Not a lot should be expected from Fox in the personality, play-by-play, analyst department (and lord knows we haven't gotten it). After all, they spend the entire season covering the NFL, and then have five bowl games in January (Cotton, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and BCS Championship). That means bringing over their NFL people who have barely seen the games most of the season and a variety of ex-coaches and players as guest analysts. Those are old complaints and while frustrating can at least be understood from and economic standpoint.What has been inexcusable has been the technical production and camera work in the games. These bowl games have all been held in pro stadiums, where FOX has no excuse. They have spent plenty of time in these venues. They know the camera angles and looks. This is the area where they should be able to translate their NFL production values to the bowl games. Quick work in the trailer to find the right camera and view of what happened. To be quick with the replays and be able to diagram plays and what happened.
Instead it looks like they brought in regional workers. The camera angles have been sloppy. They have been two to three plays behind in showing vital replays. It is as if the producers have been scrambling to find the right camera to show what happened. The production values of these bowl games have rivaled that of the NBC/Notre Dame games.
As for the yellow first down line, apparently they must have Pat Summerall up in the booth serving as the spotter.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
1-07-2008 @ 11:10PM
Fornelli said...
True, but at least they have that banner telling me it's 2nd and 6!
Where else could I possibly find such information?
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1-07-2008 @ 11:23PM
Wade said...
Agreed. How about the intercept in the first half where Boeckman got drilled? There should have been an immediate replay of that hit. The defender had a 10 yard sprint at the qb and was never touched.
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1-08-2008 @ 9:17AM
Jamiep24 said...
Man that Thom Brenneman is one pathtetic play-by-play guy. He kept trying to pump up Hawaii and Ohio State. Worse than Bryant Gumbel.
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1-08-2008 @ 9:18AM
Robert Mossi said...
The FOX technical work has been terrible. If there is a key play or a key replay, you can bet that they either will not have it or they will show it three plays later. You can imagine what the guys in the Replay Booth are going through as they depend on the Network feeds for their replay reviews. On top of this, the announcers do not seem to know what they are watching and the color people never shut up no matter how inane the statements. The only positive is Chris (whatever) who at least reports on what is happenning on the sideline unlike the bimbos that work for FOX on Sunday and the others who work for ESPN and NBC (can someone send Andrea Kremer home). Thank goodness there were no key plays in tonights game worth a review, FOX would still be trying to find the right shot. The only thing that was equally bad tonight was the officiating. If the Referee's father was not in charge of all officiating in the state of Texas, his son (and his crew) would be working Pop Warner football. A very disappointing night, and I didn't even root for OSU.
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1-08-2008 @ 9:18AM
legenda1a said...
Give me Keith Jackson at 80 any day . God the LSU game was a rah rah session for OSU. I hate LSWHO just as bad. But it made me want them to whip Outta Sight University. Whens the contract up. they need to do college or get out of it because i dont know who the 2 idiots that were doing the NC game were but I had never heard of them. I dont watch pro. So i dont give a rip about it. Rather watch soccer than pro football these days or a good dog fight.
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1-08-2008 @ 9:19AM
Padrick said...
Charles Davis is good people, and I think he does a swell job.
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1-08-2008 @ 9:19AM
Richard said...
The FOX Announcers showed they did not know what they were talking about, when one of them said. "Billy Cannon made his famous run in 1958, to help LSU win their First National Championship" WRONG!!!
Billy Cannon made his Halloween Night 89 yard run, to help LSU beat Ole Miss in, 1959. 1959, the year AFTER LSU won its First National Championship. The Halloween Run, did help Cannon win the 1959 Heisman Trophy.
It seemed to me, many times the FOX Announcers had been given some last minutes information, which they really had no idea about, then blurted it out hoping the audience would believe what they were saying. I felt, the FOX Announcers, had little or no enthusiasm for the game. I hope the games, go back to ABC, and the other Networks who broadcast College Football during the season, and have announcers that know what they are doing.
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1-08-2008 @ 9:19AM
Roark said...
Horrible commentators, especially the one that kept saying LSU unanswered plays. What? LSU 38-14. Unanswered?
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1-08-2008 @ 5:03PM
rob combs said...
I am a Lifelong Tiger Fan. We beat a GREAT team to win the National Championship. OSU has nothing to be ashamed of; the SEC is bye FAR the toughest conference in America.
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1-08-2008 @ 9:20AM
Carl Hudson said...
I agree that the anouncers were some of the worst I've ever heard. I had only watched a couple of minutes when I ralized they were OS partisans and that irks me.
Question: What idiot would consider Kansas as the best team in America after playing a powder puff schedule?
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1-08-2008 @ 9:21AM
Jim T said...
More sour grapes is all Rich's blog is. Give it a rest. Best way to watch football or any sporting event is to turn off the sound. Half the people watching don't know the rules and the other half are so biased one way or another they could not tell if the reporting is good or bad, including Rich.
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1-08-2008 @ 11:01AM
Doug said...
Fox should give it up. Endless promotions, "dead air" on the local station at least 5 times, and worthless commercials. Add that to the game coverage and you get a big fat zero.
ESPN or ABC ..... where are you when we need you?
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1-08-2008 @ 11:01AM
freddielee said...
Charlie Davis was awful. I turned my sound off. He never stopped with his constant chatter and trying to impress us with his technical knowledge of the game. Every play had to have a description of blocks,routes....well u get my drift. ALSO [LOL] when the teams lined up in the center of field and Fox put up their field down marker, i lost the team as if it was camafloged.
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1-08-2008 @ 11:01AM
John said...
I agree, Fox technical production of the game was absolutely terrible!
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1-08-2008 @ 12:40PM
Dale Sporleder said...
FOX announcers merely made the "sound of silent" the best option.
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1-08-2008 @ 12:40PM
Jesse Munkirs said...
I must agree that the announcers were terrible. They had rudimentary knowledge of the teams and were guilty of strong biases toward one or the other teams regardless of what their eyes were seeing on the field
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1-09-2008 @ 7:05PM
Don Bobo said...
The college football games on tv can best be summed up as the most fantastic use of "mute" in television history. The commercials are consuming the game, the analysts talk incessantly about what I've already seen and heard, and all this for just 12 minutes of action. The pros are even worse, but I gave them up a long time ago. Give me Keith Jackson---he's all a real football fan needs in the booth.
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1-09-2008 @ 12:05PM
bryan said...
The play-by play was awful. Those guys kept trying to pump OSU while LSU was ripping them apart. They kept referring to some type of mythical monentum shift for OSU in the second half while LSU was grinding them into the Superdome turf. When will these guys realize that the Big Ten is no longer ground zero for college football?
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1-08-2008 @ 12:42PM
MARK said...
the picture quality of all the fox bowl games was terrible. i have dish network and the fox channel was all washed out, no vibrant colors at all....whats that all about?? fox on sundays does not have that problem.......
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1-08-2008 @ 12:42PM
MARK MIDDLETON said...
THE PICTURE QUALITY WAS TERRIBLE FOR ALL OF THE FOX BOWL GAMES...I HAVE DISH NETWORK AND AN HD TV, BUT MY SCREEN WAS ALL WASHED OUT, NO VIBRANT COLORS AT ALL. I DONT HAVE THIS PROBLEM ON FOX NFL ON SUNDAYS. WHATS THIS ALL ABOUT. THEY KEPT TALKING ABOUT THE DLP CAMERAS......I HAVE A DLP TV AND ALL I GOT WAS FADED COLORS....
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