Another Top 50 All-Time Sportscaster list ... ya-hew...

Granted, the one issued a few weeks ago by the American Council of Sportscaster and Dairy Farmers (something like that) had it right with Vin Scully at No. 1, but the rest of it seemed so ... random (linked here).

It had to inspire a better list. A more thought-provoking list. A list that invoked more thought, at least.

Yahoo! posted its own Top 50 late Thursday (linked here), penned by David J. Halberstam (not the recently deceased American novelist and sportswriter, but the self-made broadcast sports historian and sales and media consultant who once did a book on New York sports radio).

Again, you need to know where this list originates, because it definitely skews things up.

Halberstam's criteria:
== Contributions, trendsetting and pioneering.
== Measure, impact and length of their visibility.
== Legacy and historical relevance.
== Distinction in their on-air role.
== National reach.

With that, he has no problem naming Howard Cosell to the No. 1 spot, followed by John Madden, Brent Musburger, Al Michaels and Dick Enberg. Scully is ... let's see ... No. 16.
And Jim Gray is No. 49.

So there. Read it and weep.

The followup is a blog by Jay Busbee that ranks the 50 worst (linked here). Histop three: Billy Packer, Chris Berman, Joe Morgan. Many, of course, make both lists.