Don Criqui Rules

The NBC Contract. That phrase alone is enough for any Notre Dame fan to understand what you're talking about. It's the deal that shook down the thunder on the college football landscape back in 1993 and has provided us with the joy (and agony) of watching every Irish home football game for 13 years. This is the deal that essentially forced the concept of the Superconference with a championship game, and caused the conference shuffle that we have seen in the last 10 years. Notre Dame recently extended that contract through 2010, a shrewd deal for both parties as our team can't get any worse than the last 10 years!

However, it may be time to rethink some aspects of this contract. The product put on the air is Notre Dame. Don't you think Notre Dame should have some control over that? I am talking about the declining production value of the games. Does anyone remember the LAME electric guitar version of the fight song that NBC used for as long as I can remember? Thank God they finally got rid of it! Does anyone remember the original broadcast team? I do - Dick Enberg and Bill Walsh. Those guys were awesome! Who do we get now? Pat Haden, a damn USC grad, and Tom Hammond, who wishes he was calling the Kentucky Derby instead. I am so sick of listening to these losers every week. Can't we get somebody better? If ABC runs a merry-go-round in the booth for Monday night football based on ratings, that tells me something. NBC could improve ratings by hiring a better team.

Who cares if the guys are pro-ND. Hell, lets get some graduates! Does NBC really need to keep up an illusion of impartiality when it comes to these games? Face it, we're in bed together. Notre Dame knows it, NBC knows it, and the rest of the country sure as hell knows it! I'm not asking for John Madden and Al Michaels. I want them to bring in Don Criqui!!!

The Westwood One radio crew of Don Criqui and Alan Pinkett is awesome. Criqui graduated form Notre Dame, and we all know Pinkett did. I always loved Criqui's NFL calls. I listened to some of the UCLA game broadcast this weekend on Sirius while taking Ali to the airport. I also read numerous reviews about it afterwards. Apparently, Criqui and Pinkett were ABSOLUTELY RAILING on the Pac 10 officials throughout the game! That is awesome! They were holding Abiamiri on EVERY SINGLE PLAY, and Criqui pointed it out again and again. That's what I'm talking about.

The capper is Criqui's call of the final TD to the Shark. This call is F-ing amazing! It makes me jump up and cheer every time I listen to it. And so I present to you in all its glory, the Westwood One Radio Call of that play. Just listen to the excitement. We need that in the booth!!!