I watched the game on ESPN just to cheer for whoever was playing the Cowboys and boy was that a painful experience.
I have never shouted at the screen so much during a football game and it was all directed at the director. I was outraged. It was like the guys in the booth didn’t even realize there was a game going on. They never talked about what was going on on the field. For most of the game you never saw a replay of a good or controversial play because they were showing interviews or film clips or the coach glowering or some other tripe. I think I counted five stories that the commentators did while play was going on. They had full blown in studio interviews going on for 10 - 12 plays that were interrupted at the snap and resumed at the tackle as if the game were an annoyance. They were so obsessed with the look on TO’s face that we saw it, for a while, after ever play OF THE GIANTS OFFENCE.
On top of that the camera direction was a joke. There were several plays where the camera angle chosen was horrible. And with no replays you often had to guess as to whether the play was successful ‘cause you never saw the field until the next snap and they never said what the result was.
Is it just me or is this the worst football broadcast of the modern era?
Without any other issue you mention, the mere fact that Joe Theismann is involved makes it the worse football broadcasting ever. Since he started with their Sunday night games, it has been bad.
This announce team makes one yearn for the days of Al Madden, doesn’t it? Ignoring the game; not showing the game (they completely missed the last extra point); having a too long interview with Emmitt Smith cross-selling Dancing with the Stars, and keeping Emmitt on the screen rather than just hearing him. Hell, that whole interview should have been stuffed into half-time. That was the absolute worst football broadcast I’ve seen in ages. I’m committed to my Giants, so I’ll watch once more this year, but I think I’ll listen to the game on the radio.
Even this Cowboy fan was more frustrated by the quality of analysis than that of play. Usually, I can just turn down the volume and watch when it’s two tems I’ve only a passsing interest (heh) in, but last night I actually listened… and it was horrid. Theisman, master of the obvious, just makes me ill. Jealous little Kornheiser just needs to go away, he’s nauseatingly bothersome and adds nothing.
I kept being pestered by the same nagging question… “Why, of all organizations, is ESPN unable to put together anything better?”
Incorrect, the team beating the Cowboys was the Cowboys.
And I agree 100% about the announcing crew. ESPN has always been horrendous, but last night was bad even for their standards. I really wish I had been able to watch the game live so I could have muted the squakers on the screen and turned up the local broadcast.
And five seconds for Troy and Rayfield, and about 10 minutes for Hank Williams Jr? WTF?
Because ESPN pays crap versus the networks? I thought the problem, in addition to the analysis, was that one couldn’t watch, as they took the camera of the field of play all the farging time!
It helped that the back judge ran a pick for us early in the game. Still, give Big Blue some credit.
Thanks for reminding me of the Hank William Jr. fiasco. I had already repressed that memory. Theismann and the stupid hat; Kornheiser complaining about the hat - all while the reason people tune into MNF is going on in the background.
Plus the fact that they kept pulling the mic away from Rayfield while he was talking for whatever reason. He’s a great player, seems a nice man with something to say, so quit speeding past him to get to Troy “The Teeth Caps” Aikman.
I used to listen to Charlie on Ken Beatrice’s radio show, and let me tell you: he comes across as sharper than a new stilletto. To this day, I’m still convinced that he’s a genius who somehow managed to forget everything that Bobby Beathard ever taught him about football.
So, in short, he had us all fooled.
Regarding MNF, though, I’m sure that I’m in the minority (again) here, but I actually like Theisman and Kornheiser, blowhards though they may be.
I agree, though, that the directing is terrible. Yelling “Get back to the freakin’ game, already!” at the TV doesn’t seem to help, but I can’t seem to stop doing it.
Last night Jacobs made a real strong 10 yd run through a bunch of tacklers. I called my son in to see replay. They interviewed Emmit Smith instead.I thought we turned on football for the game.
Hope Kornheiser kicks Theismans butt.
My bet is the trio who did the second ESPN game on week one- Jaworski and I forget the other two- will be the lead team next year. But most of it is not the current teams fault- they don’t decide on their own to bring the guy from Desperate Housewives in the booth for a half hour. Or show a close up of Emmitt Smith’s face instead of a live game play. But they are associated with the stupid network decisions and will take the blame.
What you have is two people, both in love with the sound of his own voice. And gawd are they in love. Now, I’ll cut Joe some slack because having your leg bones snapped like toothpicks on national television is going to mark you. Also, he really supported Childrens’ Hospital here when he played. But Tony’s just an overexposed hack who never hid the fact that he knew little about the games he covered. He can be funny, but was always funnier in his Style section columns that dealt with his family than he was on the sports page. At least Joe knows the game, but a local reporter called him a man that “never met a microphone he didn’t like.”
I cannot stand Theisman. To the point where, last week, I even tried to tune in the audio from the radio coverage, and muted the sound on the TV. The only problem was that there was enough of a delay (not sure if intentional or not - backlash from the Janet Jackson thing or what), but the radio play-by-play was ahead of the TV action just enough to make the TV coverage unwatchable (you knew a pass was dropped before the throw).
But the ESPN coverage overall is just horrid. The worst so far was the BIG return to New Orleans (Saints vs. Falcons) game. EVERY frickin’ thing was symbolically tied in with the rebuilding of the city: “Drew Brees commitment to live in New Orleans is symbolic of the spirit of the city…”, “the Saints making that last first down was like the city rising from the ashes of Katrina…” (made that up, but you get the gist).
What started out as “moving” was quickly beaten to death. It became unbearable.
I couldn’t agree more with how aggravating it is when they keep cutting away from the field for one inane celebrity interview after the other, usually to plug some crappy ABC show. It’s gotten to be like Jay Leno lately. They also did an interview with Jerry Jones last night that went on forever and for which they were all but ignoring live game action.
How I long for Howard Cosell and Dandy Don Meredith. Even the Gifford, Michaels and Dierdorf era looks like a golden age compared to this.
No, please not Gifford, Michaels and Dierdorf, every night they broadcast I was waiting for the daisy-chain to break out. Cosell, on the other hand, he was irritating, but honest.
