Eye on “Oh my!”
SYRACUSE, New York – With the new NFL television contract extensions finalized for CBS and Fox, I suppose that most of the executives and production personnel at the two networks could rest easier as Week 10 blindsided football fans with a plethora of unexpected victories and losses around the league. Everything from the surprising demise of the Holmes-less Kansas City Chiefs to the Vick-torious Atlanta Falcons, who are somehow flying under the radar despite a 7-4 record, provided viewers with a little drama, suspense, and – thanks to the Steelers and Browns – intrigue. Indeed, I was watching the Pittsburgh-Cleveland bout, which at the very least made infinitely more sense than Evander Holyfield’s mismatch the night before. I was, however, watching the game in the midst of a few dozen college students. While I try to temper my criticism of sports telecasts, at least in public, the twenty-somethings around me were not so careful with their words. “I don’t like Dierdorf,” one of them said. “He probably wouldn’t like you either,” I thought – silently, of course. These kids mocked the slightest inflection in an announcer’s voice, his word choice, his criticisms of their favorite team, and proceeded to knock CBS’ pregame show, The NFL Today, for everything from the animated segment featuring the fictitious Thurston Long to why they think Shannon Sharpe doesn’t belong on the show.
And this is the coveted demographic? Young men who hardly paid attention to the game during a lull in the third quarter, let alone the commercials. How dare these kids criticize a single member of the NFL on CBS “B” crew! First, there’s the incomparably eloquent and eternally youthful Dick Enberg whose rapport in the booth with former St. Louis Cardinal offensive lineman and seasoned analyst Dan Dierdorf creates a feel-good broadcast regardless of which team is winning or losing. It’s contagious. Their good humor even brings a smile to the face of sideline reporter Armen Keteyian, with whom they have enjoyed on air exchanges about Halloween costumes and of whom they have shared doctored photos depicting him as an outrageously dressed fan in Oakland’s infamous “Black Hole.”
Combine the on-air chemistry with the off-air comraderie of producer Mark Wolff and director Bob Fishman. Wolff, who produced Super Bowls XXXV and XXXVIII, had been the lead game producer for the NFL on CBS until executives decided to rearrange the crews in front and behind the camera. The result: he and Fishman, who is the lead director of CBS’ NCAA Basketball and U.S. Open Tennis coverage, are putting together some of the most enjoyable and insightful productions since the network re-entered the NFL television landscape in 1998. Talk about a perfect reason to get DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket, which was also among the TV-related contract extensions with the league!
Their games are undoubtedly the most intelligent and entertaining NFL broadcasts hitting the airwaves. They lead a legendary crew, treating every week of the regular season like a unique, yet congruent volume in a 17-part anthology.
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