Re-thinking the hiring of color commentators

[eball]

25 minutes ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

Meh … I garner my enjoyment from the game itself.  I don’t give much attention to who is calling the game, unlike many on these boards who get all worked up over every comment or perceived slight to their team

 

I think I fall more into this category as well.  I only notice them when they are really bad.

 

But I do admit, an analyst who can break down a play afterwards and show me the intricacies of what was happening is appreciated.

 

[BuffaloBillies]

9 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

It is true that they can take you “inside the huddle,” but they don’t. They have 3-5 basic talking points usually.
 

Go back and listen to Sanchez from last Sunday. He added literally nothing to the broadcast by way of content. For example, did he ever once explain the coverages that were being run by either team? 

 

Oh yeah, he blows. He would fit in the "super annoying with stupid takes during the game" category.

Give me Romo or similar though.

 

[K-9]

10 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

It is true that they can take you “inside the huddle,” but they don’t. They have 3-5 basic talking points usually.
 

Go back and listen to Sanchez from last Sunday. He added literally nothing to the broadcast by way of content. For example, did he ever once explain the coverages that were being run by either team? 

He had trouble understanding them when he played so it stands to reason he wouldn’t be able to explain them now. 

[HamptonBillsfan]

8 minutes ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

Fair points all Hampton.

 

The most famous color commentator of all time, Howard Cosell, wrote an autobiography entitled, "I never played the game".  There can be some exceptions to the rule about ex-NFL types in the booth.  I'd take Aunt Edna from National Lampoon's Vacation over Collinsworth again.

Not saying these color guys appeal to everybody,but the game is such an incredible TV friendly product, coupled with a conduit for gambling activities, that it just doesn't matter unless someone alienates a portion of the market with some inflammatory comments. 

[klos63]

I love listening to Peyton Manning break down a play, a drive, a gameplan. Even though his broadcasts are spending too much time with guests, when the Mannings breakdown the game, it's very informative. Almost everything the usual commentators talk about is stuff I already know or can see myself. Former QB's are usually the best, just like catchers in baseball, they need to know all elements of offense and defense when they play the game. Brian Griese often has useful comments, same with Romo. But most of them are useless.

[HOUSE]

I left my microphone in the car

[K-9]

My biggest issue with color commentary guys is that they feel compelled to talk too much; like they get paid per word. And when you have two of them like ESPN does on Monday nights, it becomes a competition and the chatter becomes non stop. The game is interesting, but it ain’t that interesting. Sometimes less is more and ya gotta let the picture speak for you. 

[nucci]

with all the info on the screen and refs with microphones...there's no need for play by play or analysts in the booth. They just tell me what I just saw. No announcers with crowd noise is all I need...they just use same cliches every game.  

[LeGOATski]

35 minutes ago, maddenboy said:

Agree.

 

but we do want to be entertained by the color guy.   usually the play-by-play guy is dry, which is fine. 

 

Or, maybe the better play is to get rid of the play-by-play guy.  The color guy can give me down, distance, penalty called, etc. 

 

So maybe go with 2 color guys.  An entertainer and a football geek. 

 

To keep football alive, cater to the new generation of fans and potential fans.  They have short attention and want to be entertained, as they multi-multi-task while they watch.

 

Or better yet, just give me a picture to color while I watch the game!

 

[dpberr]

I agree that most retired NFLers are terrible at this job. A lot of them lack charisma. 

 

Too many YouTube podcasters try to emulate Florio. That's not a positive.

 

Most, not all, of the great sportscasters started in radio and doing minor league baseball, and I believe if you wanted to find promising talent, that's where it still lies.

[Beast]

I rarely pay attention to what is being said by the pbp guy or cc during the game.

[Mojo44]

To me this is much ado about nothing. My bar is set low in terms of my expectations for a color commentator. I think many posters here have unreasonably high expectations of a color commentator. I am certainly not on the Collingsworth is the antichrist bandwagon. He’s OK. In fact, and with respect, it’s the endless comments about him during a game thread that become tiresome and annoying. If you really hate him that much, switch to another broadcast. And he does add some good insight into the game. Aikman  is boring but has his moments. Romo, on the other hand, is a big disappointment to me. He started out fresh and interesting and for the past two years has become a caricature of himself. He has a shtick that has become old and tiresome. My favorite is probably Moose Johnston but I don’t usually watch Fox.  But it’s the game itself that’s important, not the commentators. 

