Steve Kerr Saves the Final Four

The NCAA tournament is the best time of the year.  We can all agree on that.  However, for a long time, the Final Four was nearly unbearable from a broadcast standpoint.  Jim Nantz is serviceable, but his cornyness gets in the way at times.  For years Bill Packer was the grumpy old guy ruining the party for everyone.  Then they replaced him, and while Clark Kellogg was a breath of fresh air, his cornyness combined with Nantz, created for a kindergarten-like atmosphere.  This year, enter Steve Kerr.  Somebody who is no nonsense, by the book, and explains what is going on!  Steve has added the missing dynamic that was there with just Nantz and Kellogg and his work with them on Saturday night was brilliant.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow night's championship game now.  Go Butler!

The Beauty of Bill Raftery

With a full course load this fall and an NFL season that was one of the most exciting in recent memory, my college basketball viewing took a hit this year.  But now that football season is done, and I have developed a full blown case of senioritis, I have had a chance to rediscover my love for my favorite sport.  As I've found myself watching more and more college hoops, I've once again found myself thuroughly enjoying the work of Bill Raftery.

Bill Raftery has been broadcasting for over twenty years now, and has been with ESPN for almost a decade.  There are few people in the broadcast world more passionate about the sport they cover.  Whenever I find myself watching Big Monday on ESPN I find myself either chuckling at some joke "Raft" has made or I find myself enlightened by a point he has illustrated.

The broadcast world has seen people begin to take their jobs more and more seriously.  And while the consummate professionalism is usually appreciated, hearing someone who is enjoying their time behind the mic is refreshing.  When "Raft" sees something he likes, he lets the audience know with his inflection.  He sounds like he genuinely appreciates his job.  His catch phrases are also second to none.  Using the term "Onions" to describe someone that is clutch is as clever of a way to describe intestinal fortitude as you will ever come across.  His "Send it In, Jerome!" highlight is still one of my favorites of all time.

We need more people like Bill Raftery behind the mic.  It's time more guys sitting court side start acting like they love being there! 

Super Bowl Sunday: Joe Buck Has a Pulse!

              I would be lying to you if I said I was excited that Joe Buck was broadcasting Super Bowl XLV.  As I’ve mentioned before, the man has failed to rise to the occasion multiple times throughout his career, and with one of the most anticipated Super Bowls of all-time on our hands yesterday, I was certain he would find a way to ruin this moment as well.  I was so confident he would botch big calls that I wanted to get in my car, drive to Vegas and find the prop bet for his broadcasting errors, and put all my money on the over.  He was brutal in his last Super Bowl, and there was no reason to think he would be much better this week.  I must say, however, I was pleasantly surprised with his performance. 

            Buck has had a tendency to be a “dead fish” at times.  His job as a national announcer is to not show bias to either team on the field, but in his efforts to maintain neutrality, he often loses sight of the significance of some moments (The Tyree catch in Super Bowl XLII being his most heinous offense).  I have never been fond of Buck, but I have to tip the cap to him for yesterday’s performance.  The guy stepped him.  While we can nitpick some of the little things (he describes every single pass the exact same way: it’s either “over the middle!” or “(QB’s Name THROWS”…that’s literally the only two ways he describes a pass. mix it up a little Joe.  Please.) the area where he is most often criticized was where he thrived.  Every touchdown seemed exciting through his voice.  He finally seemed like he wanted to be broadcasting the most exciting game in the world.  He finally appeared to have a pulse!  Every time somebody got into the end zone, Buck’s voice had a noticeable crescendo.  He finally acted the way we have wanted our play-by-play to act during the Super Bowl.  He also nailed the final call when he went with “The Lombardi Trophy is headed back home.”  Great call.  I hope this is a turning point for Buck.  We have to deal with him every Sunday of the NFL season and every third Super Bowl Sunday.  Fortunately for us, every three years might be more bearable because Joe Buck has found his pulse!

CBS vs. FOX (Nantz vs. Buck)

            Sunday is one of the best sports days of the year: Conference Championship day in the NFL.  On the field it’s Packers vs. Bears and Jets vs. Steelers, but in the booth today it’s CBS vs. FOX, and more importantly, Jim Nantz vs. Joe Buck. 

            FOX and CBS each get one game today, and each network’s Number 1 crew gets a crack at things.  Here’s the two guys calling the game, their credentials, and my take on their performance on Sunday.

