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Former pros turned into relatively obscure media members!


CS85

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I was listening to some of Rich Gannon's radio show the other day from Sirius XM, and he does a tremendous job. Tried to catch some Brady Quinn's analysis to see if it was any good. Kurt Kittner of the Fighting Illini does their color commentary now. Pat Mannelly of the Bears recently joined the WSCR midday show and is getting better each episode.

I figured it might be a fun topic to talk about guys who were either pros or notable college athletes that entered into the journalism or media fields and are actually doing a hell of a job on a mostly local or relatively low-key national basis.

Tell me some success stories, big or small, that you wouldn't really notice unless you lived in the area.

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I didn't get a chance to listen, but Rick DiPietro co-hosted a show on ESPN Radio in New York over the summer. It got good reviews and will now has a regular 7-10 pm timeslot (though it will be preempted often for the Knicks and Rangers). I hope this works out for him; I feel bad for the guy even though I probably shouldn't.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/former-islanders-goalie-rick-dipietro-tries-radio-1411002950

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Wait, you like Jon Gruden as a broadcaster?

I can't get past his insanely positive attitude towards every player on the field ("LET ME TELL YOU, THIS BACKUP GUARD OUT TEXAS CHRISTIAN IS EVERYTHING YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUARD. HE'S BIG AND... HAVE YOU SEEN THOSE ARMS? HE'S LIKE ONE OF THOSE HOWLER MONKEYS.") and his little wise-cracking smirk that comes off when he gets one-on-one during those QB draft camps ("Look at this safety sneaking down into the box... Why didn't you audible to a fly 66 route? That's what an NFL quarterback does.")

Maybe my dislike for him comes from the fact that I know that he's actually super-passionate about the NFL and when he coached, he would regularly look like this on the sidelines:

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I feel like he's withdrawn completely withdrawn into this announcing sunshine character of his and it irritates me. For example, there were about 15 times he could have ripped into Brady and the Patriots last night and chose not to every single time... Tireco was the one who had to step in and say "Well, even if Edelman continues his route, there doesn't seem like there's much room there. That was a poor decision from Brady."

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In the college game, I think there are a few: Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Spielman as a color commentators, and I enjoy David Pollack and Jesse Palmer in studio.

In the NFL, there's definitely less quality to choose from. I think Jon Lynch is one of the most underrated color guys in the league. I also think the former Cowboys Troy Aikman (but maybe it's just a result of being paired with Joe Buck) and Darryl Johnston can hold their own. On NFL Network, Marshall Faulk has quietly turned into a pretty good personality, as he avoided turning into a character (Deion, Terry Bradshaw, Warren Sapp, etc...) and actually providing good insight into the game.

Also, it's very, very rare for a former coach to become a good broadcaster.

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Wait, you like Jon Gruden as a broadcaster?

What's not to like? Sure, there's the fact that Gruden thinks every player in the NFL is a Superstar. And that every QB he talks to on that silly QB camp thing is the next Joe Montana. And that every play is the perfect call for the situation. And that every player is exactly what he's looking for in an NFL player. And that every coach is a genius - or at least a coach headed to becoming a genius. And that his analysis is basically cheerleading. But other than that, he's great.

 

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Greg Zaun for Sportsnet 590 here does a great job.

This is more of what I'm looking for. I'm going to re-title this thread.

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Walt "Clyde" Frazier is the best, obviously.

I like Kasey Keller's soccer commentary, but his audience is limited to local Sounders broadcasts and third tier World Cup matches.

1 hour ago, ShutUpLutz! said:

and the drunken doodoobags jumping off the tops of SUV's/vans/RV's onto tables because, oh yeah, they are drunken drug abusing doodoobags

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