When I first tuned into the San Francisco-Chicago game on the NFL Network tonight something seemed different. I heard the crowd noise but the broadcast otherwise was devoid of noise.
I asked my wife, a non-football fan, if she noticed. It took her a minute – she guessed two or three times and couldn’t come up with it.
Then the NFL Network folks fixed whatever the problem was and the announcers and their constant babble were back. But the announcer-free six or seven minutes that started the game were among the most pleasant football viewing I’ve done in awhile. Not that all announcers are bad – but many of them do talk a lot more than they need to in order to make the game entertaining.
Maybe this is something they could learn from.
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There are at least two fully intentional full game precedents for this type of thing. The first was a regular season Jets-Dolphins game on NBC shown December 20, 1980 where one heard only crowd noise and PA announcers. There was also a Broncos-Bills preseason game on the NFL Network shown August 15, 2004 which added in select miked players and coaches to the crowd/PA sounds. Found discussion about all this here:
http://sports-boards.net/forums/showthread.php?t=245
Better than the likes of Tony Kornheiser, that’s for sure.
I’ve been whining about too much chatter from the booth for years. Sometime it’s nice to watch without some egg head telling me what I just saw. :) I can live with the MNF format but all the rest should be two men in the both.
I like Jaws and Gruden but there really is too much analyzing. Good thing Gruden can be a little funny and Trico is so mellow or my head would explode.
I saw the 1981 Jets – Dolphins with only the field announcer. Trust me, I hate to admit but that sucks!! Boring!!
I like it when the Color guy doesn’t dissect every play like in the old days . They used to tell more stories and talk about past players. I guess I’m not serious enough about the game to need to hear about every coverage. I miss Madden some. Last of the old school. Not all bad because we have many great Play by Play imo.