Nobody Did It Better

I was flipping channels the other night and came across the NFL Network. That night they were showing an old ‘98 NFC Divisional Playoff between the Packers and 49ers. It was the original live feed of the game from FOX complete with the original announcers, Pat Summerall and John Madden. I sat there for a while and watched a little of this old game just to hear Summerall’s brilliant voice once again. For me, Pat Summerall was the NFL Sunday experience. Now that he is retired, the NFL is just not the same. There’s truly a void in the broadcast booth these days. Hearing him do a game brings me back to my early days as a kid watching the NFL at my grandparent’s house on Sundays. Whenever I heard his voice, I knew it was game day and that it was a big game. I grew up on the NFL during the 1970’s and 80’s, an era when Summerall was at the height of his powers as the best in the broadcasting business. Nobody, even to this day, was ever better at NFL play-by-play work. Summerall was a man of few words but whose timing was impeccable and whose calls of different NFL games will always be etched in the minds of many men my age. He spoke so little doing the play-by-play but you never felt like you missed anything. Summerall was a master at letting the game talk to the fan and he would just add the necessary words to fill in the rest of the story. It is he who allowed John Madden to shine as an analyst and that is why their paring will never again be equaled on television. I often find myself longing for Summerall when the big games are played in January. Nobody can describe the big moments like he did. Joe Buck and Jim Nantz are competent lead network announcers but neither of them is Summerall. I don’t think there’ll ever be another like him. In fact, the only real peer left in the business is Dick Enberg at CBS. I grew up on Enberg also and he is fantastic but his style is a bit different than Summerall’s and a little less memorable. I guess I will always have a bias toward Summerall because he called so many games of my favorite team, the Cowboys, because he always worked for the network that covered the NFC. So, as the new NFL season approaches, if you’re passing by the NFL Network and you see an old CBS or FOX playoff game and you hear that familiar voice, stop for a moment. Stop and listen to a voice that is sorely missed now that it is retired.