OT: Gil and Gino as announcers

[PatsWickedPissah]

Troy Brown as color man. Advantage - brown is a color!

 

[Garbanza]

I agree.

How about Steve Nelson?

Tedy Bruschi?

Zolak as color-man?

Steve Grogan?



Gino is 77 years old!! He retired as a player over 50 years ago!! I'm sorry, but he's just not the best man for the job.

All due respect to him as a former Patriots great, but everyone time comes sooner or later, and his came quite a few years ago now already.

I like it just the way it is. Would not change a thing.

I get the feeling it's just the young fans that want a change. Go occupy another cause, okay? Yeesh!

 

[tobias funke]

Listening to doddering old fools ramble on about nonsense doesn't interest me in the slightest. Collinsworth gives good, crisp, insightful analysis. He's a hundred million times better than anything Madden did in the last 10 years of announcing.

Let's be honest here.

The announcers on television are talking directly to lowest common denominator of fan.

If you watch football regularly, the last thing you should be relying on for insightful analysis are the people on television who are telling you what you just saw with your own eyes.

I watch a number of games without the center channel, and miss nothing. I leave the announcers on when I'm doing other things and want to hear what's going on when I'm not paying attention. A good voice and the right amount of excitement based on what's going on on the field is all I need.

 

[loofasisgeek]

It absolutely makes sense, and any good announcing team will specify this. When I listen to a football game on radio I envision the field and plays in my mind's eye (from the press box side). It helps me process what's going on if I know the offense is trying to move "north" or "south." It also jives with any replays I might see later.

So if they didn't say "left to right" or "right to left" your mind's eye wouldn't know what to do? Would it show the old time TV test signal?

What would happen to you later if you happened to see a replay that was shot from the opposite side of the field? Would that be really confusing? How would your mind interpret that experience?


A serious question: Are all of the replays shot from that same side?

 

[loofasisgeek]

The direction the team is going is also important so you know where the players are lining up. If Gil says, "Brady in the shotgun with Woodhead to his right" you can get a better picture in your head of where that alignment is since you know the team is moving from right to left of the announce crew.

Weather they're going left-to-right or going right-to-left if Woodhead is to Brady's right then he's on Brady's right. There is no "north" right and "south" right. Right?

... I'm actually really suprised to hear that people like this.

I do like it when the announcers set the scene regarding the wind, or sun, or crowd... to help set up the picture. Left to right vs right to left always seemed very different to me because it was just about the announcers perspective, not the overall scene. It sounds to me like, "Hi Fans, it's a bright sunny day and 45 degrees at Gillette Stadium, Patriots are going left to right, my chair is brown and I have a coffee mug that says "Patriots" on it in front of me."

Maybe I'm autistic or something.

 

[SpiritOf76]

Gil does make some flubs, but I forgive him because he does an exciting call, and if I'm not mistaken, he calls the game live while looking through binoculars, not off a TV feed. The way the Pats sub players in and out, and with some of the new faces, he misses some.

There is sort of a running joke in our house about the yardages Gil calls on exciting plays for the Pats. "He's to the 20, the 10, the 5,......out of bounds at the 15." He's always gotten a little bit ahead of himself, and again, maybe with the binoculars it can be hard to see where the player goes out.

Geno just can't seem to get the words out. If he'd keep his comments shorter it'd help, but he always reaches for that extra sentence he has difficulty finishing.

Zo will eventually be up in the booth. He makes interesting observations on the field. It's awkward with the 3 of them now. We listen to almost all games.

 

[Bostonian1962]

I"m mixed. If I listen to them without the picture, I love their voices because of old time memories, and the excitement they have for the Patriots.

However, if I watch them with the game also on the TV, it's brutal. The not naming the players involved is really bad, but worse is getting the players wrong. 'I think that was Mayo on the tackle', when it in fact was a safety, or guessing that it was somebody who's no longer in the game. Or, saying, and he's down at the 28 yard line, when the player is at the 23. They paint a picture when I'm not watching, but the picture is drastically different than what is being reported, when I have the TV on at the same time.

 

[sbpatfan]

The best announcer around:

Best of Gus Johnson - Rise and Fire - YouTube

 

[rookBoston]

It's time to give Zolak more air-time and for Gino to hang up the mike.

Agreed. Gil is quality, but Gino is absolutely lost. Give the ball to Zolack.

 

[Tunescribe]

So if they didn't say "left to right" or "right to left" your mind's eye wouldn't know what to do? Would it show the old time TV test signal?

What would happen to you later if you happened to see a replay that was shot from the opposite side of the field? Would that be really confusing? How would your mind interpret that experience?


A serious question: Are all of the replays shot from that same side?

What the hell are you trying to say? The fact is that most radio announcers DO say "left to right" and "right to left" for the purpose of visually orienting listeners. Duh! Television broadcasts (and, consequently, replays) are oriented from the stadium's west side. (If you need some pointers on that, just look up at the sun's arc or look at the logo at the center of the field. If you're on the east side the logo will appear upside-down.) Doesn't appear that you watch (or listen) to much football.

 

[hovis]

Just listened to Tanguay announcing the HS Super Bowl. What a waste of some good pipes. If he could learn Gil's technique and keep his opinions too himself he'd be damn good. He sucks at calling action, and entirely missed most plays. Give him a script:

1. [Time left] left in the [quarter #] quarter. [Team name] have the ball, [down and distance] from [their own / the opposing] [yard line #].

[Pause]

2. [Offensive team name] lines up in the [formation name], [defensive team name] in the [formation name] (note if D shows blitz). (Repeat process for audibles)

3. [Snap type] to [snap recipient]. (Describe action with appropriate adjectives and vocal inflections).

4. Provide color commentary until ball is spotted and play continues.

5. Repeat steps 1-4 until any breaks in action.