PDA

View Full Version : ESPN Announcers



bodoyle
December 12th, 2009, 08:14 PM
I didn't see this posted, sorry if it has been and I missed it.

Was it just me, or did anyone else think they were blowing the weather conditions way out of proportion? They made a Winter Storm Warning sound like the end of the damn Universe. They said the winds were gusting at 30 and expecting 6" of snow by tomorrow afternoon. Call me crazy, but 1) it's Winter, and 2) it's Montana.

I wonder what the announcers would have thought of Chicago's weather earlier this week when we had 65mph winds and 9" of snow.

Way to sound like idiots yet again ESPN! xthumbsupx

KiddBrewer
December 12th, 2009, 08:15 PM
personally, i thought they were the best announcers ESPN has ever put on a FCS game.

gbhmt
December 12th, 2009, 08:17 PM
I didn't see this posted, sorry if it has been and I missed it.

Was it just me, or did anyone else think they were blowing the weather conditions way out of proportion? They made a Winter Storm Warning sound like the end of the damn Universe. They said the winds were gusting at 30 and expecting 6" of snow by tomorrow afternoon. Call me crazy, but 1) it's Winter, and 2) it's Montana.

I wonder what the announcers would have thought of Chicago's weather earlier this week when we had 65mph winds and 9" of snow.

Way to sound like idiots yet again ESPN! xthumbsupx

Were you watching the game? That was a force of nature! Looked like a blizzard.

fltheadgriz
December 12th, 2009, 08:19 PM
No the winter storm warning is real. We are getting hit with it.
I hope ASU players and fans (I know players are leaving on a chartered flight tonight) can get out okay
Winter storm warnings are a big deal around this part of Montana since alot of people are still trying to get firewood and that is a bad thing to be caught out there during a storm warning. I know I lost a brother-in-law during a storm warning

ASU Tailgaiteer
December 12th, 2009, 08:19 PM
The announcers were good, but the direction was terrible. They missed the fake punt (which can happen). But, how many times did they show the play from scrimmage and not show the QB. They missed the blocked FG, etc.

This game was too good for the production to be that weak.

SuperJon
December 12th, 2009, 08:21 PM
The announcers were good, but the direction was terrible. They missed the fake punt (which can happen). But, how many times did they show the play from scrimmage and not show the QB. They missed the blocked FG, etc.

This game was too good for the production to be that weak.

I thought the same thing at first but I think I figured it out. If they were shooting in 16:9, they may not have converted back into 4:3 for standard definition tv's. I know NBC does that a lot (SNL is terrible for it).

Now, if you were watching an HDTV, my theory is shot.

paytonlives
December 12th, 2009, 08:22 PM
I thought that they did a great shot of being really fair to both teams.... I also thought they pumped up the FCS really well...

I still think that when they have the final four that the Halftime show should be FCS material only... who the heck do they think are watching these games?

gbhmt
December 12th, 2009, 08:22 PM
I thought the same thing at first but I think I figured it out. If they were shooting in 16:9, they may not have converted back into 4:3 for standard definition tv's. I know NBC does that a lot (SNL is terrible for it).

Now, if you were watching an HDTV, my theory is shot.

Yeah I was watching it at the student union on an HD tv, it seemed alright.

Block-A
December 12th, 2009, 08:24 PM
This is the first time this year I was actually able to watch the TV & listen to the radio at the same and have them in sync w/o TV delay. It was nice.

Soooo.... I didn't listen to ESPN's pre-Hizmn coverage.

ngineer
December 12th, 2009, 08:36 PM
I thought the announcers did a very credible job and maybe the best in recent years of watching FCS/IAA playoff football. I didn't detect any of the condescending stuff we have heard in the past about FBS superiority, etc.

ASU Tailgaiteer
December 12th, 2009, 08:39 PM
I thought the same thing at first but I think I figured it out. If they were shooting in 16:9, they may not have converted back into 4:3 for standard definition tv's. I know NBC does that a lot (SNL is terrible for it).

Now, if you were watching an HDTV, my theory is shot.

That would make sense. I was watching on standard def.

Chose to watch it at home where I could concentrate on the game. Again, the video was my only complaint of a truly awesome football game.

