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Can Chuck Swirsky Be Replaced?

Posted by Sameer / May 20, 2008

30 Comments

About two weeks ago, Chuck Swirsky, the voice of the Toronto Raptors, decided to leave Toronto after ten years and return to his former home in Chicago. The split between Swirsky and our beloved basketball team was amicable, with Swirsky claiming family reasons and personal commitments for his departure.

It's no question that Swirsky will be missed. Whether you liked his style or not, he was definitely one of the most colorful commentators in the NBA, and has earned several accolades for his excitable play-by-play. The video below demonstrates some of his play-calling skills:

Swirsky's iconic phrases such as "onions baby, onions" and "Break out the salami and cheese" made him one of the most exciting parts of watching a Raptor games — especially when the dinos were struggling. He has long been considered by fans around the NBA as one of the best live basketball commentators, and his play-by-play skills have been coveted by many teams and broadcast stations. Before coming to Toronto, he was once named Chicago Sportscaster of the Year.

So now that Swirsky is gone, who is going to be the new voice of the Raptors? Will the replacement be able to adequately capture the emotions of the Toronto fans (a burgeoning yet vocal NBA audience) and also keep them entertained?

Sure, there are a lot of play-by-play commentators out there, and a lot of them are really good. Mike Tirico, Marv Albert, and Hubie Brown come to mind, but do the Raptors have the kind of clout to attract a big name like them?

My recommendation? Get a real Toronto Raptor fan to do the play-by-play. Find someone local who not only knows basketball, but truly gets excited by the team and the sport. Maybe RaptorsTV can sponsor a contest where fans can send in their play-by-play samples and the winner gets to work the games?

Whoever does end up coming to be the voices of the Raptors, they'll have a tall order ahead of them in trying to fill Chuck Swirsky's shoes. After all, the man has already been immortalized in a Loblaws ad:

You can keep checking in on Chuck Swirsky's thoughts on all things NBA at his blog, Chuck Checks In, which is still being published on the Raptors' site.

Discussion

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akswun / May 20, 2008 at 11:32 am
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As a basketball fan in general I feel that Chuck was alright. But most of the time very annoying. I think the concensus with alot of my basketball loving friends is that Chuck sucks. No he isn't a Mike Tirico or Marv Albert but Chuck makes the Raptors and Canadians look foolish. Play-by-play he's alright, but biased as a commentator definately. Maybe not as bad as Boston's hom commentators but biased otherwise.
I'm not saying I'm not a raptors fan, I love my home team. But as a basketball fan you have to be realistic of a teams situation and skill. Always hoping for the best.
Alot of my friends have discussed this topic. We often yearn to hope to hear Marv on TNT commentate a Raptor game. But of course with Raptor TV having control of everything we had to hear Chuck.
I think that Leo is a very knowledgable analyst along with others on the Raptor TV bench. I just hope that whoever does fill in Chucks place isn't as 'CORNY' as him.
"Salami and Cheese!"
"Onions baby Onions!"
"Kaabosh!"

Sigh!
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Dave / May 20, 2008 at 11:36 am
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Chuck was already replaced at my house - turn down the TV, turn up the stereo. The guy was such a homer that it just became too annoying to listen to him.
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Gregg / May 20, 2008 at 11:41 am
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I'm glad Chuck is going home, maybe he can eat some real food finally and stop being so excited 'bout that salami. Also, I tend to agree, he wasn't that great.. I personally think he *jinxed* the Raps plenty of times with his strange (to say the least) comments.
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Chris Clarke / May 20, 2008 at 11:55 am
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First off, that's not a Loblaws ad - it's an ad for Raptors TV.

Second, the Raptors are rumored to not want to pay for a big name. The name on everyone's lips is Dan Schulman, who used to call Jays games a decade ago and is now with ESPN. Unfortunately, he's probably too expensive, too.

That leaves...? For a little inside info on search for a new voice of the Raptors, check out Doug Smith's blog at The Star website.
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Gianni Chiappetta / May 20, 2008 at 12:05 pm
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Typo: colorful -> colourful
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Jerrold / May 20, 2008 at 12:27 pm
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typou ? ;)
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Mark Dowling / May 20, 2008 at 01:11 pm
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bye bye homer. Sorry but it's true.

