Sunny Day Voiced by: Jen Taylor (1997-2001), Lani Minella (2002-2003), Samantha Kelly (2002-2009) Mad Libs Dialogue: Except in NFL Backyard Basics. Punny Name: Not only on 'sunny day', but Humongous' co-founder Shelley Day as well. Stealth Pun: See above. Taylor Quilty. As Himself: In NFL Backyard Basics. Vinnie the Gooch. Feb 20, 2018 A definitive ranking of every ‘Backyard Sports’ power-up. A definitive ranking of every ‘Backyard Sports. To top it off you have a dope sound effect that is accompanied by Sunny Day's. Backyard Sports Sunny Day (self.perscoupon) submitted just now by perscoupon. Get Backyard Sports Sunny Day. Discover coupon, promo and discount codes. Also there are.
When baseball season started up last week, I felt compelled to get into the summer feeling by watching a few of my favorite baseball movies: The Sandlot, Major League, and Rookie of the Year. And, although the question of who is the best fictional baseball player has been debated to death (it’s Roy Hobbs from the Natural, by the way), I realized that the announcers in these movies rarely get their due credit. There are a lot of announcers that bring incredible flair and personality to these otherwise rote stories.
It’s not just movies either; TV and video games also often have announcers that elevate their craft far above (or below, depending on your point of view) the professionalism that would normally be expected from a nationally televised broadcast. And so, here are the top 10 fictional announcers across media. A few of these nominees will be actual announcers playing fictionalized versions of themselves, some will be ranked individually, and some will be considered a packaged duo. If you don’t like how I broke it down well, as the NFL Blitz announcer would say, “stop being such a pansy.”
Honorable Mentions: Lou Redwood (Semi-Pro), Jim Carr (Slapshot), Chuck Neidermann (Necessary Roughness), Dan Fouts/Brent Musburger (Waterboy), Pat Sumerall/John Madden (The Replacements), Kerri Hoskins (NBA Jam)
10. Ranch Wilder (Angels in the Outfield)
You know this man, he’s got a contract! He’s Ranch Wilder! The former major leaguer, responsible for ruining George Knox’s career with a viciously dirty slide into his knees, Ranch moved on to unsuccessfully manage the California Angels. Of course, he ran the team into the ground, making way for the hiring of his arch-rival, but for some reason, the team kept him around to bitterly scorn his former club on air. Having said all that, Ranch is a consummate professional (his co-hosts should know better than to leave him hanging on air!) and clearly has a good knowledge of the game. He’s got a few nice quips, but ultimately you’re left wondering why he stayed employed as long as he did.
9. Rod McCaudry (Goon)
McCaudry doesn’t steal the spotlight in Goon, my personal pick for the most underrated sports movie, but he is the perfect embodiment of a hockey radio announcer. He’s got that quick cadence that one needs to track the action in the fast-paced game of hockey, and the folksiness of a good ol’ Canadian boy that all our Canuck neighbors identify with. He has a few great lines, including one of my personal favorites after the only national anthem performance that could possibly rival Fergies.
Sunny Sports Website
8. Sunny Day (Backyard Sports Series)
Sunny Day, the only nine-year-old girl that can pull off a blazer without getting mocked endlessly for it. She is persistently playing the “straight woman” opposite her wackier color-men, but her play-by-play is clean as hell. Sunny is not afraid to mix it up and throw in a few jabs and jokes during her commentary, just like any seasoned pro. Her call outs for homers especially are classic. Just a sampling here:
That ball is outta here and there’s nothing left but a vapor trail!
Lick a stamp and slap it on that puppy ‘cause that ball is outta here!
Move over Sputnik, this puppy’s heading for orbit!
Lick a stamp and slap it on that puppy ‘cause that ball is outta here!
Move over Sputnik, this puppy’s heading for orbit!
Seriously, the girl is a wordsmith only equaled by Yeezy himself. It’s probably all those fancy novels she’s been reading. I’m pretty sure she reads at an eighth-grade level.
