DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Most Annoying

Ok, so...

Now that we live in an era where TV's can bring us 500 channels, there is a slew of announcers, pundits, talking heads and so-called 'experts' out there, where we used to have only a few. Gameday TV crews are bigger, with sometimes 2 sideline announcers. More faces mean more annoyance.

So- who bugs you the most, and why?

My first ballot HOF'er: Phil Simms. Can't stand the guy. IMO, he comes off as smug, supercilious and combative. Every time he opens his mouth on 'Inside The NFL,' he makes me want to throw a brick through my TV screen. I can live with- even enjoy- most of his colleagues, but him? Not ever.

I find Boomer Esiason a much more likable sort... the kind of guy who can take a ribbing from his partners and even laugh at himself a bit. Simms always seems ready to 'draw down' and go for bad anytime he's challenged. Takes himself too seriously, which I find very off-putting.

So... what about the rest of you hounds?
Who would YOU like to drop from a 13th-story window?

my list is pretty long, mostly because it seems like the announcers are arrogant and/or ill-prepared.

Rich Gannon
Phil Simms
Merrill Hoge
Skip Bayless
Stephen A. Smith
Trent Dilfer
Ray Lewis
Doug Dieken (yes, I honestly can't stand him ... can't listen to our radio broadcasts b/c of him)

I do like:

Troy Aikman
Dick Enberg (more so for nostalgia)
Don Criqui (more so for nostalgia)
Ian Eagle
Gus Johnson

Hats off on the word " supercilious " Have not heard that or seen it in print forever !

I think Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts are the best team. Al Michaels is also very good at his job. I also like Kevin Burkhardt and John Lynch.

The list of the annoyings is long. A few that stick out: Simms, Siragusa, Chris Myers, and Rich Gannon. All of the studio shows are obnoxious and you would have to pay me to watch them. Chris Berman is the worst of the worst.

The baseball guys are by far the most annoying. Harold Reynolds, Tom Verducci, Mitch Williams (when he was employed), Hawk Harrelson, John Kruk, Rex Hudler, Victor Rojas (local Angels announcer), and many more.

Luckily I have lived in L.A. my whole life and have been able to cancel out all the horrible guys with Vin Scully.

Dick Enberg
Don Criqui
I agree with the notalgia comment above by dawgs4life
and Gus Johnson

Everyone else on ESPN, CBS, NBC, Fox and NFL suck.

If there was a contest for the absolute worst, Phil Simms. Not even really a contest. I'd rather listen to my ex-wife call a game.

chris (sp) Collinsworth

is the worst... the rest just suck

forgot about Chris Collinsworth. He's tough for me to listen to; however, I do like Al Michaels, so Sunday night is a wash for me

The human stick figure Collinsworth hands down. I just want to grab his stick figure self and play a game of "Hangman"

Mark May - For obvious reasons. He may not actually be that bad if he stopped letting his personal hatred for Ohio State and Notre Dame get in the way.

I agree with you about Phil Simms. Why he is on the A-team for CBS is beyond me. That guy will be doing Super Bowls for a long time. Think about that.

Jesse Palmer is terrible. 90% Of what comes out of his mouth is cliches and brutally obvious analysis.

Mike Mayock's lisp drives me insane. I do enjoy his passion for what he does. You can tell he loves what he's doing and isn't just showing up for the paycheck.

For those that follow the NHL, you know how terrible Pierre McGuire is. Basically, NBC's team for nationally televised games and their A-team for playoff matchups pits one of the top hockey play by play men in Doc Emrick along with a great color guy in Eddie Olczyk. And for some bizarre reason they feel the need to put a guy between the benches to tell us between plays that the bench of the losing team is trying to fire themselves up. Like woah.

Reggie Miller - Horrible.

Matt Underwood - Horrible, and a crybaby. I also heard he's a steeler fan which is icing on the cake.

The entire crew for the NBA finals. Breen laughs at every good play like "Lebron dunks the ball HAHAHAHA OH MY". Van Gundy 20 times a game wants to change rules, and Mark Jackson offers no insight other than his horrible catch sayings. Jesus Christ that crew is awful.

I love the crew of Verne and Danielson. I think most do.

