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February 1, 2004
DON'T ANNOY: Keeping things simple the goal of TV broadcast crew
THE NEW YORK TIMES
One of the tasks for announcers such as Phil Simms and Greg Gumbel, who will call tonight's Super Bowl for CBS, is to talk to the coaches a day or two before a game. Some coaches cooperate, providing insight into their game plans. Some would rather surrender their children.
A good briefing by a coach provides Simms, especially, with a way to describe what a team wants to do and how it will do it.
"Forget my opinion, forget Greg, that's what's going to be on the air," said Simms, who will cover his second Super Bowl for CBS. "It's about setting up the game for the fan at home, not about first-guessing."
Gumbel and Simms have grown gradually closer to Coach Bill Belichick of New England, partly because of the many Patriots games they have broadcast (five this season), but also because of Simms' familiarity from the years he was a Giants quarterback and Belichick was a Giants defensive coach.
Gumbel and Simms have never announced a Panthers game. Simms knows Coach John Fox but never played for him.
Belichick doesn't embrace the meetings with the announcers, and he does not easily surrender information. "Sometimes he gives us unbelievable information," Simms said. "Sometimes, it's too little. Sometimes we have to beat it out of him with a sledgehammer."
Still, he has grown friendlier, more open with feelings that on television look throttled.
"There are some teams he has a great deal of respect for," Gumbel said, "and about others he says, 'If we don't win, we might as well pack and go home."'
Before the AFC championship game Jan. 18, Belichick told Simms and Gumbel that he was stressing physical play against Indianapolis.
"He made the point with his look and body language about how tough and physical they had to be," Simms said. "Well, you could say, doesn't everybody say that? This was different. It was about getting his players into the mindset, and that we have to be more physical than the Colts. He kept talking and talking about it, and he kept going, and the players came out with a mad-at-the-world attitude, and I said, 'Oh, oh, they want to slug it out.' And I made that point all game."
Simms and Gumbel understand when coaches won't hand over their secrets for the greater good of CBS.
"If I were in the coach's position," said Gumbel, who will be calling his second Super Bowl, "and I deemed it important not to give information to a broadcaster, I'd hope the decision would be respected."
Another element of their pregame work is viewing game films, with analysis provided by Simms. For the Super Bowl, film analysis focused primarily on becoming conversant with Carolina. Unlike most regular-season games, when films are analyzed midway through a long Friday after arriving at a game site, there was plenty of relaxed time to do that last week.
"Inevitably, someone will fall asleep," said Gumbel, who watches with director Larry Cavolina, producer Mark Wolff and sideline reporter Armen Keteyian. "Sometimes it's Phil."
Simms, saying he expected to be fully awake tonight, vowed that he would not try to throw in everything he knows and said he had not overprepared.
"If we can just keep it simple and not annoy anyone, it would be great," he said. "If somebody makes a tackle, I won't give his life story. That's how to be a good announcer. Don't annoy the fan."