Rating NHL Broadcasters

Since Justin is on vacation, not a lot noteworthy has happened in hockey, as the NHL world awaits Steven Stamkos' signing decision. However, since he likes writing about announcing; this article from SB Nation rating local NHL announcing crews would certainly have caught his eye.

http://www.sbnation.com/2011/7/8/2250696/nhl-broadcaster-rankings-announcers-commentators

Here are the comments about the Flyers CSN announcers:

"Jim Jackson, Keith Jones - Philadelphia Flyers: Keith Jones has become a caricature of the "good Canadian boy" ex-hockey player. On Versus, he's somewhat balanced and talks about things other than physical play.

On the Comcast broadcast, Jones wears his heart on his sleeve. Everything can be improved with toughness and every player having an off night "needs more effort", regardless of the level of effort. "Being more physical" in all aspects of the game is paramount.

Jackson carries a heavy Philadelphia bias and refuses to criticize a Flyer, even when the criticism is obvious."

In the few opportunities I've had to listen to Jim Jackson, I've enjoyed the broadcast. He calls a solid game and his voice doesn't annoy me. I guess calls like this are what accounts for this guy's opinion of Jackson as a Flyers homer. I do agree that Keith Jones doesn't really bring anything to the table.

Now, as some people who read this blog or follow Justin on Twitter know, I'm a Capitals fan. Ranking the team of Beninati and Laughlin as 3 stars is pure insanity, or perhaps he listens to those broadcasts with cotton in his ears. He correctly nails Beninati on the screaming on random plays, but misses how he all too often falls back on his stupid catchphrases and his incessant Comcast promotion. And Laughlin falls back on his hockey player-ese of just attaching "Y's" to every player to serve as a nickname. He also thinks every bad call against the Caps is a conspiracy, and also always has an excuse when the Caps flame out in the playoffs. I deserve a medal for listening to 15 years of these guys doing Capitals games on TV.

Anyway, these lists are always fun for debate as to which crew is the best. My money goes to Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda of the Sharks.

Also, remember to catch Bob Costas and Al Michaels as they work tonight's Mets at Giants game on the MLB Network.

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Kevin Harlan's Pam Ward Moment

Don't worry, Kevin. Pam Ward has made the same mistake in the past.



I understand the score in basketball is very fluid and changes all the time, so forgetting a score or mis-calculating a score during the middle of a game can be an acceptable and forgivable error. But at the end of the game or at the end of the overtime period when a whole lot depends on the announcer knowing the score to communicate just what is happening on the court, you gotta know the score and the deficit. As Tom Jackson might say, "COME ON, MAN!"

(hat tip to @jose3030 on Twitter)

Thom Brennaman Reveals Dark Secret Of Troy Aikman

I am not going to pretend like this in anyway trumps Thom Brennaman's man love for Tim Tebow, but I think it comes pretty close to it. Behold, the announcing quote of the year!



"Troy Aikman, you know all about getting blasted in your chin."

That's more information about Troy Aikman than I ever needed to know.

Awful Announcing Is Back!!!..........Sort Of

When I woke up this morning and put my socks on for my first day back at my university, the last thing I expected was to stumble on the return of Awful Announcing. Well, guess what? As of Sunday, August 29, 2010, Awful Announcing is back!. Just one caveat: It is no longer Brian Powell's site. The site has been purchased from Powell by the Bloguin network and the new site features a whole host of new writers. For a little more information on what is happening, here is the first 2 paragraphs of the 1st post of the new blog written by one of Awful Announcer's new writers and seemingly new head editor: SB Nation Detroit's Brian Packey.

A little over four years ago, Brian Powell started Awful Announcing because NBA broadcaster Hubie Brown somehow let "wideopenshotability" escape from his mouth on-air. It wasn't just another spontaneous sports blog destined to fail, though. Powell had a vision for the site and built it up into one of the most well-known sports blogs on the 'net, focusing on everything broadcasting from potential sharts to random hair product placements. Unfortunately, new responsibilities prevented Powell from posting as much and, ultimately, pretty much at all (the last post prior to today was April 20, but a source close to the situation has said that he still wants to post here occasionally).

