Why are Kenny Albert, Moose Johnston and The Goose #2 On Fox?
Comments (1) This is a rather fair question. I happen to live in the Philly area, and get a good mix of the “top” announcers as the Eagles, Giants, Jets and Steelers are usually in a headline matchup. A lot of the time I happen to get the Albert/Moose/Goose pairing, and today I found myself listening quite intently to the announcers. Since I was younger I’ve slowly but surely been able to train myself to mostly ignore sports announcers. It especially helped back in the day when I was watching Islanders games and they would start talking about the Lobster at the Hotel during a 6-1 rout.
While I’ve always liked Tony Siragusa (the goose) as a sideline guy, I think all three guys work together great. The banter makes you feel like a couple of guys at the bar. The fact that both Johnston and Goose have worked in the trenches instead of being QBs means they give you the basics without being a personality. All three do a wonderful job of not putting themselves over while giving you the nitty gritty of whats going on. It’s also great because Moose being an offensive player and Goose being defensive means that they have expertise on both sides of the line.
When the games do get out of hand, their chatter doesn’t really seem to be as annoying as other talking heads looking to fill up time. They occasionally bicker back and forth, but it’s nothing that would make your eyes roll or seems forced. While Joe Buck bores people to death, Chris Collinsworth makes you want to wring his neck, and Al Micheals sounds generic as hell, these three are actually fun to listen to. They also don’t insult the intelligence of those listening, which is a pet peeve of mine. They know your watching the game because your a fan, they don’t remind you what offsides is every time it happens.
Even more important is what Goose brings to the game. As far as I know he is the only male sideline reporter out there. AND HE MAKES IT WORK. Instead of just standing around, looking good and getting pointless interviews with coaches who will admit nothing about injuries, he is able to give actual input. That’s right, he’s able to give great input about the game and what is going on in a position that is dominated by clueless airheads because you shouldn’t be able to analyze the game from that perspective. Most people have an overhead view of the game and the monitors 3 inches from their faces, and he picks up on stuff better then most of them.
Prime time Football announcers are some of the worst, most of them are only putting themselves up there to seem like geniuses. There seems to be a real disconnect between the average guy and most of these announcers. That’s what makes the Albert/Moose/Goose combo so great, they seem like your buddies. They are painfully underrated, especially being behind the horror show that is Joe Buck announcing anything. If you happen to have the pleasure of catching these guys sometime, go for it. It’s really a treat, no matter how bad the game is.
