Yeah I remember. I always liked him though. He was a little out there during the early Elite XC and SF days. He admitted he has struggled with mental health issues from day 1, and said that during those days (2006-9 or so), his medication was effecting the way his job went.
But I was a huge fan of his commentary in PRIDE. I never disliked him and thought people who hated on him in PRIDE were silly.
The truth is, MMA fans hate most commentators. I even see people shit on Rogan nonstop for being "biased" and whatnot. I think they're all humans and no one is perfect. Rogan may be not at the very top of his game in the last 2 years, but I thnk he's still the best color guy there is because of his knowledge and the excitement be brings to the fights. Stann is a close 2nd.
Bas was always my all time fave guy but even I wll admt his commentary isn't that good nowadays. But he's going through a hell of a lot with his neck, diff meds etc. Plus, Bas is 1 of my heroes. I can see why people don't dig his commentary in 2015, but he was amazing in PRIDE.
I just always liked the PRIDE commentary teams in the beginning. Bravo/Quadros, Quadros/Bas and Bas/Mauro. I hated the guy they brought in to replace Mauro later, and Trigg was ok but was never as god as Bas. That shit was all Jerry Millen's fault. Or as Bas called him on air, "the asshole".
Are you talking about Quadros, D? Quadros has always been kinda weird and a bit of an embellisher when it came to his martial arts skill. I think that's why people didn't like him, plus his attitude of being a know it all sometimes. I dunno though, I always thought he was a good commentator even if he called some moves wrong.. but sometims he'd try to correct Bas and that would get on my nerves. He may have started as a TMA guy but he still made the transition well especially considering the fact he started in the early early 2000s when the sport was still pretty new in terms of evolution.
There was also the claim he put out there that he beat up Joe Rogan in a bathroom, lol. I don't think that ever happened. Remember their back and forth online about it?
Goldberg is still shit on by like 80% of fans. The other 20% have warmed to him. don't hate him, I just tune him out when he's talking during the fights. However, he's very good at his actual job - calling the play by play of the event. All the ads, stats, promos, etc.
A lot of people don't understand that play by play is not calling the moves of the fight move for move. That's a color guys job. People try to say "Joe and Bas would be the best team" or "Joe and Brian", but they don't realize you need a Goldberg, Anik, or Mauro type to lead the broadcast. Joe mentioned once that he had to do Goldie's job n a random UFC show and absolutely hated it.
Goldy is really good at his job, which is very hard - keeping a broadcast going for 4-5 hours. I can't stand his constant "teep" etc stuff, but I agree that he has gotten WAY better in the last 5 years than he was before that.
Plus, I like the back and forth banter between he and Joe. When Joe laughs at the goofy shit he says. I love it. Goldie's voice is important because IMO he represents the "casual" fan and Joe can often correct him on assumptions that "casuL' fans might have too.. Getting into detail about technique, why something s happening, etc