Football announcers

(Note: there is a high probablility that this post will have no actual merit. But, its the offseason, so lets do it.)

I haven't posted in awhile, mostly because the offseason is so long, and so boring. Nobody is doing any drives worthy of bronze racecars, and so I idle.

Then at dinner the other night, I was aked to do a John Madden impression. This is not done by voice, but rather in saying the most pointless, obvious football thing ever.

"You see, you want to move the ball forward in the game of football. And eventually you want to score a touchdown, because thats the most points. If you can't score a touchdown, kick a field goal. Because you need points to win." Thats about what I said over chicken wings.

I concluded the demonstration by quipping, "And Pat Summerall asks himself...WHY?!?!?"

Later that night, as I so often do, I thought over how dinner went. Usually this is a time to reflect on why I didn't come home with a girl, or at least get her phone number. That night though it was more along the lines of, whatever happened to Pat Summerall?

Was there anybody better at play-by-play then Pat. He did what so few even try to do today. He simplified a complex game. His typical call would be something like, "Hasselbeck drops back, to Jackson, touchdown. Twenty-six yards."

Simple, effective, to the point. Then Madden (or whoever FOX paired him with on the D crew when Madden bolted) would go nuts over the play.

I realized how much I missed his simple call when listening to the All-Star game last night, as called by Joe Buck. Buck is a great baseball guy, because his job is to do the opposite of a football announcer's. He makes a simple game complex. He tells stories of past heroes of the game while drawing comparisons to the players before his eyes. He comments on the crowd, the weather, and the feel of the game. That's what baseball announcers do, and that's why many of us can survive the summer.

Football announcers today take that approach, and its to bad. Its already a complex game. We already have countless hours of programming each week to preview each game and talk about each key player.

The men manning the mic these days would be well served to mold their craft after Summerall's. Don't get in the way, let the game do the talking.

I'm not sure who usually does the FOX telecasts of Seahawk games, but they seem to do a good job with it. Outside of Raible and Moon, they're as close to the hometown crew as one can get. I don't want them to be homers, and they aren't. They are simple, they work well together, and they make the game fun. I almost cringe when the Seahawks are the national game, because all of the A broadcast teams are prima donnas who constantly fill the air with their words, and the atmosphere at the stadium is forced out of the cast.

Maybe I think about these things way to much (after all, I'm a radio/TV student in college) but maybe its just a good way to kill time until training camp. (14 days, of this writing)



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