Bryant Mercifully Leaves the Booth

Bryant Gumbel does excellent work for HBO Sports, but as a play-by-play announcer for the NFL Network he was terrible. Fortunately both parties came to terms with that fact, and we will no longer be subjected to any of his two-minute "mournings" or legendarily indecisive first down calls. Awful Announcing shares the press release.

Bryant Gumbel has decided to give up his duties as the play-by-play voice for the NFL Network's eight-game package of NFL games, NFL Network announced today. Gumbel served as the play-by-play announcer for NFL Network's Thursday and Saturday Night Football games for the past two seasons.

"I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to call NFL Network games the past two years, which was a new experience for me," said Gumbel. "But we've agreed that we'd all be better served going in different directions. There are a lot of talented people at NFL Network. I thank them, I wish them well, and I have no doubt that they will be very successful going forward."

Let's all be glad that's all over with. Let's also hope that they choose a competent replacement.

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