Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Analysis of Week 11 Broncos/Titans' broadcast.

This, once again, was a sub par broadcast overshadowing, and indeed stream rolling over, a good game.

Tony's spew at the start was so annoying as he talked about how well known the Broncos are, thanks to Elway and his rings, and "almost no one" knows about the Titans and the fact they were 1 yard away from tying the game and going to OT with the Rams in Superbowl XXXIV.

The who?

It was one of the most exciting finishes in Superbowl history and yet "almost no one" knows about the Titans. Just so you know, football fans, we are "almost no one". I bet Tony had to go to Wikipedia to find out about that game.

Game Over Watch
I have never seen an announcer so quick to tell an audience the game is pretty much over and they might as well go watch another station. I am sure Tony would rather be watching Dancing with the Stars (certainly he had it Tivo'd) but shouldn't the network be a little ticked that one of their announcers is asking whether the game is over when one team is down by 14 in the first quarter? Each week I am more amazed at what goes on.

Shock of the Broadcast
I was extremely surprised in the second quarter when Tony actually stopped talking for a play. Of course his useless rant went around two plays but he did pause as each play was run. He has never let a little thing like a football game going on get in the way of his insights before. I wonder if he had a talking to?

"There is a game going on" Oprah Moment!
Thank you Michelle, the sideline girl, for talking over 4 plays about Vince's vulnerability in speaking candidly about his father being released from prison and their troubled relationship. Thanks for opening the door for Tony to continue talking about how professional athletes are people too (What an insight!!). Don't forget during all of this touching dialog Vince was driving down the field to possibly get within a score in a game that was, according to Tony, basically over. It was a really touching moment -- sarcasm off --

Then there is the wonderful conversation about how great buddies Shannahan and Fisher are and how Shannahan trusted Fisher, his old coaching mate with the 49ers, to give him the truth on Cutler. This is gripping drama people. How can we concentrate on the game when there is this to listen to? -- sarcasm off --

Best Two Minutes of the Broadcast
Did anyone notice how, just before the half, the broadcast was almost stomachable? It was 2 minutes of pure joy. We got replay after replay as the Titans' marched down the field trying for an all important score. The crew even commented on a play that looked like a catch and should have gone to the booth for a review but didn't. Talk about controversy. Bet we got 5 replays of that play (and I agree it was a catch). The Titans ended up cutting the Broncos lead in half with a field goal. Why were those last 2 minutes so nice? Tony was on his way to PTI.

Anyone else have some "key moments" from the broadcast? We'd love to hear them in the comments.

5 comments:

Joe Schmoe said...

I don't understand why Kornholieo is even in the booth, the guy is pathetic and makes Dennis Miller seem like an announcing god. They don't need a third person in the booth anyway... actually, an empty booth would be better at this stage. It's so bad that I pretty much don't watch MNF, watching paint dry is more entertaining.

Anonymous said...

Aside from Tony's moronic pre-game babble and the usual production issues, the announcing actually wasn't too bad... that is, until they went and screwed the whole thing up with the Vince Young fiasco. I bailed shortly after that mess.

(I know Esse wants us to keep things more on the civil side here, so you can see my whole rant at the name link above)

Esse Quam Videri said...

Nice Rant Dogstar. That's the kind of detail I like. It's hard to do it for a whole show isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Thanks, and yes it was probably the most aggravating quarter of football I've ever watched. =)

It's really kind of a shame how bad MNF has turned. I used to look forward to Monday night's game, now most of the time I can't even be bothered to have it on in the background. As the saying goes here with sports in Chicago - Maybe next year.

Esse Quam Videri said...

ESPN would need to make some changes for there to be any hope next year. Tony just has to go. That few minutes before half-time really was watchable without him.

Then again, at the end of the day ESPN really doesn't care about football fans. They want more viewers who aren't football fans never figuring they are losing their advertising target as more and more football fans stop watching.

If how terrible MNF has become ever started to hurt them financially we would see a change faster than you could say "Tony Sucks!"