7. Cotton McKnight (Dodgeball)
Cotton is the face of the greatest TV network that still doesn’t exist for some reason: ESPN8. Not only does he have an extensive historical knowledge on this sport of kings (of course he doesn’t need to remind us about the Helsinki episode of 1919), but he too can paint beautiful word pictures. Whether it’s paying homage to one of the most famous sports calls of all time with “Down goes Goodman! Down goes Goodman!,” informing us of the origins of S&M gear (first made popular by the lyric poet Sappho from the island of Lesbos), or building hype for the greatest final match of any sport ever: “Average Joe’s gymnasium hopes to drive their vorpal blade snicker-snack deep into the heart of the dodgeball Jabberwockythat is the Globo Gym Purple Cobras.” Cotton is that perfect blend of professionalism, knowledge, and tight humor.
Backyard Sports Sunny Day
6. Tim Kitzrow (NFL Blitz/NBA Jam/NHL Hitz)
Kitzrow was making this list purely off his commentary chops that he showcased in the original NBA Jam. I mean, come on, this is the man who coined “boom-shacka-lacka.” But imagine my surprise when I discovered that he was also the voice of my two favorite ultraviolent sports games growing up: NFL Blitz and NHL Hitz. He has far too many incredible lines to list, beyond what’s featured in the video below, and if you didn’t play these incredible games he was featured on, I truly feel for you. When the retooled XFL is launched, I think the people running it are absolute morons if they don’t hire Kitzrow to be the full-time colorman.
5. Don Taylor/Jim Hughson (NHL 2002/2003)
This might be a little of my own personal bias leaking here, but for my money, these two were the greatest broadcasting duo of all time. I spent hours playing the NHL series in my formidable years, laughing with glee as I lined up bone-crushing hits on Jagr and Lemieux with my boy Scott Stevens. Although NHL Hitz is my all-time favorite sports game (largely due to the greatest intro video set to my all-time favorite guilty pleasure song: Limp Bizkit’s Rollin’), I stuck with the NHL series for this broadcast duo. Although I could only find a sampling of their all-time great quotes, two have always stuck with me that didn’t make an appearance: “that was a ripper that’d make Jack proud,” and “there’s a signpost up ahead, next stop: the highlight zone.”
I think I speak for all hockey fans when I say: please replace Doc and Eddie with these two. Or really just anyone. Just please get Mike Milbury and Pierre off my goddamn screen for the playoffs.
4. Vinnie the Gooch (Backyard Baseball)
Is it weird that I consider this nine-year-old (likely) child of beatniks to be my idol? I mean, Vinnie the Gooch is cooler than cool. He’s the guy who told Andre 3000 that he was ice cold. And while simpletons like his broadcast partner Sunny might greet the “viewers” (were there actually people watching kids play baseball in an alley?) with a hearty “hi-ho,” the Gooch makes it clear that he wouldn’t stoop to that level. He just says “yo.” Some other amazing VtG quotes:
“Sweet as candy I tell ya! I love candy! Everybody loves candy! That’s why Halloween is such a popular holiday!”
“I wouldn’t want to meet this kid in a dark alley. I wouldn’t want to meet ‘em in a light alley neither. Alleys are scary!”
“This kid has stolen so many bases, he makes Al Capone look like an angel!”
“I wouldn’t want to meet this kid in a dark alley. I wouldn’t want to meet ‘em in a light alley neither. Alleys are scary!”
“This kid has stolen so many bases, he makes Al Capone look like an angel!”
Don’t be fooled by his suave personality, though. Backyard sports court cost. Vinnie had an impeccable knowledge of the sport of baseball. Hell, I largely credit him with starting the sabermetric movement with his sage advice “can’t win a game if you don’t get on base.” Plus, his nickname is “the Gooch” and I feel like no one in his life ever made fun of him for it. As damn well they shouldn’t.
