[Husker] Randy Lee Et Al

[Bob Beach]

Mike Nolan <nolan at romaine.tssi.com> wrote:

> Back in about 1978 the Omaha World Herald did an analysis of all
> the announcers doing Husker football at the time, looking at
> several games that were broadcast on TV.  (They may have looked at
> film from UNL, too.). Don Gill made by far the fewest errors, which
> is either a tribute to him or his spotters.  :-)  I think Lyell
> made the most errors, but everyone forgave him those because
> whatever game he was watching was ALWAYS exciting.


     I never listened to him a lot but I agree that Don Gill was a very technically correct announcer.  I usually found myself bouncing between Lyell and Dick Perry.


> Warren was not the worst of the bunch, though there may not be any
> agreement on that, either.  Jim Rose annoys me because I cannot
> visualize the game he's calling, though I could with Warren.
> (Lyell's words painted a picture in technicolor.)


      I have always believed Swain took way too much criticism.  He was not that bad.  As a matter of fact I think he was technically pretty good.  I think two things went against Swain in public opinion.  One is he wasn't perceived as a "Nebraska" guy.  The other is he followed the pretty popular Pavelka.  And, it was a little like the Solich thing.  Pavelka didn't leave on his own terms.  It was kind of like following a popular coach that was fired.  It is going to be a lose/lose proposition no matter what.  Pavelka was okay in my opinion.  I like excitement but I like excitement when game situations call for it.  With Pavelka you couldn't really tell if NU had just won the National Championship or if the student manager was running out to get the kicking tee after a kickoff.  The excitement level was pretty much the same and it got overbearing at times.  As far as Rose, he is a much better baseball announcer than he is football.  He is excellent on NU baseball broadcasts.  


> Last season I wound up listening to several Nebraska games on the
> radio or via the Internet, as well as to several Northwestern games
> on WGN.com The guy doing play-by-play for Northwestern (Dave Eanet)
> would IMHO run circles around Kent, Warren and Jim. -- Mike Nolan



     Sometimes Husker fans don't realize it but nationally there are some very fine announcers out there.


Bob Beach