Everyone does that, unfortunately. “Look at the blindside hit away from the play Hines Ward just made to that guy’s neck! And he’s smiling! What a terrific football player! What a great blocker!”
It’s like the stupid Favre love. “Look how much fun he’s having out there, despite just throwing his 4th interception!”
cnnsi.com or espn.com should be better. If you sign up for any fantasy football site, you’ll probably like their coverage of games better.
I’m going to the Panthers/Eagles game tomorrow. I’m cutting back from 8 games to 3 this year (mostly because my wife doesn’t appreciate me leaving her with the 3 young’ns 8 Sundays in Autumn…) I’m looking forward to getting back to the stadium, but honestly, I’m probably happier watching the games at home these days. I have a decent-size HD TV, with DVR so I can pause and replay at will; a comfortable sofa; and all the snacks/beverages I need without getting rooked with concession prices. Sure, you don’t have the ambiance of thousands of people who can’t stay in their seat for more than 5 minutes parading up and down the stairs, often blocking your view at crucial times in the game; or douchebags on their cell phones not paying attention; or the traffic, but still…
My favorite is the deification of Ben Toothlessburger. It never gets old hearing how heroic he is, playing through all those self induced dramas/injuries. Madden was particularly effusive in that regard.
I love this. The Steelers folks are whining in A_D’s thread about how Al Michaels and Collinsworth were anti-Steelers. I felt like I had stepped into bizarro world.
I think Collinsworth is one of the best, and deserving of the prime time slot.
That’s pretty high praise coming from me; I despise most NFL announcers (though none more than Joe Buck and Dan Dierdorf).
No kidding. I mentioned to my daughter during the game that if any of the Steelers stopped moving suddenly, the commentators’ heads would go right up Steeler butt. Particularly Worthlessburger’s.
They must not teach math in the great white north.
I was willing to accept that you simply had a difference of opinion, or perhaps didn’t know that Collinsworth in particular, being an ex-Bengals great (to be charitable inasmuch as outside of Munoz Bengals greats do not exist), has had a hard-on for the Steelers for years. But then you went and said this:
You are dead to me. Seriously? Collinsworth? Madden at his most senile was 100 times the announcer Collinsworth is. He’s the Joe Morgan of football. Lay down the pipe and step away from the TV.
Gentlemen, gentlemen, please. Can’t we all agree that they both suck?
Chris Collinsworth, in my opinion, has improved over his years in the booth, including in his ability to call a Steeler game in an unbiased fashion. When he first started, however, his years getting his ass handed to him as a Bengal in the AFC Central showed up whenever he called a Steeler game. As I said before, I thought he did a pretty good job calling last Thursday’s game, with a few exceptions. He called out several bad ref calls that went against the Steelers.
I don’t know what Michaels deal is, but his calling of the Steelers superbowls this decade is a primary reason for this Stealer bullshit. A prime example, as I noted in the other thread, was his rooting for the Titans to throw a red flag on a forward pass by the Steelers where Ben didn’t come within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. It was so bad that he had to correct himself when he came back after the commercial.
Halfway through the last Superbowl, where I thought Madden even had toned down his shit, Michaels started with his “shades of 2005?” and “wonder what Mike Holmgren would have to say about that?” kind of commentary. I used to think he was a great sports announcer, but not anymore.
By the way, I agree with you about Joe Buck - just awful. You should have heard his father call a football game - orders of magnitude worse.
But Dan Dierdorf I thought was one of the better announcers, just because he seemed to love the game and he focused on aspects of the game that I enjoy. He also never appeared to have a bias towards any particular team.
Bolding added.
Hamlet, I feel ya. I have a Bears-fan buddy who talks smack about games that took place when he was still in diapers. Then I remind him of Favre’s 9-game or whatever winning streak against the Bears in the '90s and he tells me to stop living in the past. But 1985, that one good year they had, wasn’t that long ago.
Looking forward to tonight, hoping Raji is OK and gets to play some. I’m a little apprehensive about the new defense, but they can’t be much worse than last year and Capers has a good first-season track record.
Why does Buck suck? I never noticed.
Mealy-mouthed. His feigned shock over the Randy Moss fake mooning incident made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.
I didn’t watch much pro football until 2000 or so, so my experience with early Collinsworth is nonexistent. I like him because he stays focused (doesn’t start talking about the Giants’ big Week 11 matchup in Week 2), knows the game, and doesn’t do the most annoying thing football commentators can do- praise a boneheaded play when it comes to a good result (like making an interception six yards deep in the endzone and bringing it out despite not having an open running lane, then breaking a couple of tackles to take it to the house).
He wasn’t rooting for the Titans to challenge; he was wondering why they hadn’t. It seemed to me like he just lost track of where the line of scrimmage was. Anyway, considering the officiating in the Seahawks-Steelers Super Bowl I can’t really fault Michaels for calling the officials out.
Exhibit A: overreacting.
And it begins…
Might I cordially invite the NFL, Fox and CBS to all cordially go get fucked?
My AM options for network viewing, this glorious First Sunday:
MIN vs. CLE
-or-
NYJ vs. HOU
Urgh.
The rule that denied the Browns a touchdown is ridiculous. The receiver was back in bounds; what does it matter that he hadn’t got two feet on the ground yet?
Cribbs: great football player or the greatest football player?
Greatest football player (on the Browns). Of course that’s not saying much.
Seriously though, the Brownies looking good so far. Their defense is doing great keeping AD under wraps, and not giving Favre anything but dump offs. GO BROWNS!!!
Cold beer? Check
Navajo tacos? Check
Cardinals begin their return to the Super Bowl with a win over SF? Coming up in an hour!