Thorne is also the voice of the NHL 09 video game.

I just don't get why Gary Thorne is such a big deal. He is a great hockey announcer and has a great voice for calling games, but he just doesn't seem to "get" baseball. He makes so many mistakes in his calls on a regular basis that he has become a joke of himself. He has shown time and time again that he can't judge the depth of fly balls. Last night's game against the Rangers showed again his inability to make correct calls when Jones made the perfect play off the wall to fire the ball back to Roberts who made a great relay home to get the runner. Unfortunately, Thorne called the play as the runner scoring as he rounds third and then had to raise his voice in surprise that they got the runner. It takes away from great defensive plays like that when the announcer can't get the call right. I'm sure others can think of other examples of these mistakes...

Oh, come on. Who WASN'T watching that play and figured Michael Young was going to score? In that spacious outfield, unless the runner is Big Papi, any ball hit out there is likely to score them, even from first, especially given Young's speed. The fact that it couldn't even reach SportsCenter's Top 10 is a crime unto itself.

He is not the voice of EA Sports NHL '09. that is Jim Hughson from Hockey Night in Canada.

Anita Marks is terrible. On or around Opening Day I heard an exchange that went something like this:

Roch Kubatko and Scott Garceau were joking about what would draw a bigger applause from the crowd, Tex striking out or getting drilled in the back with a fastball.

Anita Marks jumps in with, "or in the head!"

Like a father scolding a daughter, Garceau had to tell her: "We don't go there."

Get her off the air!

I thoroughly enjoy listening to Gary Thorne, ...and particularly enjoy the trade-off when Palmer is with him. Palmer has such a keen baseball mind and a great sense of humor. The two of them together is as good as it gets.

I wish her no I'll will, but I personally can't stand Anita Marks' blather. She works hard to sound relative, but in fact has absolutely nothing meaningful to say. And it is ruinous to the fine job that Scott does.

Gary is OK-it's just when you compare him to the late, great Chuck Thompson and the sadly departed Jon Miller, he comes up a little short...oops-that was insensitive of me, wasn't it?

I think Gary Thorne is a tremendous asset to the MASN TV crew. He knows how to call a television game, and in my opinion, is a huge upgrade from the rotating combo of personalities that is sometimes used. He mixes humor with his broadcast in a way that is intelligent, and he's not afraid to shy away from calling it like he sees it.

The one thing that drives me crazy about Thorne is his insistence on using the future tense for everything. "That is going to be strike one". No, it IS strike one, as it is current.

I think Thorne's great despite his obvious shortcomings. His call on ESPN Radio Sunday night when Reed Johnson robbed Prince Fielder of a grand slam: "Goodbye, home run! No, he caught it!!"

I like Gary Thorne but maybe I agree with Jeff. The first rule of a play-by-play guy is DON"T ANTICIPATE THE PLAY, ie don't say the player is going to score before he crosses the plate. He should be a second behind the action not in front of it.

I don't even want to get started on Anita Marks, when I hear her voice, I want to shove sharp objects in my ear. Has she ever made a consice statement or asked a consice question? She just rambles and talks in circles most ot the time.

Scott Garceau is the bomb, but about the only way I will listen to that show would be for Anita to do naked handsprings in front of my house.

Thorne is a very knowledgeable broadcaster who does make some unfathomable mistakes. But he is far, far better than Hunter. Hunter is just pathetic, there had to be a reason he was taken off the TV and radio a couple of years ago. He can't seem to get thru a broadcast with out sticking his ego in there someplace. He detracts from Dempsey, who is no slouch in the ego department but knows the game inside and out. So does Palmer, from whom I learn something every time he's on the air(I loved his comments last night when Tremblay put on the hit and run and Pie got doubled off; "Cakes" has the stature and personality to question the manager on the air and get away with it. And he is not shy!!)
As for Marks, when she came on the air, I tried to listen to her, to be fair and I just couldn't. But her thin, whiny voice and her lack of sports knowledge is telling. She is a product of today's "sex sells" mentality of the average radio or TV exec. They think that thousands of horny 18-24 and 24-36 year-olds are sitting around the radio with lewd thoughts, just because a pretty girl is on the air. Sorry, if I want to be titillated, I talk to my girlfriend, a truly beautiful woman with the brain to match. Sports radio should not be like the Stern show, where some supermodel or porn star is always taking off her shirt. I'm sure Marks would look quite good without her shirt or doing naked cartwheels(and do you have to wonder why she said that???)but let's leave that to Max After Dark. For good sports talk, I'll take Viviano, Cunnningham, Haney, Garceau, or even Mike and Mike(no playmakers, they're the Jim Hunter of sports talk, yech).
Thank you.

