2011 March Madness Announcers Revealed

One day after CBS accidentally leaked that Steve Kerr would be joining Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg for the Final Four, CBS and Turner have released their entire announcing roster for this year's March Madness. To try to mitigate the confusion as much as possible, I have the rounds listed below and the announcer pairings working said rounds.

TV stations that will be used

CBS
TNT
TBS
TruTV

Tuesday Night First Four (note: First Four games will be broadcast on TruTV)

Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, and Steve Kerr

Wednesday Night First Four

Gus Johnson and Len Elmore

2nd Round and 3rd Round (note: these are in no particular order)

Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg
Marv Albert and Steve Kerr
Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery
Gus Johnson and Len Elmore
Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel
Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, and Reggie Miller
Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel
Tim Brando and Mike Gminski

Sweet 16 and Elite 8 announcers

Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg
Marv Albert and Steve Kerr
Gus Johnson and Len Elmore
Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery

(source: Fang's Bites; hat tip to ssreporters in the comments section

Final Four and National Championship game

Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, and Steve Kerr

No one specific was mentioned in Richard Deitsch's article that broke the news, for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, however, if I were to guess I think it would shape up a bit like this.

Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg: Easy, this is the top pairing.

Gus Johnson and Len Elmore: The team calling the national championship game is doing one night of First Four games. Johnson and Elmore are doing the other. CBS and Turner know who to give exposure to (or, so we think). I would not say this is a sure thing as Johnson always seemed to be the #4 in the old days of March Madness, but I think this a pretty safe bet nonetheless.

Marv Albert and Steve Kerr: Turner is going to want their broadcasters represented in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, especially if Kerr is only joining Nantz and Kellogg in the Final Four.

Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery: Tournament veterans. Gotta have Verne and Raft, no?

If there is a 5th team lurking here, it is the Harlan/Bonner/Miller combination. Kevin Harlan does NBA games for TNT as does Miller. I would not be surprised if Harlan gets a promotion at the expense of either Johnson/Elmore, Albert/Kerr (with Kerr joining Nantz/Kellogg over a week early), or Lundquist/Raftery.

The following will act as sideline reporters during March Madness (note: sideline reporters have not been assigned broadcast teams yet, except for Tracy Wolfson and Nantz/Kellogg/Kerr on the Final Four)

Tracy Wolfson
Craig Sager
David Aldridge
Sam Ryan
Marty Snider
Lesley Visser

Now for the studio coverage. There will be two studios, one in CBS's headquarters in New York like normal, and another in Atlanta at Turner's headquarters.

Now for the list of personnel who will see at some point or another during March Madness.

Greg Gumbel
Ernie Johnson
Matt Winer
Charles Barkley
Kenny Smith
Greg Anthony
Seth Davis
Steve Smith

If you want to read a little more about the studio assignments, check out Deitsch's article.

I am not sure I am entirely thrilled about this (no Jay Bilas; too many talking heads in the studio), but everytime I think about that, my thoughts turn to the prospect of ESPN taking over an over 100 team tournament and how this is only 68 teams with every game being shown on national TV. I then realize that things could be 10 times worse. Every March Madness game is being shown on national TV. There may be some kinks in the broadcast, but at least I will no longer have to hope that Greg Gumbel changes the remote for me or that March Madness On Demand is not running 3 minutes behind.

Almost The Greatest Moment In College Basketball History

If that goes in.......Christian Who?.......Lorenzo Charles' what?........what's luscious about Korie?

Often we dream of seeing that unforgettable sports movie-esque ending in real life. The miracle shot to win the championship. Especially for an underdog. And tonight. Tonight. Just that close from completing a script that would make Hoosiers seem mundane.

Just that close.

Give it up for Duke, though. They won this. They earned this. This game was (shockingly) not determined by the refs. Bad calls went both ways. Good calls went both ways. You may not like Duke, and trust me, I will never like Duke and Coach K, but after watching that game, how can you not respect them? They earned it tonight. They beat a Butler team that was beyond valiant. Most had Duke in a blowout. What no one was coming was one of the greatest championship games we have ever seen.

And nearly the greatest moment college basketball as ever seen.

Butler can take solace. After the first game of the tournament, Bill Raftery proudly claimed that a valiant underdog Robert Morris squad was "only losers on the scoreboard." Tonight that team was Butler. And maybe it hurts too much to think that way now, whether you are a Butler fan or a Duke hater that wanted Butler. But instead of thinking about what could have been, think about what was, and what will forever be. No one is going to forget this night. No one is going to forget where when they screamed at the top of their lungs as they thought that maybe.....just maybe.....they were witnessing sports' greatest moment since February 22, 1980. And by default, no one will forget this run.

