NFL’s announcing teams ........Who is the best?... Who is the worst?

michael89156 · 2014-02-08T07:28:27Z

2013-14 NFL Announcer RankingsBy Chris Burke SI.comAl Michaels and Cris Collinsworth have been together on NBC since 2006. (Ray Carlin/Icon SMI) For the third consecutive season, the privilege — and challenge — of continuing Dr. Z’s annual tradition of ranking the NFL’s announcing teams falls right here.The not-so-secret truth behind the task is that there is no way to be right (though, if the past has taught us anything, most will still argue the rankings below are wrong). I polled five people casually this week just on their top three announcing teams, and all five responded with different answers. Each NFL TV viewer has a unique ear, a different set of criteria he or she wants met by those calling the games. With that, the 2013 rankings: Outside the top 10: Bill Macatee and Steve Tasker, CBS; Marv Albert and Rich Gannon, CBS; Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick, FOX; Chris Myers and Tim Ryan, FOX; Dick Stockton and Ronde Barber, FOX; Spero Dedes and Steve Beuerlein, CBS; Sam Rosen and Heath Evans, FOX; Andrew Catalon and Adam Archuleta, CBS. A few of these pairings, like Catalon and Archuleta or Rosen and Evans, simply do not call enough games to really register as threats to the upper echelon. Others just didn’t get the job done. It pains me some to have Albert and Stockton here for the second consecutive year, given how long they’ve been in the broadcasting game. Albert, 72, clearly has some issues keeping pace with the speed of the NFL game. (Plus, for me, he’ll forever be an NBA announcer — I can’t hear his voice without also reminiscing on the brilliant NBA on NBC theme song.) Stockton, 71, has not fared much better, and together with Ronde Barber produced some real flubs this year. The Detroit-Washington game in Week 3 was of particular note. That one started with a sack by London Fletcher, whom Stockton referred to as “the old man from the sea.” “Great play by the old, old man,” Barber added. Just … what? Stockton also failed on multiple occasions to nail Brian Orakpo’s name, and he changed his pronunciation of Roy Helu with each carry — “Hello,” “HE-loo,” etc. The Macatee-Tasker and Dedes-Beuerlein pairings have promise, the latter mainly because Dedes is an up-and-comer. But they’re both buried on CBS’ depth chart. Brennaman and Billick again probably are the most high-profile tandem to miss out on the top 10. The slight happened for the same reasons it did last year: Billick botches simple calls as much as he adds real insight, and Brennaman’s approach runs too preachy for my taste. 10. Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, CBS Hearing Jim Nantz’s voice calls to mind visions of Augusta or the Final Four. That can be a bit problematic from an NFL standpoint, given that he is CBS’ No. 1 play-by-play man for the league. Perhaps his silky smooth delivery would be more memorable were he not paired with Simms, consistently among the most frustrating color commentators out there. Simms’ missteps have paved the way for one of the funnier Twitter accounts out there, @philsimmsquotes, which tracks his oft-nonsensical sayings. A couple of the better ones: “You know the protection is good when you look down the field and no one is open” and “When running an offense you spend a lot of time thinking about how to score.” The account also tracks how many times per game Simms uses the phrase “talked about” — as in, “Well, you know, Jim, we talked about how important …” CBS may never shift this pairing from the No. 1 spot. We all know what we’re getting at this point. 9. Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf, CBS Those of you who have played football video games in the past know the announcers therein eventually become a bit of a nuisance because the canned calls start repeating. (My least favorite of all: In the NCAA Football franchise, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit had the same exchange after almost every offensive penalty, with Corso yelling, “Beep beep beep! … I’m telling everyone that this offense is going in reverse!”) Shy of John Madden’s sound effects (“BOOM!”), Dierdof has been the closest real-life version of a video-game announcer. Most of the time, he’s stuck to the script, offering generic commentary — i.e. over the course of a few snaps in the Houston-Baltimore game, he hit us with “That’s a big-time play” and “That’s a big challenge.” He also did more right than he was given credit for by viewers. Just before halftime of that same game, Dierdorf cautioned that Houston punter Shane Lechler sometimes got too much distance on his punts. “He could turn the field around,” Gumbel said. “Well, yea, but he also could set up a big return,” Dierdorf noted. Lechler then bombed a punt that Tandon Doss raced back for a touchdown. Sure, it was clunky how Dierdorf got there — “The one thing about Shane Lechler, every now and then he launches a kick that, you’ve heard the saying before, outkicks his coverage …” — but he got there nonetheless. Now that Dierdorf is retiring, people may miss his simple charms more than they expect. Gumb...

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If you hate the Raiders, don't listen to this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L54do9yaFpg

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NFL’s announcing teams ........Who is the best?... Who is the worst?

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