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NFL pregame shows are useless

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bmasters9 View Drop Down
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    Posted: 17 Apr 2011 at 11:33am
Someone commented on a YouTube clip of part 1 of an old "NFL Today" from 1984 that Sean McManus should have been fired from CBS for what that pregame show has devolved to, but yet he is president of the sports division. I couldn't agree more. "The NFL Today" has strayed far from its Musburger/Cross/George/Greek ancestry. Back then, you had intelligent talk about NFL issues, and the show was a great way to get your gameday started. Nowadays, what do you get? The same thing that is FOX's stock-in-trade, albeit FOX is much worse. How is FOX worse? Well, for one thing, they have that weather girl who is, in the words of one commenter on another clip, a "walking STD" (namely, Jillian Barberie), and I couldn't agree more with that. Secondly, the analysts talk over one another so much so that it's like the NFL's version of the Tower of Babel (remember that from the Book of Genesis?). Third, FOX has that dumb NFL song that is now used for everything; CBS is no better. That "Posthumus Zone" is used for both the pregame show and game coverage; in the Musburger days, you had one pregame theme and one game theme.

Watch towards the end of this clip, and you'll see what NFL discourse/discussion should be like (and can be like again); first, Brent turns to Irv and Irv says his piece (all while Brent and Irv maintain eye contact with one another, neither one staring off into space), and then Brent turns to Jimmy for his take; again notice the eye contact and each one paying attention to what the other is saying. Brent even gives a nod as if to validate what Jimmy is saying, and then Brent asks for confirmation of Jimmy's point, and Jimmy answers affirmatively. What a refreshing difference from 5 guys shouting over each other, making it virtually impossible to understand anything of what they're talking about.

This was made easier by the setup of the main desk. Brent was in the middle, with the main screen acting as a sort of "over-the-shoulder" display; his chair was set up so that he could turn easily to either Irv or Jimmy (Irv on his left, Jimmy on his right). Nowadays, the studio guys are all arranged in more or less a straight line on both FOX and CBS, and the main person of each is all the way down at one end. Kind of an awkward position, wouldn't you say?

All that considered, "The NFL Today" as presented in this clip is a sterling example of what an NFL pregame show should be and can be again; there should be no more of the way it is now, I'm sure you'll agree.

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Tiz View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tiz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Apr 2011 at 7:31pm
So is nascar pre-race gibberishDead.  I only watch ESPN's pregame show - or some of it. It's 3 hours long.Sleepy
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bmasters9 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Apr 2011 at 7:58pm
Originally posted by Tiz Tiz wrote:

So is nascar pre-race gibberishDead.  I only watch ESPN's pregame show - or some of it. It's 3 hours long.Sleepy

3 hrs. is way too long for an NFL preshow, I agree with that. The old CBS and NBC shows were only half an hour each, and that was time enough to go over the upcoming games and give a checklist of what to look for in one or two of them. Nowadays, they're all so bloated that you don't know what you need and what you don't.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tiz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Apr 2011 at 8:13pm
They have focus meetings to come up with ideas to fill 3 hours.......
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bmasters9 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Apr 2011 at 8:20pm
Originally posted by Tiz Tiz wrote:

They have focus meetings to come up with ideas to fill 3 hours.......

Great point! CBS and NBC, IIRC, didn't need 'em then like ESPN apparently does now.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote timdubya Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Apr 2011 at 10:18pm
Jillian Barberie-Reynolds (she remarried, this time a loser actor instead of a loser baseball player) hasn't done the weather for Fox NFL Sunday for a few years now.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bmasters9 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Apr 2011 at 10:39pm
Originally posted by timdubya timdubya wrote:

Jillian Barberie-Reynolds (she remarried, this time a loser actor instead of a loser baseball player) hasn't done the weather for Fox NFL Sunday for a few years now.