Would you rather have Michael Reghi? Give me Gary any day of the week please.

Gary Thorne is GREAT!! You're a joke...your column is so lame that you have to add Anita Marks in to even get people to look at it...you're basically a gossip columnist, but it's not even entertaining...Scott and Anita are sounding pretty good these days...She adds a different perspective to what would be a VERY boring, conservative show without her...kind of like this column... I won't be teased again by the headline thinking its actually something worth reading...

I have grown up listening to O's games since the 70's. Their is not a person who I would rather listen to then Johnny Miller calling the radio- What is great about gary is his uncanny sense of humor especially in those long late games- He is the only reason that I will continue to watch it. I prefer his style over a the nuts and bolts play callers-

Anyone else notice the number of on air mistakes THORNE makes from misidentifying players to the wrong ball/strike count?

Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer is one of the best announcing duos in all of sports. I get sad when I turn on the O's game and hear Buck Martinez or Jim Hunter. They both love the Orioles way too much and they let it show, especially Hunter. He is the worst.

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Ray replies: On the other hand, I get sad when I'm flipping channels and I see Carrot Top.

I think Anita and Scott are just a bad match. It always sounds like a Father scolding his teenage daughter. Team Scott with a Tom Davis or Phil Wood. Then hook Anita up with Ken Weinman. Call it "The Beauty and the Beast". Both would have better chemistry with their new co host.

I can't stand Gary Thorne and am shocked that I seem to be in the minority among O's fans. The guy seems so out of touch. He calls the game like he's on espn. I'd much rather have a guy call the game like he's calling it for the O's.

i can't believe they spent an hour taking calls from people on nicknames for the Right-center field area. after the 4th "O's Zone" reco, I had to change the station. Don't they have a call screener? Hi, what's your suggestion? O's Zone! Nope, been said 6 times, next...

Need to start a letter writing campaign to stop Anita from demanding the Ravens trade for Anquan Boldin. The NFL is not Madden Football with the Salary cap turned "off". Stop being a moron. Maybe trade back, add a pick and give me Hakeem Nicks or Kenny Britt.

@sade Actually Gary Thorne does do the voicework for NHL 09 (EA) with Bill Clement, Hughson does NHL 2K9 (2K Sports) with Darrell Reaugh.

He is also the Voice of NHL 06 from EA Sports. I dont know if he also did the voice for the subsequent NHL EA games.

Ray, I'm too busy to do anything more than skim your blogs, but I saw something about Anita Marks doing naked handstands with Anquan Boldin. Can you please let me know where I can find that on the Internet? Wife is out of town. Thanks.

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Ray replies: I never do any more than skim my blog either. Several other commenters have pointed out how awful the entries are.

Mike R: If you think Hunter is bad, try listening to Ken "The Hawk" Harrelson of the White Sox. He'll make you puke. He makes me puke.

Gary Thorne? Please....stick to hockey. And stop trying to revise the way EVERYONE else describles home runs (call it a 3-run homer, not a 3-RBI homer). Jon Miller was da man, so was Chuck Thompson. So was Bill O'Donnell. So was John Lowenstein!!!
I do enjoy Jim Palmer's color commentating. Buck Martinez's voice grates my nerves. And beyond that, Jim Hunter is an egotistical maniac. Met him once and he was quite full of himself.
Maybe Scott Garceau could to play by play? Let Anita Marks work with Amber for on-field reports....together...now we're onto somethin'!

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Ray replies: We're not likely to ever see a Marks-Theoharis pairing.

JD is sooo right. When did Scott get so curnudgeonly? (SIC? ) Between Scott, Anita, and Bruce Cunningham, I would have a hard time picking the biggest blowhard. Its appalling that such a powerful all sports station can broadcast such inanity regularly. Oh well, at least they have press passes....sorry Nestor

Thorne is terrible. He is terrible. I would rather listen to Dempsey keep telling me he is Zaun's uncle, or leave the sound down. No, this isn't kodos to Dempsey. He just sucks less.

