Hey Joe, this is how you call a great play

by Ed Valentine on Feb 10, 2008 10:18 PM EST in News Comment 7 comments

Awful Announcing has done us all a huge favor, dubbing Marv Albert's radio call over Joe Buck's montonous TV call of the Eli Manning to David Tyree play in the Super Bowl.

Buck is atrocious when it comes to football, and Albert's call really puts him to shame. Besides, it gives us all another excuse to watch the play.

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I will never, ever get sick of watching that play

Every time I watch it, it feels like I'm watching it for the first time and I find myself feeling like there's no way Manning's gonna get away or Tyree's gonna come up with the catch, and it amazes me every time when it happens. Very much like Mookie Wilson's grounder through Buckner's legs in Game 6, except I actually got to see this one as it happened (though my dad swears he was holding me on his lap for Game 6, somehow I doubt my mom let him keep me up that late when I was barely 2 years old).

Speaking of Game 6: Vin Scully's call is a textbook example of how to call that kind of play. Scully's not normally an excitable guy, but he rose to the occasion. Joe Buck refuses to get into the events he's covering. Bill Simmons' analysis is perfect: imagine if he was covering the Miracle on Ice game during the 1980 olympics? It would have been awful. Some announcers go over the top with their schtick in situations when it's uncalled for, but when you're witnessing one of the all-time great plays, you need to get into it.

by cjmulrain on Feb 10, 2008 11:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Marv is the man

Watching Knicks games during the Ewing years with Marv announcing were some of the more enjoyable sports-related memories I have.

But let's not forget our own Bob Papa. He had a fantastic call on that play as well. SportsCenter only uses his audio when they show the replay. Sadly, I can't find a clip with him calling it, so I'll just include his call of Tynes' winning FG that sent them to Super Bowl XLII:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJblJRKPYBQ

"We're only going to score 17 points?" ~ Tom Brady

by mwilli on Feb 11, 2008 10:14 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Joe Buck

should stick to baseball. His calling of the play was as emotionless and flat as any I've ever heard. He called it the same way as if it had been an incompletion.

Interestingly, NFL Network uses radio clips for at least some of their videos. On a good play like Eli-to-Tyree, they commonly use a clip from that team's announcers. Brilliant marketing.

by django48 on Feb 11, 2008 10:34 AM EST reply actions 0 recs