AshevilleApp
December 12th, 2009, 08:40 PM
The refs were surprisingly good as well.....and I agree about the announcing....really pepped up the FCS as some serious football.

The refs did miss an ASU fumble and Moore smartly ran a quick play before the review but overall for a hotly contested and physical game they did a very good job

ngineer
December 12th, 2009, 08:44 PM
The refs were surprisingly good as well.....and I agree about the announcing....really pepped up the FCS as some serious football.

The refs did miss an ASU fumble and Moore smartly ran a quick play before the review but overall for a hotly contested and physical game they did a very good job

Yes, over the years there have been some real bad calls, but the refereeing seemed pretty good to me, too.

mattmets
December 12th, 2009, 08:50 PM
The refs were surprisingly good as well.....and I agree about the announcing....really pepped up the FCS as some serious football.

The refs did miss an ASU fumble and Moore smartly ran a quick play before the review but overall for a hotly contested and physical game they did a very good job

Having seen PL officials for four years I was concerned about Pass Interference not being called, but they didn't seem to miss any. Considering the circumstances, they did an A+ job.

ThompsonThe
December 12th, 2009, 09:17 PM
I figured the announcers would spend at least 1/3 of the game talking to someone on the phone about the Heisman award.....that's what they have done in the past.

WyomingGrizFan
December 12th, 2009, 09:31 PM
I figured the announcers would spend at least 1/3 of the game talking to someone on the phone about the Heisman award.....that's what they have done in the past.

Either that or say that a QB threw an FBS type pass. Huh? That's what happened in 2004 in the first half NC game. I suppose that was meant to impress some that weren't aware of what they were watching. Like I spend my waking moments anticipating watching commercials for the rest of my life.

GRIZCLAW
December 12th, 2009, 09:58 PM
The refs were surprisingly good as well.....and I agree about the announcing....really pepped up the FCS as some serious football.

The refs did miss an ASU fumble and Moore smartly ran a quick play before the review but overall for a hotly contested and physical game they did a very good job

First, kudos to ESPN. Clearly the best announcers ever for an FCS playoff game. They were fair and appeared unbiased. As for the refs being good? They missed two easy fumbles, their eyes on several of those spots were ridiculous, and the holding calls not called were scarey. Did they miss calls on the Griz, sure, but they were not nearly as good as last weeks refs. But, NEVER, NEVER as bad as Big Sky refs, who have the reputation as being the worst in the country...

bodoyle
December 12th, 2009, 10:13 PM
To clarify, I am not criticizing the way they called the game. I didn't have a problem with that at all. I have a problem when they make 6" of snow sound like the blizzard to end all blizzards. If this was in Myrtle Beach and there was 6" of snow, ok fine, but it's freaking Montana.

Yote 53
December 12th, 2009, 10:14 PM
I thought the ESPN announcers did a great job, for once. HEck, all they had to do was shut up, the game spoke for itself. As for the "blizzard", it's Montana, I'm from South Dakota, up North it's no big deal. We just roll with it. Life doesn't because of weather.

bodoyle
December 12th, 2009, 10:14 PM
Were you watching the game? That was a force of nature! Looked like a blizzard.

To clarify, I am not criticizing the way they called the game. I didn't have a problem with that at all. I have a problem when they make 6" of snow sound like the blizzard to end all blizzards. If this was in Myrtle Beach or some Southern city and there was 6" of snow coming, ok fine, but it's freaking Montana! xrolleyesx

That's like during tomorrow's Bears game they make it sound like the world is ending b/c it will be windy in the Windy City xeyebrowx

bodoyle
December 12th, 2009, 10:16 PM
No the winter storm warning is real. We are getting hit with it.
I hope ASU players and fans (I know players are leaving on a chartered flight tonight) can get out okay
Winter storm warnings are a big deal around this part of Montana since alot of people are still trying to get firewood and that is a bad thing to be caught out there during a storm warning. I know I lost a brother-in-law during a storm warning

I understand that the weather can get bad, but I am assuming that most Montanans (sp?) know how to drive in the snow, just like people here do. I just think they blew out way out of proportion and if you looked up the definition of sensationalizing in the dictionary you would have found these announcers describing the weather as the definition.

GOKATS
December 12th, 2009, 10:19 PM
I thought the announcers did a pretty damn good job, concentrated on the game & not that much about the Heisman coming up. They did overdo the "winter storm warning" crap in the second half though, it is Montana for crisakes.........xnodx

ChooChoo
December 12th, 2009, 10:25 PM
Great game and I too liked these announcers. Huge improvement over the past stiffs. It made all the difference in the world to finally hear some life/excitment from the commentators. Hope these two will be on hand for the showdown in Chattanooga.

pitpen
December 12th, 2009, 10:31 PM
personally, i thought they were the best announcers ESPN has ever put on a FCS game.

Personally, I thought they copped out on a side story, as always.

Grizaholic17
December 12th, 2009, 10:33 PM
can't wait to watch the play back of this game and see how I thought the announcers were. From the comments, it sounds like they didn't do too bad.

UMass922
December 12th, 2009, 11:16 PM
I thought the announcers did a pretty damn good job, concentrated on the game & not that much about the Heisman coming up. They did overdo the "winter storm warning" crap in the second half though, it is Montana for crisakes.........xnodx

I'm wondering now which phrase was uttered more times: "winter storm warning" this afternoon or "longest play in William & Mary history" last night. xlolx

In any case, the broadcasts this weekend were much, much better than what we've gotten from ESPN in the past. I'm glad that we've finally been graced with announcers who talk about the game that's going on in front of them, instead of the Heisman Trophy and the BCS.

gbhmt
December 12th, 2009, 11:26 PM
One thing to keep in mind about the "winter storm warning" and the "longest play in William and Mary history" quotes being repeated so much is that as opposed to a lot of FBS games on TV, there were probably a lot of people who came across these games in the middle of them while they were just flipping channels, so the announcers were probably told to be repetitive when it comes to those little headlines for the game. A lot of people were probably tuning in partway through both games so that could explain why they said it so much.

Squealofthepig
December 13th, 2009, 12:12 AM
They were actually much better than what we've seen from ESPN in the past (although anyone who has ran the M in Missoula immediately realized that the one announcer was only about three or four switchbacks up Mt. Sentinel and only, maybe, a third of the way to the M, which is only halfway to the top of the mountain) But that being said, I think they covered the angles really well (the Missoula atmosphere, the halftime festivities, the deserved adulations of AE and the ASU program this decade). And yeah, as a Chicagoan, I thought they blew the weather way out of proportion (though I also really do hope the ASU players are able to get out on time tonight - kudos to the graduating seniors later today!)

Don't think they gave props to Mt. Union when talking about consecutive national championships, but that's another topic.

whoanellie
December 13th, 2009, 05:54 AM
To clarify, I am not criticizing the way they called the game. I didn't have a problem with that at all. I have a problem when they make 6" of snow sound like the blizzard to end all blizzards. If this was in Myrtle Beach or some Southern city and there was 6" of snow coming, ok fine, but it's freaking Montana! xrolleyesx

That's like during tomorrow's Bears game they make it sound like the world is ending b/c it will be windy in the Windy City xeyebrowx
i may be wrong but i believe the ESPN guys probably just got off the plane from SoCal/LA most likely.
Griz fans sure added the excitement... more bare chests per thousand parts of fandome. now how many will travel to see Rock City and Ruby Falls?

yorkcountyUNHfan
December 13th, 2009, 06:52 AM
To clarify, I am not criticizing the way they called the game. I didn't have a problem with that at all. I have a problem when they make 6" of snow sound like the blizzard to end all blizzards. If this was in Myrtle Beach or some Southern city and there was 6" of snow coming, ok fine, but it's freaking Montana! xrolleyesx

That's like during tomorrow's Bears game they make it sound like the world is ending b/c it will be windy in the Windy City xeyebrowx

I with BD on this one. I did think that ESPN did a very good job overall do the FCS game and not turning it into a commercial for some upcomming FBS event.

That said I get it, it was snowing...if they said winter storm warning once they said it 10 times.

kardplayer
December 13th, 2009, 07:03 AM
I agree with the general theme - best announcers for an FCS playoff game so far. As for the weather discussion... I think they talked about it as much as they would if it were an NFL or other football game.

If anything, the bad weather and the discussion of it made the players look even tougher

stumpy
December 13th, 2009, 07:45 AM
Last year, IIRC, they inserted a Heisman phone interview in the middle of the game. I thought they did about the best I have heard on ESPN's 1AA coverage.

UAalum72
December 13th, 2009, 08:36 AM
I only saw the last third of the game, but I noticed they only referred to 'FCS' without a 'formerly one double A', nor did I hear about I-A transfers. Unless those were earlier.

Forget the bare-chested guys, this is the first time I remember college girls in tank tops in this kind of weather. They're usually smarter than that.

Old Cat Fan
December 13th, 2009, 09:22 AM
Have to agree with everyone, this years semi's were the best to date with ESPN. The announcers on both games stayed focus on the action and didn't turn it into a giant FBS infomercial. I would like to think that this was a direct result of the E-MAILS and comments sent to ESPN from this AGS sight over the last couple of years.

Lehigh Football Nation
December 13th, 2009, 10:07 AM
Bar none, it's the best ESPN broadcast I've ever heard. There was some Heisman stuff - probably to be expected, and it basically was shown only at halftime - but they were INTO THE GAME. There was palpable excitement from the announcers, commentary that was well prepared, and just lots of respect to both schools.

I don't even mind the constant repetition of "winter storm warning", though I also thought it was funny. ( :D ) The real proof as to its effectiveness will be the Nielsen overnights of the game, and how that drew the casual fan in to watch it. Might it be the best-ever Nielsen rating of an FCS game? It's worth finding out.

yorkcountyUNHfan
December 13th, 2009, 10:10 AM
Have to agree with everyone, this years semi's were the best to date with ESPN. The announcers on both games stayed focus on the action and didn't turn it into a giant FBS infomercial. I would like to think that this was a direct result of the E-MAILS and comments sent to ESPN from this AGS sight over the last couple of years.

That brings up a good point. We're very quick to e-mail our disappointment in ESPN's FCS coverage. We should be as quick to e-mail kudos

CrunchGriz
December 13th, 2009, 02:02 PM
I only saw the last third of the game, but I noticed they only referred to 'FCS' without a 'formerly one double A', nor did I hear about I-A transfers. Unless those were earlier.

Forget the bare-chested guys, this is the first time I remember college girls in tank tops in this kind of weather. They're usually smarter than that.

Just a comment about the lack of 'he's a I-A/FBS transfer' comments:

There weren't any, that I remember, and that's because all the stars either of this game or coming into this game (Reynolds, Sambrano, Selle, Mariani, Edwards, Moore, Cline, Quick, Thompson, Schillinger, Legree, and several others I'm missing) were/are all FCS guys all the way, so little FBS homage was available.

In fact, in the case of Montana's two biggest offensive stars for the season, Marc Mariani was a walk-on former state tennis champion and Chase Reynolds played 8-man football in high school.

The announcers might have mentioned that Levi Horn, Montana's All-American tackle, was a transfer from Oregon, but I don't recall. This wouldn't be surprising, as one of the announcers (don't remember his name) obviously had an Oregon background--he called Ndamukong Suh 'the pride of Grant High School', showing an obvious knowledge of the Portland, Oregon sports scene, and he compared Wash-Griz to Oregon's legendary Autzen Stadium for volume.

All in all, it was a great showcase for the home-grown talent in the world of FCS football.

Bull Fan
December 13th, 2009, 02:09 PM
What annoyed me was one of the announcers saying "Washington and Grizzly Stadium", as opposed to saying 'Washington Grizzly Stadium'... unless I'm wrong.

Yes, they blew the weather way out of proportion, as someone who spent his winters in Buffalo....

The officiating was horrendous at times, and they blew opportunities on some fumble non-calls with the replay.

Good job, Griz...

JALMOND
December 13th, 2009, 02:25 PM
One thing I got tired of hearing was that the game was being played at "the beginning of Hellgate Canyon". Kept referring to it as if the game was at the entrance to hell.

