A Refreshing Change in the Booth

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.

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