Seattle at Green Bay

Watching NFL football now is becoming difficult for me. It's the playoffs, so one would think that there would be only quality football, quality refereeing, and quality announcing. Two of those are present, one of those is brutally missing. And it's not the refs. The art of announcing has deteriorated from the days of Pat Summerall as the star and is in dismay when compared to Howard Cosell's day. There are four networks that broadcast NFL games currently, CBS, NBC, FOX, and NFLNETWORK. While there are some strengths to the top six announcing teams (two for CBS and FOX each, one for NBC and NFLN), there is no announcing team that can beat any big city radio pair. To prove how bad announcers are, I am going to note their mistakes and gaffs for the 2007 Divisional Playoff round (played in 2008).

The first game is Seattle at Green Bay, and the announcing team is Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston with Tony Siragusa.
- After Seattle's quick 7-0 lead, after Green Bay fumbles again, Johnston notes that Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck had expressed confidence in the running game, which Johnston says he cannot imagine how Seattle can possibly run against this Green Bay defense. Seattle then scores again.
- Johnston later says when Seattle is up 14-7, that Seattle running back Shawn Alexander is having an excellent game.
- Albert says that "we've had two weird third down plays today". However, he then talks about a challenge of a spot and a 4th down penalty.
- The announcers discuss whether they think Green Bay coach Mike Sherman considered taking starting running back Ryan Grant out of the lineup after he fumbled twice. Nevermind that the announcing team earlier said that Grant was the second leading rusher in the NFL in the second half of the season
- Tony Siragusa should never be allowed to talk. He jumps in at confusing times and continues to talk with nothing to add. During a replay he wants to describe how a Green Bay defender broke into the backfield to make a tackle but all he can come up with is, "and the guy breaks through and wraps up the runner". He follows that with, "that's not as easy as it looks, trust me guys." I assume that these networks hire former players for their ability to relate what a player is going through during the game. But using playground defensive language is not relevant to the game. No one cares who you are, just tell us what is going on.
- I never expect announcers to make predictions because that would be too difficult for anyone. All I want is astute observations about the game. It never happens.
- In the 3rd quarter, with the Packers up 35-17, a graphic comes on the screen showing Hasselbeck's numbers for the day. No one mentions that Hasselbeck is having a great game despite the score.
- Dead air is obnoxious. During a penalty, nothing is said about a hold. There are many reasons a hold occurs. Usually it is out of frustration for failing to make a block. No mention of that, instead we get a comment from Tony Siragusa about someone being a pick-pocket. Irrelevant. More dead air.
- Attributing designed plays to Brett Favre is fatuous. The coaches call the play, the quarterback executes it. Even if the quarterback switches the play, it is still designed by the coach. Give credit where credit is due.
- Mentioning the weather is prudent, but describing how it will affect the game would be much better.
- Seattle has an option on 4th down to kick a field goal or go for the first down when they are down 35-17. The announcers discuss which option Seattle should take. By discuss, I mean they say take the field goal and wait for the decision to be made by Seattle to tell us why. By tell us why, I mean they say then it would be a 2 possession game.
- If there's one thing you don't need to tell audiences in a football game, it's that there is a lot of snow falling. It's right there on the screen. Tell us about the football. Tell us things we can't possibly know. Tell us about Deion Branch's injury and how it affects the Seahawks play. Tell us about the play calls for Green Bay and whether they're favoring the run or the pass. Tell us about the secondary since it is rarely shown.
- I'm going to dinner. This game is depressingly bad and it's impossible to see. And oh the announcers. Stay tuned for later games and how bad they are as well.

Go Bears!