Liked the winter storm warning effect, though. We were under a winter storm warning/winter weather advisory through most of Friday and Saturday here in Portland (west suburbs) and never got the 2-4 inches of snow (no wind or ice either). I was able to show the wife and kids what a true winter storm looked like and the hearty people who live there.

Boone4280
December 13th, 2009, 02:29 PM
In my opinion, the announcers seemed to be one side when Montana made that comeback, several times proclaiming "This is MONTANA FOOOOOOTBALL".

putter
December 13th, 2009, 02:36 PM
In my opinion, the announcers seemed to be one side when Montana made that comeback, several times proclaiming "This is MONTANA FOOOOOOTBALL".

They said that when they were welcoming the viewers back to the broadcast and the PA announcer said that quote.

P.S. --> I wonder why they did not have a sideline announcer?? wishing for Erin Andrews..

gbhmt
December 13th, 2009, 02:37 PM
In my opinion, the announcers seemed to be one side when Montana made that comeback, several times proclaiming "This is MONTANA FOOOOOOTBALL".

They got excited. They did that for both teams.

JALMOND
December 13th, 2009, 02:40 PM
They said that when they were welcoming the viewers back to the broadcast and the PA announcer said that quote.

P.S. --> I wonder why they did not have a sideline announcer?? wishing for Erin Andrews..

Erin Andrews would have been in a parka. I doubt she would have been one of the girls just wearing a tank top in that weather. Is that really what you wanted?

putter
December 13th, 2009, 02:42 PM
Erin Andrews would have been in a parka. I doubt she would have been one of the girls just wearing a tank top in that weather. Is that really what you wanted?

parka, no parka......

ASU_Fanatic
December 13th, 2009, 02:50 PM
The announcers sounded good to me.

Torgo
December 13th, 2009, 02:53 PM
One thing I got tired of hearing was that the game was being played at "the beginning of Hellgate Canyon". Kept referring to it as if the game was at the entrance to hell.

Yeah, they really had fun with the name of Hellgate Canyon.


To be fair though...that is just about as badass of a name possible for a geological feature.

3PeatNation
December 13th, 2009, 03:00 PM
Also if you noticed on ESPN broadcast i see them bringing up the heisman and the FBS polls like anybody watching the game really cares about it...

phoenixphanatic21
December 13th, 2009, 03:43 PM
Yeah, they really had fun with the name of Hellgate Canyon.


To be fair though...that is just about as badass of a name possible for a geological feature.

I noticed that too and was like 'why do they keep saying that? That's kind of getting annoying. I mean it's only Hellgate Canyon...OK, that actually is really badass.' I'm glad they gave us announcers who seemed to be genuinely excited for the game. They really made the game more enjoyable to watch for me. I actually focused on the game and not how terrible the announcers ESPN gave us were. It was a nice change for me.

ChopperTN
December 13th, 2009, 08:46 PM
In regards to the Heisman talk, they HAVE to hype up the programming that's coming up on the ESPN family of networks. Can't forget where their paycheck is coming from.

AppChicago
December 13th, 2009, 09:20 PM
I thought the announcers were far better than ESPN crews I've heard in the past. Yes, they tied the game to FBS games, (e.g.: Michigan) but that's to be expected. And yes there was some Heisman talk, but not as much as last year. (I'd have liked to hear a few words about the Payton and Buchanan awards too, but whatever.)

However, the production WAS pretty lousy. The cameras were off on big action moments, at least for my standard def TV. That's something they should look out for.

And they had some serious flubs in some of the on-screen graphics. I mean, they said Armanti was getting a degree in Graphic Arts and IMAGINARY (rather than Imaging) Technology, and let at least one graphic go onscreen with placeholders consisting of the words "TEAM MASCOT" rather than actual team mascots. These aren't world-ending mistakes, but come the hell on... Would you see this during the Oxy-Clean Bowl or whatever lame FBS games they'll fill the airtime with for the next few weeks? Not so likely.

