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re: Eli Gold not returning to the radio booth
Posted on 2/23/24 at 8:02 am to TomFromBama
Posted on 2/23/24 at 8:02 am to TomFromBama
quote:
This would’ve been super easy to handle with class and dignity
Agreed. They could have let him call home games last year. Then they could have told him in private that it was time, but they appreciated what he had done. They could have offered him some guest spots.
AND ELI COULD HAVE POLITELY ACCEPTED OR DECLINED AND GRACIOUSLY PASSED IT OFF TO HIS SUCCESSOR WITHOUT CAUSING A PUBLIC SCENE.
Now, his former employer is in the awkward position of trying to be nice and not just outright say he's lost a few steps, and wasn't doing his job. Watts had to interupt him several times in the game I listened to last year and do Eli's job just so the audience didn't miss whole plays.
This post was edited on 2/23/24 at 8:04 am
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Posted on 2/23/24 at 8:04 am to FairhopeTider
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Eli wasn’t employed by the University. He was employed by CTSN. They are the ones who made the business decision and I doubt they did it on a whim.
I suspect there is some UA AD input into those decisions. If not, I doubt half or more of the broadcast talent would be former UA players.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 8:23 am to TomFromBama
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Advertising sure hasn’t suffered!!! Sponsors are still lined up hip deep to run commercials during our games. But isn’t the REAL “Bottom Line” Wins and Losses?
Advertising hasn't suffered because it's the University of Alabama. We didn't have to scrounge for advertising during the Dubose years. It's a captive market.
quote:
But I’m struggling to understand how many games we’ve lost because Eli Gold was old??
Can someone tell me if Eli cost us the Texas game? Was Eli responsible for those bad snaps against Michigan?
Eli doesn't affect the on-field performance at all, as I'm sure you know. What he DOES impact is the game experience for people listening to the radio.
What some folks don't seem to understand is that Eli was the broadcasting equivalent of Seth McLaughlin. He was a veteran who couldn't routinely do the basics of his job properly.
Serious request for folks who are complaining about this: Listen to a recorded version of a quarter of a random Alabama game from the past three or four years, and then listen to the recorded version of another team's broadcast. Heck, listen to the other team's broadcast of the same game. Don't watch a video of the game while you do it -- just listen to the audio. I think you'll be surprised at how little detail Eli provided on each play compared to other broadcast teams.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 8:41 am to FairhopeTider
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So the only option is to let him just keep going until he says so?
No. CTSN could have just told him, "Hey...we're not renewing your contract in June. Thank you for everything you have done with us but we've decided to go in a different direction."
Instead, they were like: "Hey, um...Eli. How would you like to leave the broadcast booth and do other things for CTSN? You'll be working for us part time, doing advertisement spots and things like that, but you'll no longer be calling games or hosting Hey Coach. To incentivize this option, we'll still let you call the A-Day games. What do you say?!"
The latter way would be insulting to a professional like Eli Gold who has been involved in broadcasting for roughly 50 years. Just be straight with the man, give him a farewell party, and send him on his way. Don't try to half-arse his termination by offering him gigs that will have just forced him to resign from CTSN anyway.
This post was edited on 2/23/24 at 8:45 am
Posted on 2/23/24 at 8:54 am to RollTide1987
quote:
CTSN could have just told him, "Hey...we're not renewing your contract in June. Thank you for everything you have done with us but we've decided to go in a different direction."
There's apparently a ton of outrage (from Eli and others) that he was asked to remain with CTSN in a limited capacity. Do you honestly believe he and his fans would have been any less outraged if he'd been let go outright?
Posted on 2/23/24 at 9:07 am to notguilty
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He should be retained because he is a loyal, dedicated, hardworking, passionate, enthusiastic person/employee/fan who is deserving of being known as the voice of Alabama football.
You want to know who else is all of these things? Chris Stewart. He’s worked harder than Eli for a long time, and probably 25% of the Bama fan base even knows who he is.
Hell, close to 15 years ago I remember listening to him do nearly 8 hours of national signing day coverage on Rolltide.com, and then turned on the radio that night to hear him calling a softball game.
not like they are pushing out a legend to bring in Pat McAfee and cash in on the latest big name. Chris Stewart is great, loves Alabama, and has put the work in. He so good that other people are finally starting to notice, and Alabama can’t afford to lose him just because Eli isn’t ready to go.
I like Eli a lot. When I hear his voice I instantly feel a chilly October day, and it brings back great memories. But we all have an end date.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 9:09 am to RollTide1987
quote:
The latter way would be insulting to a professional like Eli Gold who has been involved in broadcasting for roughly 50 years.
Yeah, how dare they try to pay the guy and allow him to maintain his status that he can then leverage for other opportunities.
Only someone with an inflated ego would find that insulting. Think Corso finds his reduced role on Gameday as an insult? He’s probably pretty gracious that ESPN didn’t put him out to pasture years ago. The difference is Corso has class and Eli doesn’t. I don’t say that lightly. I say that because I’ve had former CTSN employees and former players (make of that what you will) confirm that when the microphone was off, Eli was a genuine arse.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 9:24 am to FairhopeTider
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Yeah, how dare they try to pay the guy and allow him to maintain his status that he can then leverage for other opportunities.
What status would he have been maintaining exactly, other than as a CTSN employee?
quote:
Think Corso finds his reduced role on Gameday as an insult?
Not in anyway the same as Corso is still on GameDay and still does his patented segment where he puts on the mascot head. Eli Gold wouldn't have even been part of the broadcast.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 9:54 am to RollTide1987
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What status would he have been maintaining exactly, other than as a CTSN employee?