Bloguin stepped up to the plate, offering to resurrect AA and put the revered sports blog back on top where it belongs. In an increasingly competitive blogsphere, it will be a tall task, but I think we've assembled a strong enough group of writers to make it happen. We all plan to work hard to maintain the roots of the original AA site, including announcing assignments, quotables, videos, live blogs and analysis, amongst other goodies, but we'll also be splashing in our own flavor to spruce things up a bit.

It is awesome that the site is back, even if under the proverbial new management. Even though I have never read Packey's work before, the fact that he writes for an SB Nation site gives him some credibility in my book. SB Nation writers know what they are doing.

Seeing as Awful Announcing went on hiatus over 4 months ago and prior to that the site was gaining loads and loads of criticism because of Powell's increased real-world responsibilities took away from the quality of the site, it will be interesting to see how big of an audience this new site receives. Whether or not this site's readership consists mainly of old AA readers or new readers that had not heard of Awful Announcing prior to this site revival will be interesting. Myself, Mookie, and 49er16 will still be hosting NFL live blogs on Sunday and I am definitely going to have live blogs up for some MLB playoff games, but I will still be peeking over at the new AA to see what is going on there as they are claiming they will be having live blogs.

Outside of the community fostered, the thing I liked most about AA was the fact that he took long and winded press releases and condensed them into short blog posts that got to the meat and potatoes of the story while adding his opinion at the end. Since AA's decline and hiatus, no site has really been all about what AA was about. The now defunct Sporting Blog kept track of some things, but occasionally ventured into other topics. Dan Levy's new Press Coverage site is a fine new site that could turn into something like an Awful Announcing, though the site is a lot more opinionated than AA was (which is saying something because AA did have his opinions) frequently focuses more on other topics in sports media outside of announcing. While the style of writing will surely be different, if this new re-launched version of the site can deliver posts and news regarding announcers in a matter similar to what the old AA did (already there are posts on non-stories that gets talked about in July and August, Jay Mariotti, and ESPN's so-called "fantasy experts") , I think it has the potential to be a great success.

LOL Fox Sports

What happens when you take this:

and then add this?

If you guessed possibly the worst NFL announcing trio of all time—you win! It’s too bad there aren’t Pammy awards for NFL announcers. But it should make for some very entertaining live blog moments this fall.

Thanks for nothing Fox.

Follow me on Twitter @kt1000

Pam Ward Wants To Be An NFL Play By Play Announcer (For Realz!)

And you thought that it was bad enough having Pammy do Big 10 football games every Saturday afternoon. She has not achieved her lifelong goal yet as that is to one day broadcast NFL games.  From the Washington Post.

The Mitchellville native and University of Maryland graduate obviously was gratified to have been presented the award at COSIDA's national convention in San Francisco on July 6. But [Pam Ward] also will admit to a certain amount of frustration that she still has been unable to fulfill one of her own lifelong goals. Plainly put, Ward has always dreamed about wanting to do play-by-play on NFL games, the better to prove once and for all that a woman doesn't have to be solely restricted to studio or sideline work at the highest level of the sport.

She also is a realist. At her own network, Mike Tirico, one of the best in his business, is firmly entrenched as the play-by-play voice for "Monday Night Football." At NBC, the great Al Michaels isn't going anywhere anytime soon for Sunday night prime-time games. And at CBS and Fox, each employing six full-time announcing crews for Sunday afternoon games, there has been little turnover in recent years, with few openings expected in the near future.

"The NFL is something I've wanted to do since I was a little kid," Ward said in a recent interview, adding that she remains undeterred in trying to fulfill that quest despite years of hearing network executives insist there are only so many jobs out there and the pool of "qualified" female candidates makes it even more difficult to pull the trigger on what surely would be an extremely controversial hire.
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"Maybe that's true," Ward said, "but I wonder why no one has even bothered to at least talk to me about the possibility. I don't really see what the big deal would be."

Make no mistake: Ward loves her job at ESPN, which also includes a hefty load of women's college basketball and plenty of radio and television studio work involving the NFL and the NBA, among many other duties she's performed since joining the company in 1996.

But play-by-play remains her great passion, and she's starting to wonder if she or any other woman will ever get a chance to regularly call NFL games in her lifetime.

Harold Bryant, vice president for production at CBS Sports, said in an interview that "it is coming in the future. As soon as we find the right person, we'd give her a shot. It is still a hurdle we have to overcome. It's something we want to happen and we will try to make it happen. Unfortunately, right now there aren't a lot of women out there doing it. I do know Pam Ward is one of them, and I think she's very good."

