Oregon's Commentators Don't Seem To Understand College Football

Monday, November 19, 2007


Had this video in my inbox this morning and I almost didn't watch it. I'm glad I made it though the whole thing though because it's homerism at its finest. This is the Oregon feed of the Ducks' loss to Arizona last week and for a good 4 minutes Oregon portrays the Arizona Fans as heathens and classless for being on the field.

It takes awhile to pick up and the audio to kick in, but take a listen/view....



I can't really judge because I wasn't there, but it really seemed like the Wildcat fans were just happy to have the game locked up, and an upset on the books. I seriously doubt if they were taunting Dixon and if that's the case the OSN commentators just like sore losers and homers.

Also, hasn't the student body at Oregon rushed the field like 14 times this year. I know they did against USC and ASU. This is DIVISION ONE FOOTBALL!!! Someone is going to be taunted, but to trash a whole fan base is just nonsense.

Update: Cameron who originally sent us this video had a letter published in the Oregon paper. Kudos to him.

OSN commentator Giansante showed unprofessionalism in Arizona game (Daily Emerald)

(Thanks to Cameron for sending the vid)

Posted by Awful Announcing- at 9:17 AM

24 Comments:

"When you haven't won, and you don't know how to win.."

Huh? Are they claiming that Oregon has a "winning tradition"?

Rose Bowl Appearances for Oregon:
1995 (loss)
1958 (loss)
1920 (loss)
1917 (win)

Something tells me that those who remember the 1917 Rose Bowl win can't remember what they had for breakfast...

Anonymous said...
Nov 19, 2007, 11:52:00 AM  

As a UofA season ticket holder and recent graduate, I can tell you that our fans were simply excited to upset the #2 team in the country. In fact, it seems we rush the field these days for any Pac-10 home win. These Oregon broadcasters were just bitter that their team stunk it up once Dixon went down...as our fans did nothing wrong. It was a great game to be at...and hopefully we beat ASU to secure a bowl trip for the first time in nine years. GO CATS!

Anonymous said...
Nov 19, 2007, 11:55:00 AM  

I know this doesn't have anything to do with the actual video...but watch at the 4:25 mark, one of the guys rushing the field is on crutches...thats awesome.

Anonymous said...
Nov 19, 2007, 12:53:00 PM  

Sore losers. If Oregon just beat LSU they would want to rush the field. Whenever a ranked team gets upset the home fans rush the field. Its happened for years. And boohoo if Dixon can't take some taunting.

Anonymous said...
Nov 19, 2007, 1:36:00 PM  

These guys were terrible. I do broadcasting for a high school team, where homerism lives, and even I'm not that bad. Not once did they mention the score, down, or potential sitation of Oregon i.e. their opponent next week. Watching the game on ESPN they actually made the point that the fans were being very respectful, patiently waiting to storm the field.

Anonymous said...
Nov 19, 2007, 2:31:00 PM  

I was about to mention what the anonymous guy before me did. The ESPN guys (who I don't normally take into account what they say) were applauding the fans, because even when Oregon had the ball with 10 seconds left and the game was over, they waited til it was time.

Also, I watched it live, and I never saw anything that would make it seem like Dixon was being taunted. The times I saw his walking off the field, he was being applauded, and I was Arizona fans shaking his hand and patting him on the shoulder...

Worst homers ever.

Anonymous said...
Nov 19, 2007, 2:56:00 PM  

I hate the University of Nike...
I mean the University of Oregon. All their fans are pompous and annoying and think they're better then everyone... I can see why, it's because of all of their national championships and rose bowl wins... yeah... That must be it.

Jeff Collier said...
Nov 19, 2007, 6:10:00 PM  

Just noticed - they haven't won any bowl game since they had Joey Harrington as a quarterback

Anonymous said...
Nov 19, 2007, 6:28:00 PM  

Dennis Dixon must not have felt too harassed, considering he stopped in the middle of the mass to have an interview with Erin Andrews.

Anonymous said...
Nov 19, 2007, 10:02:00 PM  

I was at the game. When Dixon went down the Arizona fans around me cheered as if their team had scored a touchdown. The rest of the game was spent being taunted by face painted, goofey hat wearing, know nothing about football...fans. I've been to the last two Oregon games in Tucson and had the same poor experience with Arizona fans both times.

Anonymous said...
Nov 19, 2007, 10:11:00 PM  

Anyone else tired of the fans rushing the field after EVERY SINGLE HOME WIN regardless of whether it's a big win or not? Or is it just me?

Anonymous said...
Nov 19, 2007, 10:46:00 PM  

I really hope you moron kitty fans watch your team choke against ASU. Go Devils! Here's to ua missing out on a bowl game AGAIN! Oh and your coach is a jackass! Doesn't that guy know he's not supposed to be on the field all game long?

Anonymous said...
Nov 19, 2007, 10:58:00 PM  

Here come the homers. You're all welcome to comment if you were at the game, but please be sensible about it. You'll get killed if you aren't.

I have one question for the Ducks fans as well....how many times have you rushed the field this year again?

Nov 19, 2007, 11:09:00 PM  

I'm a duck fan and do some writing at addicted to quack, but the announcing here was pretty embarrassing. I don't know why Duck fans would even try to defend the announcers, who are very, very poor. Giansante (main announcer) is a joke.