[NewEra]

Sanchez is a prime example of both, ex player, while also being a podcast guy.  I enjoyed his podcast. He’s pretty sharp in that regard.  As a color guy, he’s god awful. Some of his takes in the Atlanta game were 💯 wrong.  

[In Summary]

Don't care about the personal interest stories and who said what in the off week on Twitter. Sideline reporters are generally cringe. Give me someone who knows the game and can explain plays. 

[Matt_In_NH]

Agree there are some bad one....disagree hiring film nerds is the right answer.  To some degree, this partly depends on what you want....if you want X's and O's all the time then your suggestion could work.  But its one size fits all thing, people want to be entertained, there is a huge part of the viewing audience that does not want to know about minutia.   Maybe the right answer is multiple crews...a la Manning Cast, or the Nickelodeon thing.

[Niagara Bill]

Please please please, not one tik tok, selfey taking, self absorbed, YouTuber where the focus is on the broadcaster not the game.

[transient]

42 minutes ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

Meh … I garner my enjoyment from the game itself.  I don’t give much attention to who is calling the game, unlike many on these boards who get all worked up over every comment or perceived slight to their team

 

15 minutes ago, eball said:

 

I think I fall more into this category as well.  I only notice them when they are really bad.

 

But I do admit, an analyst who can break down a play afterwards and show me the intricacies of what was happening is appreciated.

 

 

7 minutes ago, klos63 said:

I love listening to Peyton Manning break down a play, a drive, a gameplan. Even though his broadcasts are spending too much time with guests, when the Mannings breakdown the game, it's very informative. Almost everything the usual commentators talk about is stuff I already know or can see myself. Former QB's are usually the best, just like catchers in baseball, they need to know all elements of offense and defense when they play the game. Brian Griese often has useful comments, same with Romo. But most of them are useless.

 

If it's a good game, I think the color guy is superfluous. While there is the occasional salient point to be made, if they're good, at the end of the game my enjoyment would be no more or less with or without them. A bad color guy, however, can make a good game annoying to watch and can make a bad game almost unwatchable.

 

I enjoy the Manning-cast, but only if I'm not really interested in the game. They're entertaining, but it's like a football talk show with a football game as the backdrop. If it's a bad game or one I'm not that invested in, their broadcast is what I'm watching. If it's a good game that I'm really interested in I have to switch to the regular broadcast. For me it's akin to trying to watch a Bills game with friends at a football party. My limited attention span keeps me getting distracted by all of the conversations going on around me and I miss a bunch of the action. 

[bigK14094]

We need commentators to tell us who is hurt, who went in, etc etc.  Most of these broadcast teams don't bother with that detail, and it detracts from the game.  Especially the old playuers, to busy giving us their opinion, and not enough about what is going on in the game.   When the left guard goes down, its a big deal to Bills fans, who went in is of concern.  We don't need a rant about QB play at that point. The play by play guys not doing their job well these days imho.

Edited January 8, 2022 by bigK14094

[Joe Mama]

1 hour ago, maddenboy said:

 

 

So maybe go with 2 color guys.  An entertainer and a football geek. 

 

 

Or you could have both in one--"Dandy" Don Meredith

[Bruce Smith]

1 hour ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

I think we can all agree that there are a lot of terrible football (and really sports) color commentators out there. I believe the NFL needs to change its hiring model. 
 

i think there was this belief that hiring former players and coaches as commentators would cause fans to like them or watch them more because of their popularity. I don’t think that assumption is right. I don’t know anyone who likes a commentator or his work just because he was liked or known as a player. 
 

There are now so many really brilliant content creators out there (media, podcasts, YouTube) who dissect film endlessly and would provide so much better and more astute analysis than the likes of Tiki Barber or Adam
Archuletta Or Troy Ailman, or Brian Griese, or Mark Sanchez, etc. 

 

I would like to see the NFL shift away from the hiring of recently retired players and instead look at some of these “film nerds” as possible hires. As average football fans are getting smarter and more into the X’s and O’s, the current model of having former players trot out a bunch of vapid talking points is not working. 
 

Any thoughts? 

I mute the announcers so i could care less.