Sporting News has put forth its version of the top 25 broadcasters in all of football. I certainly don't agree with all of the choices or the order. IMO this is a good discussion/debate topic. Sporting News Top 25 Football Broadcasters
I like Kirk Herbstriet, I like Jon Gruden, I like Ron Franklin, and I like Dick Endberg and finally I like Todd Blacklidge. I don't really care much for Ed Cunningham, something about his voice bugs me, it's not what he says, I just don't like his voice. A lot of people get really emotional about the announcing crew, personally I don't get it. ND fans in general seem to hate Haden and Hammond. I don't love them but they don't detract from the game for me. I actually don't mind Bob Davie as a color guy, I think he has some good insights into the game. They don't mention radio but Van Patrick, now deceased, was my favorite radio voice, I liked Tony Roberts as well, but towards the end there he frequently would forget to tell you critical things like what down it was or the score. Currently I have to say the voice I like the most on radio is Dave South of Texas A&M, he has a rich tone that to me at least enhances listening to him. Terry
I really, really like Chris Spielman...maybe he hasn't worked enough games to make that list but he really sees and explains stuff.
I don't care for any of them to tell the truth. I marvel at the mistakes they make. I realize they have a hard job but I would like to see them acknowledge the mistake rather than just sweeping it under the rug. For example: Watching a Tennessee game (who would have guessed that). The announcer realizes it is 1st and 15 after a false start penalty. The running back gets 6 yards and the announcer says "Just enough for a first down." No, he just barely made it past the initial line of scrimmage. You here this long pause where obviously the people behind him that have quite a few more working brain cells are telling him "Uh, I don't think so." This sounds trivial, but if once, they would come back ans say "Oops, my bad" I could forget about it. But they act like they didn't say it and move on.
I'm with you, Tom. I don't care much for any of them. Some particular tidbits/nitpicks. Mike Tirico-I can't stand the points he makes about trivial facts. It shows that he has an obvious deep knowledge of the game but I can't imagine anyone really caring. His knowledge is similar to the bombardment of statistics you get with baseball broadcasts anymore. I don't care what a guy's average is on a 1-2 count with 2 outs and men on 1st and 3rd. Same goes for how many times a team scores in the red zone in the first five minutes of the 4th quarter. Give me a break! Gary Danielson-This guy is very sharp as a color guy and can add real insight to the game. However, I pick up on a sort of almost snooty attitude. He thinks his opinion is the be all/end all. I heard him make a comment in the Georgia/LSU game earlier this year that momentum is not a factor in college football. OK, that's his opinion (although he's obviously wrong, IMO) but the example he used was totally useless. He said that momentum did not play a factor because LSU scored immediately after Georgia had just driven for what looked like a game-winning TD. Hello!!! Did you miss that bogus unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that got called immediately following that TD? Think that might have zapped a little momentum?? Kirk Herbstreit-I really like Herbstreit as an analyst. However, I do not care for him as a color commentator. He shows favortism, IMO and doesn't do a very good job hiding it. Immediately springing to mind was the Virginia Tech/Alabama game earlier this season. Tech was leading in the 3rd quarter and, to hear Kirk tell it, they were being dominated by Alabama. Verne Lundquist-I hear a lot of this guy along with Danielson covering SEC games on CBS. I really don't like his play by play or his "aw shucks" style. He seems kind of clueless half the time. That said, I think my favorite is Todd Blackledge but I think the only reason I like him is because of the "Taste Of The Town" segment.
Stu, We were just having this conversation in the office the other day. Spielman does a great job. He doesn't talk down to you (Danielson, Fouts) and he doesn't explain the game thru the eyes of an option QBs perspective (Danielson). He talks plain football... black and white... via the eyes of a linebacker. The game of football is always best explained thru the eyes of an LB imho... But he's humble, you can tell he really loves the game and he doesn't pontificate the way Danielson does... The guy should get more respect..and best of all, he doesnt look like a botox baby.
I'm with you on this one, Aquila, both in football and especially in baseball. I consider it the ESPNization of play-by-play broadcasting. It's no longer an art. It's a job. Somehow, today's generation of broadcasters - who lack the "style" of yesteryear - thinks it can hold our interest by inundating us with facts. I'm an old-school guy who had the benefit of having listened to Red Barber, Harry Caray, Jack Brickhouse, Jack Buck, Lindsey Nielson, Keith Jackson, and several other play-by-play broadcasters from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, whose styles kept us glued to the radio/TV and who did not have to bury us in useless facts.
I'll chime in. First of all, I think that Ron Franklin has a grea voice and style. He is consistantly professional. There are no opinions I respect more than Herbstriet on college football and Jaworski on pro football. I prefer them away from the booth talking about players and teams in a studio setting. For me the most versatile announcer is Vern Lundquist. I've enjoyed him doing boxing, football, and who else could have been doing the 16th at Augusta when Tiger's ball hung on the lip so that Nike could get it's logo coverage? Sims and Aikman always do good pro games. Unfortunately, we don't get to hear them as often as we should because the Lions always draw the lowest broadcast teams. Musburger and Tirico annoy the hell out of me. My personal favorite if Danielson. I might have mentioned this but years ago right after he retired from the NFL he must have decided to try to get into broadcasting. It wasn't easy as it is for so many ex jocks today. He did a sports day banquet at my kids parish school. Probably got almost nothing to do it. Next time I saw him he'd landed the weekend sports joy on the NBC affiliate. Soon he was doing an afternoon sports talk radio show that was really popular. Next thing you know, he was doing midwest football recaps for ESPN. He's come a long way from Divine Child HS, to Purdue, to the Lions to top rated broadcaster in this article. Nice to see for me.
Baseball especially has always been about stats, but the advent of computers and all sorts of people tracking every possible situation has lead to the overstatification of baseball. Like Aquila said "Joe Don hits .234 with men on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out in the 5th inning of day games folks, lets see what he does here"....duh ....who cares.
Gip, nice story about Danielson. Tirico and Brent also annoy the hell out of me. Terry, I like your term, "overstatification". That says it all. Heck, I can understand why some folks like one guy and others don't. We all hear things differently. I also like Verne Lunquist. I liked Keith Jackson, but I know others who didn't. This is why I knew it was a good topic. Lots of different opinions.
I like Danielson, Hebstreit, Collnsworth and Blackledge. I don't have any real negative feelings about any of them.
I have always liked Bob Griese even though lately he is not as strong as he was a few years ago... We all know the ultimate broadcaster to emulate is "Howard Cosell" :roll: