Other U.S. NFL Media Coverage

[TheGreatBarryB]

Thought we could have a thread with comments each week on quality of commentary/comments/analysis in print & TV media. Favourite / most annoying commentators /special comments / journos.

I'll kick it off and have a go at the ESPN pre-game coverage led by Chris Berman. Don't mind Berman but Keyshawn, Ditka, Carter really tells us bugger all about the game. Never liked Tom Jackson as well but he's less annoying when just with Berman. Expected more from Steve Young as well.

Impressed with Gruden at times. Sometimes when he's given more time he comes up with some excellent analysis/insights these are more worked out pre-game. During the game he can state the obvious too often but for his first year he's been good.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Re: NFL Media Coverage

I meant U.S coverage. GG maybe you can change thread title?

 

[Wizard]

Re: NFL Media Coverage

Boomer and TJ shit me to tears when every show they remind the World how long they have been together.
Ditka is a waste of space, adds nothing and has trouble getting his message across.

I like Joe Buck and Aikman as a duo, very good unless its a Boys game.
Chris Collinsworth is very very good 95% of the time but when he has a blunder they are epic.

 

[ERead]

Good idea for a thread - I have thought about starting something similar from time to time.

Collinsworth is my favourite commentator and a worthy replacement for Madden. NBC's NFL coverage is my favourite followed by ESPN (minus the half time show).

CBS do a pretty decent College game, I can't think if I have seen any CBS NFL this year.

Not a fan of FOX coverage.

 

[damochandler]

i love the espn coverage and the swami and the boy's i dont like jaws as a commentator and i did hate when they had tony kornheiser as analyst on the mnf games. the best play by play caller is al michaels by a country mile

 

[neddy36]

Collinsworth - pretty close to the best caller, wonderful insight and knowledge

Gruden - I thought he has been pretty good, has an understanding of current day schemes

Tim Ryan - always been a fan of this guy, doesn't get much national exposure, love his perspective

Berman - cannot stand, I just hate his stupid whoops, Americans just love that loud, obnoxious humour

Jaworski - dislike with a passion, loves the sound of his voice, which is the equivalent of a St.Bernard with a mouth full of chewing gum, physically the biggest head in TV - just massive, compare Mike Tirico's with it

 

[Oscarman]

Going on what I've seen on ONE, Collinsworth and Gruden are the best experts. Al Michaels is great and gets an extra star for being in BASEketball.

 

[redragger]

Collinsworth - pretty close to the best caller, wonderful insight and knowledge

Gruden - I thought he has been pretty good, has an understanding of current day schemes

Tim Ryan - always been a fan of this guy, doesn't get much national exposure, love his perspective

Berman - cannot stand, I just hate his stupid whoops, Americans just love that loud, obnoxious humour

Jaworski - dislike with a passion, loves the sound of his voice, which is the equivalent of a St.Bernard with a mouth full of chewing gum, physically the biggest head in TV - just massive, compare Mike Tirico's with it

This is a very good summary of the TV media.

Pete King's MMQB on SI is a brilliant read every week, and if you don't already, do yourself a favour and start reading it. A lot of the other print commentators have their own agendas and favourite/hated teams that they push, King is very objective and seems to have a lot of very good contacts...

 

[manureid]

I love Gruden, reminds me of what I used to love about him when he was at the Raiders. Really good insight into schemes etc as well.

 

[Exe Gesis]

I love Darryl Johnson as a commentator.

 

[Nappies]

I hate the Fox coverage, but I love the pre-game show with Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, Jimmy Johnson and Jay Glazer.

It's entertaining, more jockular than anything, but I find that there is so much information in the actual games themselves, that I prefer a bit of a laugh and some small level of info in the pre-game.

I liken them to the Triple M team of Brayshaw, Lyon, Taylor.

 

[Oakland Raider]

Really enjoying the channel one coverage on Monday and Tuesday, being the Sunday and Monday night games. The following must be growing here with the addition of this excellent branch of 10.

 

[MarcusP2]

Someone actually wrote into our local paper yesterday asking for information on the game because they'd started watching it on One. I think you may be correct.

 

[Riggy1]

love Collinsworth
like Gruden
hate AIkmen
no feelings for any other person

 

[JeffDunne]

In 10 years time there will be a whole generation of 20-somethings that have grown up with Madden.

Kids like my son know American football as well as any Australian code.

 

[JeffDunne]

Personally I prefer the local sports media to the national media. I usually listen to a few shows from the market of the team we're about to play too.

I love John Gruden as a special comments bloke but ESPN don't want him turning casual viewers off the game. So it's turn up the hype, turn down the serious analysis. Fox do it with their crews too.

The best blokes are always the blokes most recently out of the game. Most are better on radio too than they are on TV. Unless they are showing vision to break down plays I'd rather not see their fat ugly mugs

Some of you need to start listening to Sirius too. Lots of coaches and decent interviews with players. They leave all the Jessica Simpson type talk to ESPN

 

[Exe Gesis]

I second the "hate Aikman" call.

