Current NFL announcers...good and bad

With the sad news of John Madden’s passing, and the apparent consensus that he was/is light years better than current announcers, I thought it would be fun to discuss current announcers. Who’s good and bad?

I have to admit, I’m not the best person to critique them because many times, I watch taped games and gloss over what the announcers are saying. Also, many times when watching live games, I turn the volume low or even off.

For me the top current color analyst is Tony Romo. I find him to have good insights, and he’ll often call a play before it happens. The worst for me is Steve Levy. His vocie is irritating and tiresome. The volume goes off for him frequently. Every play cannot be exciting; he tries way too hard. JUst call the game, chump.

Of course, Madden WAS light years ahead of everyone today. Who are your favorite and least favorite announcers?

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I don’t have a favorite or least favorite. They all are obviously different. Most opinions for it against announcers are based on how good the team you root for or against. For example Lions fans hate Joe Buck. A reason for that is that 1) The Lions suck and 2) The Packers have owned the division the Lions play in for much of the last 25 years or more with few exceptions. Buck calls a lot of Packers games because they win…so Lions fans hate him. St. Louis Blues fans felt the same way about Gary Thorne in hockey. They hated him because he often called Red Wings/Avalanche games because for a good 7 or 8 years those were the two teams battling for Western Conference supremacy and the Blues couldn’t beat either team when it counted. Most college basketball fan bases hate Dick Vitale because of his perceived love of Duke. But as we know…Duke is Duke…and they are seen on television more than Leave it to Beaver re-runs :grinning:

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Madden really was light years ahead.
Millen was good.
Baldy was ok, but you could hear he was trying to mimic them.

I like Romo except for his voice. Lucky for him, he has Jim Nance, who is the absolute best in the business right now. He’s Madden’s Summerall.

There’s a guy on Fox (not the color guy) that I’m pretty sure is also a college announcer. I’m really warming up to his announcing because he gets pretty excited…
OH! LAH! VAY!

Or

OH! JAH! BO!

I can hear as big plays are being made.

Gus Johnson

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Gus Johnson is the best announcer in football.

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This rings true – sub-consciously, I think Buck/Aikman love the Pack, which puts them down on the list. On the flip side, I’ll always respect Booger McFarland for calling out the officials on the phantom hands-to-the-face to Trey Flowers calls (especially since it may have cost him his job!).

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I think they are called Gus-gasms. He is entertaining.

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Buck and Aikman are accused of being Cowboys lovers…Packer fans think they hate the Packers

Since Aikman played for the Cowboys, I sort of get it, but I think he’s careful not to favor the Cowboys – much as Spielman did when covering the Lions. Packer fans must be tuning out when Aikman unapologetically gushes over Aaron Rogers.

I think that’s just fans in general…that’s the way fans think when it comes to announcers. Fans see and hear what they wanna see and hear. Announcers typically don’t bother me…not even Dickie V and his love for Duke and North Carolina :grinning:

Aqib Talib, while some of his observations are good, his nonstop chatter & delivery are horrible.

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100% the most exciting announcer is Gus Johnson. I loved that he called the Cards game. Made the win that much better for me. He is an excellent NFL announcer, and the best college football announcer. Gus’s energy is tailor made for football. Verne Lundquist is always a Saturday staple.

I think the best “big game” announcer is Jim Nance. I think the Summerall comparison is perfect. They are cut from the same cloth.

I don’t care for Joe Buck at all, he is obnoxious and swarmy. He thinks he knows more than he does. I don’t have an issue with Aikman.

I really miss Thom Brennaman. I thought he was an excellent announcer and he and Spielman made a great combo.

To me, the proper chemistry should be the play by play guy describing the play, and the color guy providing insight and strategy. I think too many play by play guys want to flex their knowledge and end up stepping into the analyst role and then it doesn’t give each side a chance to do what they do best.

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I know what you mean on Talib, but I think he’s getting better. When he first started he was truly awful. I thought during the Cards game he showed some improvement. Still some cringe or facepalm moments, but I thought some of his insights were starting to shine through. There may be hope for him yet.

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I always thought of Jim Nantz as a younger version of Brent Musburger. To me he sounds just like him…but maybe a more crisp voice than Brent. But one thing I have to say about todays announcing is that it doesn’t seem to me that networks are as deep with big game voices as they were in the 80s when I was a kid. Imagine this, CBS had the following:

Pat Summerall
Verne Lundquist
Dick Stockton
Brent Musburger
Jim Nantz

NBC had Dick Enberg, Marv Albert, Vin Scully and Charlie Jones

ABC had Keith Jackson, Al Michaels, Howard Cosell and that is about all I can think of from back then. But these were some great voices covering a variety of sports for these networks. But CBS was deep back in the day. There is not a lot of that in todays world of announcing.

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I agree, Talib is improving. He has to say a little less, or just say it slower. He can be really annoying, but he does have some good insights.

I like when Romo is on the call. Can’t really explain why. He just seems like a likeable guy.

And yeah Joe Buck can go Joe Buck himself

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The other one I forgot to mention is Boomer (Chris Berman). Still enjoy the fastest three minutes and references to songs from way back when. It may be getting old, but its really entertaining.

They did a trio with Charles Davis a couple years ago. Boy, if they could have held onto that! The respect that Davis has for Spielman was palpable and made for a really good mix. Davis would sort of steer or direct the conversations, knowing what to ask to get Spielman rolling. Really, really good mix, IMO.

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You listed off all of my favorites.

Loved Keith Jackson and Brent Musburger. Just hearing those guys, you knew what day it was, and what was on tv. That’s as beautiful as it gets.

Don’t forget about Jack Buck. Joe’s Dad was a hell of an announcer. I do try to remember with Joe that he is walking in the footsteps of a legend, and maybe sometimes he tries to hard to let people know “Hey, I am pretty good too.”

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You are right about Jack Buck and I did forget about him. He was a part of that deep roster of CBS in the 80s. His son Joe….at first I didn’t like him but I actually think he’s come a long way with his football announcing. To me he’s still better at baseball but he’s much better now in football than he was a few years back. Same for Nantz…great voice but is better at Golf and March Madness than at Football, but still a great football announcer. But I miss Dick Enberg and his “Oh My”