NFL Broadcasters:CBS

I'm going to be doing a 4 week series looking at the stations that deliver us great football week after week after week. This week will be CBS, then FOX next week, ESPN the next, and finally NBC.

Because I'm a Bengals fan, CBS is the place on Sunday's where I watch most of my football. I usually try to watch a couple minutes of their pre-game show, and obviously then watch the games. CBS has many good announcers, and some not so good ones. I will be grading those announcers and the people in the studio on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest. I will also look at other things in this post that deal with the NFL on CBS.

Announcers:
There are seven pairs of announcers for CBS that do NFL games on Sunday. Here are my rankings of them from best to worst, and why.
1. Greg Gumbel(play-by-play)/Dan Dierdorf: 9/10
Gumbel has always been a favorite of mine. He seems to have the right emphasis when he's calling plays, and creates interesting conversation between him and his partner Dierdorf. Dierdorf provides very good football insight while also being funny at times, making for an enjoyable broadcast. The chemistry between these two is excellent, which makes them the best on CBS.
2. Ian Eagle(play-by-play)/Solomon Wilcots: 8.5/10
Eagle calls the games with smartness and entertainment, getting the viewer excited. At times, he does get overly excited, but that is not such a big deal. Solomon Wilcox is by far my favorite football analyst. He tells things as they are, and provides great football knowledge. These two are a great pair.
3. Kevin Harlan(play-by-play)/Rich Gannon: 7/10
I am not that big of a fan of Harlan, but I can deal with him. Sometimes, he makes very odd comments and seems to be favoring a particular team. I do like Rich Gannon however. He is very smart, and his skills of communicating to the audience are getting much better.
4. Jim Nance(play-by-play)/Phil Simms:6/10
I like Jim Nance a lot in every sport he does. He gives just enough opinion and information that a play-by-play guy should give, and calls the game just as it is. But, i don't like Simms. He really isn't that smart, and he talks slowly at times, acting like the people watching are five year olds.
5. Dick Enberg(play-by-play)/Randy Cross:5.5/10
Enberg and Cross don't really fit well together. Enberg often gets excited, but his partner just sits there and waits for him to calm down. I like both of them, but they shouldn't be together.
6. Gus Johnson(play-by-play)/Steve Tasker: 4.5/10
Gus Johnson is fairly smart and knows whats going on. But he has these flashes of excitement whenever anything close to exciting happens. It gets very annoying after awhile. Tasker is descent, but he needs to talk more. It is difficult to do that when Gus is having one of his shouts of excitement.
7. Bill Macatee(play-by-play)/Steve Beuerlein: 2.5/10
By far, these guys are the worst broadcasters on CBS. They both favor one teams after five minutes is played, and only have nice things to say about them for the rest of the game. Macatee makes odd and awkward comments, and I often have a difficult time understanding him. Buerlein hardly offers anything insight that I didn't know.

Studio Team: James Brown(host), Shannon Sharpe, Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason, Bill Cower, Charley Casserly(GM for CBS): 8.5/10
These guys offer excellent football insight, and also fit well together, thus creating humor. James Brown has been hosting NFL shows for a long time and knows what he's doing. Shannon Sharpe brings descent insight being a former player, but mostly bring lightness and humor, which I find very enjoyable. Marino offers very good insight, but is often to serious. He has opened up considerably in the past three years, though. Esiason is basically the same as Marino. Cower is still trying to fit in, and I think that he is not yet fully connecting with the other guys. It will come with time. Cower does seem to have a bias in his opinions and picks. Casserly is pretty smart, but is not that great in front of a camera.


In-game Updates: 6/10
Many of the updates are late and dated, and I already know whats coming.
Scoreboard: 8/10
The game scoreboard is a little too small, but I am used to it. The other game scoreboard is very nice in keeping viewers alert on other games, making up for the lack of in-game updates. That score board is often wrong in game time for other games and where the teams are. The fantasy updates on it are stupid. That's what the internet is for.
Commercials: 7.5/10
CBS is probably the best in not having too many commercials. At this point, not having one every change of possession is a bonus. But, CBS has many in game ads, promoting shows on CBS.
Stats/Analysts Opinions: 8.5/10
CBS is great in giving game stats for the game that is showing. They are all relevant, and important to the game. The keys to the game, while smart, are kind of chessy for names like "The Task Force" for Steve Tasker and "The Wisdom of Solomon" for Solomon Wilcox. You get the point.
HDTV: 7/10
CBS's HD quality is very good, but not all games are offered in it like FOX. This is because they paid so much money last year for an all HD studio.
Overall Sound/Vision: 9.5/10
Sound is very good on CBS. You can hear all the whistles and players grunting and hitting clearly. The camera angles are all usually very good.



Overall Grade: 8/10


Cbs is very good at broadcasting games. Next week I will take a look at FOX.