My only regret is the chortling this will cause that gimp Marty York in the Metro, who has led a campaign against him for a while.
http://arsenalist.com/2007/02/27/marty-york-rips-chuck-swirsky/
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TLI / May 20, 2008 at 01:22 pm
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So what's wrong with having a "homer" do the play-the-play? I loved having a genuine full-tilt fan calling the Raptors games. Chuck was quite willing to question or challenge poor play and mistakes on the court, but he was genuinely excited by the game and the team. I'm sure that one of the reasons for his longevity in the seat is that he gave the organization a highly visible and vocal cheerleader. When you had a hard time looking for an upside that could keep you engaged as Raptors, Chuck would find it for you. And he felt your pain with you, too. As far as I'm concerned, too many of the "big name" announcers are too busy basking in their own stardom and showing us how to be too cynical and jaded to enjoy the game we're watching.
I agree with Sameer -- the new "voice of the Raptors" should be a real fan of the Raptors that can express all the excitement, the joy and the hearthache that entails.
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Mark Dowling / May 20, 2008 at 01:28 pm
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TLI

I'd rather listen to the 20k fans who paid in rather than the fan who's paid to go in.

That said, he's better than the guys they stick on the Leafs TV desk.

Meanwhile:
"I am honored, humbled and appreciative to the Chicago Bulls as I return to a world-class city,"
as teardrops fall in the big office at 100 Queen West...
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RBeezy / May 20, 2008 at 01:36 pm
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love the Chuck haters. Chuck and Leo were slight homers but they never let the Raptors off the hook for a bad performance. as akswun noted, be thankful you don't live in Boston where Tommy Heinsohn does everything except give the players reach-arounds.

Chuck was unique and he'll be missed.
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Yik / May 20, 2008 at 01:47 pm
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"Mike Tirico, Marv Albert, and Hubie Brown come to mind, but do the Raptors have the kind of clout to attract a big name like them?"

Answer: not at all. Those three - especially Mike Tirico - are grossly out of the budget.
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ronnie / May 20, 2008 at 02:04 pm
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the only time i ever heard the chuck swirsky show on the fan a while back, swirsky took a call from a listener, who began with, "I want to give ashley judd a facial." it completely went over his head. i mean it, it really seemed like he had no idea what the caller meant.
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Damon Kemp / May 20, 2008 at 02:06 pm
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Chuck had his moments. Honestly, though, he could get quite grating at times. I think he and Dick Vitale are the reason the mute button on my remote has been worn down to a thin shred of plastic. I hate announcers who are constant "crotch jockeys" for the home teams. But, cause Chuck was solely the play by play for the Raptors, he can be forgiven.
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Damon Kemp / May 20, 2008 at 02:07 pm
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LOL, ronnie I think one of my buddies told me about that call. It reminded me of high school when my friend told our teacher he would put a "cap" in his ass. The teacher thought my friend meant a bottle cap.
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ronnie / May 20, 2008 at 02:18 pm
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damon, i don't think literally putting a bottle cap in your teacher's ass is a better alternative for your teacher than what your friend really had in mind :)
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Tom / May 20, 2008 at 02:42 pm
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MAESTRO FRESH WES!

Think about it...
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Adam / May 20, 2008 at 02:44 pm
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It took me a while to warm up to him but I enjoyed Swirsky the last couple years. Though he was absolutely a homer (though not even close to the worst of the homers -- that distinction goes to the Chicago White Sox broadcasters) being a homer was his job. Swirsky wasn't getting paid by the TV stations, his contract was with MLSE.

I think the best replacement would be Dan Schulman but agree any scenario that involves Schulman would be highly unlikely -- who in their right mind would walk away from ESPN to do local market games?
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nowak / May 20, 2008 at 02:50 pm
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Can Joe Bowen move back to wherever he came from too?

And yes, of course he was a homer. He did broadcasts for the *home* team. And while they were often "national" broadcasts they were only so because there is no other team in Canada. You can't expect the same kind of neutrality that you'd get from a not-tied-to-a-team broadcast like TNT or ESPN.
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Lyndon / May 20, 2008 at 03:20 pm
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He wasn't the greatest commentator; but you can't deny the genuine enthusiasm Chuck seemed to have when he was promoting the city of Toronto.
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MJ / May 20, 2008 at 04:00 pm
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A play by play announcer has a simple job. To bring to attention the finer points of play as they relate to the game in a larger sense and to hand these observations to the analyst for finer detail. Swirsky was simply a cheerleader for a fanbase that is notoriously uneducated about the NBA.

