I hate Joe Theismann.
I don’t know if I have ever been more frustrated watching a Buc’s game than I was tonight, and it wasn’t even the Buc’s play that made me frustrated (although I’d be lying if I said it didn’t contribute), it was the announcers. Never have I watched a game where the entire announcing crew had already decided the outcome of the game before it even started. In the pregame show, all of the analysts picked Carolina to win the game, with Chris Berman saying the question was not who would win but how much would the Panthers win by. This of course comes as no surprise…I guess, since Carolina is overrated at 4-4 and it seems that every ESPN analyst, including but not limited to my boy Sean Salisbury, acts like they are a gift from God himself, to save this thing we call football from going down the toilet (as well as Michael Vick). As if that wasn’t enough, then we have to listen to a washed-up Joe Theismann in the first half not talk about how the Buc’s defense was playing well and how Bruce Gradkowski was starting his sixth game ever and beating Carolina, but instead he ran his mouth the entire time about how Carolina shouldn’t have had a bye week, that they weren’t playing true Carolina football, and that this game was supposed to be a given for Carolina. The entire crew spoke about Carolina the ENTIRE game and the only time they said anything good about the Buc’s was when they had to talk about some sort of statistic about the Buc’s team, mostly negative. Did I miss something? Carolina is 4-4. They were crushed by a mediocre Dallas team, a mediocre Cincinatti team, Atlanta, and Minnesota. A lot of people, including Joe I’m sure, chalk up their slow start to the fact the Steve Smith was injured. So…basically then we’re saying that like Atlanta, Carolina revolves around one player and without Steve Smith, they suck, yet we’re so quick to say that Carolina is the easy favorite to go to the Super Bowl. Am I missing something? If so point it out. So then comes the second half, and Carolina “shows up” I suppose, and the talk then changes from Carolina is not playing well to Tampa is a terrible team and Carolina is crushing them like they should. I guess Carolina should win though, it makes sense. I mean, they beat this same team earlier this year with a last second field goal. I’m just glad that this is the last game this year that I have to watch with Joe Theismann, who like Sean Salisbury, needs to go away. Here’s a prediction for ESPN and their Carolina worshipping announcers, Carolina won’t make the playoffs, there, I said it.