          Jim Nantz

• CBS’ Number 1 guy for nearly two decades now.  He may have the best job in America.  He gets to call an NFL game (usually CBS’ best game of the week) every Sunday of the football season.  Works CBS’ best playoff game every week, and gets the Super Bowl every third year (including last year’s Saints Victory).  Once football ends, he gets about a three week break until her starts working CBS’ coverage of March Madness, leading up to the Final Four, in which he calls both games as well as the National Championship.  After the National Championship game, which is always played on a Monday night, he flies to Augusta Georgia, and calls the greatest golf tournament known to man that Thursday through Sunday.  Like I said, greatest job ever.
• My Thoughts:
• Nantz’s work with the Masters is his best stuff.  He has been working Augusta for 25 years now and seems to have perfected one of the toughest sports to call.  He manages all the moves from hole to hole throughout the telecast and makes it seamless.  He is on the record as saying he wants to call 25 more Masters, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason he cant accomplish the feat.  His voice is now synonymous with the tournament.  As for football, Nantz isn’t CBS’ best guy, but he is their voice, so CBS is somewhat obliged to put him on their biggest games.  Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing Ian Eagle get the call.  I think he has become their best football guy recently.  Greg Gumbel is their current number 2 and isn’t bad either, but I’m hot and cold with him.  Eagle seems to rise to the occasion more often than Bryant Gumbel’s older, wiser, and more sane brother. 
• Sunday Performance:
• As always, Nantz starts things off with his trademark salutation of, “Hello Friends”.  I used to think this was kind of cool.  Now it just seems stupid and corny.  Nantz’s best aspects of his football work is his depth of knowledge and history surrounding the players and teams.  He seems to always have a reference ready.  He’s not great during the play, but he’s very good between plays, and honestly, for television, that’s fine.  If he were working radio, we would have a problem.  But with TV, the picture does enough talking for the viewer.
• Interesting moment during the first quarter. Heath Miller makes what looks like a catch.  Jets Challenge.  Phil Simms seems convinced the catch will stand, Nantz disagrees.   The play is overturned and Nantz is proven right.  Why do we even have analysts anymore?  Half of them don’t even know the rules.  Nantz, Mike Tirico, and Al Michales (NOT BUCK…we’ll get to him later) seem to nail about 90 percent of their replays.  The analysts they work with seem to be flipping a coin every time a play goes upstairs.  Nantz does a good job staying out of the way of a good comeback attempt from the Jets and his “The Steelers are going to the Super Bowl…again line” was great…and premeditated.  He claims he doesn’t sit down the night before and script out his lines for each team if they should win, and yet every time it seems scripted.  Just come clean Jim! 

Joe Buck

• FOX’s number 1 guy for about a decade now.  Has the worlds easiest job.  Works every Sunday during NFL season.  Works the occasional Sunday during baseball season.  Dusts off the score book in October and calls the Championship Series and World Series on FOX.  Literally does nothing else…at least that we know of.  Failed miserably with his show on HBO.  Artie Lange came on the set and took a fat shit on it, Buck, and any chance Buck had of ever hosting another talk show.  That first episode was one of the most uncomfortable pieces of television ever.  Watch it, its ridiculous.  Joe Buck gets a lot of shit, and most of it he deserves. 
• My Thoughts:
• In all honesty, he is not THAT bad.  He’s had enough reps now that he can hold his own, but let’s also be realistic here: there is no way in hell he would have the job he has if his dad weren’t Jack Buck.  FOX seems to be following a new philosophy; hire famous announcers’ kids.  Their number one and two teams consist of the sons of Jack Buck and Marv Albert.  And quite frankly, Joe and Kenny can’t carry Jack and Marv’s jockstraps, let alone their legacies.  They’ll both forever be unfairly compared to their fathers, but they also unfairly got great jobs because of them too. 
• Sunday Performance
• Joe’s been getting better lately.  He actually gets excited on occasion.  See Rodger's TD Run and compare it to him ruining what may have been the greatest play in football history.  Buck's biggest criticism in recent years has been his lack of excitement over big plays.  Some have even speculated he no longer has a pulse, although he keeps showing up on Sundays so we can confirm his heart is still beating.  I do think there has been a change in Buck's energy since his HBO show went up in flames.  He probably feels the pressure a little bit.  So much has been handed to him, and that show was the first thing that was taken from him and as a result he probably no longer feels like he can skate by on stupid jokes and boring commentary.  He also is handicapped by Troy Aikman every week and has done a better job in recent years of diverting viewers away from Aikman's terrible color commentary.  Joe acquitted himself well today, but his real test comes in two weeks when he gets an epic Super Bowl...again!  He ruined the Tyree catch three years ago in what was a Super Bowl for the ages.  Now he gets two of the most recognizable organizations in the NFL and the two winningest franchises in history, in Dallas, on the grandest stage.  If he can't rise to the occasion, FOX should start looking for new number 1's...then again, the next guy in line is Marv's kid...gulp!  At least FOX still has American Idol.