Ed Goren, president and executive producer for sports at Fox, also said he was familiar with Ward's work and "she does an extremely professional job. She has the appropriate voice quality. She's prepared. But we haven't hired a play-by-play announcer in quite some time; I can't remember the last time we did.

"Anytime there is a breakthrough, it takes the right individual to make it work, and one that the audience will accept. Branch Rickey had to pick the right person when he brought Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers. It's not a simple issue. Sometimes you only get one shot, and if you fail, then what?"

Ironically, there is something of a Catch-22 situation at work for Ward, as well. CBS and Fox both have a small stable of part-time announcer teams for weekends when they are televising more than six games around the country, which occurs three or four times during the regular season.

But because Ward is under contract to ESPN, it seems highly unlikely the Worldwide Leader would allow her to moonlight elsewhere. And it would probably be professional Russian roulette for Ward to sever her ties with ESPN for a chance to do three or four NFL games a season, contests that no doubt would match bottom-feeding teams with a minuscule viewing audience.

Ward clearly could have gone to a major network as a sideline reporter on NFL games, but she tried that genre once early in her career and despised the job. These days, she also hates the fact that when she speaks to young women on campuses around the country with an interest in doing sports on television, "they all want to be sideline reporters because that's really all they ever see," she said. "I tell them don't pinhole yourself, don't limit yourself. But they see it as their only way in, and that's a shame."

I respect the hell out of Pam Ward for what she has achieved and what she tries to inspire in young college women across the country, but Pam Ward, um, er, well, she is not very good at play-by-play. Now I am glad that she has a dream and a goal that goes beyond the point she is at now (especially as the spot she holds now is revolutionary), and to an extent I hope that she can realize it, but Pam needs to be working on her skills as an announcer if she wants to make the jump and be embraced by the American public. Personally, I hope she does do that and she can improve and she can work NFL games without the football knowledgeable public laughing at her, but I would be lying if I told you that that ideal is ever going to become a reality.

Patrick Kane's Stanley Cup Clinching Goal Left Announcers Everywhere Quite Confused

I mentioned in my recap last night how every call of the goal was of initial confusion and the city of Chicago has no great call to relive. I said that after only viewing Doc Emrick and Jim Hughson call it. Well now I have heard Dave Strader on the NHL's international feed, John Wiederman on WGN Radio in Chicago, and Pierre Hourde on the French-speaking RDS, and guess what, they were all confused as well. Literally everyone initially missed it, and if they thought they saw it go in right away (which to their credit, Hourde and Wiederman actually did), they quickly backtracked because there was no whistle, no red light, and goal signal from the refs. Notably in the case of Emrick and WGN's radio PbP announcer (John Wiederman), they saw things they did not acutally see. So without further ado, here are the 5 most confused Stanley Cup clinching goal calls in the history of hockey!

First, Doc Emrick on NBC.



Secondly, Jim Hughson on CBC.



Thirdly, Pierre Hourde gives his call on the French-Canadian channel, RDS.



Next up, Dave Strader on the NHL's International feed.



Now, John Wiederman on WGN Radio imagines an odd sequence of events leading to the puck getting into the net.



So now the question of whose is the best? I can't understand everything Hourde is saying (though enough to know that he did think it was in before back-tracking for a brief seconds), Jim Hughson started imagining things, back-tracked, then went into a lame and unenthusiastic pre-scripted call, and while Wiederman had the most excitement (and why not, he is a local radio announcer), he was the most confused of the 5 at first and had the most bizarre imagination. So it's down to Doc and Strader. Mike Emrick imagined things, Strader was merely confused. Strader realized it was a goal before Kane reached the blue line, Emrick realized it after Kane passed the blue line, and both were fairly excited. On that note, I think the winner of best call goes to Dave Strader with Doc in 2nd. Make no mistake about it, though, what we have here are the 5 worst Cup clinching goal calls in NHL history.

Does Jon Miller Realize We Are In The Year 2010?

After the Flyers big win last night, Jon Miller decided to be very diplomatic to all of the Flyers fans tuning into see the Phillies by congratulating the Flyers on their big Game 1 win against the Expos. Joe Morgan then followed that up by babbling something about how the Flyers came back from 0-3 against the Penguins to get into the playoffs. Now as I searched for video of the world's most inane, hilarious, and pitiful hockey conversation, I stumbled upon an more funnier and shameful quote from Jon Miller from last night's Brewers-Phillies game. As if calling the Canadiens the Expos enough was not proof enough that he is old, senile, and has not caught up with the times, wait until you hear this description of Ryan Howard.



