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Showing posts with label espn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label espn. Show all posts

September 23, 2011

Remember these: 1989 Pro Set Announcers



Remember Pro Set? They flooded the market with billions of football cards in the late 1980s and early 1990s, making it possible for you to own rookie cards of Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith and Deion Sanders for pocket change.

Many of the company's ventures didn't work, including Guinness World Records cards and a Santa Claus insert. Eventually Pro Set filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and that was it for the inexpensive football cards.

But within the failures came one of the greatest - and unintentionally funny - sets of the current collecting era, 1989 Pro Set Announcers.

The orange-bordered cards appeared in football packs, bringing cardboard glory to some of the game's greatest voices:

Dick Enberg, looking dapper with an aquamarine pocket square

Bob Costas, getting ready to wax poetic about something

Dick Stockton, once married to Leslie Visser

Chris Berman, before Nutrisystem, Applebee's and male pattern baldness came calling

Jack Buck, broadcasting legend

John Saunders, ESPN

Verne Lundquist - preparing for his greatest glory, a featured role in the Adam Sandler film "Happy Gilmore"

Steve Sabol, the NFL films guy

Al Michaels, "Do you believe in moppy hair? YES!"

1989 Pro Set Announcers would be legendary if it featured another dozen cards of broadcast school grads. What makes it world-class is the set's inclusion of players-turned-broadcasters with dubious on-air careers.

Joe "I wanna kiss you" Namath

Tom "TJ" Jackson, who deserves humanitarian awards for enduring Chris Berman's screaming for all these years

Frank Gifford, who's married to Kathy Lee, the brightest star on NBC's Today Show (during the fourth hour, not named Hoda)

Terry Bradshaw, who once bared his butt in a Sarah Jessica Parker-Matthew McConaughey movie

Ahmad Rashad, whose ex-wife Phylicia starred as Clair Huxtable on "The Cosby Show"

And O.J. Simpson, famous for a nationally-broadcast drive in a White Bronco, among other things

You can find the set online for less than $5.

November 8, 2010

Have they heard our wishes?

So, it's being reported today that Joe Morgan and Jon Miller are out as the Sunday broadcast team for the ESPN game of the week.

Morgan rubbed too many people the wrong way over the years with his know-it-all attitude. He is obviously very knowledgeable about the game. That wasn't the gripe, but too often during his color commentaries, Morgan would state obvious points or otherwise get things insanely wrong. Morgan was so bad at this job there was a website dedicated to getting rid of the guy.

I actually really liked Jon Miller. I thought he had a cool and crisp voice.

So who do you want to see come in and replace the chuckleheads?

Perhaps with a certain LA voice guy retiring soon, maybe he will take over and just work once a week.


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