From: rjk@dino.qci.bioch.bcm.tmc.edu (Raymond K)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Re: MNF announcers
Date: 8 Oct 1992 18:08:48 GMT
Organization: X-Ray Crystallography / Howard Hughes Medical Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: dino.qci.bioch.bcm.tmc.edu

In article <1992Oct6.212758.7003@math.utexas.edu> heinz@rene.ma.utexas.edu (Martin Heinz) writes:
>q2dt@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca (Turner) writes:
>
>
>>	I'm seriously sick of Dan, Frank and Al's obvious jump-on-the 
>>bandwagon, cheer for-whoever's-winning, biased coverage on MNF.  These
>>guys spend more time orgasming over the winning team (especially when it is 
>>serious contender like the Eagles) than they do calling and analysing the game.
>>Randall Cuningham scores -- two orgasms; another Aikman interception -- three
>>more for the Philly defense; Hershall Walker scores a second touchdown -- six 
>>orgasms: "he has made both teams better!"  Come on guys: you can't simply 
>>declare that a certain team will win the Super Bowl 89-0 in October.  Perhaps
>>you might let the fans decide who they think are the good teams or -- God 
>>forbid -- maybe even let the teams decide on the field.  Either way, I wish 
>>they would show a little professionalism and just call the damn game.  It was 
>>my impression that there were stretches in the fourth quarter when none of them
>>even mentioned what was happening on the field.  
>
>
>Exactly my thoughts.
>Why can't they try to be objective? It was almost ridiculous how they were
>praising the Eagles as basically the next Superbowl winner. And, of course,
>they already knew that the Cowboys are still a couple of years away.
>All this from one game!! Why don't we just ask them to fill in the scores
>in the remaining schedule? 

I agree with both of you guys about the lack of objectivity among
the MNF announcers, especially Dierdorf.  But there's one thing you
have to remember: Dierdorf was the guy who ripped Andre "Dirty" Waters'
cheap shots to the knee a few years ago.  After that game, Buddy Ryan
and Waters led a verbal assault against Dierdorf and his "opinions".
Eagle fans all over the city of Philadelphia were up in arms after
Waters was fined for his tactics.  Ryan decided to play tough and 
instructed his team to not cooperate with the MNF crew the next time
the Birds were on prime time.  When that time came, what did Dierdorf
do during the broadcast?  Did he maintain his objectivity while
expressing his opinions like any good game analyst would do?  Did he
defend his opinions and shun the criticism he received because of it?
The answers to the above questions are "no" and "no".  He broke down
like a whimpering schoolgirl and gave in to the pressure.  Ever since
then, when the Birds are on MNF you can expect a pure, unadulterated,
love-fest between Dierdorf and the Eagles.  Literally every comment
made about Philly is flattering, they can do no wrong.  I guess Dan
feels safe going to the Philly restaurants now.

Some examples from Monday Night include Dan discussing Ken Norton's
"late hit" on Randall Cunningham out of bounds.  While it was clear
to most people with non-negative IQs that Norton didn't do anything
to warrant a flag, Dan screamed that it was an "obvious infraction".
Sure, Cunningham went down, but either Randall slipped, or he was
trying to prepare for his post-football movie career.  While the 
crowd hawked for a penalty also (remember about the non-negative IQs),
Norton looked at the ref who gave him a response as if to say "I
know you didn't do anything wrong."  Meanwhile, Dierdorf, with 
benefit of a replay, shouted, "Well, why did Norton even have to
touch him?"  C'mon, Dan!!

Also, after an Emmitt Smith run of >10 yards near the end of the
first half, Dierdorf made sure to remind us that these yards mean
absolutely nothing and will only serve to pad Emmitt's rushing
stats for the night.  He stopped just short of implying that 
Emmitt should now wear an asterisk on the back of his jersey,
as in "E. SMITH*", to remind everyone that at some point in his
career, Emmitt gained some "meaningless" yards.

Let's not forget the many penalties against Dallas that the
refs didn't call (according to Dan), the brilliance of the
Eagle coaching staff (according to Dan), the luck involved in
every Dallas successful play ("they were very fortunate" according
to Dan), not to mention the beauty of the Philadelphia skyline
(according to Dan).

The announcers should make the game and they shouldn't be able
to ruin it for viewers.  Yet, with a guy like Dierdorf not only
does it make it annoying, it's pretty embarassing.  He doesn't
have to gush so much in order to be a good color man.  Hey Dan,
I think the Eagles and their fans might have forgotten about 
your comments by now, you can stop sucking up so much.



Ray         GO COWBOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!