By Bruce Allen, Patriots Daily Staff
A few quick media notes from the coverage of last night’s first preseason game.
The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same: Both the radio and TV broadcasts made debuts on their new outlets last night. The radio pregame show on the new 98.5 The SportsHub had the familiar voices of Gary Tanguay, Andy Gresh and Scott Zolak, and contained much of the same type of material we’ve come to be used to from this crew. Riveting topics included “Is the window closing on the Patriots” and Gresh suggesting how the Patriots should “stash” David Thomas on IR with a made-up injury. Division 1-AA letterman Gresh also trashed Pierre Woods during the segment.
On the TV side, Don Criqui and Randy Cross were pretty much what we’ve come to expect. Did you know Criqui is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a past winner of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award? It was a rough start to the preseason though, as the camera showed Shawn Crable running off the field after the opening kickoff, which prompted Criqui to credit him with the tackle, even though he was nowhere near the play.
Burton? WOW: Burton is must-see-TV if only for his ineptness. Has there ever been a more awkward segment than his pitch about the Patriots teaming up with the Massachusetts State Lottery and how a few winners will get season tickets for life.
Burton: “I’ve got one of the tickets right here and its going into my back pocket.
Criqui: “But you get into the games for free because of your job”
Burton: “Goodjob! You’re not getting it. I’m putting it in my pocket right now!”
Mercifully back to booth.
He also managed his trademark question in the form of a statement to Bill Belichick at halftime: “Coach. Baker. Two Touchdowns.”
NFL Network Replay: I turned over to the NFL Network for a few minutes to check out to see if their replay was the same, and it was actually the Philadelphia crew calling the game, with Herm Edwards and Hugh Douglas in the booth. More hilarity ensued. Apparently Andy Reid changed his name to “Big Red” in the offseason. That’s all they called him. Herm has his own TV vocabulary, talking about the Patriots “ones” against the Eagles “twos” and lots of “good job” and “this is good” statements in there. Douglas says the Eagles roster is full of “very special players.”
What did you see/hear from the coverage last night that caught your attention?
Patriots Daily 
Sick of networks and cable providers not being able to negoctiate. I live out in Western Mass, should have been able to see the game from Springfield’s channel 22 NBC…. but Time Warner Cable didn’t air the game. About a half hour in, switched to the “regular” lineup. Living in Massachusetts and not being able to see the Patriots play. UNREAL
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Hi Damian, I just checked with someone at the Patriots, who in turn, checked with the VP of the station, and here was the answer:
So this week’s game should be all set.
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Actually, NFL “expert” Gresh I believe actually advocated putting Thomas on PUP even though he isn’t eligible for PUP because he has practiced and played in a game this season. You’d think knowing the rules would be a minimum requirement for his place on “The Sports Hub”
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What do you think: is Gresh doing the Cowardly Lion or Curly from the 3 Stooges? It’s like performance art, and he doesn’t even realize it.
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Unfortunatly, I’m stuck watching the replays on NFL network. The Philly team was just painful to listen to. They talked all over each other, and when you could make out what they were saying you couldn’t understand it at all. They also refused to comment on when the Patriots did things- if a Pats player makes a nice tackle, they just talked about the Philly player and how great he was. It was three local color guys talking without a play by play man. Bad news all around.
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Can we talk about the fact that the Patriots crew didn’t even acknowledge the VIck signing? Before halftime, ESPN and every other outlet had at least a “BREAKING NEWS” alert up, but Criqui and Cross must have been on some kind of gag order. If you weren’t on the internet or flipping channels at halftime, you didn’t even know that Vick had been signed BY THE TEAM ON THE FIELD WITH THE PATRIOTS.
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To give credit where it is due, Santos did mention the Vick signing on the radio broadcast (giving credit to ESPN.com) during the second quarter. I had the TV volume down, but it sounds to me like Criqui/Cross/Burton didn’t mention it until much later in the game.
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I tried to watch the Eagles replay. I lasted 5 minutes. The Eagles’ announcers treated it like a practice scrimmage with the Patriots as dummies. They refused to call anyone on the Pats but Brady or Moss by name. Say what you will about Criqui and Cross, but at least they knew the names of the Eagles’ second-teamers.
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I got to see the Philly broadcasters too but I only watched the 1st half because that was the only part of the game I was interested in. But, if you’re an Eagle fan I thought they were quite informative. They especially honed in on the woes of their offensive line especially Peters and then showed sideline shots of them discussing their problems on the sideline. Another point was the play of their new fullback and how he is going to fit in. I just thought they were very interesting.
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I would dearly love to be able to watch the game and listen in on the Radio, as that has always been a better crew. however, I just can’t STAND the 5-second delay beetween the picture and the radio. If I could find a way to delay the TV signal, and synch those up, ot would be the best of both worlds.
Sigh.
I don’t mind Cross & Criqui too much, as I’ve gotten used to them, but Burton, man I’ve heard better sideline stuff from local HS games.
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