Posted on 12/31/2007 9:49:30 AM PST by Diago
One of the risks the NFL Network faced by having CBS and NBC simulcast the Patriots-Giants game Saturday night was the exposure to a wider world it would give Bryant Gumbel, the channel’s play-by-play announcer.
While 34.5 million watched the NFL Network's feed of the Patriots beating the Giants, they also saw Bryant Gumbel stumble through the telecast.
The NFL Network reaches 43 million cable and satellite subscribers, but the simulcast increased the viewing universe to 113 million TV homes.
In all, an average of 34.5 million viewers watched on CBS, NBC, the NFL Network, Channel 9 in New York, WCVB-TV in Boston and WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H. — the most for any regular-season N.F.L. broadcast since 1995.
Let’s put that number in perspective. It required six channels in prime time to surpass the 33.8 million who watched the Nov. 4 Patriots-Colts afternoon game on CBS.
Few among the 34.5 million could have been disappointed. But what could those viewers have thought of the usually well-spoken Gumbel, who said early in the game, “The Patriots with their high-powered offense come back on the field for the first time this evening”?
They heard someone who shouldn’t be in this seat, not beside Cris Collinsworth, who has proved through his work on the NFL Network, NBC and HBO that he is the best N.F.L. analyst around.
But Gumbel, one of the most talented studio personalities of the last 25 years, is struggling to learn what he should be doing after the network’s two seasons.
He doesn’t see the field well, which leads him to be imprecise (or wrong) about yardage gained on a play or the yard line. More often than not, he will not even try to provide the yardage.
•
His imprecision leads him to fall back on ambiguities like “the ball is inside the 10” or “way short of the first-down marker,” phrases that more experienced announcers only occasionally use. Gumbel uses them as crutches. He repeatedly locates a play as going to “this side” or the “far side,” when “right” or “left” will suffice. He too frequently uses “stone” as a verb to denote a runner gaining little or no yardage. How about “stacked up” or “stopped”?
With the Giants ahead by 28-23, he said the Patriots were “within one score.” Within a touchdown, please. When New England scored to make it 38-28, he said, “They’ve moved ahead by two scores.” Which two scores? Most every fan knew, but his pattern of vagueness had long before set in.
Gumbel says things that no experienced announcer would. After Kevin Boss’s touchdown catch gave the Giants a 21-16 lead, Gumbel said a holding penalty on the Patriots was “waved off.” The Giants declined it; the referee didn’t declare the flag to be thrown in error.
When Randy Moss scored on a 4-yard pass in the second quarter, Gumbel crowed, “How often do you get three N.F.L. records to fall on one play?” Too bad only one record, the one for team scoring, was broken on that touchdown; Moss tied Jerry Rice for most touchdown receptions and Tom Brady tied Peyton Manning for most touchdown passes.
•
On Domenik Hixon’s 74-yard kickoff return for a touchdown for the Giants, Gumbel was behind at every point. When Hixon was at his 42, Gumbel noted that he received the ball at his 26; when Gumbel said, “He’s breaking past midfield,” Hixon was already at the 35. When Gumbel said, “Only one more man to beat,” he never said who that man was.
On Moss’s 65-yard touchdown catch, which put the Patriots ahead for good, Gumbel’s call ignored James Butler, the defensive back Moss beat. And the NFL Network’s replays were too close or at too low an angle to see how Moss came free.
Gumbel’s lack of field vision meant that Collinsworth could have done the two-man job on his own.
As for the importance of this game to the NFL Network, that is uncertain. Fans who receive the channel seemed to abandon it; on Nov. 29, 10.1 million watched Dallas beat Green Bay on the NFL Network, but only 4.5 million stayed loyal for New England’s history-making game.
Where did they go? To CBS, which drew about 15.68 million; NBC (13.2 million); and Channel 9, WCVB and WMUR (about 1.2 million).
E-mail: sportsbiz@nytimes.com
Bryant Gumbel returned to a morning TV anchor chair on Monday, November 1, 1999. According to MRC President Brent Bozell, "for 15 years, Mr. Gumbel used another morning program as a daily platform for personal liberal bias masquerading as news and commentary." Bozell explained that "like everyone else, Mr. Gumbel is entitled to his own opinions -- but not to his own set of facts. Yet he repeatedly used his anchor status to slant the facts to support his personal liberal opinions, misinforming millions."
The October 26, 1999, issue of USA Today reported on Bozell's letter to CBS News, commenting: "One of Bryant Gumbel's frequent critics is after him again, less than a week before the former Today anchor returns to morning TV on CBS' The Early Show. In a letter to CBS News president Andrew Heyward, Brent Bozell, head of the conservative watchdog group Media Research Center, warns that the new show could be a vehicle for 'liberal propaganda.' CBS dismissed Bozell's comments, calling Gumbel 'fair and tough.'"
According to MRC Vice President for Research and Publications Brent Baker, "short of Geraldo Rivera, few have done as much as Bryant Gumbel to lower the standards of professional TV journalism. As an interviewer, he can’t even pose a question without stumbling over his own liberal bias, and we have the audio- and videotape to prove it."
Rate Gumbell here in the AOL poll:
Id rather prep and have a colonoscopy than listen to that bonehead
The whole telecast looked second rate, and Gumbel sucked.
I bet Chris Collinsworthless runs a close second.
Watching the games on the NFL network with Gumbel was dreadfull. The first few games he sounded as though he had never watched a football game, let alone called one!
Bryant Gumbel is awful. His brother Greg is great, however.
“And Gumbel is mumblin’, bumblin’ stumblin’!”
< /Berman off >
Rated “Terrible” by 47% of 30,316 votes.
I noticed the poor job done by Gumball. I haven’t seen him in a long while after his liberal, racist, and socialist views were detected by the public and he went into a hibernation period. If anything, I thought his past football experience would come into play and he might do alright. I was wrong. He was terrible. His heart is probably not in football anymore. In a case like this, why does he want the job anyway, and why does the NFL keep him?
I never like Collinsworth in the booth or as a studio analyst but lately he’s been growing on me. Still some quirks but every analyst has their quirks. I thought he did a decent job as the color analyst in the Giants/Pats game.
From the article:
“But Gumbel, one of the most talented studio personalities of the last 25 years, is struggling to learn what he should be doing after the network’s two seasons.”
Talented to the Liberals who hire at Network TV.
Gumbel is the poster child for “affirmative action,” proof positive that standards and quality take a back seat.
Gumbell is terrible, which isn’t news he’s always been terrible!
Gumbel is the worst play-by-play announcer in the history of televised football. He has absolutely no idea what’s happening on the football field, and he lacks the verbal tools to overcome his lack of football knowledge. I can’t believe he’s survived two full seasons calling games for NFL Network.
“Who, in the NFL, decided that Bryant Bumble would be a popular sports broadcaster?”
Just a guess, but I’ll go with a self-hating, white liberal progressive residing within 25 miles of the Empire State Building.
His old pal, Katie Couric, could call a better game than that left wing pos.
| Terrible | 47% | 14,858 |
| Poor | 24% | 7,597 |
| Fair | 17% | 5,486 |
| Good | 8% | 2,664 |
| Excellent | 4% | 1,410 |
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.