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January 22, 2007
BY JOHN JACKSON Sun-Times Columnist
Mention a TV broadcasting team, any broadcasting team, in a crowded sports bar, and it won't be long before someone trashes the announcers and says he prefers to turn down the sound and listen to the radio broadcast whenever they do a game.
I have no doubt there are people who feel that way about the Fox team of play-by-play announcer Joe Buck and analyst Troy Aikman, but I don't understand how anyone can criticize their work in general and their work in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday in particular.
Although Buck made his name as a baseball announcer, he does a solid job on football, as well. He commands a broadcast like few play-by-play men. He describes the action as well as anyone and makes life easier for his analyst by bringing up the proper talking point at just the right time.
As for Aikman, he's not flashy and doesn't feel as if he has to entertain with an assortment of one-liners and funny stories. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback simply relies on his considerable football knowledge to inform viewers what's happening and why.
The entire Fox operation had a solid game Sunday, and that was never more evident than a stretch early in the fourth quarter when the Bears recovered a fumble by New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees.
Watching live, it was difficult to see whether Brees actually fumbled or whether the ball should belong to the Bears or the Saints, if it indeed was a fumble. After the officials ruled that the Saints recovered a fumble, Bears coach Lovie Smith challenged the call.
The boys in the truck immediately found the proper replay from an end-zone camera to show clearly that Adewale Ogunleye knocked the ball loose before Brees hit the ground.
Still, most viewers -- myself included -- were confused as to what exactly Smith was challenging. But Buck quickly cleared things up by pointing out that Ogunleye recovered the fumble on the ground and was immediately down because he was touched by Brees and Saints center Jeff Faine. Therefore, when Ogunleye got up and lost the ball after he started running, the play already was over.
I also liked the job the duo did on the decisive drive in the third quarter when the Bears scored a touchdown for a commanding 25-14 lead. They pointed out early in the drive that Saints cornerback Fred Thomas was struggling and likely would be the weak link in the secondary the Bears hoped to exploit.
Sure enough, Thomas was burned repeatedly, including on the circus touchdown catch by Bernard Berrian.
Because the outcome essentially was decided early in the fourth quarter, Buck and Aikman had a lot of time to fill and did a good job putting everything into perspective. They brought up the record of dome teams playing outside in championship games (0-9 since 1970), they talked about how Bears quarterback Rex Grossman came alive when the team needed him and Buck made it a point to mention that Smith is the NFL's lowest-paid coach at $1.35 million.
Aikman then offered this quote he attributed to his former coach, Jimmy Johnson: ''It's not the team that makes the most big plays. It's the team that makes the fewest bad plays.''
While Buck and Aikman set the tone, it was an overall solid effort by Fox, starting with Frank Caliendo's laugh-out-loud funny skit on the ''Fox NFL Sunday'' pregame show, in which he played John Madden, Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell.
Sideline reporter Chris Myers also did a good job in the first quarter when he checked with the officials and revealed there is no penalty for calling consecutive timeouts. In a rare slip-up, both Buck and Aikman believed the Bears should have been penalized when Grossman tried to call a timeout after the team was coming out of a timeout.
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BY JOHN JACKSON Sun-Times Columnist
Mention a TV broadcasting team, any broadcasting team, in a crowded sports bar, and it won't be long before someone trashes the announcers and says he prefers to turn down the sound and listen to the radio broadcast whenever they do a game.
I have no doubt there are people who feel that way about the Fox team of play-by-play announcer Joe Buck and analyst Troy Aikman, but I don't understand how anyone can criticize their work in general and their work in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday in particular.
Although Buck made his name as a baseball announcer, he does a solid job on football, as well. He commands a broadcast like few play-by-play men. He describes the action as well as anyone and makes life easier for his analyst by bringing up the proper talking point at just the right time.
As for Aikman, he's not flashy and doesn't feel as if he has to entertain with an assortment of one-liners and funny stories. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback simply relies on his considerable football knowledge to inform viewers what's happening and why.
The entire Fox operation had a solid game Sunday, and that was never more evident than a stretch early in the fourth quarter when the Bears recovered a fumble by New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees.
Watching live, it was difficult to see whether Brees actually fumbled or whether the ball should belong to the Bears or the Saints, if it indeed was a fumble. After the officials ruled that the Saints recovered a fumble, Bears coach Lovie Smith challenged the call.
The boys in the truck immediately found the proper replay from an end-zone camera to show clearly that Adewale Ogunleye knocked the ball loose before Brees hit the ground.
Still, most viewers -- myself included -- were confused as to what exactly Smith was challenging. But Buck quickly cleared things up by pointing out that Ogunleye recovered the fumble on the ground and was immediately down because he was touched by Brees and Saints center Jeff Faine. Therefore, when Ogunleye got up and lost the ball after he started running, the play already was over.
I also liked the job the duo did on the decisive drive in the third quarter when the Bears scored a touchdown for a commanding 25-14 lead. They pointed out early in the drive that Saints cornerback Fred Thomas was struggling and likely would be the weak link in the secondary the Bears hoped to exploit.
Sure enough, Thomas was burned repeatedly, including on the circus touchdown catch by Bernard Berrian.
Because the outcome essentially was decided early in the fourth quarter, Buck and Aikman had a lot of time to fill and did a good job putting everything into perspective. They brought up the record of dome teams playing outside in championship games (0-9 since 1970), they talked about how Bears quarterback Rex Grossman came alive when the team needed him and Buck made it a point to mention that Smith is the NFL's lowest-paid coach at $1.35 million.
Aikman then offered this quote he attributed to his former coach, Jimmy Johnson: ''It's not the team that makes the most big plays. It's the team that makes the fewest bad plays.''
While Buck and Aikman set the tone, it was an overall solid effort by Fox, starting with Frank Caliendo's laugh-out-loud funny skit on the ''Fox NFL Sunday'' pregame show, in which he played John Madden, Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell.
Sideline reporter Chris Myers also did a good job in the first quarter when he checked with the officials and revealed there is no penalty for calling consecutive timeouts. In a rare slip-up, both Buck and Aikman believed the Bears should have been penalized when Grossman tried to call a timeout after the team was coming out of a timeout.
LINK