But yeah, decent announcers. They could have been a lot worse.

crabby terrier
December 13th, 2009, 09:53 PM
First, kudos to ESPN. Clearly the best announcers ever for an FCS playoff game. They were fair and appeared unbiased. As for the refs being good? They missed two easy fumbles, their eyes on several of those spots were ridiculous, and the holding calls not called were scarey. Did they miss calls on the Griz, sure, but they were not nearly as good as last weeks refs. But, NEVER, NEVER as bad as Big Sky refs, who have the reputation as being the worst in the country...

i agree with you about the missed calls on the fumbles after reception grizclaw. something else too. the officials did not even review any of those plays like they should have. in the william mary/nova game, it seemed like they went the other direction and went overboard on the official reviews. i was surprised the coach didn't challenge those two calls, especially the second one. i guess app's hurry up offense could have hurt a bit. i definitely think the griz were robbed on one if not two of those calls!

great game to watch. good job app for making it there and congratulations griz for going to final. i'll be pulling for you next week!!!xthumbsupxxthumbsupxxthumbsupx

AshevilleApp
December 13th, 2009, 09:54 PM
First, kudos to ESPN. Clearly the best announcers ever for an FCS playoff game. They were fair and appeared unbiased. As for the refs being good? They missed two easy fumbles, their eyes on several of those spots were ridiculous, and the holding calls not called were scarey. Did they miss calls on the Griz, sure, but they were not nearly as good as last weeks refs. But, NEVER, NEVER as bad as Big Sky refs, who have the reputation as being the worst in the country...

Hmm, I only remember the one obvious one...thought the others they got right. Not sure what holding penalties that you wanted called...App got flagged 10 times to a very relative few for the Griz. The spots were right on at least from the TV perspective - example would be the Frazier catch over the middle for the first down..he caught it right on the yellow TV line with forward progress and the spot was right on the line.

Squealofthepig
December 13th, 2009, 11:41 PM
Yeah, they really had fun with the name of Hellgate Canyon.


To be fair though...that is just about as badass of a name possible for a geological feature.

...or a high school!

And at least they got it right this time. Earlier this season KPAX had a game and had "the view up the Hellgate" which was aimed square at Lolo Peak.

jonmac
December 14th, 2009, 07:18 AM
I thought the announcers were far better than ESPN crews I've heard in the past. Yes, they tied the game to FBS games, (e.g.: Michigan) but that's to be expected. And yes there was some Heisman talk, but not as much as last year. (I'd have liked to hear a few words about the Payton and Buchanan awards too, but whatever.)

However, the production WAS pretty lousy. The cameras were off on big action moments, at least for my standard def TV. That's something they should look out for.

And they had some serious flubs in some of the on-screen graphics. I mean, they said Armanti was getting a degree in Graphic Arts and IMAGINARY (rather than Imaging) Technology, and let at least one graphic go onscreen with placeholders consisting of the words "TEAM MASCOT" rather than actual team mascots. These aren't world-ending mistakes, but come the hell on... Would you see this during the Oxy-Clean Bowl or whatever lame FBS games they'll fill the airtime with for the next few weeks? Not so likely.

But yeah, decent announcers. They could have been a lot worse.


I notice this stuff too. Seems that they sent the interns to operate cameras and graphics.

I thought I heard one of the announcers say that he played at a FCS school. Can't remember for sure though.

Rekdiver
December 14th, 2009, 08:11 AM
I hear a couple of ESPN announcers on another broadcast talking about not having to go to Montana for the game. There were poking fun at the ones that were going and what the reaction would be if there was any weather coming in...........These city guys were probably worried about getting stuck like some settler in the Donner Pass....... The shots of the flags in the wind told the story.

JMUNJ08
December 14th, 2009, 08:57 AM
Sadly I could not watch the app st/ montana game as friends were in town except for that hit on Cline. The announcers for Friday's CAA semi final were really good. However, both defenses played so well that there were little highlights to show throughout the game. The only problem I had was the halftime rant by Rob Smith about "bracket creep" and other junk to make people keep the FBS bowl system as is. He went on for a few minutes and then him and the other announcer said how great the playoff system is for the lower levels. HUH? Where did they slip you that "G" to say that?

They did hype the app st/montana game pretty well and not so much on the heisman. I know the Heisman is big for ESPN but don't you think the non-stellar seasons of most of the candidates made it that way? Last year was a 3 headed monster at QB. This year they hyped a DT. Big difference no?