Criticizing sports event announcers is long-time secondary pastime for fans. It’s not as if Awful Announcing just started posting yesterday, they’ve been at it for years. I am to sad to see local gal Pam Ward is on their Mount Rushmore of terrible announcers, in the George Washington spot no less, though the quite deserving Dick Vitale is right next to her. I have a fondness for Pam after her yeowoman work as the 20/20 update gal in the early days of SportsTalk 570 in Washington DC, but I can’t mount much defense of her play by play work.
Instead, I’m going to take my daggers out for a different ESPN college football team: Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore & Rob Stone. Several weeks ago I was watching NC State and West Virginia in the Citrus Bowl. Someone, I’m think it’s Gilmore, whom I found to be a good studio analyst, commented about West Virginia RB Noel Devine. Devine is a typical small RB, fast, shifty, tough but not going to survive 20 carries a game in the NFL. Announcer-I-Fear-was-Gilmore said something to the effect of “NFL scouts were asking the WVU coaching staff to have Devine run back some punts so they could evaluate him in that role. If you’ve seen what Dexter McCluster has done for the Kansas City Chiefs, you know why.”
“What, be a slightly above average punt returner?” I grumbled in response. Announcer-I-Fear-was-Gilmore’s statement is twice dumb.
First is the direct analysis of McCluster. He returned only 13 punts this year but did well on those limited opportunities. However nearly half the man’s yardage this season is on a 94 yard TD return. He’s adequate as a kick-off returner and a “ball in space” player from scrimmage catching screen passes and running end arounds. Not only is it premature to think Devin Hester is looking over his metaphoric shoulder at McCluster, I’d argue McCluster isn’t even special compared to other rookies. Brandon Banks, Dez Bryant and Marc Mariani had better first years running back kicked footballs. Bryant, who has a better future as a full-time WR than anyone else discussed, also did more from scrimmage. There’s no shame in this, McCluster might be better than all those guys in the future, but as of December 28, 2010 he wasn’t. I’m sure the Chiefs are glad to have him, ball-in-space guys are useful. Still, unless the threat of him is helping Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones find running lanes or Dwayne Bowe to get open, I’d argue he’s not a key part of the surprisingly competent 2010 Chiefs.
Second is the disconnect of college football broadcasters from the NFL. This is illustrated by Announcer-I-Fear-was-Gilmore’s comparison of Noel Devine and McCluster. NFL teams hiring short fast guys to return kickoffs and punts is not a recent innovation. No, the NFL isn’t Gilmore’s (it probably was him) job and his football playing ended after he graduated from Cal-Berkley, but this understanding of the NFL doesn’t seem complicated. This is a particular variant of the common call by many a NCAA announcer regarding a collegiate star that “_______ is going to be doing this on Sundays!” when even a fourth-rate Mel Kiper wannabe like me sees that is unlikely barring a NFL strike/lockout. I’m pretty sure the Arena League, the UFL and the CFL play on Sundays, so technically this could happen. At least couch the statement with “somebody in the NFL should give him a chance” if the guy is obviously marginal.
