Bryant Gumbel no longer calling games for NFL Network

Last year in November, I got up on my soapbox and totally blasted Bryant Gumbel and his horrible play-by-play calling for the NFL Network. It sucked for us football fans to have some awesome Thursday night games (Colts vs. Pats, Dallas vs Packers) only to be ruined by listening to Gumbel’s high pitched voice trying to get things right.

Now, let me just add that I’m sure he’s a great guy, and this whole rant has nothing to do with him as a person, but just his abilities as a play-by-play guy, of which he has none.

I wasn’t alone. The resultant hits we got on the site after that with search strings like “Bryant Gumbel sucks” was pretty remarkable. And sort of expected.

Well, there is good news finally for those who just can’t stand watching these NFL Network games because you have to listen to Gumbel. According to Yahoo.com, he’s left playcalling entirely to pursue other options.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to call NFL Network games the past two years, which was a new experience for me,� Gumbel said in a statement. “But we’ve agreed that we’d all be better served going in different directions.�

Not that I know what the inside scoop is, but I’m sure the feedback the network got from viewers couldn’t be good and this was more of a network decision that one Gumbel made. Again, purely speculative, but likely close to the truth.

The search for a replacement is on. Cris Collinsworth will stick around as the color guy.

What do you think? I know many of you back then still frequent this blog, so are you rejoicing like I am?