Liberty's Broadcast Team Lands Top 3 Ranking
The New York Liberty are apparently fielding a championship-contending team both on the floor and at the broadcast table.
WNBA viewers responding to polling from Awful Announcing declared that the local Liberty broadcasting team headlined by play-by-play man Michael Grady, color commentator Ros Gold-Onwude and sideline reporter Tina Cervasio was the third-best among the league's 13 teams, retaining their top three spot in last year's rankings.
The trio calls games on local networks WNYW (Fox 5) and WWOR (My9) when Liberty showings don't get the national treatment.
"The New York booth finished third in these rankings last year as well, with the most significant year-over-year change being Gold-Onwude sliding from an alternate analyst to the main role," accompanying analysis from Andrew Buchholz read. "Grady received numerous individual compliments here. Those included “very good play-by-play,” “the best voice in WNBA history,” “phenomenal,” “a future HoFer/GOAT,” and “Grady=greatness; can I give him an A++++?”
The powers that be at Amazon and NBC could well be among the anonymous appraisers: Grady, who has also been the voice of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves, is set to be one of the lead play-by-play men for their respective NBA cover showcases set to tip-off this fall.
While things weren't perfect for the local callers, who also include alternates play-by-play voices like Chris Shearn and Zora Stephenson, it was noted that they fewest number "F" grades alongside the broadcast team for the expansion Golden State Valkyries. Over 41 percent gave the Liberty group its most common grade of A (the second-best tally behind that of Minnesota) and less than 12 percent gave them a grade lower than C.
The only teams to stand ahead of the Liberty are those of the Minnesota Lynx and Connecticut Sun, the latter of whom leads the way after a fourth-place finish last season. Connecticut's lead analyst is Ashley Battle, who spent four years of her six-season WNBA career with the Liberty.
Cervasio, Grady, and Gold-Onwude will be back on the call on Thursday night when the Liberty host the Washington Mystics at Barclays Center (7 p.m. ET, My9).
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.