No one will forget the Butler Bulldogs of 2010. Maybe Hollywood will re-write a better ending someday, or maybe Brad Stevens gave that ending to the kids in the locker room. Whatever it is, no one will forget this night and that moment.

After the game, Jim Nantz told Clark Kellogg, "Partner, we just witnessed one of the greatest championship games ever played."

Like I said: Unforgettable.

Grading CBS Super Bowl Coverage

Seeing as AA is probably hung over on Bourbon Street or something, I figured I would chime in with my thoughts of the job that CBS did for their Super Bowl coverage. It is an odd tradition of mine dating from way back when I was a kid to only watch the pre-game stuff of the network covering the Super Bowl game until they go off the air for a new reality TV show. Therefore, I can't tell you how good or bad ESPN or NFL Network were last night, but I will talk a lot about CBS.

Last night, they once again showed why they are the best network at handling big sports events. There were no fancy graphics, there were no unusual gimmicks outside of Phil Simms' "Phil-osophy" analysis at the beginning of the game, but that is their routine segment and they can earn a pass for it, and there was nothing over the top about it. The extra, higher quality cameras were not used for flash, but rather to aid and enhancing the broadcast, which they did, in providing us many high quality replays from several different angles. There was no Manning Cam or Brees Cam or any of that nonsense. It was how a Super Bowl should be broadcast. You can never go wrong with using "Run This Town" as a pre-game intro song. The only knock on them was there seemed to be an audio glitch on during the team introductions. Production Grade: A.

Pre-pre Game shows: Personally, I love The Road to The Super Bowl, but if they never do another "All Iron Team" or "Howie Long's Tough Guys", the football world will be better for it. It really adds nothing and this All-Iron Team found me falling asleep, changing the channel, and going out to grab some lunch. If they must have those kinds of shows, they need to make it a 30 minute show. Extending Road to The Super Bowl to make up for that lost 30 minutes would not be the worst idea in the world. Grade: C+

The Super Bowl Today: What a difference a year and a different network makes. NBC tried to get cute by having 2 main desks with a shitload of people at each one, most of whom had never been in that situation before, talking over each other and fighting for airpsace. CBS on the other hand stuck with their main 5 and only brought in extra players, contributors, and reporters when they needed them for a segment. Thus it should be no surprise that CBS blew last year's NBC pre-game show out of the water and then some. While it was a bit heavy on the New Orleans segments, they were not over the top nor did they necessarily try to equate a Super Bowl win with a city being back and houses being built through the raising of trophy. While personally I think it is a useless segment altogether, the Katie Couric interview with the president was concise and to the political point and did not have stupid questions about what President Obama's favorite Super Bowl snack is. They were a little promotion heavy, but what Super Bowl pre-game show isn't nowadays. Oh, and Larry Fitzgerald missing a perfect pass from Dan Marino because of great defense from Darrelle Revis was gold. Pure gold. Grade: B

Jim Nantz and Phil Simms: Jim and Phil did not have their best game ever, but they did not need to. They had solid support around them to help them when they did make mistakes, they were able to clarify and correct themselves virtually on the spot. They did not fluff their words with stories and storylines, which while may be boring to the non-football fan watching the Super Bowl at a regular party who wants to get into the stories, was perfect for real football fans. They described the action and Jim Nantz even showed emotion throughout the game, something that has been said a lot more frequently about him now that he has split up with his wife. Before I give these guys a grade though, I would like to say something. Guys, it's the Super Bowl. You are being seen by more people than you ever imagined in your life. Super Bowl Sunday is not the day to bring out your loudest suits, people!

The only real offender on the main pregame set was Shannon Sharpe who broke something that I still have not figured out what it was.

Jim Nantz decided to bring out the white shirt, which is fine until you add a bright orange tie to it.

Phil Simms who has a thing for loud wardrobes breaks out the pink shirt with the pink and blue striped tie. Well, at least it was a dull pink.

Solomon Wilcots....oy ve........a hot pink shirt with a hot pink tie that did not even match. Words can't describe that other than I think he went pimping after the game.

Steve Tasker, thank you for being normal.

Over all announcing grade: B. Had they collectively not don the loudest wardrobe in the history of Super Bowl coverage, it would have been a B+.

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.

Your Week 16 NFL Schedule

Well that was one ugly MNF blowout. In fact, I must say, that it was the ugliest Monday Night Football game since the 2009 Redskins last played on Monday Night Football.