"He's not close to throwing anything even resembling a fat pitch here to Ryan Howard, the black right hander." - Jon Miller.

Uh.....yeah.........he just said that.

2 things. Now I am not in any insinuating Jon Miller is racist, but since when do we categorize baseball players on national television broadcasts by the color of their skin?

And secondly, does this look like a right handed hitter?

Pay no attention as I bury my head in my palms out of shame, pity, and embarrassment. Actually, make that a double facepalm as words do not even begin to describe the idiocy, stupidity, and senility that was Jon Miller last night.

Jack Edwards Strikes Again By Challenging His Inner Paul Steigerwald

Anyone who has been following me on Twitter (and if you are not, then you have no life and I pity you; especially seeing it is as easy as going to twitter.com/FireAndyReidNow and clicking follow) since the end of this hockey season at the latest knows of my undying love for Jack Edwards. His passion for the game of hockey goes virtually unmatched and his idiomatic expressions and comparisons never cease to amaze me. That being said, I think good old Jack may have crossed the line a bit with his call at the end of last night's Buffalo-Boston Game 6, which saw the Bruins clinch the series four games to two.



"And the Sabres hopes sleep with the Edmund Fitzgerald in the bottom of Gitchee-Gumee! After one round in the playoffs, Snowball 1, Hell 0! The Bruins advance to the conference semis for the 2nd time in consecutive years."

Wow.....not only is that another joke about people dying, but it is also historically inaccurate. But it must be said that nobody here went down as hard as Hobey Baker. He went down in a plane crash!

You know, I do wonder if he plans these calls ahead of time or if they just come to him naturally. I mean, how else can you come up with the Edmund Fitzgerald in the Gitchee-Gumee and the whole Patriots Day ragtag Bostonian farmers spiel he came up with last year?

"It Almost Seemed Like Antti Niemi Was Giving Birth There To That Puck"

After a hilarious sequence in which the puck got lost in the equipment of Antti Niemi for a couple minutes, Captain Tremendously Tremendous himself, Eddie Olczyk, delivers the greatest Stanley Cup playoffs one-liner since Joe Beninati's questioning of what OMG meant.



"It almost seemed like Antti Niemi was giving birth there to that puck." - Eddie Olczyk

No one liner that I can come up with will due that line any justice, Edzo.

The Blackhawks would go onto win that game in thrilling fashion, with Patrick Kane tying the game at 4 with 13 seconds left and Marian Hossa notching the game winner, mere seconds after he got out of the penalty box for a 5-minute major boarding call.

2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Videos Of Confused And Screaming Announcers Calling An Own Goal Will Be Made

Remember last summer when the Mets were sucking and Luis Castillo dropped a pop-up that would have won the game for the Mets, but instead because he dropped it allowed the Yankees to score 2 runs on that play and thus win the game? And remember how MLB put together an awesome announcing mash-up of the Mets TV announcers and radio announcers and the Yankees TV announcers and radio announcers calling the play?

Granted I don't have the technology to mash them all into one video, but with a play as epic as Dan Boyle's own goal last night, I figured why not put together all of the calls of the goal that I could find. Several videos have gone up and the one with the most views already has over 200,000 of them (Dan, you've gone viral, my friend). Trust me, the different reactions to the goal are almost as amusing as the goal itself. Almost.

First off, the one you've probably seen already and the one that I posted last night/this morning: The Versus broadcast (which used the CSN-Cal Sharks announcers) with Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda.



And now the broadcast team that does not put it all on Dan Boyle, the Colorado Avalanche TV broadcasters Mike Haynes and Peter McNab

Up next, the lone neutral broadcast of the bunch, the CBC broadcast with Mark Lee and Kevin Weekes:



If only Versus had stuck with the broadcast for that long to see that ovation for Craig Anderson. Wow. That is something special and something that he will never forget. Tip your hat, Craig. You (maybe not the rest of the Avalance team, but you) deserve it.

And now for my personal favorite. If this guy (Marc Moser) does not end up right next to Al Michaels in the hockey hall of fame for this awesomely screaming call of the goal, then something is seriously wrong in this world.



