Fiu's Daily Cavalcade of
Whimsy
The NFL Announcers ... Feb. 2
a.k.a.
Frank Costanza's Festivus Airing of the Grievances ... or the obvious attempt to keep readers coming to the site on a
regular basis during the off-season.
By
Pete Fiutak
What's your beef? ... Fire
off your
thoughts
Last
Week's Whimsies:
Friday - The Mark Sanchez
situation
Monday - The NFL Playoffs
vs. The BCS
"The
road to the Super Bowl is long and pointless. I mean, when you think
about it. But now, the two conference champs must survive a harrowing
bye-week that no one enjoys." ... We all love the NFL for one reason
or another. It's America's past time, 33% for the gamblers, 33% for the
fantasy football types, and 34% for the superfans, including those who
gamble and play fantasy football. Then why is it amateur hour when it
comes to the talent level of the announcers when it comes to the
showcase moment?
As a college football fan, hit your knees tonight and thank whatever god
you pray to that our sport, for the most part, continues to do it better
than anyone else when it comes to the commentators and announcers.
There's no one better in the game than Chris Fowler, and it's not even
remotely close. This was proven once again as he masterfully handled his
duties at the Australian Open to show just how much most of the talking
heads at ESPN, NBC, and any other media outlet you tuned into, are so
lacking in style, talent, and most importantly, substance.
Howard Cosell once called it the jockocracy, the concept that former
jocks, who weren't qualified or trained in the skills of being a TV
personality, were given jobs because of the misguided belief that name
value would translate into proper analysis. While that's not necessarily
fair for every sports figure, there are obviously several former players
and coaches who are brilliant announcers and studio personalities, but
the Super Bowl coverage was a disaster.
Would Jerome Bettis, John Madden, who failed to provide one piece of
relevant insight throughout the entire game, Matt "This is what the NFL
is all about" Millen, or the abysmal Keyshawn Johnson, have a TV job if
they hadn't been an on-field success? Is this really the best we get?
And it's not limited to just the former players. The Inside the NFL show
has gone into the tank since switching to Showtime, Chris Berman hasn't
had an original comment since 1989, and Stuart Scott remains the
ultimate channel-changer, even in the lead role of highlight
reader immediately following the tremendous Pittsburgh win.
The nightmare that was the media coverage this weekend just makes the
relatively understated work by the college football media stand out that
much more. Oh sure, a Lee Corso might be outlandish with his headgear
schtick, and I don't agree without about 83% of his analysis, but he's
good at what he does. The same goes for Lou Holtz. Kirk Herbstreit, Rece
Davis, Mark May, Brad Nessler, Verne Lundquist, and Gary Danielson are
all tremendous personalities who enhance the game (I throw Brent
Musburger into that mix, but I have a hard time convincing anyone of
that) who all get dogged from time to time, but remain night-and-day
better than higher-profile personalities handling the NFL.
More Troy Aikman, less Mike Ditka. More Chris Mortensen, less Cris
Carter. More talent in the NFL coverage, less unnecessary noise.