Should networks stop using former players as analysts for their former teams' games? (eg, Troy)

[DallasDomination]

Honestly I can't stand Aikman when he does Cowboys games but he's a legit analyst. Maybe he has negativity towards the Cowboys because Jerry wasted the 2nd half of his career. Can't blame the guy.

 

[robjay04]

Honestly I can't stand Aikman when he does Cowboys games but he's a legit analyst. Maybe he has negativity towards the Cowboys because Jerry wasted the 2nd half of his career. Can't blame the guy.

Funny I was thinking the same thing after watching his A Football Life. As he has gotten older, his colors are starting to show more though, his negativity isn't nearly as strong. I suspect he was bitter for several years, I remember hearing rumors that he was considering coming back and playing for the eagles when McNabb missed significant time a couple years after he retired.

 

[willia451]

I wonder what Troy thinks about covering Cowboys games? I remember reading a story about Troy Aikman's reaction to the 2007 Cowboys/Giants playoff game in which the Cowboys lost at home before the Death Star was built; old Texas Stadium may she RIP.

He just stood in the booth after the game. Looking out on the empty field with the fans slowly leaving. With a grim look on his face. Not saying anything. Like a statue. And apparently this went on for quite some amount of time (could have been as long as 30 minutes; but I can't remember).

Finally he simply turned around and walked out. Again. Not saying anything or acknowledging anyone.

Must be hard on him to see them lose.

 

[lostar2009]

I love Aikman and Buck. I don't get why everyone hates Buck. They have great chemistry, and they make games feel important by the way they call them.

Because Buck cause this team to loose. He will find this stupid never before heard of negative stat that will come true. It's is almost like money.

 

[fairviewfarmer]

I wouldn't hurt my feelings to never hear Aikman broadcasting a Cowboys game ever again.

The mute button is my friend when Aikman is in the booth during a Cowboys game.

 

[_sturt_]

no, Ex players have the best perspective of the game and it would be a logistical nightmare for a network to try and shuffle broadcasters just because of an ex player of a certain team........ if the broadcaster cant be fair and balanced chuck him out the door, the world needs plenty of bartenders!

Couple of thoughts...

First... elaborate on this logistical nightmare thing, plz. Can't so much avoid Troy to Cowboys or Simms to Giants, if it's the national game. But after that, it would seem pretty simple to avoid assigning John Lynch to Buccaneers games, avoid assigning Dan Fouts to Chargers games, etc. (Or, like last night, Griese to the game featuring his alma mater.)

Second... I don't necessarily think any particular analyst isn't fair, but the important nuance is, one can be fair, but that doesn't mean one is going to be perceived as being fair. And when you set up these guys to serve as analyst for games with teams they once were associated with, you... to my mind, needlessly... fuel judgment... again, not just from the opposing team, but just as likely from those fans of his former team who are quick to think he's over-compensating.

 

[cityochamps]

Couple of thoughts...

First... elaborate on this logistical nightmare thing, plz.

I'll try and elaborate possibly if you can define this (With all of the decent-to-good analysts on TV that any given network employs, why isn't it just a rule of thumb that networks????) There are 5 major networks involved with the NFL and then each team may have 1-3 flagship or regional networks that may or may not be affiliated to one of those major networks There are 32 teams each team has at least 4 announcers, 2 play by play and 2 analyst more often than not at least 50% of that teams of announcers some times all 4 are in fact ex-players or coaches of the team they announce for. In any case that adds up to well over 100 announcers. Additionally, CBS has 24 NFL announcers that do the Sunday afternoon AFC road games . Fox has 32 announcers and analyst that do the NFC Sunday afternoon road games, I'm not going to even get into the other three major network announcers but I my point is it is already fairly complicated, why complicate it more for no apparent reason.

I don't see any real bias in any of the announcers for the five "major networks" and like I said if they get to far to the left or right they don't keep their jobs very long..after all this is television we are talking about.

 

[_sturt_]

I'll try and elaborate possibly if you can define this (With all of the decent-to-good analysts on TV that any given network employs, why isn't it just a rule of thumb that networks????) There are 5 major networks involved with the NFL and then each team may have 1-3 flagship or regional networks that may or may not be affiliated to one of those major networks There are 32 teams each team has at least 4 announcers, 2 play by play and 2 analyst more often than not at least 50% of that teams of announcers some times all 4 are in fact ex-players or coaches of the team they announce for. In any case that adds up to well over 100 announcers. Additionally, CBS has 24 NFL announcers that do the Sunday afternoon AFC road games . Fox has 32 announcers and analyst that do the NFC Sunday afternoon road games, I'm not going to even get into the other three major network announcers but I my point is it is already fairly complicated, why complicate it more for no apparent reason.

I don't see any real bias in any of the announcers for the five "major networks" and like I said if they get to far to the left or right they don't keep their jobs very long..after all this is television we are talking about.​

Okay, I'm game.

First, as you know no doubt know, only Fox and CBS have multiple NFL games in any given week (NBC, ESPN and NFLN, of course, only have one), so those are really the only networks on the pro side that are relevant to the conversation. Each has 8 broadcast teams nearly all of which consist of a play-by-play and one analyst (tho each network I believe has a single team that has two).

http://www.foxsports.com/presspass/...ces-nfl-broadcast-teams-for-super-bowl-season
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/cbs-sports-unveils-booth-pairings-for-upcoming-2016-nfl-season/

Second, it's not clear if you're aware that all of the broadcast teams' analysts are former players, but that none of the play-by-play guys are former players. It's also not clear just reading what you wrote, if you're aware that Fox crews only broadcast Fox games, and CBS only CBS games, because those networks hold their contracts. Along with that, because regional networks' crews are not in any way associated with Fox or CBS, their crews are peripheral to the point of this conversation.

Thus, for any given Sunday, the person making those assignments for Fox would simply avoid scheduling those 8 individuals (the analysts) to games involving their former teams. Same for CBS. For many of those, their careers were spent with only one team, or at least, only one team that they're remembered for and ordinarily associated with. I'll grant you that it gets more complicated if/when a given analyst doesn't fit that description, but it's the exception instead of the rule that that's the case.

Finally, in this very thread, there is evidence of fans who have perceived that an analyst has in the past tried too hard to appear unbiased, and thus, they perceive him to be unfair in how he treats his former team in games that he broadcasts. So, again, it's not that those people even necessarily make up any significant number of viewers... but the original question posed merely asked... why even go there? Why not just, as a rule, avoid assigning a former player to serve as analyst on a game in which his former team is playing... as I've just shown, it's actually not all that complicated. I won't say you can totally eliminate those situation, but they can be mostly avoided.