NFL network hires Bob Papa as new PBP guy

by JasonB on Jun 26, 2008 12:29 PM EDT in News Comment 3 comments

All I can say is thank you football gods for making the folks at

NFL network realize that Bryant Gumbel was a complete disaster as a play by play guy. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that Gumbel did the worst job calling a nationally televised game that I've ever heard.

His replacement is Giants' radio play by play guy Bob Papa. Papa, like the other leading candidates, certainly benefited from being a New York guy in close proximity to the NFL heads. That said, I think he's a good choice. I've listened to the Giants radio broadcasts and I've enjoyed Papa's commentary. He's never come across as a homer(I'm not sure he's even a Giants fan) unlike our beloved Merril Reese, and he's got a kind of throwback AM radio style delivery that ends up being very engaging to listen to. He'll certainly have to change his style a bit for TV, but I'm excited to hear it. He does HBO boxing as well so he's no stranger to TV.

Papa is saddled with some truly awful color guys(esp Dick Lynch sorry) doing Giants games, so it should be nice to hear him paired with our pal Chris Collinsworth.

Again, anything is better than Gumbel.

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Gumball

Snooty Gumbel is really good at off the field sob stories and such. Play by play? God, I wanted to slam a pencil through my eardrums… Also, for someone that has dedicated a good portion of their career to sports, it would have been nice if he at least knew the rule of football before he tried to do play by play… I can imagine how the phone call with his agent went for that gig..

(Agent) “Bryant, it’s Biff. I didn’t catch you in the middle of a Squash match dd I? Good. Well listen, these chaps over at that new NFL Network would love for you to stop by a few times this season and do some live broadcasting regarding their competitive meets.”

(Bryant) “Well, let me check my Blackberry. Well, it seems I may have to reschedule my Curling league and move a Fencing duel or two, but I don’t see why not. It’ll be nice to rub some elbows with the commoners…” chuckles

(Agent) “Great. Well I’ll phone the gents and let them know.”

Bryant hangs up phone

(Bryant) “Hilary, we need to find someone that knows about this American football sport. I’m going to have to talk about it live on TV in a few weeks”

by foos05 on Jun 26, 2008 1:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs