Or VLSPSBET if you’re into that whole brevity thing. How can you tell it's the offseason? Two posts about sports commentators in two days that's how... this one is a resurrection of a bit that failed to turn into anything was something that BB and I implemented last year to rave reviews two whole comments on our old site.
Why Verne Lundquist you ask? Allow me to first assert that I’m offended that you asked in the first place. SEC folk (shudder) have been privy to his talents for years. Verne is still whipping young pups in this broadcasting game with his smooth delivery, clutch performances, and salient understanding of several sports. All of that while a myriad of analysts out there can’t seem to get a something resembling a basic grasp on just one. Think about this, in the Masters alone, Lundquist has been immortalized TWICE:
Today’s topic for VLSPSBET: The old trusty reverse, what it is, and what it is NOT!
Few plays in football are so often mistaken or misidentified by announcers. The reverse is not a new play, it has been around for a quite a while… and yet, it appears that somewhere in the textbook of football commentating, the "END AROUND" was mistakenly switched with the definition of "REVERSE"… naturally it follows then that when a team runs a true reverse, the fools in the booth fall all over themselves to add to its grandiosity, labeling the play "a DOUBLE reverse"!!!! Don’t be that fan, don’t be the one who stands up and screams reverse during a football game when the play is merely an end around, you’d disappoint Verne.
So how do you avoid this most basic of mistakes? How about actually recognizing what each play entails? Without futher ado:
An END AROUND: Is a play where the quarterback hands off to a wide receiver in the backfield. The receiver motions into the backfield as the ball is snapped and receives said handoff from the quarterback, he then proceeds (if all has gone well and according to plan) towards the opposite end of the line from where he lined up, hoping to, as they say, "catch the corner". If we had a dollar for every time this simple play (and dare we say, when properly used, effective) was exasperatedly called a reverse, we would be enjoying many fine things.
You have a pet peeve regarding football announcing? Of course you do! Whether it be Mike Patrick talking about anything but football at crucial moments of the game or Brent Musberger screaming "ANTHONY AVANT!" there's more than enough examples of horrifyingly poor announcing out there to choose from. Tell us the ones that sent you flying for the mute button.