Didn't know that! Who does it now (if anyone)?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MrTim Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Apr 2011 at 4:07am
Horse racing (like the Kentucky Derby) is just as bad;  An hour and a half of blather leading up to a 1 minute horse race.  I really don't care how much lighter a jockey will be after a bowel movement....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Zach6848 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Apr 2011 at 7:06am
I don't see the point in having a pregame show for any sport that lasts more than thirty minutes. Thirty minutes is more than enough time to give people an idea of the match-up in the event that's coming up. I don't need to hear three hours of gibberish about teams and players that aren't even involved in the game I'm about to watch. I also don't need to hear a bunch  of speculation on who's going to win before the game has even started.

And really, the postgame show is just as bad. Why do I need to see highlights and clips of the game when I just watched it? If it was truly a great play, then I would surely remember it.

Bottom line, pregame and postgame shows shouldn't last for more than thirty minutes unless they involve real personalities who are involved in the sport and have interesting things to say about the game that's coming up.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tvpirate05 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Apr 2011 at 12:45pm
It annoys me that the shows try so hard to out-hip each other. NBC's Sunday Night Football show is good, they don't go overboard with the goofiness that FOX has. In fact, I'd say they keep it pretty civil.

CBS's football coverage is just too bland for me, same for the pre-game, FOX is a little too over-the-top (could also do without Frank Caliendo's "impressions" with his predictions).

The one thing that truly agitates me the most is the constant sponsorship..."You're watching the Toyota Pre-Game Show..." "The Beano Halftime Show..." "The Astroglide Plays of the Day..."  Angry
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tiz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Apr 2011 at 10:06pm
I loathe Fox because they show every Redskin game even if they are winless. Yeah,yeah, Washington is our "home team".... whatever. Won't break away either, even if they're down 40 points.

I wonder if Howie 'Long' ever gives Jimmy Johnson zingers about Jimmy doing those Extenze commercials.Wink
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ad nauseous Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 1:39am
Wow that clip was way more informative than today's mindless gibberish that goes on TV. I hate today's coverage it's nothing but talking over each other and laughing WTF?
One good thing about TV-you could always turn it off
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ThreadKiller Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Apr 2011 at 3:31am
Not just the pregame shows, many of the guys doing play-by-play and "color" (what IS that, anyway?) are just atrocious. They are simply trying to pander to the casual audience and turn the game into a "show" that will attract more and more viewers (as opposed to fans).
 
My son and I were watching an NBA game on the NBA Channel the other week. NBA channel usually picks up the regional broadcast that uses the home team's announcers. In this particular game, they lost the audio from the play-by-play guys' mics for five full minutes at the start of the third quarter. All we saw was the game, cameras shifting back and forth as play progressed, and just the crowd noise for sound.
 
It was the best five minutes of basketball we watched all season.
Hundreds of threads killed.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ad Endless Nauseum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Apr 2011 at 10:46am
AFAIK, "play-by-play" and "color" announcers started decades ago when everybody had radios, but not so many had TVs. If you think about those two jobs in that setting, it sort of makes sense.

As to pregame shows, yes, they are almost entirely useless. I also have no use for postgame shows. The primary good of a halftime show, is it offers a convenient break in gameplay to make a head call and break out more beer and chips! Wink  Mmmmm, Beer!

I'd rather just have a Seventh Inning Stretch, and get on with the game. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bmasters9 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Apr 2011 at 11:57am
Originally posted by ThreadKiller ThreadKiller wrote:

Not just the pregame shows, many of the guys doing play-by-play and "color" (what IS that, anyway?) are just atrocious. They are simply trying to pander to the casual audience and turn the game into a "show" that will attract more and more viewers (as opposed to fans).
 

That, of course. I've been hearing Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen (from NBC) and Tim Ryan/Johnny Morris (from CBS) (from the NFL's DVD releases of the Redskins Greatest Games and 1985 Chicago Bears respectively), and I strongly believe that both of those pairs were much better than what passes for PBP/color these days; Buck and Aikman don't hold a candle to either of those pairs, and hopefully one day the NFL will realize that. 
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