When ABC hired Dennis Miller to be the third member of their Monday Night
Football broadcasting team, few believed he would be able to pull it off.
After his debut at the Hall of Fame game on July 31st, there will certainly
be many who don't like the change of pace ABC has taken. However, the change
could not have come sooner for us. What happened to the objectivity of announcing
sporting events? It is understood that if it is a local team's announcers,
the presence of subjectivity is expected. However, for the past
several years this subjectivity has carried into the National broadcasts
and it's sickening. The big-name announcers all have their favorites, and
they can single-handedly make someone a star. For example, let's just use
this year's NBA Playoffs. Bob Costas and Doug Collins were bound and determined
to make sure everyone knew that Kobe Bryant was the next Michael Jordan.
Every single basket Bryant scored was followed immediately by "What
a play by Bryant" or "What can't he do?" no matter how routine
the play was. It didn't matter if Kobe turned the ball over two possessions
in a row (which happened quite frequently), anything positive was multiplied
exponentially to make sure everyone knew Kobe was a superstar. It was disgusting.
Costas, in fact, has been doing this for year's now. He has had his nose
so far up the butts of the New York Yankees, we may never find it. Now that
he's added the Lakers to his list of favorites, there's no telling who will
be next. (The safe bet would be on the next team to be really good at their
sport - that's just a guess though...) If you're supposed to be good, whether
or not you are, then Costas has your back. If you're 3-18 from the field,
you can count on Big Bob to make sure those 3 makes were remarkable. With
Miller, however, we finally have someone who couldn't care less what you
are supposed to be. He cares only about what he sees that night.
Sure he made some mistakes, but who doesn't? He was honest and open about
what he felt was happening and at no point touted anyone on the field as
"the greatest man to ever put on a uniform" (which Costas does
no less than 12-15 times per broadcast). He was witty, funny, and surpisingly
knowledgable of what was taking place in the game. In fact, one might argue
that he (unlike many fellow broadcasters) had a clue about what was happening.
We may finally have someone that knows how to announce a football game.
The sad thing is that he's the only broadcaster that either never played
the game or never received formal training in sports broadcasting. We like
Dennis Miller and wish there were more Dennis Miller's in the broadcasting
world. He knows what not to say which is very refreshing. He won't suck
up to these players and he won't be brainwashed to believe that so-and-so
is the best thing since sliced bread. He simply calls 'em like he sees 'em
and that is definitely a change for the better.