How bout Mike Patrick when he did ESPN ‘s SNF with Joe Theismann and Paul McGuire. They were funny as shit and every time I watch an NBA game and I hear Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Grundy go at it I think of Theismann and McGuire… 
That’s how I feel about Al Michaels. Always liked him, but can’t explain why. Maybe its no ego…just seems credible.
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I forgot about him – McGuire would be at the absolute bottom of my list. Was there a single good quality he had? Theismann was likable. I used to watch him and Drew Pearson on Thanksgiving Day at my Dad’s alma mater (South River NJ). Back then he was known as Theeeesman, rather than Thiiiiseman!
While we’re talking about duo’s and trio’s… Frank Gifford, Don Meredith and Howard Cosell on Monday night were near the top. Cosell pulled no punches, and his rants could alienate you, but I grew to like him. He was perfect for the goofy Meredith, who would sometimes spar with him, and Gifford who tried to hold it altogether, never mind his frequent miscues. They will never be duplicated.
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I like Spielman, though he’s not doing it anymore.
Blaha is such a class act. Love Kelser and Laimbeer too.
Laimbeer made me laugh my ass off. They were all picking who they thought would win the title…Lambs picked Detroit…Everyone made fun of him…Detroit won the title. → Also, when Palace Malice happened, everyone was freaking out, with exception of Lambs who said, " It’s all part of the game."
He got fired after that season. Loved it. I’m guessing he didn’t care at all.
I don’t think there are many great color guys but Romo is the closest to Madden that we’ll get in the modern era with his knowledge, the way he dissects plays and his candor.
Nantz is the Gold Standard of PbP guys. He has pretty much the ideal voice and demeanor for a play by play guy. He and Musburger were my favorites growing up and still with Nantz. Musburger is another one with the perfect voice for that job. Al Michaels is pretty good too.
Keith Jackson of course. Lots of great play by play guys over the years. I thought the Jackson/Griese duo was pretty great.
For a more modern type, I love Kevin Harlan and Ian Eagle. Great passion in their calls and just generally fun to listen to with their little quips. I love Gus Johnson for the big plays but he’s pretty mediocre when he needs to fill air time and has to talk in normal tone.
Basketballiwise, I’ll always love Dickie V. Yeah he’s over the top and can be corny at times but he’s an absolute icon and nobody and I mean, nobody, shares his level of passion for his craft. The guy is over 80 and is still as enthusiastic as ever and he just seems like a genuinely wonderful man.
I kind of see Lee Corso like this a bit but it’s been rough watching him the last 10 years or so after he had a stroke I believe and simple natural progression of age.
Off format but I like the Manning telecast
And think I’d watch more games in that format
With other former players
In a casual conversational observational way
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What about Kevin Harlan??..Never a dull moment
Dan Fouts was good dissecting QB play…
Van Patrick was Stellar. NFL named the Annual Most Prestigious Football Announcer after Him. Covered a doormat team mostly. Some might remember him.
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I loved Dan Fouts as a color analyst. He was spot on. Kevin Harlan is one of those guys that can make almost any game exciting like Gary Thorne used to do in hockey. BTW…Bob Cole is still the best Hockey playbyplay guy ever!
Very under-rated, I agree they are great. Eagle is very candid and usually spot on.
Me too…not a bad bone in his body!
On the few occasions I have heard Mark Sanchez this year I thought he was terrible. Trying to be humerous but coming off as very cheesy and pre planned. Also pretty poor at analyzing the game on front of him. He did one of the Lions early games this season and was trying to be Romo 2.0 trying to predict the play before it happened and invariably got it completely wrong.
I like Talib, he struggles a bit with timing and leaves a bit of dead air but he is a cool dude and had some interesting perspectives on plays.
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Funny, I’ve rather enjoyed Sanchez’s commentary.
