Dec 21 2006
There’s Always a Mute Button
Over at the NFL FanHouse, Michael David Smith has listed the five best and five worst announcers in NFL broadcast booths this season. I have no qualms about the first list, but the second list has more holes than a golf course.
I mean, really, Dick Vermeil with laryngitis? You’re going to pick on a guy because he attempted to play hurt? And you’re going to do when the guy standing next to him, Bryant Gumbel, is quite possible the worst play-by-play man in the last 30 years? How did all that monotone smugness miss this list? I’d almost put Gumbel ahead of Kornheiser here, he’s so horrible.
Here’s a dumb theory: Remember when Gumbel gave his whole “Gene Upshaw’s leash” tirade? Remember when everyone thought the league would drop him from those NFL Network telecasts, but they kept him around anyway? Is it possible that Gumbel delivered that speech in an attempt to get out of doing those broadcasts, and the NFL punished him — and us — by keeping him around?
I also think Joe Theismann surpassed Dan Dierdorf years ago in terms of pure broadcast suckitude, but I can understand how I might be in the minority. It also saddens me to see Dick Enberg on this list, but after the whole “Keyshawn Foster” thing last Sunday, I’m not at all surprised.
You know what we really need for some of these games? Some kind of alternate audio commentary — something beyond just your local radio guys. I wonder if we can work something out with the boys at Talkshoe for that…
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