And yes, Duck fans storm the field frequently. So I don't know what the hell the announcers were getting worked up about.

That said, from people I've heard from, Arizona fans can get bad, and cheering an injury is classless. I don't have any problem with rushing the field. I have a problem with fans being jackasses in general, which happened at the game, but didn't warrant the announcers being total homers.

jtlight said...
Nov 20, 2007, 12:18:00 AM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
jtlight said...
Nov 20, 2007, 12:25:00 AM  

Also, on further review, it seems that Oregon fans are getting pissed cause of AU's cheering of Dixon's injury. I don't think this is ever OK, but it's not a dangerous situation. There have been no stories of assault or anything. Though I would probably consider the AU fans classless for cheering the injury and rubbing that in the visitors faces, there was nothing dangerous on the field.

The OSN announcers embarrassed Oregon that evening and make us look like sore losers, which sucks.

jtlight said...
Nov 20, 2007, 12:35:00 AM  

I was at the game and I don't remember anyone cheering Dixon being injured. The Cat defense sniffed out that inverted shovel/option and at first it looked like just a big loss of yardage. The crowd was justifiably excited about that. When it became apparent that Dixon was hurt, people stopped. I don't know why Duck fans have interpreted this as cheering about an injury. Duck fans, and these announcers, and just reaching for reasons to feel better about losing.

Anonymous said...
Nov 20, 2007, 1:41:00 AM  

All college football crowds have fans who taunt the opposing players. This isn't just an Arizona thing. It always annoys me when announcers freak out about fan reactions to big wins or big losses as if these are the only fans who act this way.

As someone who's been on the losing end at Tennessee and at Miami, I've had full beer bottles thrown off parking garages at me and various other situations where the fans were actually getting violent outside the stadium. Granted, I was in the marching band, so we were a nice bright orange and blue target, the next best people to harrass since the team is protected, but this is the kind of stuff worth getting upset about, not yelling and jumping up and down in the stands.

TJ said...
Nov 20, 2007, 7:26:00 AM  

I know you do have to be a homer to get those announcing gigs and not being a homer is a fireable offense...but you would have thought that guy just witnessed his dog being shot for sport...Being at the game, and in the endzone when Dixon went down, people were cheering the loss of yardage after the play went for a TD a little earlier...most people were silent and the drunk A-holes, which were few but vocal, did cheer when he went down...every team has them and they are the loudest at cheering, but it is not representative of a whole fan base...that "commentary" was hilarious.

Anonymous said...
Nov 20, 2007, 12:03:00 PM  

The Arizona fans around me started cheering when it was VERY apparent he was hurt...not when he went down. Every team has its bad fans, it just felt like Arizona had alot of fans who were there to stir things up and didn't really care too much about the game.

Anonymous said...
Nov 20, 2007, 12:28:00 PM  

Hi.
I sent you this video. (It's Cameron, btw, not Dennis)

I wrote a letter to the editor of the U of O paper, and it was published.
takea look.
http://media.www.dailyemerald.com/media/storage/paper859/news/2007/11/20/Opinion/Osn-Commentator.Giansante.Showed.Unprofessionalism.In.Arizona.Game-3112100.shtml

Anonymous said...
Nov 21, 2007, 1:58:00 PM  

I'm an embarrassed Oregon fan after watching this.

Obviously cheering an injury is not OK, but every crowd at every college venue will have its idiots. These announcers were looking for something to talk about because they're poor commentators overall, and this is all they could come up with. I wasn't there, so I don't know how much they're fabricating, but certainly the video shows nothing to back up their accusations.

Many Oregon fans refuse to listen to Giansante's broadcasts. We turn down the TV volume and listen to our radio announcers. Our radio guys are homers too (this is pretty standard for all radio teams in college sports), but they show a lot more class and consistently provide objective insight into the game rather than ancillary matters.

Didn't read all the posts, but if it hasn't yet been mentioned it should be noted that Giansante was the Oregon mascot back in college. Literally. He donned the Duck suit and has never stopped being a ridiculous homer. Hopefully this will get enough national attention that he'll be canned by the administration for this embarrassment. At least Anthony Newman (I believe that's the other announcer) tried to temper his criticism a bit. Had he been joined by a more professional colleague I'm sure he would not have broached the subject, at least not for very long.

Anyway, other posters similarly sound like idiots for dumping on Oregon fans. If this year we have beena bit annoying, it's only because we've showed a bunch of enthusiasm about a great team, and have wanted the nation to take note of talents like Dixon, Stewart, the O-line, et. al. Autzen Stadium is a tough place to play in part because of this enthusiasm, and if we have our fair share of idiots don't blame the fan base, blame the 10% (some will argue it's a greater %) of this nation's sports fans in general that give sports a bad name. I consider Giansante to fall within that group.

Anonymous said...
Nov 21, 2007, 2:44:00 PM  

U of A sucks!

Anonymous said...
Nov 21, 2007, 3:50:00 PM  

No , sorry U of A pac ten champs. How many rose bowl appearances is that for you guys?

Anonymous said...
Nov 21, 2007, 3:51:00 PM  

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