If there’s one thing that can turn a football fan’s excitement down a notch right before a game, it’s finding out your game has been given a less-than-stellar announcing crew. Part of determining that your team is getting some well-deserved NFL love is realizing which announcing crew you’ve been assigned.
After all, a great announcing crew will give you the play by play when the camera doesn’t pick it up. When a flag is thrown and the announcing crew yaks on about their fishing trips, wives, or someone hair in the stand rather than tell you why the flag was thrown, you know you’ve got an issue.
To illustrate this point, remember the Packer-Minnesota game on the NFL network this year? We got to hear Cris Collinsworth and Bryant Gumbel fumble their way through that one. The announcing, especially on Gumbel’s part, was absolutely a joke. As fans at home, we were tempted to turn off the sound and watch the game with the radio on instead.
I do enjoy the announcing of Ron Pitts, because he’s one of the few that can catch an error on the field and explain it. The same exists with Kevin Harlan. No better announcer in my opinion.
The best team? That’s Troy Aikman and Joe Buck. Especially this year. These guys call the plays correctly and do it without being biased.
The worst? Sorry to say it’s Al Michaels and John Madden. Madden is simply goofy and Michaels seems bored half the time.And if you see Tony Siragusa lumbering around on the sidelines waiting to throw Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston a “nugget,” you know you’re in trouble. And while I have no problem with Albert’s announcing skills, the collective IQ in the booth seems to go down the minute Johnston starts arguing with Siragusa about who has the better “nugget” of information. Do us fans a favor and split the Moose and Goose show up once and for all.
Keywords: bryant gumbel, kevin harlan announcer, moose and goose, nfl announcers, ron pitts
