Courtesy USA Today

(November 5, 2010) The readers have spoken. We asked you to choose your favorite NFL announcers in eight categories and you responded by casting nearly 54,000 votes in our online survey.

Phil Simms of CBS beat Cris Collinsworth, the retired John Madden's successor at NBC, in a hard-fought race for best game analyst. Madden handily won the race for best analyst in our first poll in 2009.

Al Michaels of NBC won for best play-by-play announcer while NBC?s Collinsworth, Michaels and Andrea Kremer won for best game crew. Fox NFL Sunday was named best pregame show. ESPN won in four categories for best pregame show host (Chris Berman), best insider (Adam Schefter), best sideline reporter (Suzy Kolber) and best studio show (NFL Matchup).

Surprisingly, the races for best insider and studio show generated the most votes with over 8,500 votes apiece. Sal Paolantonio's NFL Matchup, which was almost cancelled during the offseason, won in the biggest landslide.

Simms, Collinsworth, Kolber and others drew praise from some readers, but other readers said they either watch game telecasts on mute to drown out announcers or keep the mute button handy for those announcers who just won't shut up.

Reader Jim Simek of Dryden, Mich., suggested announcers adopt a "less is more" approach.

"(Troy) Aikman and Collinsworth are by far the best on TV. They analyze and explain, then get out of the way," he commented.

Added reader Rob Bustard of Matthews, N.C.: "The mute button comments are not sarcastic jokes. Each year, more diehard viewers mute live games because the commentators annoy viewers so much, that they would rather just forfeit the game sounds/crowd noise."

Reader Jeff Wooley of Lexington, Ky., asked if the fans "in the stands seem to be able to follow what is happening on the field, why do the announcers feel they need to describe every minute detail?"

Click on the categories below for the vote totals:

BEST GAME ANALYST: Troy Aikman (Fox), Cris Collinsworth (NBC), Jon Gruden (ESPN), Ron Jaworski (ESPN), Phil Simms (CBS)

BEST PLAY-BY-PLAY: Joe Buck (Fox), Al Michaels (NBC), Jim Nantz (CBS), Bob Papa (NFL Network), Mike Tirico (ESPN)

BEST GAME CREW: Troy Aikman, Joe Buck, Pam Oliver (Fox); Cris Collinsworth, Al Michaels, Andrea Kremer (NBC); Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden, Mike Tirico, Suzy Kolber, Michele Tafoya (ESPN); Phil Simms, Jim Nantz (CBS); Bob Papa, Joe Theismann, Matt Millen, Alex Flanagan (NFL Network)

BEST PREGAME SHOW:Football Night in America (NBC), Fox NFL Sunday (Fox), NFL GameDay Morning (NFL Network), The NFL Today (CBS), Sunday NFL Countdown (ESPN), Monday Night Countdown (ESPN)

BEST PREGAME HOST: Chris Berman (ESPN), James Brown (CBS), Bob Costas (NBC), Rich Eisen (NFL Network), Curt Menefee (Fox)

BEST INSIDER: Charley Casserly (CBS), Mike Florio (NBC), Jay Glazer (Fox), Peter King (NBC), Jason La Canfora (NFL Network), Mike Lombardi (NFL Network), Chris Mortensen (ESPN), Adam Schefter (ESPN)

BEST SIDELINE REPORTER: Alex Flanagan (NFL Network), Suzy Kolber (ESPN), Andrea Kremer (NBC), Pam Oliver (Fox), Tony Siragusa (Fox), Michele Tafoya (ESPN)

BEST STUDIO SHOW: Inside the NFL (Showtime), NFL Live (ESPN), NFL Matchup (ESPN), NFL Total Access (NFL Network), Playbook (NFL Network)

blog comments powered by Disqus