There’s been more and more call over the last few seasons to replace Gil Santos and Gino Cappelletti in the booth calling games every week on the Patriots Rock Radio Network. While both, especially Santos, were at one time fine announcers they are like watching an aging pitcher who doesn’t have his fastball anymore. Listening to G&G on a fall Sunday afternoon in New England used to be a treat now it’s more like watching Mike Timlin pitch. You love them for all they’ve brought to you but there are more and more signs that the game has passed them by.
They simply don’t have it any longer. They miss plays, miss identify players, down and distance, yard markers and if it came down to it I don’t think either Santos or Cappelletti could identify Pat Patriot. To me the glaring error was last year in Week 17 against the Giants when Brady threw a record setting TD pass to Randy Moss on the bomb. It was Brady’s 50th TD pass, Moss’ 23rd TD catch, both NFL records, and the G&G boys didn’t know who the receiver was until way after the celebration had started. There aren’t many players in the entire NFL who look and play like Moss and that should have been an easy ID.
But I’m not here to bash Santos and Cappelletti, really I’m not, it would be like bashing Timlin I can’t do it. But it is high time that the Kraft family looks at some replacements for both of them in the booth for the 2009 season.
So if you had your choices who would you put in there. To replace Cappelletti as an analyst you can go a few different ways and I hope to God that one of those ways is never, ever named Fred Smerlas, Andy Gresh or Steve DeOssie. Some of more sane choices amongst former Patriots players might be Scott Zolak, Tim Fox, recently retired Troy Brown, Hall of Famer Andre Tippett, Steve Nelson, Craig James or local hero Doug Flutie.
My choice would be Zolak, he is articulate, put together, knows the game, the players and would be a good fit. According to things I have heard the Kraft family thinks very highly of him and his abilities.
Choices for a new play-by-play person to replace Santos are probably more complicated. But as long as Dale Arnold and Jon Meterparel stay well away from the booth I can live with it. Some of the choices here might include WCVB’s Mike Lynch who already does the sideline reports for the preseason games on TV and does the Patriots All-Access broadcasts. I also think former Red Sox announcer and current ESPN football/basketball guy Sean McDonough would be a good choice as well as ESPN’s Joe Tessitore and Brad Nessler. Grabbing an announcer from another NFL team would be possibility three guys who I think do a good job are Josh Lewin in San Diego (he also calls Texas Rangers baseball games), Dave Pasch in Arizona and Bob Wischusen (Boston College grad) from the Jets.
But if I had to pick I’d go with McDonough. To me he is just too good, too local and too logical a choice to at least make a run at.
And it’s not as if McDonough couldn’t still do the college games for ESPN as many of the NFL radio guys also work college games. In fact Pasch and Wischusen do it as well as other NFL announcers like Dave Lapham and Wayne Larrivee.
So if you had a new Patriots Rock Radio Network dream team who would be your two guys? Feel free to add suggestions to the names in the comments.
Jim Donovan from the Browns radio network isn’t a bad choice. He’s a Mass-bred guy and was looking to come back to Boston before the Browns radio job opened up. He’s a very good sports anchor in Cleveland.
As a Browns fan, I’d hate to lose him, but he and Doug Dieken have made a very good team in the booth describing a very bad one on the field.
John Sterling, who does Yankee games can also do football.
Just kidding.
That just aint right.
you are kidding??? Gils voice is used on some of the nfl films. I usually lisaten to the radio while watching the game on tv rather than listen to some of the WELL KNOWN ANNOUNCERS. Keep Gil hes one of the best….
Frank I will not and can not deny that Gil Santos has a classic voice and in his prime was a very fine PBP guy. But I’m sure when you synch up the radio with the TV it has to be frustrating not getting the correct players ID’s as well as D&D and all the other things neither he nor Gino do well any longer.
Everyone is Boston was upset when Trupe got bounced from the Red Sox games. But now that Dave O’Brien is in house you don’t hear the complaining any longer because O’Brien is a superior announcer at this point in their careers. It doesn’t mean Trupe wasn’t very good at one time its just that the time isnt now and its the same for G&G.
The same can be said for Dick Enberg who did the Patriots game on TV Sunday. I love Enberg he may possibly be my favorite football announcer. Growing up it wasn’t Sunday unless you heard Enberg’s voice. But he was awful on Sunday.
Ditto for Dick Stockton, who I listened to as a child call Red Sox baseball on TV, he was horrible for TBS this past week doing the Dodger and Cubs.
While all four announcers I have mentioned were some of my favorites they are like Mike Timlin, another favorite, and no longer have their fastball and aren’t getting the hitters out.
Why should anybody listen to you about broadcasting? Have you ever worked on a major broadcast? Gil is still one of if not the best play by play guys in the NFL. Period. Gino’s insight to the game is second to none. Do you have any clue to how hard it is to call a game? Everybody is going to make mistakes during a game. Wake up, and get back to me when you have a clue as to what your talking about.
I agree it must be tough to get all the information about the set positions and all before the ball is snapped.Can you imagine Joe Castiglione calling Pats games?He can’t even tell if if a guy is tagged out at the plate or on the bases without practically having to go to a station break first!!!
Hey Al…I worked on the air for 23 years in radio most of it with the largest communications company in the business, Clear Channel. I know of what I speak having done PBP and analysis for football and basketball. My college background is communications and journalism. any questions?
BTW I am not the only one who has said this, many media critics in Boston have been saying this for a few years. In fact it was thought that Gino was going to replaced after last years Super Bowl, but now it is believed to be that they are letting the pair work one more season together and that they will be replaced for 2009.
So before you challenge my background you might want to ask what it is because I can make you look like a douchebag quicker than you can recite your fake email address.
Having done football and basketball play-by-play, I can tell you doing the sport is not easy. Gil was truly one of the best and was even hired by CBS to do work after he lost the Patriots gig in the late 1970’s. There’s no doubting his credentials. But over the last two years, Gil has lost it and Gino even more so.
Do we celebrate Gil’s great call of Super Bowl XXXVI? Yes. Do we enjoy Gil now? The answer has to be no.
Hearing Gil, Dick Enberg and Dick Stockton doing play-by-play now is very sad because all are mere shadows of themselves. All are legends, but all miss key moments of the game.
Ken I’d rather listen to those three guys in their primes than some of the hacks that populate the airwaves today like Chip Caray, Joe Buck, Joe Morgan et al.
As we all know though time is passing the great ones by and it isnt being kind.
Just thought I’d reference the previous article I did on this in December it has some other links as well
Gil says he plans on hanging around. It doesn’t say if the Patriots plan on letting him.