Greg Papa is an American sportscaster working in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has been broadcasting for most of the Bay Area professional sports franchises for 21 years,[1] covering the Oakland Raiders, Oakland Athletics, Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants.
Currently, he is best known as the radio play-by-play caller for the Raiders, and the host of Chronicle Live on CSN Bay Area. He is not related to New York Giants radio broadcaster, Bob Papa.
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After graduating from Syracuse University, Papa was a member of the Indiana Pacers' television and radio broadcasting team from 1984 to 1986. Then, he moved west and from 1986 to 1997, he became the radio announcer for the Golden State Warriors. From 1997 to 2000, Papa became the lead announcer on the San Antonio Spurs telecasts. During this span, he was also the television play-by-play announcer for the Oakland A's with Ray Fosse from 1989 to 2003.[1]
Papa is the current play-by-play announcer for the Raiders on KFRC 1550 am radio, alongside his color commentator, former Raider coach Tom Flores. His work is very much in the tradition of his predecessor, Bill King. Like King, his touchdown calls are punctuated by: "TOUCHDOWN, RRRRAID-ERS!!!"
Papa's best calls to date arguably are: Tyrone Wheatley's 26-yard run in the Raiders 1999 finale against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium ("Wheatley won't go down!!!") along with describing the events during the Tuck Rule game,[2] when the Raiders seemingly had won a 2001 playoff game during a snow storm at New England after forcing a late fumble, only to see referee Walt Coleman reverse the call after consulting instant replay. The Patriots went on to win the historic, controversial contest in overtime.
Papa called Sebastian Janikowski's game winning Field Goal on October 19, 2008 in the Raiders 16-13 overtime win against the New York Jets.
"To win the game, This going to be a blast, Condo will snap, Lechler will hold, here's your winner the snap it's down, he's got up he may have distance he's got the ACCURACY, THE RRRRAI-DERS HAVE WON ON A 57-YARD FIELD GOAL BY JANIKOWSKI.
"Watkins out right singled up with Burnett, Gradkowski, they blitz Burnett, here's Gradkowski now gonna to throw for the endzone it is CAUGHT, TOUCHDOWN RRRRAID-ERS!!!! Louis Murphy in the back corner of the endzone with nine seconds to go" - Papa's call on Bruce Gradkowski game-winning Touchdown pass to Louis Murphy's against Pittsburgh on December 6 in the Raiders 27-24 win.
In 2008, Papa hosted 35 of the 50 scheduled editions of "Giants Pregame Live" and all 65 of the "Giants Postgame Live" shows on CSN Bay Area. He occasionally announces several of the Giants' games on TV and radio when Jon Miller is on assignment at ESPN.[1]
When Dave Flemming's microphone went dead when the ball was in the air for what turned out to be Barry Bonds' 715th career home run on May 28, 2006, Papa took over the broadcast, apologized to listeners, and explained what happened on the field.
Papa also does work for CSN California, notably for broadcasts of the California Golden Bears football and basketball teams. He has also done San Jose Stealth and San Francisco Dragons games. Papa is also currently host of Chronicle Live, a nightly Bay Area sports talk show covering all Bay Area sports. He was also the play-by-play announcer for Hardball 6: 2000 Edition.
Greg resides in Danville, California with his wife, Angela, and his four children: Alexandria, Danielle, Erika and Nicolas.[1] His brother, the late Gary Papa, was a long time sportscaster for WPVI in Philadelphia. His son, Derek Papa, is a member of the comedy group Dingoman Productions, which created the independent comedy The Legend of Action Man.