For my money, give me Franklin/Gottfried over all of them listed.
http://www.sportingnews.com/voices/f.../20030806.html
The best of booth worlds
August 6, 2003 Print it
Notice a dearth of dream teams in
college football? Announcing teams, that is.
No dynasties in this dimension. Not a single Summerall-Madden nor a Michaels-Madden, has transcended the glut on Saturday afternoons for the last 20 years. Not even the BCS has produced a dynamic duo to bowl over the national consciousness; in the first five made-for-TV championships, ABC has used five different pairings of announcers.
There is one icon, Keith Jackson, kicking off a 38th season; the unmistakable voice of ABC's Brent Musburger, in his fourth decade of "You are looking live!"; the smoky goodness of CBS' Verne Lundquist and ESPN's Ron Franklin; the sophisticated stylings from Mike Tirico of ESPN and Barry Tompkins of Fox Sports Net and CSTV. But they're all play-by-play guys. Can you name their current partners? Didn't think so.
Anyway, counting down the preseason top 10 announcing teams on campus (with accessorized sideline reporters):
10. (tie) Pam Ward-Chris Spielman, ESPN2 and Ron Thulin-Charles Davis-Craig Sager, TBS.
9. Dave Barnett-Bill Curry-Craig James, ESPN2.
These analysts apparently perform under the influence of canine tranquilizers. With the possible exception of James, back at ESPN after six forgettable years at CBS, none say anything as striking as Sager's jackets. Somehow, college football is one of the last holdouts -- a show where the play-by-play person, not the expert ex-player/coach, is the thing. Must be an NCAA rule.
8. Verne Lundquist-Todd Blackledge-Jill Arrington, CBS.
7. Brad Nessler-Bob Griese-Lynn Swann, ABC.
6. Tom Hammond-Pat Haden-Lewis Johnson, NBC.
Three great pipes and three soft analysts that disappear into the morass of 123 games on ESPN and ESPN2, eightysomething on ABC, 17 on CBS, etc. Haden will have the spotlight for Notre Dame's showdowns against USC and Florida State, plus Mr. Rhodes Scholar is my choice for a lifeline when I get on Millionaire.
5. Mark Jones-Bob Davie, ESPN.
Davie is contemporary, succinct, technical yet viewer-friendly on Big Ten games. He even makes Jones -- who was saying, "boo!" before Stu Scott said, "boo-yah!" -- tolerable.
4. Ron Franklin-Mike Gottfried-Adrian Karsten, ESPN.
Edgy, edgy, edgy.
3. Brent Musburger-Gary Danielson-Jack Arute, ABC.
Officially the network's A-team and, to paraphrase Eric Cartman, you will respect their authority! Nobody tells stories like Brent. Nothing P.O.'s partisan fans like Danielson's in-game proclamations.
2. Mike Tirico-Lee Corso-Kirk Herbstreit-Dr. Jerry Punch, ESPN.
Thursday night games are at least 66 percent as entertaining as College GameDay.
1. Keith Jackson-Dan Fouts-Todd Harris, ABC.
Mixing once-retired Whoa Nellie! with the ultraobservant/prescient wisecracks of a Monday Night Football castoff was genius. Sample their buffet in the Washington-Ohio State opener August 30. This marriage is in only its second year and may not yet be the stuff of dreams, but this team is state-of-the-art and deserves to close the season in New Orleans.
Linear Mode
