<p>I wanted to pull out one of today’s Golden Nuggets for a little more discussion.&nbsp; Steve Young is joining the B crew of Monday Night Football, which includes Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg.&nbsp; The B crew is whipped out whenever there are two Monday Night Football games.&nbsp; The Mike &amp; Mike crew used to be Mike cubed and included <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPP3aTB6nLo&feature=related” target=”_blank”>Mike Ditka</a>.&nbsp; Young has appeared on plenty of pre-game shows, and whatever you may think of the Mikes, I think Young is a good addition.</p> <p>Given that addition, I thought now was as good a time as any to open the floor to discussion about announcers throughout the NFL.&nbsp; Who are your favorites, who do you hate, who do you consider underrated, who do you consider overrated…that sort of thing.&nbsp; Madden has retired so we’ll take him off the discussion list at this point.</p> <p>So who do I like?&nbsp; Well, I have to admit I’m kind of excited for the 2009 Monday Night football crew.&nbsp; While I’m relatively indifferent to Mike Tirico, I’m a big Ron Jaworski fan and I think Jon Gruden could make for a very solid announcer.&nbsp; Jaws brings the type of analysis you really don’t see often enough anymore.&nbsp; Obviously there are plenty of color guys out there providing analysis.&nbsp; However, most of those guys are cookie-cutter announcers shooting out cliches.&nbsp; Combine that with Jon Gruden’s passion, which I think we saw quite well at the draft, and I think you’ve got a very solid MNF crew.</p> <p>In looking through the announcing crews, I’m a big fan of Gus Johnson.&nbsp; He’s better in college basketball, but the few times I get to hear him do NFL games, I’m usually sufficiently entertained.&nbsp; It’s interesting that, looking at the <a href=”http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2008/08/foxs-2008-2009-nfl-announcer-pairings.html” target=”_blank”>Fox</a> and <a href=”http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2008/08/cbs-releases-their-nfl-announcing-teams.html” target=”_blank”>CBS</a> pairings from last season, there are a lot of groupings I really never cared for.&nbsp; Two in particular come to mind: 1) Jim Nantz and Phil Simms (can’t stand Nantz) and 2) Joe Buck and Troy Aikman (although I certainly enjoy me some Pam Oliver).&nbsp; I realize they’re the #1 crews on each network, but Buck and Nantz just drive me crazy.&nbsp; Simms is usually ok, but nothing special for me, and Troy Aikman doesn’t really do it for me..maybe it’s the <a href=”http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/teams/DAL” class=”sbn-auto-link”>Cowboys</a> thing…</p> <p>I have to say I’m rather excited for the Al Michaels, Chris Collinsworth grouping.&nbsp; I used to really not like Collinsworth, but he’s grown on me and I think I’ll be enjoying Sunday Night Football with those two.</p> <p>My biggest sleeper, who actually is not doing NFL games at this point, is Jesse Palmer.&nbsp; The former Bachelor star and NFL QB (yes I did them in that order!) made his debut as an NFL announcer at a <a href=”http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/teams/SFX” class=”sbn-auto-link”>49ers</a> game and I was more than pleasantly surprised.&nbsp; The former players that move into the announcing booth often seem straight out of an assembly-line and really just aren’t any good.&nbsp; But Palmer was unique.&nbsp; He brought great insight and timely comments.&nbsp; Amazing to see given some of the crap out there.&nbsp; He’s doing college football announcing now, but I hope he makes it back to the NFL.</p> <p>So, who do you like and dislike in the NFL announcer crews?&nbsp; If you want to discuss the studio shows feel free to, but given the volume of people in each of those shows, that could go on forever.&nbsp; And it’s also possible you might find a crew solid that individually you don’t enjoy.&nbsp; Feel free to come at this any way you want.&nbsp; While there are certain things I look for in an announcer, everybody sees something different in certain announcers.</p> <p><a href=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7O39krOlEpNBl-rG-B_g-v0Z8Gw/0/da”><img src=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7O39krOlEpNBl-rG-B_g-v0Z8Gw/0/di” border=”0″ ismap=”true”></img></a><br/> <a href=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7O39krOlEpNBl-rG-B_g-v0Z8Gw/1/da”><img src=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7O39krOlEpNBl-rG-B_g-v0Z8Gw/1/di” border=”0″ ismap=”true”></img></a></p>