OK - may I play the part of the local contrarian and at the same time expunge some personal guilt?
First - I think Pete Taylor was a great and good man and I always enjoyed his passion for ISU. I second all the many accolades that have been typed here....except I did have one issue that arose in the months before he died.
I had been listening to several of the ISU games called by Pete that year. I had been limited in getting to see any games live, or see them on TV, due to where I lived. While Pete always brought a clear voice, great professionalism and attitude to his calls, I became a bit perturbed by the way in which he described the games.
It seemed to me at the time that he was forgetting that we couldn't see the play. His calls were descriptive of "what" happened, but not very descriptive of the layout, flow, and situational aspects of the play.
For instance....one play was called like this:
"Iowa State comes to the line......<quiet>....It's a drop back.....throws....caught...Oh he was hit hard and driven out of bounds!. Tough throw but he got it in there."
The next play then resumed in similar fashion.
From the above example - I was bothered with his frequent play-by-play calls that:
1. Didn't describe the position of the ball on the field
2. Didn't describe the formation
3. Didn't describe the down and distance.
4. Many times didn't say who caught the ball
5. Didn't follow up with a new down and distance for the next play.
This occurred throughout the whole game as I recall.
I could just not visualize the field and the situational information was not very frequently given.
Now the commentator's job is to fill in the blanks and sometimes that was done. And perhaps this was just a couple of games that I heard where Pete was perhaps more economical in his descriptions...I don't know - perhaps I need to go listen to a few back-recordings of his games.
So at that time I sent Pete an email - a friendly one - suggesting that perhaps he could try harder to provide that type of information in his games - I gave him some actual quoted play-by-play examples from a recent game that I had written down to help him understand my views.
He responded with a bit of a push-back email stating that he didn't get what I was saying - that many folks in the industry had for years claimed he was "a pro", etc. and then he suggested that we just need to be good fans and get back to supporting the Cyclones.
So soon after this exchange he died and I always felt bad that I had "complained" to him.
I don't think ill of Pete at all and loved his voice, his passion for ISU, etc. I just wanted more data.
Each play-by-play announcer brings their own style to the show and Pete's just didn't click with me compared to the style of so many other announcers I've heard over the years.
I can't change my email exchange with him today....or take it back....but I can say he exemplified the type of fans that ISU has - despite our ups, and many downs, he stuck with the team with a beautiful enthusiasm. I certainly can't complain about that?
Thanks Pete for all you did.