3. Cliff Murdoch (Rookie of the Year)
God, RIP John Candy. There are so many actors that I perpetually mourn having not gotten to see more of, and Mr. Candy is one of them. While Murdoch didn’t steal the show in the way some of these other, lower-ranked characters did, this was one of the great performances of over-the-top wackiness in broadcasting that still had a hint of believability. I mean, his opening day broadcast perfectly encapsulates this character “Opening Day at Wrigley, and oh what a sight! The diamond, the decorations, and the dread of yet another losing season.” I guess that was funnier in the days when the Cubs were the league’s perpetual sad-sack. But regardless, Cliff Murdoch was fantastic in this movie and left us with one of my favorite expressions of all time: “Sweet meat pies! Rowengartner’s going to bat!”
2. Pepper Brooks (Dodgeball)
In terms of realism and game knowledge, Pepper is clearly not on the same level as the others on this list. Hell, I’m not sure if this man ever did a broadcast without the influence of some flavor of narcotic. But you cannot deny that this character was comedy gold. I mean, his signature quote has become a meme that’s lasted the test of time. And that might not even be his funniest line of the movie.
I mean, there’s “I sure do love pumpkins, Cotton,” “Ouchtown, population you, bro!,” and “I feel like I’m watching a Cher video” after Average Joes comes out in S&M gear. But my all-time favorite exchange, and top 10 lines in comedy history after Peter LaFleur blindfolds himself: “yeah he will not be able to see very well Cotton.” It’s dumb and simple, but goddamn it if I don’t crack up every time.
1. Harry Doyle (Major League & Major League II)
You had to know it. There really is no other question on this one. Bob Uecker is the greatest fictional announcer of all time. Not only does he have some of the greatest one-liners of all-time (“So, Hiroshi “Kamikaze” Tanaka, recently of the Tokyo Giants, knocks himself cold for the second time this week. Maybe in Japan, that’s actually better than catching the ball. Personally, I think he’s just trying to get out of the lineup”), but he also exemplifies the great dichotomy of professionalism on air versus actual knowledge off air (“Well, you can close the book on Kellner. [covers microphone with hand and turns to Monty] Thank God!”). I mean, sure he’s a bit of a homer (“Ball four…ball eight…and Vaughn has walked the bases loaded on 12 consecutive pitches. How can these guys lay off pitches that close??”), but it’s all forgiven. He makes the top spot for two reasons.
First, his ever famous cadence that has been often imitated but never replicated (“Juuuuuust a bit outside”). And second, his amazing descent into being a drunk degenerate on the air during Major League II. I mean, his commentary during the team’s bench-clearing brawl shows that he can be sharp as hell with any BAC level. So good news Cleveland fans, you may have inherited the Cubs’s status of league sad-sack, but you have the greatest announcer in movie history. .
Josh T.
Don't call me a liar, but you don't have to call me a truther.
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Sunny Day:Hi-de-ho, sports fans!
Backyard Sports, formerly called Junior Sports, is a sports video game series originally made by Humongous Entertainment, which was later bought by Atari. It is the only game series that has licensing from all the major professional sports leagues in the USA: the MLB, MLS, NFL, NBA, and NHL.
There have been over 30 games published in the series, the first few of which are regarded as quite good and the last few of which are regarded as awful. There are six main brands associated with the series: Backyard Baseball, Backyard Soccer, Backyard Football, Backyard Basketball, Backyard Hockey, and Backyard Skateboarding (which has only produced one game and its Game of the Year Edition). The series has spawned a TV special (NFL Backyard Basics: Football Tips from the Pros) and a few books, as well as a Comic Book Adaptation (a Prequel to the game Sandlot Sluggers) which can be read here.
The series was originally only Competitive Multiplayer, but starting with Backyard Football '10, Co-Op Multiplayer is also in the games.
A demo version of Baseball 2001 can be downloaded [dead link] from Infogrames, and a trial version of Sandlot Sluggers can be downloaded from Atari.
