Then again, who would have expected otherwise?

I can't remember two giddier broadcasters than Nadel and Barnett when their pairing was first announced back in January. Maybe Michaels and Madden were when Monday Night Football was still an ABC thing. But that's about it.

In the parlance of sports talk radio, Nadel and Barnett are long-time admirers, first-time partners.

"It's been really, really easy," said Nadel, about to embark on his 31st season in a Rangers broadcast booth. "It's been seamless, a complete piece of cake. We know each other's styles so well."

That's because Barnett has been on the scene almost as long as Nadel. He joined KRLD-AM (1080) as a part-timer back in 1978 while he was still a student at North Texas. When Mark Holtz jumped from the Mavericks to work alongside Nadel on Rangers radio back in 1981, Barnett slipped into Holtz's courtside Mavericks seat. Small world.

Barnett left the Mavericks for the Spurs in 1988 and moved on to ESPN in 1996. Along the way, he slipped in the 1990 season with the Rangers, working cable television games alongside Brad Sham and Jim Sundberg. Old-timers may remember back then Fox Sports Southwest was known as HSE.

Barnett has worked baseball for ESPN. More and more of his recent baseball work has been on radio.

Still, he admitted that he has some rookie jitters.

"The nice thing is I feel completely at ease with my knowledge of the team because I have followed the Rangers all along," Barnett said. "I am as prepared as I could possibly be to step in. I've got my rhythm going with Eric. I won't be completely blind."

Barnett, of course, is replacing Victor Rojas, who left Nadel's side after five seasons for cable's fledgling MLB Network.

Nadel and Barnett might have worked more games together during the exhibition season, but Barnett still had a commitment to ESPN college basketball. Barnett said that's over. He and Nadel will be back on duty Friday for the Rangers against the Royals in Frisco. Barnett plans to work all 162 games regular-season games. He'll be shifting to the TV booth when Josh Lewin leaves to work Saturday games for the Fox network.

And while Barnett is committed to work college football for ESPN after the Rangers' regular season is over, baseball takes precedence. He said he is looking forward to calling Bristol to say he'll have to miss games because the Rangers are in the playoffs.

Barnett will do four innings of play-by-play per game. The rest of the time, he'll offer analysis. Since he never played professional baseball or managed, he said has no plans to second guess strategy.

"I will not be up there in a tower passing down judgment," he said. "I'll be talking to Eric, asking questions and making observations."

That sounds an awful lot like what hockey broadcaster Nadel did when he settled in as Holtz's No. 2 back in 1981.

"The only thing Dave needs to learn from me is how to dress down to work in radio," Nadel said. "Other than that, it is all systems go."