Fire Joe Buck…,and it has nothing to do with being a Lions fan…
Gus Johnson (entertaining, very good at his job)
Tony Romo (entertaining, funny, very knowledgeable)
Joel Klatt (great voice…super knowledgeable)
Joe Buck (classic voice, very good at his job)
Troy Aikman (classic voice, honest in his assessment )
Brent Musbuger (classic voice, good at job)
Charles Davis (knowledgeable, likeable, charismatic)
Al Michael’s (most classic voice as he has been on primetime for a while, honest in his opinions)
Jim Nantz (just good)
Verne Lundquist (awesome voice, good at his job)
Funny Verne Call:
Cris Collinsworth (has a good voice but says some stupid things and really kisses the NFLs behind on questionable penalties)
These guys are all good to me.
NFL needs to step it up on Thursday night. Kevin Burkhart and Greg just do very little for me anyways. Maybe people like them…but I find myself bored…mostly from Burkhart. Not that he is a bad announcer, but it’s a personal thing. The voice dont do it for me
I know…this is such a subjective thing…
I guess we could say it is “unique”
Without him on the broadcast I dont thing its the same.
However, he needs to start being honest and stop trying to “change the NFL” for the worst by supporting weak roughing penalties.
What a behind kisser.
And I dont know who this guy is…but this is on purpose
We can agree on the “unique” part and leave it there.
Do you remember when Justin Durant would tweet out #muteyourflatscreen during SNF? He definitely wasn’t a fan. LOL
Collingsworth is awesome in my book
I like Aqib.
You gotta think target market with him.
Fat white 54 yr old dudes is not the predominant NFL demographic…
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If this is the guy I’m thinking of, he’s really bad. His accent is so heavy I quite often don’t know what he’s saying. That and he speaks fast.
Buck/Aikman aren’t too bad, but Buck can come across as smug/ know it all.
Of course the better the match up, the higher up on the broadcast team we’re going to get.
Michaels/Collingsworth are OK. I’ve heard some say that Collingsworth is annoying with his slow, drawl like voice. I have southern roots so I’m OK with it.
Nance/Romo👍
Kenny Albert, Chris Meyers, Gus Johnson I like. And many of the old timers.
Summerall/Madden
Kieth Jackson
Kurt Gowdy
Dick Enberg
Vin Scully
Howard Cosell
Don Meredith
Merlin Olson
I just like a play by play guy that calls the game and doesn’t get too carried away with himself. A play by play guy needs a good voice, is able to speak clearly and is easily understood, as in no heavy accent and NO YELLING. The guy that took the place of Mario Impemba yells all the time. He’s just all around horrible. What the hell’s his name? Can’t think of it right now, but he’s no play by play guy. He sounds like a reporter. Yells, asks too many questions-really dumb, stupid shit, too. Shephard, I think, or something like that, but he’s got to go. I want to say he’s worse than Rod Allen, but Rodney wasn’t a play by play guy. Mario was good. Hated to see him go. Getting into the game and elevating his voice is perfectly fine. Some say it adds to the excitement of the game. Not so much for me. For me it’s the game/action that makes it exciting, not how someone’s describing it. Especially baseball. Funny though how on the other side of the coin he CAN make it less exciting, even boring depending on if his voice is too much of a monotone, slow, uninspiring voice.
Some of the worse. As in drive me up the freaking wall/can’t stand ‘em? Well, usually it’s the one’s that won’t STFU. Yeah, I know, it’s their job to talk about it, but just give some insight into what happened, not what YOU would have done and how well YOU know so and so and such and such. Sometimes dead air is better. Like the ones that just love to hear themselves talk. The ones that are trying to convince everyone how smart they are. The opinionated mouthpieces. Every play they babble on about what was wrong with that particular play call. What needs to be done and how. I guess what I’m referring to is the second guessing of the play, the coach and anything else. Mark Schlereth is maybe the worst. Can’t stand it. Sounds SO full of himself. There are others too, but I can’t think of em right now.
Camera coverage can suck, too. Too many close up shots. Why is there nothing but face showing on my 70 plus inch TV screen? Baseball is really bad for this. And zoomed in shots showing nothing but a football sucks, too. OK. Sorry. I’m getting a little off topic here. Shitty TV coverage is probably a different conversation, eh?
I guess it comes down to personal preferences. Not everyone likes the same things, people/TV broadcasters included.