid for?

Sorry Jon, thats complete garbage.

Like someone mentioned, I should know what the heck is going on during a game, Dolph is terrible at that.

And I'm sure he's a great guy, but thats not an excuse either.
 
I think those that find themselves being clueless about what's going on when listening to the game on the radio suffer from attention deficit disorder. That's the downside of being part of the soundbite generation. It's not that difficult to figure out what's going on if you just pay attention. If you are doing that you know where the ball is, what down it is, etc.
 
SDHAWKFAN said:
You guys are absolutely ridiculous for bashing dolph. He is a first class guy, who represents the hawks on the air as well as in our community. Dolph is human, like the rest of us. Nobody is perfect at what they do. Dolph gives us the jist of the play and Eddy fills in the gaps. They work great together. I couldn't imagine a saturday not listening to Gary and Edd. all the haters need to lighten up. seriously!
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I would rather have an arse clown who can actually tell me whats going on rather than a "first class guy" who goes 15 minutes without telling you the score or where the balls at.

Dolphs bad, sorry.
 
Hawke said:
I think those that find themselves being clueless about what's going on when listening to the game on the radio suffer from attention deficit disorder. That's the downside of being part of the soundbite generation. It's not that difficult to figure out what's going on if you just pay attention. If you are doing that you know where the ball is, what down it is, etc.
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See the problem is he never actually says those things...

It only works if he does :rolleyes:
 
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