Wow

[Racing Truth]

Just, wow. For those who wish they had NFL Network, be thankful you don't. Bryant Gumbel and Collinsworth are remarkably awful.:yuck: I have never heard worse. Gumbel=clueless and Collinsworth is a prick.

Speaking of wow, the Browns S-U-C-K.:irked:

Dennis Northcutt sucks.

[Don Quixote]

Perhaps the worst broadcast team ever assembled. Gumbel must spend minutes in preparation.

Agree Browns suck. Please get a QB and an offensive scheme that is better than high school.

Also, Drew Tate still sucks. :)

[Andrew Longman]

Agreed. I tried listening to one game and could not do it. Literally could not do it.

Sports talk radio here have just brutalized them.

I bet the NFL wishes they fired him in the summer for his Upshaw comments

And I bet all the negative talk is killing the NFL as they try to arm twist the cable companies into adding it to basic cable.

[cameraman]

Hell, with Dish Network I get that crap twice.:irked:

The 720p version and the 480p version:yuck:

[Ankf00]

Not available on Time Warner here, nor on whomever runs cable in NJ & NYC.

NFL-net is using their rights to the Texas Bowl (Rutgers) as a bargaining chip in their fight to push themselves into basic cable.

[nrc]

I always enjoy Collinsworth (go figure :) ) but Gumbel is a disaster. Maybe they figured he would be another Bob Costas but Gumbel is just a pompous idiot. During the Bengals game he kept saying they were turning it over on downs every time they would punt. :shakehead

I still enjoyed seeing the Bengals crush the Ravens though. Even if it was only HDlite.

[trauma1]

i was pissed it wasn't on prime time tv not even espn, is this what the NFL is going to gravitate towards the NFL pay channel, slowly but surely i bet:flame:

[Sean O'Gorman]

Collinsworthless isn't so bad, but I can't stand Gumbel. Might as well listen to play-by-play from Steve Urkel.

[Andrew Longman]

i was pissed it wasn't on prime time tv not even espn, is this what the NFL is going to gravitate towards the NFL pay channel, slowly but surely i bet:flame:

Dunno, but I don't think it is working out the way they planned. When they negotiated the last contract they took those games off the table to broadcast themselves and in turn got a couple hundred million less than they had planned.

They thought they would get it back by charging cable companies a couple bucks per subcriber and they would be able to sell the ad time. Whenever this is done it usually becomes a game of chicken with the cable companies as they wait to see how irate the fans actually are and how many will actually accept a higher fee for it. That's what happened in NY when the Yankees and Mets launched their own networks.

The NFL may have goofed because frankly it is not that important for most people in the country to see a Bengals/Raven game on a Thursday night. If its on they may watch it, but people aren't going to scream at their cable company if it is not.

It doesn't help either that they have such a bad product. I never pick a game to watch based on who the announcers are, but Gumble and Collinsworth are impossible.

I will give NFL Network one kudos. On their broadcast you don't have to watch endless promotions for the Simpsons, 24, CSI, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and whatnot.

[nrc]

Dunno, but I don't think it is working out the way they planned. When they negotiated the last contract they took those games off the table to broadcast themselves and in turn got a couple hundred million less than they had planned.

I'm pretty sure that these are new primetime games. In the past they would have the Monday night game and either a Sunday or Thursday night game - typically not both. Now they have five extra nationally broadcast games on Thursday night. So folks without the NFL network aren't getting any fewer national games than they ever did.

In spite of the fact that broadcasters have complained that they're not getting good enough return on their investment the NFL is getting almost a billion dollars more for their new contract even without those five NFL Network games on network.

I think the NFL's attitude is "pay me now or pay me later". Right now it keeps a package of games in their pocket that they can keep or resell as they please and ultimately it will be a requirement for anyone who would like to pry Sunday Ticket exclusivity away from DirecTV.

[Racing Truth]

Perhaps the worst broadcast team ever assembled. Gumbel must spend minutes in preparation.

Agree Browns suck. Please get a QB and an offensive scheme that is better than high school.

Also, Drew Tate still sucks. :)

Agreed. Though, and Stu can back me up here, I'd add that the biggest need, still, is the O-line. These guys have been a professional embarrassment.

On QB, you know, I was happy when they got Frye in the 3rd round, but his pocket awareness, and fundamentals in general, is not good. He's more of a "sandlot" QB, who can run around and make plays on broken plays. Structured offense, like the NFL, don't suit him. I'd like to see Derek Anderson a bit more. He played fairly well Thurs., but suffered at least 9-10 drops.:irked:

Gumbel literally had NO CLUE what was going on.

[dando]

I think the NFL's attitude is "pay me now or pay me later". Right now it keeps a package of games in their pocket that they can keep or resell as they please and ultimately it will be a requirement for anyone who would like to pry Sunday Ticket exclusivity away from DirecTV.

:mad: :flame:

-Kevin

[Andrew Longman]

Now they have five extra nationally broadcast games on Thursday night. So folks without the NFL network aren't getting any fewer national games than they ever did.

I think you may be right, but they are still games that are now not part of what Fox and CBS can show on Sunday pm and were held out of the contract.

I am quoting a Marketplace report on NPR from about 2 weeks ago and the story was about how the NFL may have screwed themselves out of a couple hundred really big ones.

[coolhand]

Collinsworth is enough of a reason not to watch the NFL