I hope that Seattle ships off and Kevin Harlan becomes available. Locally I would love to see Eric Smith take over.

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Damon Kemp / May 20, 2008 at 04:16 pm
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MJ, do you mean Kevin Calabro? If so, I would love to see him do the Raptor games. Growing up watching the Sonics, I use to love hearing that guy call the play by play. I think much of the fanbase in Toronto is pretty clueless when it comes to the NBA. With Kevin at the mic maybe it would get them engaged and wanting to learn more.
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mj / May 20, 2008 at 04:28 pm
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@ Damon Kemp

Yup. My bad. He has apparently said publicly he will not stay on if the team moves so I think he truly is a possibility as long as the litigation doesn't drag on.

The new hot topic. How do we all feel about Leo and Jack?

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akswun / May 20, 2008 at 06:18 pm
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Leo I can tolerate... hey he's the coach. His knowledge base is a lot better than other analysts. But a friend of mine had a gripe with his analyzing. "He's always about what the player is 'feeling'"... "If he feels this and feels that"... "I'm tired of hearing about what a player is FEELING"

Jack- OMFG... are you kidding me... do we need to get into him?
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guy lafleur stole my bike / May 20, 2008 at 08:47 pm
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The catchphrases had become too much in the last two years, 'grating' is the right word.

That said, Chuck was certainly unique. You could literally phone or email him and you were virtually guaranteed a meaningful response. He made himself accessible to a degree I've never seen before, he should be commended for that. His enthusiasm, too, kept me watching a lot of those games during those awful bad-vince/post-vince years.

I don't think he's replaceable, for better or worse.
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ayl / May 21, 2008 at 01:52 am
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I actually enjoyed the Chuck and Leo combo. Marv Albert is just a little too bland for my personal taste.
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Tyler / May 21, 2008 at 05:21 pm
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"Mike Tirico, Marv Albert, and Hubie Brown"

Hubie is an analyst, unlike Marv and Chuck. Just FYI. Chuck's act got old fast but Leo was a huge part of the problem. He's supposed to analyse the game but he doesn't, instead he eggs Chuck on and pushes for the ridiculous novelties. Chuck was infinitely more tolerable alongside Jack. Oh well.
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Mike Miner / May 22, 2008 at 10:10 am
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I watched Raptors games with the sound off because of him. Telling me to break out the salami and cheese only to have the Raps blow the lead. That was some bitter, bitter salami.

Remember his small role in the Chicago Max Headroom Pirating Incident?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tWdgAMYjYSs&;feature=related
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Johnny / May 29, 2008 at 07:22 pm
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Thank God he is leaving. His "catch-phrases" were the worst kind of self promotive, self indulgent garbage. After 10 years of utter nonsense, I can finally watch a Raptor's game without wanting to throw something through my tv. See you later Swirsky- I don't wish you luck, and I don't look forward to you coming back.
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Teye Ahulu / June 17, 2008 at 02:30 pm
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C'mon Chuck was not a very good announcer.. and was more annoying than engaging and enlightening when watching Raptor games. C'mon his lack of basketball insight and ability to articulate defensive or offensive plays of teams and using cliche and catch phrases to keep your attention was brutal.. Sometimes I wish Canadian sports announcers would just shut up and call the game the way its supposed to be called.. u watch the NBA finals and you have Mark Jackson/Van Gundy/Breen in there and they are able to explain why people were takin in or out.. Questioning match ups....Give insights to coaches decisions...saying things like KaBosh and onions is not what basketballs purist and fans wanna here....MLSE should send Leo to the Hubie brown or Marv Albert school of TV announcing and stop trying to be funny when his jokes are absolutely terrible.....Call the game the way its supposed to be..

Good Riddance Chuck...Bring back saunders or lure Jonesy brother back from ESPN....as the Voice of raptors...Now that would be amazin......FIRE LEO KEEP JACK NEVER BRING BACK CHUCK
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mark / August 21, 2008 at 08:18 am
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Are you kidding me? Chuch has been the voice of the raptors for years now. Quite simply, the raptors will not be the raptors without his phenomenal love of the game, and excitement. Are we going with grandpa jack now? Leo Rautins is great, and with his departure from basketball canada, may even join broadcasting full time? However, will leo even be the same without chuck to egg him on?

This is a sad moment in Raptors basketball. Please raptors, do anything in your power to keep this icon a part of our game.

I love the Swirsk.
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