 

[ERead]

Really enjoying the channel one coverage on Monday and Tuesday, being the Sunday and Monday night games. The following must be growing here with the addition of this excellent branch of 10.

I wasn't ever going to plug myself, but what the hey.

I blogged on this and other topics here: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/blog.php?b=648.

 

[Woodson]

Collinsworth - pretty close to the best caller, wonderful insight and knowledge

Gruden - I thought he has been pretty good, has an understanding of current day schemes

Tim Ryan - always been a fan of this guy, doesn't get much national exposure, love his perspective

Berman - cannot stand, I just hate his stupid whoops, Americans just love that loud, obnoxious humour

Jaworski - dislike with a passion, loves the sound of his voice, which is the equivalent of a St.Bernard with a mouth full of chewing gum, physically the biggest head in TV - just massive, compare Mike Tirico's with it

I'm with you on Collinsworth... Ryan speaks sensible, Gruden is choc full of enthusiasm that I just hope he doesn't care to curb. Jaws is ... get him out and WTF is it with these type who refuse to pick for MNF? what a dork! Joe Thiesman is the other.

Berman is full of beans..same ones Rex Hunt eats. I don't mind the 'whoops'
and his antics.

 

[BeinPurplenGreen]

Collinsworth - pretty close to the best caller, wonderful insight and knowledge

Gruden - I thought he has been pretty good, has an understanding of current day schemes

Tim Ryan - always been a fan of this guy, doesn't get much national exposure, love his perspective

Berman - cannot stand, I just hate his stupid whoops, Americans just love that loud, obnoxious humour

Jaworski - dislike with a passion, loves the sound of his voice, which is the equivalent of a St.Bernard with a mouth full of chewing gum, physically the biggest head in TV - just massive, compare Mike Tirico's with it

Agree with most of that Nedster - but not the thing about all of us loving Berman's Rex Hunt act. Not all of us yanks are into that humour...

And (as an Iggles fan who loved watching Jaws play back in the day) I must agree that he has a huge head. But Oprah's head (and arse) is bigger...

This is a very good summary of the TV media.

Pete King's MMQB on SI is a brilliant read every week, and if you don't already, do yourself a favour and start reading it. A lot of the other print commentators have their own agendas and favourite/hated teams that they push, King is very objective and seems to have a lot of very good contacts...

Good Call Ragger - I agree that Pete K is a great read on NFL, but actually he can be very biased in my view - his coverage of the Favre situation, the Vick situation and the "Big Art" Al Davis fiasco have all been (in my view) biased.

He's still a great regular read though, and his fan interaction is consistently interesting and unique... for those that don't have his site, try http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/writers/peter_king/archive/index.html

Personally I prefer the local sports media to the national media. I usually listen to a few shows from the market of the team we're about to play too.

I love John Gruden as a special comments bloke but ESPN don't want him turning casual viewers off the game. So it's turn up the hype, turn down the serious analysis. Fox do it with their crews too.

The best blokes are always the blokes most recently out of the game. Most are better on radio too than they are on TV. Unless they are showing vision to break down plays I'd rather not see their fat ugly mugs

Some of you need to start listening to Sirius too. Lots of coaches and decent interviews with players. They leave all the Jessica Simpson type talk to ESPN

Well said JD!! Love the turn up the hype comment. And if you can get the right access Sirius is a really valuable resource...

I wasn't ever going to plug myself, but what the hey.

I blogged on this and other topics here: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/blog.php?b=648.

Hey man, good blog. Keep it up, we need more fan initiated coverage out this way... We really do bring a slightly different perspective to the US media coverage of NFL - which means I think we can appreciate different aspects of it to the US audience, but at the same time see some of the flaws in it too.

Two questions:
1. How do you guys rate US NFL coverage against our AFL coverage? Personally, while a lot of the Aussie mainstream coverage is fairly average, I'm really excited by the explosion in quality fan coverage of AFL (through blogs, web portals like fan footy and other net based resources. It can be a little hard to sort out the wheat from the chaff, but there really has been growth in quality, original coverage, most of it by passionate fans doing it for free. The increase in quality of the Footy Almanac is another sign of this IMHO. Long may it continue I reckon - the best indicator of the health of any sport is always the passion and commitment of its fans, and if those fans also bring great analysis and discussion, the sport will almost sustain itself. Or am I too rosy-eyed?

