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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.
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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.
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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
I’ll say this for him: He was so terrible the other night on the Patriots game that he put me to sleep. Thanks Bryan!
I tried to listen...I really did. But Gumbel with Collinsworth thrown into the mix...it was unbearable.
After 5 minutes I ran the video feed with the play by play coming from the local FM radio broadcast with Gil Santos and Gino Capaletti. Two gentlemen who know football and know their audience.
I wouldn't cross the street to pee on Collingsworth or Gumbel even if they were on fire.
When Sanders was paired with Gumble for the Steelers/Rams game I couldn't even watch the highlights let alone listen to them for more than three hours. It takes a lot of work to make it unbearable to watch an NFL game but those two did it.
Whatever happened to Greg Gumbel? He was tolerably professional, if a bit bland.
Gumball is a real turd if you hear how he dumped his long supportive family.
Is there a category worse than “terrible”? That would be my choice.
But, for those of you who haven’t had an opportunity to view the NFL Network this season, he has gotten alot better since his first few games. And I mean ALOT BETTER. I think that I could do a better job, and I haven’t even stayed in a Holiday Inn Express.
“. . . one of the most talented . . .” the article says of him. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. The fact is that he is NOT talented.
From http://www.nbc5i.com/whattheel/14932195/detail.html
“What the El” Editorial:
Ladies, if you aren’t into football and you want to see the men around you spin out of control and go into a tirade, mention that you think Bryant Gumbel does an okay job as a commentator!
Here’s the deal for those of you who don’t know… Bryant Gumbel calls the game with Cris Collinsworth, and Bryant sucks at it.
Yes, Bryant Gumbel of “Today Show” fame who went on to host the HBO show “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.” Granted the show is good, but it’s because of the nature of the show and the reporters on it.
It’s like saying Stone Phillips is the reason Dateline is good.
Meanwhile, Bryant Gumbel has never NEVER done play-by-play before in his entire life before the NFL Network tapped his shoulder.
Play-by-play is an art, it takes skill and Bryant Gumbel doesn’t have it, but his big brother Greg Gumbel does, as a matter of fact his the sports guy in the family!
So why the NFL Network chose Bryant is beyond me… and most men…
I actually started a firestorm yesterday when I mentioned that Bryant wasn’t the worst I’d ever heard, to which most every man in the room said he was….
In addition to his total lack of knowledge, Gumbel’s voice intonation is the same for a 2-yard run up the middle v. a 95 yard kickoff return. Just awful.
Out of 42+K 29,593 rated him poor to terrible! Gotta love that!
His voice sounded like a stoned Kermit the Frog.
[47% Rate him Terrible, 24% Poor]......The rest just plain don’t like him.......
[[[Gumbel is the poster child for “affirmative action,” proof positive that standards and quality take a back seat.]]
Even a bigger idiot than Gumballs is Shannon Sharpe” of the CBS analyst team. This moron cannot even speak English properly and it is his native language. Whenever we have a gang over to watch a game and then he is analyzing it afterwards, we laugh our asses off at him. WHY in the hell would CBS hire a guy like this who speaks like he has a “mouth full of marbles”?
Kept thinking of a Family Guy episode.
Greg is still doing play by play, and yes, he is far better than Bryant:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Gumbel
Current CBS career
When CBS regained coverage of the NFL in 1998, Gumbel moved back to CBS. Gumbel was The NFL on CBS’ lead announcer between 1998 and 2003, calling two Super Bowls (alongside Phil Simms). For the 2004 NFL season, Gumbel traded positions with Jim Nantz as host of The NFL Today while Nantz would take over as lead announcer. At the end of the 2005 NFL season, Gumbel was replaced as studio host of the The NFL Today pre-game show by James Brown. He currently serves as a play-by-play announcer for The NFL on CBS alongside Dan Dierdorf.
Besides the NFL, Gumbel’s other primary work for CBS is as studio host for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament coverage. He has held this position since he moved back to CBS.
Gumbel is the third man to serve as both host and play-by-play announcer for Super Bowls (the first two were Dick Enberg and Al Michaels respectively). He hosted Super Bowls XXVI, XXX and XXXII before calling Super Bowls XXXV and XXXVIII. Jim Nantz became the fourth man to do so after he called Super Bowl XLI for CBS.
During his tenure as the chief anchor of The NFL Today he served alongside co-anchors Dan Marino, Shannon Sharpe, and Boomer Esiason. The group was known to call him by his nickname “Gumby.”
more reasons I haven’t followed pro football since Blanda
Addition by subtraction.
I’m an old lady and not much of a football fan but watched the game the other night since I’m a Mass. resident.
I couldn’t stand Gumbel and I thought it was just me being my cranky old self. Glad to see I have some company.
Totally agree. They picked the wrong brother for what should be the league's signature broadcast. The NFL netwrok is like watching my local high school games on public access.
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