"SCOOOOOOORE!!!!! OH MY GOODNESSS!!!! THE AVS HAVE WON IN OVERTIME!!!!!! I THINK THE SAN JOSE SHARKS JUST THREW IT INTO THEIR OWN NET!!!!!!! THEY DIIIIIIIIIIDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!"

YOU CAN STOP SCREAMING NOW!

Actually, on second thought, no, please, continue screaming, that call is flat out epic.

And as if I did not pile on more Dan Boyle enough for this, here are 2 History Will Be Made parodies commemorating Dan Boyle.



This one is just all sorts of awesome, not only does it have a funny tag but it brings back my new favorite screaming announcer, Marc Moser!



And lastly, my personal favorite, which may even get some Sharks fans and serious Shark sympathizers laughing.

Grading The Announcers: 2010 NCAA Tournament 1st And 2nd Round Edition

If I remember correctly, I am pretty sure I put something up last year grading the announcers for the NCAA Tournament in the first couple rounds. Well guess what? I am doing it again, bitches. And in fairness to keep my judgment of the teams to what they did this year, I have not looked at what I wrote about them last year (although if I ever find the post again, it would be pretty neat to compare the two from year to year). Now when doing this, I am not ranking them in any particular order, but rather analyzing the body of work, and giving them a grade based on that. If you want to interpret the different grades as a means of ranking, then go right ahead, but for the sake of ease, I am doing them in reverse order from the depth chart. So here ya go!

8. Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel - Maybe they were the product of low expectations, but I will tell you what, I feared the worst when Spero Dedes replaced Craig Bolerjack, the only thing remotely positive about this crew. No review of Dedes' work I had read before this had ever been positive. Most said he was unenthusiastic, bland, and boring. From what I heard this tournament, that could not have been further from the truth. He was into the game and while he is no Gus Johnson, he did deliver solid buzzer-beating calls when he got the opportunity and overall sounded very into the games. Was he perfect? No, as Mookie pointed out in the live blogs, he made several mistakes during U-Dub's game with New Mexico. But for a 30-year old calling his first NCAA Tourney with freakin' Bob Wenzel, I do not think there was more that you could ask out of Dedes. Aspeaking of Wenzel, he drags the grade down half a letter grade just for being Bob Wenzel. Giggling and speaking in fragments all game is not quality broadcasting. It is the kind of stuff I would expect to hear from a high school kid working a high school game, not a professional working the Big Dance. Overall grade: B-.

7. Tim Brando and Mike Gminski: "The iron unkind!" "It may be spring, but it's Summertime today!" "Hot time Summers in the city" "Meet me in Saint Louie". I know what people think. I want Tim Brando fired. Acutally, that could not be further from the truth. I hope CBS keeps the NCAA Tournament and Brando decides to pull a Jim Nantz on the Masters and work 50 more in his lifetime. I can never get tired at laughing at his cliche and over-the-top puns and in turn, reading other people's hilarious critiques of said puns. It has become a staple of the NCAA Tournament on CBS that I will miss greatly if ESPN takes the reins next year. Somethings are so bad that they are good. Brando's announcing is one of them. That being said, that in no way makes him a quality basketball announcer. The constant puns and wordplay are enough for an F, but Mike Gminski's quality analysis saves this team from that. Overall grade: D.

6. Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel: Does Ian Eagle have cheesy phrases like Brando? Yes. Is he a much better announcer? You betcha. Maybe I am biased in this regard because I have listened and watched Eagle do interviews and seems to be one helluva an awesome person, but the guy is animanted, excited, and enthusiastic, without being too over the top. Jim Spanarkel is never going to wow me, but at the same time, he is not a hopeless case in the booth. Overall grade: B.

5. Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner: There were factors beyond Harlan's control that are contributing to this review. Firstly, the egregious error of saying that NIU was the first MVC team in the Sweet 16 since Larry Bird was probably the fault of someone in the crew giving him misinformation. Secondly, he was not the one that placed himself in Oklahoma City where his alma mater was playing. Thirdly, it was not expected for his alma mater to lose. That being said, you have to be conscious of the situation that you put yourself in and call the game without biases and without favoring one team over the other. Harlan was perfectly fine for the first 58 minutes. But in the last 2 minutes when it mattered the most, Harlan failed. Miserably. You could tell he was not happy seeing his Jayhawks losing. Complete that with the most non-enthusiastic and nonsensical call at the buzzer ("It's the first day of spring, but number one has fallen") that very Brando-esque, and Harlan more than just underwhelmed. This is not a local broadcast. This is a national broadcast of the NCAA Tournament. I don't expect every announcer to yell like Gus Johnson, but I do expect announcer's feelings for one school to not infiltrate the broadcast and it was becoming painfully obvious that Harland could not do it. Complete silence after the Koch dunk (I don't mind silence but I don't think he even acknowledged the dunk afterward), only saying "OHH!!!!!" after the Farokhmanesh three and calling the subsequent offensive foul on Kansas immediately afterwards as if it was just routine and not the foul that ensured the biggest NCAA Tournament upset since George Mason beat UConn and the first time a #1 seed lost in the 2nd round since Kentucky lost to UAB in 2004. That soapbox out of the way, I am enhancing the grade for an overall relatively solid body of work throughout the first couple of rounds and Dan Bonner's performance, who is always one of the best in the tournament. His enthusiasm during those final moments of the NIU-Kansas game was off the charts fun to listen to. Spero Dedes is an inexperienced newcomer. His mistakes are forgivable. Kevin Harlan is a seasoned vet. His poor performance during the upset of the tournament is much more unforgivable. Yes, this is supposed to be the overall body of work, but when that overall body includes the biggest announcer blow job of the tournament, the grade is going to take a beating. Overall Grade: A very generous C+.

4. Gus Johnson and Len Elmore. In a tournament of upsets, Gus and Len once again ended up with clunkers. However, unlike last year, I did not think that Gus was trying too hard to make a big call when there just was not anything there to be made. The distractions from last year were gone (GuJo with the PUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNCH!!!!) and while he did not get the big upset this year, he toned it down a bit for the blowouts and it worked well. Len Elmore works well with Gus as he is much more soft spoken and will not yell over top of Gus. Len is a bore when he has to say a lot. Gus prevents that which optimizes the effectiveness of Len Elmore's analysis. Gus did not have the screaming upset, but that should not detract away from a solid comeback year after the debacle last year. Overall grade: A-.

3. Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas. I will admit, I heard the least of Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas this tournament, so if there is one grade that is poorly skewed or possibly inaccurate, it is this one. I love Enberg, but he just cannot do college basketball anymore. He is a great announcer, but the game is too fast for him. What can I say about Jay Bilas. As of now, he has been right on the money. He said Cornell would go to the Elite 8 and they are one win away from doing so. Cornell dominated both of their games and it was never even close. Bilas works best when he is with McDonough and Raft to lighten the mood. Him and Enberg is not a great pairing for him as Enberg forces him to come off as the know-it-all persona he takes in the ESPN studio. It's nothing against Enberg, he just is not Sean McDonough or Bill Raftery. Overall grade: B.

2. Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery. The gold standard of the tournament. For as bad as Verne may be doing football, he is just as good, if not great, doing basketball. Raftery is the perfect partner for him. Everything about them is flawless. Some want Raft to work with Gus Johnson should Enberg retire for good from college basketball and CBS keeps the tournament. I say keep it as it is. Why mess with perfection? Overall grade: A+.

1. Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg. Last year Clark Kellogg was a disaster. This year, I think he has improved in leaps and bounds. Last year Jim Nantz was married. This year he is divorced and free. Kellogg toned it down a lot this year from his constant screaming analysis last year and Nantz is not the dull bore he was when he was married. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like since the divorce he has been much more excitable in the booth. That being said, Nantz can still be too boring and and Kellogg's analysis can still be over the top. They have not reached the Verne/Raft level of perfection, but it is a work in progress and a solid improvement from last year. Overall grade: B+.

Do realize that this is just one man's opinion and not some permanent mark on their resume or something. However, I put a lot of thought into this and in the end, I think everyone was giving their fair shake, even in the case of Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner. If I had nothing but those last two minutes to focus on, he would at best be given a D. I looked at the body of work and gave him a C+. I still feel that is being overly kind on my part, but Bonner deserves better than a C or a C-. I know bashing Harlan is never the most popular thing to do, but I will leave you with this thought. If you were an NIU student/alum/fan and assuming there was no radio broadcast and the only broadcast and call you had to remember this game by was what Kevin Harlan gave you at the end of this game, Harlan's KU background aside, knowing what Harlan has done in the past and what he is capable of, is that a call that you would remember? Or better yet, is "on the first day of spring, number one has fallen" something that you would want to remember? All I'll say is if someone showed me that quote and said it was announcer during the NCAA Tournament, my first question would be "why are you showing me a quote from Tim Brando?"