Moving on, only 2 more weeks of football to go! There is a mass jumble in the AFC of 7-7 teams chasing 2 8-6 teams that is sure to come down to the wire, meanwhile, in the NFC, the Eagles have clinched and the battle for positioning has begun. For the longest time, it looked impossible that anyone would catch the Saints as the #1 seed and the Vikings as the #2 seed, and while the Vikings have little to no chance of catching the Saints, the Eagles are 1-game behind the Vikings and because of mathematic formulas and algorithms beyond my comprehension, the Eagles own the tie-breaker over Minnesota. Therefore 2 Eagles wins plus 1 Vikings loss (or 2 Vikings losses plus 1 or 2 Eagles wins) would result in the Philadelphia Eagles getting a first round bye. And that, my friends, would be huge for this Eagles team. (all times eastern)

Christmas Night Football
San Diego Chargers @ Tennessee Titans 8:20 (NFL Network - Bob Papa and Matt Millen)

Map of who gets what Fox game.

Carolina Panthers @ New York Giants 1:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Troy Aikman)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ New Orleans Saints 1:00 (Fox - Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, and Tony Siragusa)
Seattle Seahawks @ Green Bay Packers 1:00 (Fox - Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick)

St. Louis Rams @ Arizona Cardinals 4:05 (Fox - Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan)
Detroit Lions @ San Francisco 49ers 4:05 (Fox - Dick Stockton and Charles Davis)

Map of who gets what CBS early game.

Baltimore Ravens @ Pittsburgh Steelers 1:00 (CBS - Dick Enberg and Dan Fouts)
Jacksonville Jaguars @ New England Patriots 1:00 (CBS - Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots)
Kansas City Chiefs @ Cincinnati Bengals 1:00 (CBS - Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker)
Houston Texans @ Miami Dolphins 1:00 (CBS - Ian Eagle and Rich Gannon)
Buffalo Bills @ Atlanta Falcons 1:00 (CBS - Bill Macatee and Steve Beuerlein)
Oakland Raiders @ Cleveland Browns 1:00 (CBS - Don Criqui and Randy Cross)

Map of who gets what CBS late game

Denver Broncos @ Philadelphia Eagles 4:15 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Phil Simms)
New York Jets @ Indianapolis Colts 4:15 (CBS - Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf)

Sunday Night Football
Dallas Cowboys @ Washington Redskins 8:20 (NBC - Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth)

Monday Night Football
Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears 8:30 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden)

As hard as it is to believe, the Colts are 14-0 and have not once gotten Jim Nantz and Phil Simms on one of their games. And on their 2 appearances on Fox, they got Brennaman/Billick and Rosen/Ryan, respectively. The only time they got any lead team was when they were on Sunday Night Football 3 times and Monday Night Football once. Simply incredible that CBS continues to worship New England and Pittsburgh when one of the teams they cover regularly not named New England or Pittsburgh is currently going unbeaten. The counter to that argument, though, is who on earth have the Colts played? Their biggest match-ups, including the battle with New England have all been their primetime games, so I almost can't blame them, but at the same time, they went out of their way a lot in 2007 to make sure Nantz and Simms got Pats games and you know that Fox would go out of their way to send Buck and Aikman to any Fox game the Cowboys played if the Cowboys were unbeaten. I must say, though, that despite the playoff race, if the Colts have a chance to go for 16-0 next week, I don't see how Nantz and Simms don't get the job, even if it is a game against the Buffalo Bills.

Jim Nantz For President!

Okay, so he's not running for President yet, as I was perusing the506 last night looking for the announcer schedules, the link to the confirmed schedule for the Sweet Sixteen led to a USA Today column by Michael Hiestand and that column was not just on the announcers and th Sweet 16. Apparently our friend, Jim Nantz, has some political aspirations! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Jim Nantz for public office! Hello, friends!

CBS' Jim Nantz, in an interview with CBS' WANE affiliate in Fort Wayne, Ind., suggests he eventually might run for public office. "Someday if I could run for mayor of my little town or city councilman or state congressman or U.S. congressman … I think that would be really neat. I really do."

I can see the campaign slogan now: "Hello, friend! Vote for Nantz!"

In all seriousness, though, I am starting to come around a bit to Jim Nantz. First of all, there is little doubt in my mind that he is nothing but a stand up, classy guy and I have always recognized and acknowleged that about him. My gripe about Nantz is that he is, in my opinion, rather monotonous and drag some of the excitement out of the game. I don't expect every announcer to be like Gus Johnson, but sometimes I just feel like the enthusiasm is not there for him. Maybe it's the analysts that have been dragging him down. I mean, for goodness sakes, the guy has been stuck with Phil Simms and Billy Packer for numerous years (I don't watch golf so I can't comment on his work there), but now that he has been parntered with Clark Kellogg, he has been coming out of his shell a bit, seemingly. I will say (and I will have a whole announcing review later for the first round later on today) that this is the most I think I have ever enjoyed listening to Jim Nantz.

Back to politics though, I wonder what ideology Jim Nantz is...