- Anachronism Stew: The pros being kids in modern times, and all being around the same age.
- NFL Backyard Basics handles this by having the present-day pros turn into kids while they're in the Clubhouse.
- Cash Cow Franchise: This franchise was the cause of Humongous Entertainment making a profit.
- Celebrity Power: The pros, who are always better than the neighborhood kids. Justified if you think about it, since the pros specialize in their respective sports while the neighborhood kids play many different sports.
- Celebrity Star: The pros.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: 13 characters.
- Commuting on a Bus: Amir, Gretchen, and Stephanie in Backyard Baseball 2007.
- Conspicuous CG: When the player sprites were changed to pre-rendered images, the spectators in the background were still 2D drawings. Likewise, when the camera zooms in on the game (i.e., when someone's at bat or doing penalty kicks), the players look like cartoons again.
- Cousin Oliver: Joey, Samantha, and Arthur.
- Cross-Dressing Voices: Most boys are voiced by women.
- Desk Jockey: Many of the announcers.
- Dummied Out: Area 51½/A Nameless Field from the Soccer series.
- Four-Fingered Hands: Most characters have these.
- Geographic Flexibility: The Neighborhood changes in every game.
- Holiday Mode: Some games have a dynamic menu that changes with the season. However, in all games, playing the game on a kid's birthday will buff their stats for the day.
- In-Series Nickname: Every playable character has one.
- Jack of All Stats: Meta-example--the neighborhood kids are always overshadowed by the pros because the pros specialize in their respective sports, while the neighborhood kids play many different sports. Each specific game also has their own general Jack of All Stats. In Baseball, it's Jorge Garcia, while in the 2001/03 versions it was Sally Dobbs.
- Lampshade Hanging: The announcers often do this.
- Leitmotif: Every playable character has one.
- When the games went 3D, each character got a new leitmotif.. except Pablo.
- Lighter and Softer: The series became this over time, despite attempts to make it Darker and Edgier.
- Loads and Loads of Characters: 30 main characters plus countless others.
- Long Runner: The series started in 1997 and put out installments every year through 2010.
- Mad Libs Dialogue: Sunny Day. Her partners avert this, however (as does Sunny herself in NFL Backyard Basics).
- Magnum Opus Dissonance: Humongous had no intention of this series outselling their Junior Adventures, especially since Backyard Baseball performed poorly in its first year.
- Market-Based Title: The series is sometimes called Junior Sports, its original title, in Europe.
- Not Quite Starring: Obviously, the pros do not do their own voices (except in NFL Backyard Basics).
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The custom players, due to technical limitations.
- Only Six Faces: There are only a few enemy player faces available.
- The Other Darrin: The series has had many different voice casts.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: The kids, by the pros.
- Parental Bonus: The references to 1980s culture.
- Product Placement: Parodied with 110% Juice.
- Punny Name: The announcers and certain unlockable players and coaches.
- Race Lift: The generic season kids have a different appearance in every game.
- Secret Character: There have been many, Mr. Clanky being the most common.
- Sequelphobic: This was IGN's reaction to the series.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The pros, again.
- As of Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers, they are now gone.
- Stealth Pun: Sunny Day's name is a nod to the name of Humongous Entertainment's co-founder Shelley Day.
- Team Shot: In every game except Backyard Skateboarding.
- Tie-in Novel: The Backyard Books.
- Took a Level in Badass: The kids' stats vary between sports, causing kids with awful stats in one sport to suddenly become very good in another. Some also invert this trope, going from being good to awful.
- Unnamed Parent: No kid's parents have names.
- Where Are They Now? Epilogue: Upon winning a championship, photos of your team's players celebrating their victory are usually shown alongside the credits. How they celebrate depends on the game.
- A Worldwide Punomenon: Most team names are puns, as are those of most of the announcers.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Many characters in the later games have weird hair colors.
Certain installments of the series provide examples of:
- All Deserts Have Cacti: Cactus Gulch in Backyard Football.
