Over at USA Today, Paul Myerberg breaks down ESPN’s “megacast” of the BCS Championship, which despite the name doesn’t completely come across as overkill.
ESPN is offering six different ways to watch the Jan. 6 BCS Championship between Auburn and Florida State:
-- The traditional TV broadcast, featuring Brent Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit on ESPN
-- “BCS Title Talk,” airing on ESPN2
-- “BCS film room,” airing on ESPNNews
-- “Sounds of the BCS” on ESPN Classic
-- “BCS Command Center” on ESPN Goal Line
-- The Auburn and Florida State radio calls on ESPN3
Check out the article to get the complete nuts and bolts of everything, but the one I’m most excited for is the “Sounds of the BCS.” It’ll be a broadcast of the game without play-by-play announcers -- just ambient stadium noise. Nothing against Musberger or Herbstreit, but some times play-by-play announcers just need to let the crowd do the talking. To wit:
That’s a cool moment that would’ve been cooler had the announcing crew (and I generally like Mike Patrick) just stopped talking as soon as Enter Sandman began and let the noise carry the broadcast until Miami snapped the ball.
Of course, there are plenty of times when an announcer’s call adds to a moment (see: Bramblett, Rod). But just flipping over for the crowd noise for a few plays will be a nice little treat next month.