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Bruce McAvaney Retires

Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

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Wow. I know people lived to hate him in recent years, but he was a true gentleman of the game and a colossus in his commentating role. I’m may well be alone in this but I’ll miss him. 

Edited by Wells 11

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    anyone throw up in their mouth a bit at the last sentence?

    James Brayshaw will step into McAvaney’s spot on Friday nights along with Brian Taylor

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    He is great with the Athletics and horse racing, however his footy commentary in recent years has been horrible. 

    I wish him well. But let's hope a new generation of commentators comes through that actually call the action that is happening rather than repeating the same tripe each week and maintaining obvious biases

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    Ooooooh he knew how to commentate didn't he

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    Best of luck Brooccceeyyy, you were a part of my life based on watching sports, especially with my old man. You were dedicated to your craft and helped get people to feel the moment. 

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    Footy will be more enjoyable to be honest. I used to cringe at some of his drooling of the stars. Will never forget creepy Bruce behind Dusty at The Brownlow.
     

    Great race caller though. All the best Bruce.

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    I’ll never hear ‘Great call BT’ again

    ??

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    40 minutes ago, Hell Bent said:

    Footy will be more enjoyable to be honest. I used to cringe at some of his drooling of the stars. Will never forget creepy Bruce behind Dusty at The Brownlow.
     

    Great race caller though. All the best Bruce.

    The cringe on that was off the charts. 

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    I cut my Friday night footy watching by 50 percent when Dennis Cometti finished calling that game each week. I'll now only watch Friday night if the Deez are playing, and only with the volume down. Bruce, at certain times toward the end of his career, became a parody (mostly of himself), but this shouldn't detract from the brilliant broadcaster he was for the vast majority of his career. And he helped revolutionise the analysis of the game for seven years (1995-2002) as host of the original Talking Footy. To this day, the benchmark in footy chat shows IMHO. Good on you Bruce, footy can only be watched now with the volume turned down . . . that's the greatest tribute of all my friend. 

    Edited by Queanbeyan Demon
    Clarity

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    “Oooh Viney. VineyVineyViney!”

    “Big Tom eh?”

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    His incessant "growling" voice when something exciting was happening ****ted me to tears.

    If he could just have comentated without constantly asking for positive affirmation from his fellow commentators his legacy wouldnt have been as mixed as it surely will be.

     

    Isnt he?

    Wasnt it?

    Didnt he?

     

    Vomit.

    Cya Broocy.

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    Good for a lot of her career, but I think he left it too long to retire from AFL and couldn't stand the drooling over some players (Generally never a Dee player).

     

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    You just think that footy’s going to sound different without him, don’t you?

    Had my ups and downs with his calling but he’s a legendary commentator, his voice will be remembered for generations. 

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    One of the better callers early, but got sucked into the modern commentator’s curse of trying to inject themselves into the call.  Bruce was always great 3rd person commentating.  Ch 7 lineup is a pox on proper descriptive commentary.  The moments of our practice game when they were calling the game were far better than the blokey, self serving, nickname ridden dross served up by BT and others.  A servant of the game, thanks Bruce.  It was good until it got ‘speehhhshaaaallll’

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    he's been a legend and there's few left in the commentary box who have his depth of knowledge about both modern and historic data and figures - he'll be missed

    wonder whether ch 7 will throw the big bucks to poach whateley or hudson to become their primary caller

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    You have to respect the longevity of his career. 30 odd years in a cut-throat business is an immense achievement.

    Personally I found his commentary off putting. The shrieking and hyper ventilating were unnecessary imv but I know plenty of people who have nothing but praise for the man. Personal preferences and all that.

    Enjoy your retirement Bruce.

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