- Always Night: Humongous Memorial Stadium in Backyard Baseball.
- Area 51: Area 51½ (also known as A Nameless Field) from the Soccer series.
- Artificial Stupidity: The Mul-T-Puk air hockey minigame in Backyard Hockey has exceptionally stupid AI. This video says it all.
- Awesome Music: Invoked and lampshaded in Backyard Baseball 2001/Soccer: MLS Edition/Soccer 2004; one of the Credits Gags is 'Click here to listen to the awesome credits song. Oh, and see the Smarty Pants who made this game.'
- A Winner Is You:
- The GBA games, except Football, which has no ending.
- Backyard Baseball 2001 and Soccer: MLS Edition removed the rewards for winning, besides getting a picture in the Hall of Fame.
- In the Football games on the PC, beating the game as Mr. Clanky's Tackling Dummies gives you a simple victory photo. Justified as this team only consists of robots who probably aren't programmed to ride rides at an amusement park.
- Battle in the Rain: The opening cutscene in Backyard Football 2002.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: There is a Yeti team in Backyard Hockey 2005.
- Continuity Nod: from Baseball 2005; in Starlite Orchards, you can see the intro movie from Football playing on the big screen.
- Also, Buddy Cheque (the Hockey commentator) makes an offhand reference to Vinnie the Gooch, the original commentator for the Baseball games.
- Continuity Reboot: Arguably, Backyard Baseball 2007.
- Covers Always Lie: Although Soccer 2004 was the last game to feature the kids' original designs, the box art depicted their then-new appearances.
- Credits Gag: If you simply hover the mouse over the credits button in Backyard Baseball 2001, Backyard Soccer: MLS Edition and Backyard Soccer 2004, you get some humorous messages at the bottom of the screen.
- Deadly Gas: A powerup in Backyard Football 2006.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Football 2002 has the NFL license, and thus the Miami Dolphins are a playable team. However, one custom team name is the Orcas, which are a species of dolphins.
- Drive-In Theater: Starlite Orchards Drive-In in Backyard Baseball 2005.
- Easier Than Easy: T-Ball mode in Backyard Baseball.
- Easter Egg: All your base are belong to Humongous.
- Feelies: Earlier installments came with promotional cards of the Backyard kids and pros. The ones that came with Baseball were an Obvious Beta, however, as some kids' clothes are differently colored, and their pitching and fielding stats are inaccurate and labeled as 'Throwing' and 'Catching'.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: Powerups in Baseball are based off all three, along with water (the spitball).
- Follow the Leader: The 3D Football games are similar to Madden, while Skateboarding copied the gameplay of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, right down to the control scheme.
- Flying Saucer: In Wheeler Acres in Backyard Baseball 2005.
- Friendly Local Chinatown: A stage in Backyard Football 2004.
- Ghibli Hills: The forest in Football 2006.
- Glorious Mother Russia: The Cagey Bees team in Backyard Soccer.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Juice heals you in Baseball and Basketball.
- It's Always Spring: Averted in Football 2004, where the climate changes with real-world climate.
- Jet Pack: Backyard Football has the Rocket Boots powerups.
- Joke Item: The powerup The Fang in Baseball. It will always be a ball even if it is thrown in the strike zone.
- Lethal Joke Item: It's designed to trick the batter into swinging (if they do, they'll always miss).
- Actually you can get it in the corner of the strike zone if the player's strike zone is big enough.
- Kung Fu Sonic Boom: The Sonic Boom powerup in Football.
- Limit Break: Hot Hand and Dunk in Basketball.
- Loading Screen: In Football 2006.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: The Screaming Line Drive in Baseball.
- Meaningful Name: In Backyard Hockey, Beverly Backstop is the best goalie in the game..because she stops the puck.
- Multi Mook Melee: In Baseball 2005, the Fielders' Challenge is against an endless team of dummies.
