Tirico vs. Gumbel…. Who Ya Got?

Is it just me or are Mike Tirico and Bryant Gumbel living case studies for what makes a good play-by-play commentator and a horrible play-by-play commentator? In my opinion Tirico is the best pro-football announcer on TV at the moment. He calls a good fluid game, doesn’t bog you down with stats or crap no one cares about (that’s what Joe Theismann is for!). He was an excellent play-by-play guy for college football but actually calls a better game with the NFL. He also has a great voice for football.

And then there’s Bryant Gumbel… I’m still wondering why the NFL Network chose someone with little to no play-by-play calling experience to head their both. To say that Gumbel and calling a football game go together about as well as oil & water might be an understatement, but the plain simple fact is he’s just lost there in the booth. Thank god he has Chris Collinsworth (one of the best analysts out there) in the booth with him, I could only imagine the train wreck that would occur if someone like Bill Maas (FOX) or John Madden (yes I know, I’m waiting for the lighting bolts) were calling a game with him. But even more than that I think the thing that bugs me the most about Gumbel in the booth is his voice, it’s just not a good voice for calling sports, then again it wasn’t very good in doing the faux news on the Today Show with Jane Pauley back in the day. I’d rather listen to Fran Drescher call a game and she might just have the most annoying whiny, high-pitched voice on the planet…..

But I think the thing that drove it home for me in respects to Gumbel was his performance last Thursday night during the Seahawks-49ers game. I counted at least 4 times where he referred to RB Frank Gore as “Al”. And that was only in the 2nd quarter! Yes I know announcers make mistakes all the time, but still c’mon at least friggin try to get it right! If it were up to me I’d sack Gumbel and let Collinsworth call the games Vin Scully style (solo)….. He could do it.