Is Mike Flanaghan still in our front office because he was the best color guy we had. Bring him back and get Buck Martinez and his horrindously obnoxoius voice off of MASN. Couldn't agree more with Bobby. Reighi was not only terrible, he was painful to listen to with his horrible baseball "knowledge". Like Palmer, LOVE Amber. Hunter is biased like crazy, but isn't that supposed to be his job? And I actually think he has a fair knowledge of the game. Thorne is okay even though I wonder if he's been drinking sometimes when he's in the booth (hey, I have to quite often when I watch the O's!).

3 Drinks Gary is AWESOME for the O's. He realizes this is a game we're watching, yet does take care of what a PBP guy is supposed to do.

His give and take with Palmer is the best I've heard since the days of Mel Procter and John Loewenstein.

He and Palmer may joke more than a usual TV team, but it makes the games more entertaining. The trivia contest have devolved into Stump Jim Palmer, and Gary sets him up beautifully.

And while I know he doesn't really drink while on the air, the way he laughs at his own jokes makes you think he's 3 drinks into the evening, thus the name 3 Drinks Gary.

You all think Thorne and Martinez are horrible? Dude, you people seriously need to listen to the White Sox TV duo sometime. At least Thorne puts effort into his broadcasting. The Sox guys are so monotone whenever anything bad happens to the Sox its pathetic. I watched a game last week when the opposing player hit a home run and all the guys said was "Well, they just got a home run and now they're up by 2." No energy whatsoever. And I despise the way he keeps calling the White Sox the "good guys," as if anybody who doesn't play for Chicago's AL team is evil. Not to mention his horrible, horrible home run call. The Cubs duo isn't much better, but they're at least somewhat tolerable. For such a big sports town, you figure they could get some better play-by-play guys.

Gary Thorne is a professional play by play voice. His job is not to be a homer....that's the color person's task. So he has done hockey and spent a lot of time in other cities. So?
Does that make him a criminal? Or a Yankee fan?

It's the voice, stupid. And Mr. Thorne has one of those voices that will get most people to at least give a brief listen when roaming the dial.

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Ray replies: Um, it's the analyst's job to be a homer?

Don't forget Thorne's appearance in that Buffalo Wild Wings commercial, in which they "send it to overtime"!

I'd rather have Mel Proctor and John Lowenstein thank you very much.

IMHO, Gary Thorne is about as good as it gets... for HOCKEY. He is a total moron calling baseball... half the time it's like he isn't even watching. Pay attention when he tries to describe how a pitch missed that is called for a ball. A pitch will almost hit the plate and he will say it "misses outside".

And don't even get me started on Palmer. I'm surprised how many people are complaining about Hunter's ego, when I can't believe Palmer's bloated head even fits in the press box. There is a man who loves to hear himself talk, even when he's got absolutely nothing to say.

Bobby: Good call on Reghi there... however I am upset that I had totally put him out of my brain until you just brought him up.

I think Thorne is ok, I really do not like Jim Hunter....Man not only is he a homer, but for a guy that never played an inning of pro-ball he knows everything about anything related to the game. HE IS TERRIBLE and I turn the sound down when he is do play by play.

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Ray replies: If an announcer is good, you don't really care whether he played beyond Little League.

Thorne has a very pleasant-sounding voice except for his unappealing Canadian sounding accent "Roberts flies OAT to right." Michael Reghi was an absolute disaster. I also hate the future tense thing: "And Jones will make the catch for the third oat" when he's already on the way to the dugout! Reghi did that too and it always drove me crazy (my mother's an Englsih teacher).

3 Drinks Gary. Fantastic. I may have to steal that one.

Thorne and Palmer are a very good team. Palmer's knowledge of pitching is always spot on.

Scott and Anita are another interesting pair. Why is the recent trend to place two polar opposities on screen or in the box and just let the hilarity ensue?

Garceau has Baltimroe street cred, while Anita should be working the streets....in Miami. She's uninformed. I have no time to listen to nonsense so I don't listen.

If you pay attention here, it seems nearly unanimous that Anita Marks is a boring troll with only one redeeming attribute.
Why is she still on TV in Baltimore when she is clearly better suited for Cinemax?

You may have missed this gem of a Scott/Anita exchange on Draft Eve, last Friday. It went something along the lines of:

Anita: If the Ravens don't have Anquan Boldin by the end of the weekend, I'm not coming in to work on Monday.

Scott (in his best deadpan): Promise?