- No Animals Were Harmed: From the original Baseball 's credits: 'No hot dogs were consumed in the making of this game. Okay, maybe a few.'
- No Communities Were Harmed: Tokyo Field in Baseball 2007 is an obvious replica of Tokyo Dome.
- No Ending: Football on the GBA has no ending at all. You don't even get a trophy for winning the Cereal Bowl.
- Non-Indicative Name: Hockey does not take place in a backyard.
- Nostalgia Level: Steele Stadium in Baseball 2005, looking exactly as it did in the original (except it is in 3D).
- Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: Backyard Soccer: MLS Edition is the only one to not be named after a year, up until Sandlot Sluggers.
- Old Save Bonus: Having a BasketballPlayStation 2 save file unlocks Barry Dejay in BaseballPlayStation 2.
- One Stat to Rule Them All: Batting in Baseball.
- One Steve Limit: Happens in the original Baseball and Soccer. Averted in the later games, due to the pros.
- Palmtree Panic: The Boardwalk in Baseball 2005.
- Patchwork Map: The island in Football 2006.
- Power-Up Letdown: The Chameleon play in Football, which turns your team uniforms into the offense uniforms. It really backfires, as it's still easy to tell what players are yours, and it's impossible to fool the computer. 2-player mode doesn't do any better; you can't highlight the pass icon over the defense, so the power up becomes worthless.
- Product Placement: In Soccer 2004, Carlos Valderrama mentions that his favorite TV program is Blue's Clues (which counts as one of Humongous' self-promotions, as they made many of Blue's Clues'Licensed Games).
- Recycled in Space: Football 2006 is Football.. ON AN ISLAND!
- Retraux: Babe Ruth in Backyard Baseball 2009 is done in a retro style.
- Roger Rabbit Effect: NFL Backyard Basics.
- Save Scumming: The six save slots in the original Baseball were probably meant for this.
- Self-Insert Fic: Typing in certain names for your coach in Hockey gave you three different teams featuring the game's art staff, producers, and programmers as kids.
- As well, in Football 2004, Rhett Mathis, the original games' music composer, can be seen as an NPC kid on Season Mode teams
- Silliness Switch: Cheat codes in Basketball for the PlayStation 2 make really big and small heads.
- Even more so in Football 2006, where cheats can give characters big/small heads, big/small hands, etc; even different footballs-- from a watermelon to a chocolate eclair to a banana slug.
- Single Pallette Town: Cyan Lane (which is, well, cyan) in Football 2006.
- Slippery Skid: A powerup in Hockey causes this to happen.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The pros in Soccer: MLS Edition did have unique themes, but they can't be heard in the 'Meet the Kids' screen. Instead, the menu song/previous kid's theme keeps playing, resulting in things like a lot of pros using Billy Jean Blackwood's cajun leitmotif.
- Spinning Paper: Whenever you unlock something in Baseball 2005.
- Sprint Meter: The juice meter in Baseball.
- Sprint Shoes: There are sprint skates in Hockey.
- Stealth Pun: There are a few examples, such as Duksana Pond in Hockey.
- In some of the pros' endings, they are checking out something related to their team name.
- Stop Poking Me: One of Kiesha Phillips' quotes in Basketball is 'Stop that clicking, man! It tickles!'
- Stuff Blowing Up: The Bomb Ball in Soccer.
- Super Mode: There is an invincibility powerup in Hockey.
- Super Speed: A powerup in Basketball, Hockey, and Skateboarding.
- Talking to Himself: Lani Minella plays both announcers in Baseball 2003 and Soccer 2004.
- Tomorrowland: Quantum Field in Baseball 2005.
- The Trope Without a Title: A Nameless Field (also known as Area 51½) from the Soccer series.
- Under the Sea: The Aquadome in Baseball 2005.
- The Voice: The mother calling for dinner in Dobbaguchi Arena in Basketball.
- What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Aluminum Power in Baseball.
Backyard Sports Sunny Day Pictures
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