by Lynda Lampert

Created on: September 03, 2009

I feel that former players do not do well in the broadcasting booth. Most of these guys are football jocks and not accustomed to public speaking. They tend to ramble, get off subject, and generally annoy the listener. It is true that they often have insights into how the game is played, but rarely do they use this knowledge to effectively enhance the play-by-play.

These commentators are used for "color" but they often embarrass themselves by fawning over a player excessively or making bold and arrogant predictions about calls that are totally wrong. They have no sense of how to effectively express themselves to a large audience.

There are a few decent commentators that come from the ranks of players. Phil Simms and Troy Aikmen come to mind, but they are largely benign. They do not add anything to the commentary that even the most rudimentary fan of football would know. They stay out of the way and just barely keep from annoying chatter. In other words, I don't hate them, but it's marginal.

Among the worst are commentators that act as if they know it all. There are many of these that tend to work the "lesser" games of the week. They are not the main guys who go to the big games. They get calls wrong. They don't talk about the plays in way that gives insight into the complex machinations of the machinery of football. They are often dead wrong about the keys to the game and do not express a genuine knowledge of the teams they are covering.

In short, I would rather the color commentators be someone with a journalism or broadcasting background that knows how to present information to the general public. A journalist or sportscaster can easily read up football details. Honestly, anyone could do a better job then some of these idiotic guys.

To any sportscasters/ former players that are reading, take this advice: Please don't tell us a million times how great a guy is. I don't care how many times he's been MVP. It's annoying and particularly irritating for fans of the opposite team. Please don't talk about things like you know exactly what is going to happen. The arrogance just makes me want to hurl. I don't care what you would do if you were the coach. I'd rather know what the couch is doing and why he's doing it. Don't call my coach stupid for going for it on fourth down or insult my quarterback for throwing an interception. It happens, I hate it, don't rub it in.

As a matter of fact, I would rather listen to the sounds of the field than the commentators. Until that day, I will just turn the sound down and watch my football with only my shouts and yells to punctuate the game.

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