Status as in his association with the biggest brand in college sports that he could then leverage to do endorsements, speaking gigs, etc.
quote:
Not in anyway the same as Corso is still on GameDay and still does his patented segment where he puts on the mascot head. Eli Gold wouldn't have even been part of the broadcast.
They were going to have him on pregame and Hey Coach. Probably have him in a Tim Roberts type of role. Corso used to games with Herbstreit. He used to be on every segment of Gameday. He had a big role in building ESPN’s College Football coverage. Post stroke, they now only keep him around for the first segment and the last. Corso had the class to accept it.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 10:20 am to FairhopeTider
I just want to point out the obsession of Eli Gold on the Rant is astounding. I'm honestly surprised we have 6 pages of discussion on this here. I didn't realize so many people still listened to the radio broadcast much less opposing fans
Posted on 2/23/24 at 10:23 am to cdur86
Auburn fans have zero room to talk about this subject. Phil Snow hosted the Auburn Football Review for decades. He found out he was forced out via press release when they named Bramblett as the host.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 10:38 am to Sauron
quote:
What some folks don't seem to understand is that Eli was the broadcasting equivalent of Seth McLaughlin. He was a veteran who couldn't routinely do the basics of his job properly. Serious request for folks who are complaining about this: Listen to a recorded version of a quarter of a random Alabama game from the past three or four years, and then listen to the recorded version of another team's broadcast. Heck, listen to the other team's broadcast of the same game. Don't watch a video of the game while you do it -- just listen to the audio. I think you'll be surprised at how little detail Eli provided on each play compared to other broadcast teams.
So if we agree that it wasn’t hurting advertising, and it wasnt costing us games, then what the hell?
The reality is that probably fewer than 5% and maybe fewer than 1%, of Alabama fans rely on the radio call as their ONLY source of information during games . There hasn’t been an Alabama football game that wasn’t broadcast on TV somewhere, somehow pretty much since the Shula era.
When I go to games, I very rarely see people listening to the radio call - maybe 5% of the people? Maybe? And it’s been that way since the day they started charging for the stadium radio broadcast.
And I’d wager that upwards of 90 to 95% of the people watching Alabama games on TV are not listening to the radio call and would not be listening if it was Keith Jackson in his prime.
This was a money move by a greedy university, acting through its radio arm to save a buck. PERIOD. The pissing and moaning about Eli sucking as a radio announcer isn’t new! I’ve been hearing that stuff for 30+ years. He always had his haters and they’ve never liked him. The people who like him have never been bothered by his calls.
And I love Chris Stewart. I’m sure we will win a lot more games with him making the radio calls!! LOL!!!
Posted on 2/23/24 at 11:06 am to TomFromBama
quote:
The reality is that probably fewer than 5% and maybe fewer than 1%, of Alabama fans rely on the radio call as their ONLY source of information during games . There hasn’t been an Alabama football game that wasn’t broadcast on TV somewhere, somehow pretty much since the Shula era.
Well, by that logic, why even bother to have a radio broadcast at all? Save the money used for that effort (which isn't a piddling amount) and invest it elsewhere.
If we're going to have a radio broadcast, though, then we ought to have one of the best broadcasts in all of college football. In my opinion we don't, due to the deficiencies in play-by-play calling.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 11:09 am to TomFromBama
quote:
This was a money move by a greedy university
Haha. Eli wanted to keep doing this until he was in his 80’s while giving minimal effort. That’s greedy.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 11:17 am to FairhopeTider
TomFromBama should request a name change after this thread, good grief.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 11:30 am to FairhopeTider
The man said this in an interview yesterday: “My plan is to be carried from the broadcast booth directly to the cemetery.” It is not the responsibility of the University of Alabama or CTSN to facilitate madness.
All that is going on here is Bama fans go ape caca over having their cheese moved on stuff like this … just like with Forney who was God-awful toward the end … and Eli was the voice associated with the Saban era and people want a last chance to cling to that.
All that is going on here is Bama fans go ape caca over having their cheese moved on stuff like this … just like with Forney who was God-awful toward the end … and Eli was the voice associated with the Saban era and people want a last chance to cling to that.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 11:38 am to TomFromBama
Here you go Tom. Go join the LSU, Auburn and Georgia fans who are so heartbroken over this and sing kumbaya in a prayer circle for Eli.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 11:41 am to FairhopeTider
And the big job he was supposed to get with a “pro team” is with an Arena League team.
I promise you, nobody above that level is going to be beating at his door offering him a job.
Look I really don’t care about who our radio announcer is, the only reason I am offering an opinion on it is that while I absolutely, unequivocally honor and revere and love the tradition surrounding our program, too many of our fans obsess about it in silly ways like this.
I promise you, nobody above that level is going to be beating at his door offering him a job.
Look I really don’t care about who our radio announcer is, the only reason I am offering an opinion on it is that while I absolutely, unequivocally honor and revere and love the tradition surrounding our program, too many of our fans obsess about it in silly ways like this.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 12:18 pm to InkStainedWretch
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Look I really don’t care about who our radio announcer is, the only reason I am offering an opinion on it is that while I absolutely, unequivocally honor and revere and love the tradition surrounding our program, too many of our fans obsess about it in silly ways like this.
I think that a big part of it is this social media outrage culture that we live in. People apparently LOVE to bitch, and social media has given them the ability to broadcast their "grievances" to the masses. Its likely projection from something else going on in their lives.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 12:26 pm to Funky Tide 8
quote:
Its likely projection from something else going on in their lives.
This thread is a great example.
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