2. Can we change the focus of the thread a little to also ask people to point out the local/specialised resources they find useful in following their local team, or maybe the other teams in their conference? For me, Iggles coverage is best in Phil Sheridan's (unfortunately) irregular columns - see http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/72248437.html . His coverage of Jim Johnson's death had me in tears every time I read it. Rich Hoffman (http://www.philly.com/philly/sports...es__McCoy_might_make_you_forget_Po_James.html) and and Les Bowen's (http://www.philly.com/philly/sports...ack_Falcons__system_first__then_fill-ins.html) columns are good too, and more regular. IMHO the two best Iggles blogs are Eagletarian (http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/dneagles/) and Bleeding Green Nation (http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/ ).
New York Giants coverage for me is best at the NY times - see http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/ - and they also have great coverage of the NFL generally (and from female writers too! see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/sports/football/04hits.html?_r=1&ref=sports).
Redskins spirit is strong at www.skinsgridiron.com - and while I don't care too much for the Cowboys, the coverage at http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/football/ ain't too bad.
I love reading about the latest Maginingingiginininingimng drama with the Browns at http://www.dawgsbynature.com/
Finally, I reckon the Raiders coverage is decent at http://www.pressdemocrat.com/section/sports0402 (see http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091202/SPORTS/912029871/1010/SPORTS) and also at silverandblackpride.com - I particularly enjoyed http://www.silverandblackpride.com/2009/12/3/1184026/saints-idiots-guide-to-fixing-the

Anybody else have good local coverage for their team??

BpG

 

[Oakland Raider]

I wasn't ever going to plug myself, but what the hey.

I blogged on this and other topics here: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/blog.php?b=648.

One things for sure. I am definitely into the AFL off season. Fills the void and then some.

Well plugged

 

[ERead]

2. Can we change the focus of the thread a little to also ask people to point out the local/specialised resources they find useful in following their local team, or maybe the other teams in their conference?

...

New York Giants coverage for me is best at the NY times - see http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/ - and they also have great coverage of the NFL generally (and from female writers too! see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/sports/football/04hits.html?_r=1&ref=sports).

...

Anybody else have good local coverage for their team??

BpG

NY Times is a really good resource and I go there a lot. A couple of New Yorkers have begun a NY Giants podcast: http://www.giantspodcast.com/. Very intelligent coverage and they cover general NFL topics too.

I'd like to know, for overall coverage, if you could only visit one site or read one magazine, what would it be? I am checking out ProFootballWeekly at the moment.

 

[Exe Gesis]

I mainly go to ibabuzz.com for Raider related info, Jerry McDonald a beat writer for the Raiders, as well as some other journalists on that site. And from there they usually link to any other Bay Area articles written by other people if there's anything else not covered by them.

I love reading thru the comments section of Jerry's blog more tho, because of the humor that goes on there with all the fights and just general Raidernation humor itself.

Raider messageboards are also a good source for info on players off-field antics, and other 'sources' providing inside rumors/goings-on that the beat writers don't report on.

NFL news itself per se....Always rotoworld.com, that's the only site I navigate to daily. They report on everything. Rotoworld being like a one-stop for all American Pro and College Sports news. Little news grabs like a ticker, that you can click a link that takes you to the local area article reporting on that news/rumor. Rather than have a billion bookmarks (which i do anyway) to then try to keep up to date with.

I actually made this suggestion to Chief once, something BF could look into creating, a Rotoworld of Australian Sport. Probably got ignored tho.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Two questions:
1. How do you guys rate US NFL coverage against our AFL coverage? Personally, while a lot of the Aussie mainstream coverage is fairly average, I'm really excited by the explosion in quality fan coverage of AFL

AFL strategies and tactics have taken off last few years with so many asst coaches. Yet the coverage has been left way way behind, especially matchday coverage. Look at 2008, it took virtually all season for anyone in the media to highlight Hawks rolling zone, which was a unique variation of usual zones used in the past. Not one radio/TV analyst could point it out during any match coverage.

Just seems many of the analysts simply don't do their homework.

NFL coverage uses more scouts to point out to analysts what's going on. Even John Madden had several helpers. But he was still great as is Collinsworth at pointing out things that are not obvious to the viewer.
I picked up heaps from Madden's comments back in the LAne days on Madden discussing what went on at the LOS between the opposing lines.

 

[Woodson]

AFL strategies and tactics have taken off last few years with so many asst coaches. Yet the coverage has been left way way behind, especially matchday coverage. Look at 2008, it took virtually all season for anyone in the media to highlight Hawks rolling zone, which was a unique variation of usual zones used in the past. Not one radio/TV analyst could point it out during any match coverage.

Just seems many of the analysts simply don't do their homework.

NFL coverage uses more scouts to point out to analysts what's going on. Even John Madden had several helpers. But he was still great as is Collinsworth at pointing out things that are not obvious to the viewer.
I picked up heaps from Madden's comments back in the LAne days on Madden discussing what went on at the LOS between the opposing lines.

Spot on TGBB. Most AFL media still have a long way to go with getting to the nitty gritty of tactical analysis instead of treating the viewer with contempt. The discussions I have with Bloods33 (bro-in-law) while watching games on the box is quite advanced of what the commentators can tell us and then, maybe, sometimes they say exactly what we talked about 30-60minutes earlier. It's quite bizarre as having watched the game from the outer, that being long time fans can see what is going to happen before it does and I've been 90% on the money with predicting team comebacks & victories. The 'on the run' betting is how I choose to bet now... it's far more a better understanding of how a game in NFL or AFL will be played out.

Sick in the guts of dingbat TV commentators (AFL & NFL) 'telling us the blatant obvious kinda comments' from what we can see already. Their opinions means nada also. McAveney is very ordinary but his voice is ok.