Rocky's Football Corner #14

by Rick Rockwell

Football Announcer Equation: Cris Collinsworth + Bryant Gumbel = plenty of angry viewers.

Apparently, few folks like the announcing combination on the new NFL Network. That could be one reason fans remain apathetic over the fact that only about 40 percent of the country can see the games. (The other reason may be games like the Steelers vs. the Browns. There really isn’t much universal appeal to such games, except for those of us who like to watch the World Champs and the die-hard Browns faithful.) My favorite sportswriter Norman Chad sent Gumbel and Collinsworth a lump of coal in his column this week. Many others have the same opinions.

Personally, I think there are much worse examples. Over at ESPN, Bill Simmons writes that the overall quality of television announcing has diminished ever since Pat Summerall left the broadcast booth fulltime. I have to agree. Summerall and John Madden calling games together was always a comforting sound.

That’s not to knock Coach Madden’s new partner. Al Michaels has always been one of the best play-by-play announcers in football (and a great overall announcer and journalist: anyone who remembers how he anchored ABC’s coverage of the San Francisco earthquake knows this). Madden and Michaels are the best on TV and NBC Sports should be very happy to have them.

But after that, who else is worth it?

My next favorite bunch of announcers: Dick Stockton, Daryl “Moose” Johnston, and Tony “The Goose” Siragusa on FOX. Here’s why: Stockton is a professional who doesn’t over-hype or over-call the game. He also knows how to engage his ex-jock color commentators. Listen closely and you’ll notice he’s actually interviewing throughout the game, drawing out good comments. Johnston is direct but doesn’t take himself too seriously, and he mixes it up well with Siragusa. Plus Siragusa is funny but he knows his stuff too. For those who think Siragusa is too over-the-top, the mix of keeping him on the sideline means he’s a dash of spice rather than a constant fixture. He’s a sideline reporter who matters, not window dressing like so many others. This group is head-and-shoulders above the announcing team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. (Buck gets too carried away and hyperventilates over the action.) But for some reason the FOX suits like them best: the same suits who like Jimmy Johnson, which explains a lot.

On CBS, I actually like their number three team of Dick Engberg and Randy Cross the best. Engberg knows how to go with the flow of the game and again he engages the color commentator. Cross just understands the game the way an old linebacker should. I also need to mention I like Greg Gumbel (better than his brother perhaps because he stuck around football for so long) and Dan Dierdorf. Some folks have disliked Dierdorf since his time long ago on “Monday Night Football.” But like Madden, Dierdorf understands how line work affects the entire game. Still, I think Engberg and Cross have a slight edge, although the call is close. As for the so-called top team on CBS of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, well, both are just too stiff and Simms tries too hard.

A good announcing team sounds like a bunch of folks you’d enjoy watching the game with any week. They need to be as comfortable and relaxed as your favorite sofa. Not too many of the so-called professional announcers can provide all the necessary information and sound that smooth.

NFL Network Update: Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has sent a letter to the league asking to have the league release Rutgers' appearance in the Texas Bowl to stations that cover his state. The league freely admitted it had acquired rights to that college bowl game as more leverage against the cable firms that won’t put the network on basic cable. So far though, viewer complaints and the inquiries of some senators haven’t produced any movement in the battle between the football monopoly and the cable cartel. To Lautenberg’s credit, he doesn’t want to see his constituents used as pawns in this dispute. For more on this see our archive: #11 & #12.

(Photo of Al Michaels and John Madden from NBC.)

nfl
John Madden
Al Michaels
Sports Announcers
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