I hate that ABC/ESPN buried Musburger on the SEC network. Nobody watches those games outside of the team's fans. Fowler was ok in his first year of calling games, but I think it's a bit odd that he went from Gameday host to calling the national championship, no? When I hear Brent's voice, especially for college football, you know it's a big game. At least it used to be.

I think you can stick Jay Bilas on a college game with any announcer you want, and they'll do great. He's really good. He also offers zero bias when breaking things down.

I love when we get Marv for Cavs playoff games. He's legendary. It's too bad he's stuck with Reggie Miller all the time.

Dave Strader is a really good annoucer for NBC sports. Does a great job doing the B series during NHL playoff season. I believe he is the local announcer for the Dalas stars.

I started streaming the audio for Browns game through the Browns app (cool feature) while I watch on TV. You have to pause the TV feed for about 5-10 seconds, but it's worth it. Jim Donovan has come into his own. Plus between he, Dieken, and Zegura you actually know they have knowldge of our team. I feel like the national guys don't really know anything. How many times did we have to hear Don Criqui or someone else say so and so was having a breakout year when they haven't? Plus Zegura is pretty good being quick to report injuries and other info. It's the only way I watch now. Just have to be careful if you follow twitter during the game because of the delay.

Gary Danielson knows less about what's actually going on in a game than anyone broadcasting today. He makes Tim McCarver look like a genius.

Good call on Bilas for NCAABB ... he's VERY good. Very knowledgeable and straightforward

He's actually really good during the draft too. Especially for a guy who doesn't cover the NBA.

yes he's very good all the way around

I used to hate Ian Eagle years ago, but he has really improved over the years. The team of he and Solomon Wilcotts used to drive me nuts. Mispronounced Browns' names, bad analysis... I guess they were just starting out in the early days of The Return, and their 'newness' really showed. Wilcotts is better now too, but still not a favorite.

I can't put my finger on it, but John Gruden annoys me too.


Collinsworth and Hodge need to do their own version of Thelma & Louise. Skip the rest of the movie and go right to the last reel. Roll credits. Two of the most biased AND unimaginative voices in the biz.

Always liked Costas doing baseball. Dude knows the game, and is always educational for me, a non-baseball guy. I know lots of folks can't stand him, but I appreciate what I get from him.

I think the best play-by-play announcers HAVE to be the guys who cover hockey. It's so fast, they have to be on their game 100% all the time. The best: Doc Emrick (covered the last Olympics in Sochi for NBC). Dude is soooo smooth, he can actually 'slow the game down' with his play-by-play. Style, eloquence AND class (he's also a BG Falcon, so there's that, too...)

On the talk shows: Michael Irvin has actually grown on me. I love it when he puts Simms in his place. NFLN: Deion Sanders hits my funny bone a lot. Some of his asides (the ones he mumbles underneath his breath) are like classic lines from a Harlem barber shop:

Last week they were reviewing the Browns/Titans game. As they showed the overhead endzone shot of JM's game-winner to Benji he mutters: "Lookit... pigeons camped out in the endzone, it's been so long since they've been there..."

Even as a Browns fan, I had to give style points for that one... LMAO!

Because he loves every player and is so reluctant to really say anything critical about a player. I think for a long time people assumed he was doing that because he was going to be back in coaching (didn't want to burn any bridges). But I think it's safe to say Gruden is done coaching, and he still doesn't want to say anything that might upset a player.

On a related note, I can't stand Mike Tirico. His voice when anything in the game gets exciting is nails on a chalkboard to me. I don't know how he ended up with Monday Night Football.

2 ESPN personalities that say things, I dont think they actually believe, just to be a provocateur.

Skip Bayless and Mark May.

For me, this is going to be an unpopular choice, but I can't stand Al Michaels. He's good at the technical aspects of his job, but he has his favorite teams and announces "in their favor" kind of on the sly. I think he is an absolute fraud. I don't understand the love the guy gets.

Since the Browns always suck, we pretty much get the dregs of announcing crews on a regular basis. Most are not very good. The most annoying think about all of them is when they just blatantly misstate facts - likely because they were too lazy to do their homework.

