A couple of days ago, the WORLD WIDE LEADER IN SPORTS!!!!!!!!!!!!! announced their new 2012 broadcast teams. I meant to circle back to this because as fans of football, there are so few things that are more awesome (watching every Tessitore game last season) or more awful (*coughcraigjamescough*) than what the announcer brings to the game. In fact, I would go as far as to say that certain announcers can actually change the perception of your team nationwide. Whether it is an overreaction to a coach, outrage towards a player, or even just kudos to someone in the department, these guys wield quite a bit of influence.
Add to that the obnoxiousness that can be a hyperactive announcer, and you can see why these gigs are generally carefully thought out. Still, I think it's all kind of overrated. One of my goals this season is to try and spend more time listening to the radio broadcasts. Growing up without cable and without the incredible amount of coverage we have now, I was initiated into Husker football listening to Kent Pavelka on 1110 KFAB here in Nebraska. In hindsight, I think the nostalgia for Kent's voice probably greatly outweighs the reality that he was only so-so in that department, but nonetheless, he was the voice of the Huskers. I cannot tell you how happy it would make me when a game was actually on TV and instead of listening to Mushmouth (as my dad so affectionately referred to Musburger), we would listen to the radio turned up really loud.
In fact, in what is probably one of the most memorable sports nights in my life - the 1995 Orange Bowl against Miami - my dad had the radio turned up and we were hanging on the slightly faster radio broadcasters every word. When Nebraska finally broke through, the house went crazy and you almost felt like Kent was in the room with us, high fiving and smiling from ear to ear. Anyhow, I guess all that to say is that a lot of time and energy has been poured into these crews for the WWL, and while I get the need to produce a good product, it just doesn't match the homerisms and passion that radio guys have. While most people don't appreciate sports on the radio these days, especially those under 18, I feel like its a medium that needs to be handled with care. There just really is nothing quite like it in my opinion, and I hope we never let that slip away. Links after the jump!
Team Links:
- IlliniHQ has a rundown of Camp Rantoul day 3.
- I'm just going to keep leaving A Lion Eye's posting glut here until camp is over. Seriously, tons of good stuff here for Illinois fans.
- The Crimson Quarry looks at the Hoosiers Week 5 opponent: Michigan State
- This headline is awful... Still, a nice rundown of the Hoosiers.
- In case you haven't liked us on facebook (which I am going to remind you to go do here), the BTN is doing an awesome Football Tour series and Iowa's turn is awesome.
- Iowa looks to a Fullback, water boys, conscripted linemen, and pretty much anyone who can put on pads and hold the ball to take some reps at RB. (Okay, that's not completely true, but it sure seems that way these days)
- A ridiculous amount of semi-useless facts about 2012 Iowa football and its opponents.
- This is a really good article about Gerald Ford, Willis Ward, and breaking the racial barrier in football, or rather the ramifications of being a bigot. I honestly had never heard this story, but it was really interesting.
- With Frank Clark out because he allegedly stole a laptop, Michigan looks to LB Jake Ryan to take snaps at DE.
- With Fitz Touissaint out because he decided driving drunk was a good idea, Michigan looks to the next guy in prep for the Alabama game.
- A presser with Michigan OC Al Borges.
- CBS Sports looks at Michigan State in their countdown to kickoff series.
- TOC gives an update on the current recruiting picture at MSU.
- CBS Sports does a Minnesota schedule breakdown.
- OTE regular GoAUpher (Chris) has his first front-paged article at The Daily Gopher and its a good one as he talks about how he came to be a Gopher fan.
- Jon from Corn Nation ponders the dead calm surrounding the Huskers this year.
- Also, Nebraska picks up another recruit for the 2013 class: OL Zach Hannon.
- And a bunch of thoughts from fall camp at Nebraska.
- Lake the Posts with some Northwestern camp updates.
- Read Sippin on Purple's talk about DB Nick VanHoose... if only for the awesome catch phrases.
- ESPN the Magazine goes ridiculously in depth with Urban Meyer and his work-life balance.
- The Buckeye Battle Cry looks at the 2012 OSU schedule.
- Students and alums at Ohio State do not grab all the tickets.
- More sound (transcript) bytes from BOB.
- Interesting look at the business ramifications of the NCAA punishment of Penn State.
- And some Purdue practice notes. I feel like I should have just had a 'practice' section of links.
- Hammer and Rails looks at the Boiler Linebackers.
- NBC Sports has Wisconsin 9th in their Top 25 countdown.
- A look at the QB competition at Wisconsin with a profile of Danny O'Brien.
I will be honest. I'm a little busy today, so these are late and I don't have all that much time to find some conference links. Still, I feel like I need a good exit strategy to the day. So, I leave you with video from Everton, my favorite EPL team. They said they would riot if Hibbo scored a goal (after a 1o year career and over 300 games played). He finally scored... and they rioted (kinda). We should try and stage something like this at at B1G school. What player on your team would get the masses excited?
Hibbo scored. We rioted. ( 8/8/12 Everton V AEK Athens ) (via SinginthebluesEFC)