Announcers Wildly Inaccurate, Go Uncorrected

I'm sure you all heard Phil Simms refer to Antonio Brown as Mike Wallace on several different occasions today. And it's not like he was in the middle of a pile and hard to see. He was out in the open making great catches and touchdowns. Also, his partner Jim Nantz had just called him by his accurate name moments before, and his giant #84 was all over the screen. I'm sure it was just a slip of the brain, nothing more.

A guy on tv hired to speak with accuracy and expertise who's not really paying attention to what he's saying...

But an equally large problem is that it goes uncorrected. Did Nantz say, "You mean Antonio Brown"? Nope, he sure didn't. That's how it always is. They (all announcers) can't seem to break that united front. Like they're our parents and we're 4 years old. Like brotherhood among these two nobodies is sacred and accuracy for those of us at home is poison.


It reminds me of the NYJ-CIN playoff game a few years ago. Mark Sanchez throws a touchdown, and announcer Joe Theismann goes on a 30 second rant about Brad Smith, how well he can throw, what a great pass it was, and his passing stats from college.

I literally paused the game right there (thank you DVR) and rewound it to show my dad. He shook his head and laughed. He told me the other announcer would not correct him. I said, "Yeah, I know they normally don't, but this one is SO big. He'll have to. It's too big. They CAN'T just ignore it!" So we made a bet. I said when I pressed play the other announcer would say that Mark Sanchez threw the pass, not Brad Smith, in order to clear the air. Dad said the announcer would either say nothing, or subtly work in that it was Sanchez, without directly contradicting Theismann. Basically ignoring the vast amount of misinformation we had both just heard, along with everyone else at home in America. He was right. I pressed play, there was silence for a minute, followed by "...So, Sanchez puts the Jets up by 7, and we'll be back after this..."

Which is exactly what Nantz did today. Unbelievable. What is their problem? Being a moron is bad enough, but to just accept that fact as part of the job? What would a network executive say about these complaints? Probably, "Hey, mistakes happen." WHY? HOW? How do these mistakes happen? And why is it company policy not to correct them? Ugh.

 

It always surprises me that today's TV coverage can call up footage from a game 20 years ago at a moment's notice, can show a ridiculous amount of otherwise pointless stats, and yet still not get their commentators to get basic things like identifying players right.

"Expert analysis" is an odd category, though, in the sporting world. There are several thousand people who know more about the game than Simms, who could call the game more accurately and interestingly, and who wouldn't irritate the living hell out of anyone listening. But Simms used to play - they show that clip of him throwing a ball every week so we remember - so we have to listen to him.

What's Hostetler up to these days? Can't he do a better job?