In Defense of Dante Marchitelli and George Galante, the Magic's Summer-League Announcers

by Evan Dunlap on Jul 8, 2008 3:47 PM EDT in Commentary

The non-Elton Brand NBA story of the day seems to be the performances of Magic employees George Galante and Dante Marchitelli, who called six hours' worth of meaningless Orlando Pro Summer League basketball yesterday, and will do so for the remainder of the week. Awful Announcing (via BDL) even has a highlight reel. Some people did not appreciate the crew's MST3K-esque attitude toward the games, while other people enjoyed the way their humor made the broadcast more interesting. I fall into the latter camp. "Traditional" announcing would only make the dull, poorly played games even less watchable. Kudos to Dante and Galante, as they're collectively known, for making truly awful basketball mildly entertaining.

And before we get all high-and-mighty about how the crew's indifference trivializes the games, let's remind ourselves that we're watching something inherently trivial: summer league basketball. The teams are made up of second-or-third-year players, rookies, and guys who don't have a prayer of ever playing a single minute in the NBA. BrewHoop has a nice rundown of good NBA players who played horribly during the summer, and middling NBA players who played well during the summer. Doug Smith of the Toronto Star said it best: "The only thing anyone generally ever learns at summer league is who can't play, not who can."

I should note that Marchitelli has professional broadcast experience. He's a sideline reporter for the Magic's radio broadcasts on AM 580, and, if I'm not mistaken, also the broadcast manager. It's not as though the Magic picked a random intern and put him behind a mic. It only seems that way to some people.

And now for something completely different: Ball Don't Lie invites you to caption this photo of Stan Van Gundy and Pat Riley.

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Dante & Galante are good!

What better way could there be to announce summer league? Having tuned in to some of the TV-broadcast Las Vegas games (for the few moments I could stand it) where the announcers are both poorly informed and uninteresting (while still managing to take themselves very seriously) I’d rather be entertained by two smart, quick-witted, honest guys like these.

by travelerkt on Jul 8, 2008 6:29 PM EDT reply actions

Somebody's Momma is Listening to YOU!

I’m extremely disappointed at the broadcasting of the 2008 Summer league games in Orlando. Many people tune in to hear commentary worthy of describing a players potential. The comment about those who can’t play basketball are generally the majority that hit the courts is rude and insensitive to a “player/s” Momma! You all should know that today’s technology is vast! People watch this on their computers from work and abroad to get live information about their children and their progress in this business of the NBA. IT’s difficult enough for your child to be out there “performing” for a dream, but to have to endure mindless and careless announcers talk about food, Star Jones, and Pamela Anderson with one arm…etc, because they’re bored with the duty of announcing the game is horrible. I find it opportunistic to really utilize your experience in broadcasting as well as your “knowledge” of good basketball skills “if it exisit” to truly critic the game at it’s rawist form.

Why not give the post to a D-League annoucer trying to make the business or someone else who cares. I want Dante and Galante to know I’m a parent of one of those players and my entire office was watching and listening to your rhetoric and disdain for the games yesterday. It was annoying and distracting from what we tuned in for.

Try and do better today, CAUSE…somebody’s Momma is watching!

by SomebodysMamaisWatching on Jul 9, 2008 3:00 PM EDT reply actions