I don't know if anyone remembers, but a few years ago Torri Holt announced a few NFL games and I don't think I've ever heard anybody worse in my life ... it was almost like a SNL skit.

I honestly think he was fired like on the spot.

Bill Walton is a good kind of annoying.

I find rich Gannon contradicts himself all the time. He did it again last week when I was watching bills/pats. First he said the bills need to remain patient, keep running the ball and stick to the game plan. Literally two minutes later he said they need to start pushing the ball down the field with longer throws.

I find joe buck arrogant and not funny. although he tries to be.

Don't like Bradshaw, or any of the guys on the halftime shows. They all just talk over each other and it's stupid. I like Tom Jackson, though.

I'm with you on enberg and criqui. Love those guys.

Just a few of my dislikes and likes

Dislikes:
Skip Bayless
Steven A Smith
Mark May
Chris Collinsworth
Simms
Beth Mowins - ugh

Likes:
Gus Johnson - Car-DALE Jones! Football and listening to him announce a college basketball game, one of the best in my opinion

Tom Hamilton - Love listening to Tribe games that he calls

Verne Lundquist

What a shock, I disagree w/almost every one of you guys. LOL

Collinsworth is excellent. I used to hate the guy, but I can tell he puts a lot of work into his job. He is always well prepared. He sees things that most people do not see.

Brent Musberger is the best play by play man in the business. I wonder if him and Herbie had a falling out, because he got absolutely sent to Siberia.

Herbie is very good as a color guy.

I like Gus Johnson.

Mark May is an idiot.

I don't listen to guys like Bayless, Steven A, etc anymore because their act is so old.

I actually like Phil Simms as a color guy. I don't watch the Inside the NFL, so maybe I'm missing your point.

Boomer Esiason is the biggest jerk of them all. He is so arrogant. I thought Marino was going to beat his ass a few years ago. Wish he would have.

I will tell you guys this. Announcing a game is very difficult. You should try it. Record yourself. See how it turns out.

Mark May
Chris Collinsworth - More his voice and delivery than what he has to say....
Michael Irving
Joe Buck- Talk about coat-tailing your dad into a career
Troy Aikman
Ray Lewis
And anyone that every had an affiliation with the Steelers...

I'm surprised a lot don't like Hoge. I found him to be one of the more informative types. Disclaimer: I only watch ESPN when there is a game on I want to watch. I let the kids watch cartoons and their shows up until 5 minutes before game time...

I agree with everything you just stated. Which worries me.

I shall now go to my man-cave for some inner reflection....

I can stand Gruden, but he is a weird blend of cool enthusiasm and downright creepiness.

Mike Tirico is just such a vanilla tool to me. Annoys me so much.

Agree with you on all points I quoted.

Colinsworth is good. I don't LIKE him but he is really good at what he does.

Musberger was one of the best. Miss the guy already.

Herbie is good. I can't stand all of the crap that guy has gone through because of the 2%-er mouth-breathers of Buckeye nation . . .

Boomer is truly a dick. Just seems crotchety and grumpy.

And I am shocked to hear what you said about Marino. I have never seen him show any damn emotion. He is the blandest, safest guy I've ever seen discuss football. It's like he can't risk saying anything that anyone would disagree with.

I don't mind Al Michaels and Collinsworth, but it definitely helps that they always get the primo matchups. The MNF guys always get dog games. These Thursday night games could be potentially fun matchups, but it's pretty clear that Thursday Night Football is a complete mess.

I agree 100%. And, that's not being an OSU homer. Herb gives great analysis throughout the game and Musberger is good.

I think the job of the announcers is to not detract from or be bigger than the game. Those two enhance the in game experience...

j/c

I don't even know if he still does games, but Solomon Wilcots is my least favorite.

add chris simms to this list.

And Carter Blackburn.

today's were awful

Really, really, bad. Like among the worst I've ever heard, bad. Not only were they uninformed but they lacked polish.

Within the first few minutes they made numerous mistakes and sounded so nervous

Why on earth did they pair two absolute rookies together? Was this their first game?

Best pair ever....Summerall and Madden. Tom Brookshire was good as well. Worst ever....Howard Cosell.

Bottom of the barrel announcers for 2 bottom of the barrel teams. They didn't care. Just get it over with type thing.