Brad Nessler Channels His Inner Pam Ward

We all know Pammy and her horrible ineptness in of never knowing what the situation is in a game. Well, last Saturday during the Kentucky-Vanderbilt game, Brad Nessler made a mistake that Pam Ward would have been proud of.

Down by 2, Vandy got off a last second shot at the buzzer. Despite the fact that it was a 2-point shot, Brad Nessler did not exactly see it that way.



"Ogleby for the win.....missed it!" - Brad Nessler on a shot that would have TIED the game.

In fairness to him, Brad Nessler did correct himself afterward, however, in a situation where there is 2.5 seconds left in a 2-point game, it is absolutely imperative that an announcer has a fundamental grasp of basic mathematics and rules of basketball as botching a game-winning call like that can be quite unforgivable in some broadcasting circles.

Eddie Olczyk's Entry Into The Announcer Quote Hall Of Fame

I FOUND IT!!!!!

Going right up there with Tim Brando's puns, Joe Buck's "disgusting act", Ron Thulin's Touchdown USC (when it was Stanford's GW TD), and just about everything Mike Milbury says, comes the newest entry to the Announcer Quote Hall of Fame, or Shame, depending on how you look at it. Here is Eddie Olczyk describing how good of a hockey game this was. As you listen, you might note the phrase, "tremendously tremendous".



Wow, Edzo. Just wow. I know it was an exciting game, but really, "tremendously tremendous"? You could not have spared yourself some infamy and gone with "tremendously exciting".

Well from what I understand your quote became a Twitter Trending Topic (cotdamn my walk and shower shortly after the game!), so congrats Edzo on that tremendously tremendous achievement.

Clueless Devils Announcers Errantly Call A Blowjob Miming A Dinner Bell Signal

And you guys thought the empty IZod Center was the best moment of the day of Jersey fandom, boy were you kidding yourselves (final announced crowd of that Nets game, btw: 1,016; obviously a lot of late arrivals). This Devils fan from the 5,580 at Prudential Center has without a doubt given us one of the best fan videos of the year. Now whenever a fan signals something obscene and it is caught on camera, it is always funny, but when the announcers notice that signal, talk about it as something else not knowing what it really is, it is guaranteed hilarity. Thanks to Broad Street Hockey for the find.



Oh my.

Wow.

Not only is Chico clueless about hockey, he is also clueless about sexual gestures. Good to know!

Mark Adams Has Some Choice Words For West Virginia Fans

Often times when fans act up, announcers will denounce it and call it disgusting, but chances are, they won't scream it. Tell that to the Big East Network's Mark Adams who got quite a bit upset when a West Virginia fan threw some debris at a Pitt assistant coach last night.



Oh wow. Tell us how you really feel, Mark. Go on, don't hold back. Let it all out. But please just know, Mark, that fan was just standing up for all of his cousins on the basketball court.

Your 2010 NFC Championship In Funny Announcing Calls

Because what good is a close OT title game if you don't get to hear all of the funny moments from the TV and radio booths!

I know I will take a lot of heat for saying this, but personally, I don't mind Joe Buck. In fact there are times that I quite like him. Talk to any fan anywhere and they will say that he hates their team. Isn't that the mark of a fair announcer? Regardless, while I thought that his dramatic calls of the game (Favre's final INT, Hartley's game-winning FG) were spot on, he did have his moments of slurping Favre. So much so that perhaps it gave us the biggest announcer jinx of the game. We all caught this during the live blog and I even put up an audio of it there that was quickly found, but here it is one for time for shits and giggles.



Yeah, I don't think that Favre was too giddy after that play. And as Dan Levy pointed it out in his column today, how on earth did Buck even know that Favre was smiling then? Did they have a secret Favre Cam just for him?

However, that was not the best of the best. Here are the Vikings radio announcers mourning the interception of Favre. Note the agony.



Whoa! That got a little intense at the end, didn't it?

