Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Analysis of Week 10 49ers/Seahawks' broadcast.

So I'll be honest. I didn't watch more than 20 minutes of the game last night. The NFC West is one of the weakest divisions in the league and the 49ers are simply terrible. So terrible in fact I feel sorry for them. Anyway, I did not watch enough of the game to give a full critique of the broadcast but I can give one example that proves they haven't changed. Here is the Play-by-Play from NFL.com

3-1-SF 2 (4:15) 8-M.Hasselbeck pass incomplete short right to 18-D.Hackett.

What I saw was Hasselbeck throw a floater to Hackett in the end zone from the 2 yard line. The play was closely defended and Hackett couldn't pull it in. It looked like there could have been some pass interference on the play. After the play here is what we were treated to:
  • The camera followed Hasselbeck as he ran to the bench.
  • A closeup of Holmgren's scowling face (or is that the way he always looks?).
  • A good closeup of kicker Josh Brown as he readied himself for a 20 yard field goal.
  • An extended closeup of Josh as he readied himself for a 20 yard field goal.
  • Josh kicking a 20 yard field goal.
Here is what we did not see after a closely contended pass play in the end zone that might or might not have been pass interference:
  • Any kind of replay of the play
And the worst of it is there was no mention of the play by the broadcast crew beyond the play-by-play. There was no talk about whether it could have been pass interference through any of the above, riveting, footage.

Anyway, as stated, I didn't watch much of the game from there. If anyone wants to add a a fairly obscenity free critique of the game in the comments section I would be willing to post it. Trust me being obscenity free when watching or commenting on MNF is not easy.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I, like you, didn't watch much of the game because the lousy match-up but what I did see was very lame. Who the hell cares about Drew Carey and The Price Is Right? When I watch MNF I want to see two good teams facing off in a meaningful game (hopefully with playoff implications), not a fat white guy talk about a stupid game show!

Unknown said...

I purposely kept the volume off for this one, so I can't say much about the announcers' quality. I can say this much about Drew Carey: he's terrible on The Price Is Right.

Anonymous said...

No change from the typical lousiness last night. Sadly, it's the torture I live with because I'll watch any game.

As for the rest of the season?
Jaworski? Every time you end a sentence with, "Tony?" I want to reach through the screen and punch you in your mediocre quarterback turnip-shaped head. It seems like you're there to do nothing more than provide b*tch fodder for Kornheiser. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we get way more than our fill of the bickering crap during the Dierdorf era?

Kornheiser? You come across like you're oblivious to every aspect of football... unless it involves Brett Favre. Even then, you don't quite "get it". Here's a clue for you Tony. To be a great QB, you need to have great receivers. To enable your receivers and QB to be great, you need to have at least a good offensive line. To avoid the need to score 48 points every game and to give your offense good field position, you need to have a good defense and special teams... etc, etc, etc. The picture is way bigger than one person on the field.

Mike Tirico? Congratulations! You're the only one I like.

Michele Tafoya and Suzy Kolber? Other than delivering us from the evil duo for a minute or two a game, what exactly are you supposed to be doing?

Chris Berman? I generally like you, but your "Fastest Three Minutes" totally sucks. If I had a dog, he'd probably howl at the TV every time you "whoop" screech. I know it's probably not for you to decide, but how about giving us full highlights from all the damn games, and/or plays of the week again? (If I want sappy tributes I'll check out the Lifetime channel.)

Guest stars? Not a good one yet. (And a total waste of time to boot.)

Terrible... just terrible.

Anonymous said...

Esse:

You watched 19 minutes more than me. I've said all along that the matchups this season are pretty rough, but this is the bottom of the barrel. The cameramen couldn't even watch this game. Outside of Seattle and San Fran, nobody cared about this game. Add in the fact that the three stooges were calling the game and even the most die-hard football fans have trouble staying tuned in.

Anonymous said...

Other than flipping the channel to see what the score was, I didn't watch it either. Why? Because of the MNF "talent" that "calls" the game. What a load of crap this show has turned into. ESPN has totally ruined what was a institution for football. Other than Mike Turico, no one has any value on this show and I am refusing to watch. Tony K is in love with Tom Brady and would bear his love child too, if it were physically possible.

OK, if it was a better match-up I would have watched BUT the TV would have been muted and the radio on.

Seriously, can't ESPN do better than these clowns?

Anonymous said...

Man this MNF thing has to stop. Maybe it wasn't this game(I don't think it was), but this one sucked too. There was a play (I totally cna't remember the game much) and the play ended and they cut to a camera that showed a scuffle beginning, what does the crew do? They switch to a clip of Ron's stats or switch to a booth camera and talk about themselves. I was ANGRY i wanted to hear what was happening but they didn't say a word. Even Mike, who is usually reliable for cluing us in, failed to even mention a scuffle and jsut said "incomplete....so guys..." or something like that.

Esse Quam Videri said...

Your example is exactly what drives me crazy. The issue here is egos. Each person in the booth is so in love with their own voice it's like they are not even broadcasting an NFL game. This is NOT talk radio folks. Let the game speak, somewhat, for itself.

Anonymous said...

Individually, I like all the guys. I personally think Jaworski is the best at analyzing(outside of MNF) the NFL has today. His insights are amazing. Tony is funny/off-topic and in small doses he would be good for MNF. Tirico steadily does his job. Too bad MNF has a Talkathon scheduled on top of a game that is actually being played. I tried to listen a little this past MNF when SF had 4th and 1 from about the 2 yard line. Tony was saying he thought they should go for it to get momentum. Jaworski wanted to get an experienced opinion in and started talking. I couldn't hear a word because Tony KEPT TALKING OVER HIM! RJ raised his voice and Korny kept saying something. Everything was uninelligible. This went on until I hit the mute button. I turned the sound on later and I could tell Jaworski was pissed that he wasn't able to give his opinion earlier. Jaworski said they were down by 3 scores (17-0) and needed to make it a 2 possesion game. He seemed like he had enough of the crap and was fuming at Tony. I've had enough myself. I like all these guys individually, but this reality show/daytime soap experiment is way too much. From here on out it's Tivo and mute for me.

Anonymous said...

I watched the opener and changed the channel! LOL

1 question: isn't Drew Carey from CLEVELAND?!!! Why was he all Seehawk-ified?

That's literally all I saw of MNF last week.

I'll be watching this week because my Broncos are playing. That's the ONLY reason.

Anonymous said...

MNF is pretty much like the rest of ESPN. They have their agenda and stick with it weather or not it is of any quality. They also do not dispute calls by the officials to include showing replays of potential bad calls. I have stopped watching ESPN. It was a blessing for me when they dropped the NHL. Lets hope the NFL is next.
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