I have to disagree with Paul, while the throw and the ultimate decision from Favre was curious, the Saints just stuffed you twice running the ball, if you go back to that and go nowhere for the 3rd straight play, Brad Childress is once again an idiot. That 12-man in the huddle penalty certainly put the Vikings in a no win situation where the play call would be criticized no matter went if the play went wrong, and it certainly did there and that is what is happening the day after. But hindsight is 50-50 here people, the best thing to do would have been to try the draw on 1st down, run some sort of quick slant or screen pass on 2nd down, a run on 3rd down to control the clock and kick the FG with as little time left on the clock as possible (Saints had no timeouts in the last minute).

However, we are not done. Here are Saints announcers Jim Henderson and Hokie Gajon calling Favre's 3rd down the same INT you just heard Paul Allen call along with all of the big plays in overtime that led to the Saints beating the Vikings and advancing to the Super Bowl. Prepare for what has to be without a doubt the single greatest call in the history of New Orleans sports.



"Pigs have flown. Hell has frozen over. The Saints are on their way to the Super Bowl!" - Jim Henderson

I couldn't have said it better myself...

Jim Nantz's Heart Goes Out To Those In Haitia Devastated By The Earthquake

There are bad promos, and then there is this little slip-up from everybody's friend, Jim Nantz. When reading a promo for 60 Minutes, he sort of forgot the name of the country that was just ravaged by a 7.0 earthquake and then proceeded to show 10 times more enthusiasm for the NFL Players coming out of Samoa then he did for the earthquake piece. Thanks to Awful Announcing for the video.



Aw Jim, you cared so much about Haiti that you mispronounced it as Haitia. That's so sweet of you!

I can only hope that that misspeak was the fault of the writer or the promo writing it as "Haitia" because with the number of times that people have said "Haiti" on every live news broadcast over the past week, it kind of is inexcusable for Jim Nantz to make such an error, and then cover it up by showing all that enthusiasm for Samoan born players in the NFL.

The Detroit Lions Have Gone From Being Like Dating Whoopi Goldberg To Being Like Terrorists In Amsterdam

Believe it or not, as bad as Chris Myers is as a sideline reporter, when it comes to doing play-by-play, he is even worse. And while he has already proven himself a master of the bad on-air zinger, yesterday, he even took that honor to another level never seen before. Listen in disbelief as he compares the Lions defensive line to terrorists in Amsterdam! I kid you not.



Well then! That was, um, uncomfortable to listen to.

Like I said numerous times, I'm not in the business of calling for a job over one bad joke, but I think Myers' entire body of work this year may just warrant a pink slip from the booth, signaling a not so sad end to an awful career in play-by-play announcing.

While this probably is not the spot to offer commentary on airline security, like I've said before I have traveled all over the world and that includes one time catching a connecting flight in Amsterdam earlier this decade (a few years after 9/11, IIRC). The ironic part about it is the security we faced there was the toughest and most stingiest that I can ever recall. They had one person ask us at least 10 questions about who we were, where we were, what were we doing there, and where are we going on top of all of the other security stuff that you normally see at airports post-9/11. I don't know what happened in the case of the failed Christmas attack and I am not suggesting anything, but iot is kind or ironic that the security that I always thought was some of the best in the world, be the security that nearly allows the next terrorist attack on this country.

But alas, I shall end this post by saying that Chris Myers, you sir, are an idiot.

Chris Myers raises terrorist joke alert level to red (Deadspin)

Idaho Vandals Pull A Boise State In Boise And Causes Eric Collins To Have A Heart Attack

If you were like me and you did not give a crap about a bowl game between Idaho and Bowling Green, then I, er, you, missed one heck of a game with a helluva finish. Tied at 35, Bowling Green hit a long pass down the sideline that went all the way giving Bowling Green a 42-35 lead with 32 seconds left. Game over, right? Wrong! The Idaho Vandals came back and came back with a vengeance with a 3 play, 66-yard game winning drive that is recapped in the video below. Watch with awe and listen as you hear what will become soon known as laryngitis for Eric Collins, the ESPNU announcer that got assigned to this game.



I personally love screaming announcers, but when it is as forced and contrived as that sounded, it's just bad.

Congrats though to the Idaho Vandals on an amazing win and a great football game.

And all the best to the Collins family as Eric is now St. Luke's Boise Medical Center in shockingly good condition. His larynx may be permanently bruised and he may have had a heart attack in the booth, but he appears to be all right and will be out of the hospital soon.