re: Eli Gold not returning to the radio booth

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Eli said himself he wanted to have a full final season (2024) and retire but they wouldn't hear it. This certainly doesn't look favorably on the University.

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Eli said himself he wanted to work another 10 years.

To me it looks like the University wanted to work with him, but he refused their terms, so they didn't renew his contract. He's coming across as entitled and spoiled, in my opinion.

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they made the wrong decision,

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When was the last time you actually listened to a game on the radio? Truthfully?

Because, I was in the dove field early last year and tried to follow a game, and I, literally, couldn't follow what was happening.

There's a reason his contract wasn't renewed. It's because JoePa was dragging us down.

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A statement from Crimson Tide Sports Network was just shared via email

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Sounds like CTSN was nothing but gracious in this. Certainly not the story Eli was painting.

The reason he is iconic is his calls of the game were better than anything else. I would say from about 1995 to 2016, if you wanted the best Bama game day experience, mute the game and listen to Eli.

But around 2017, he got old. He just kind of dulled out. Awesome plays were called in a more business like manner with no real emotion. Listen to his call of 2nd and 26. It's horrible. You know the play because you watched it. But listen to the call and think about if you could only hear it on the radio. Probably on the mount Rushmore of Bama plays for most people, and he could be reading it off a menu. After 2017, he got a little worse each year.

He should have just stepped away gracefully.

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I was in the dove field early last year and tried to follow a game, and I, literally, couldn't follow what was happening.

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…would love to see a podcast of this next year.
Even listening with headphones, there wouldn’t be dove within a mile
of me for yelling about low snaps and missed blocks.

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For years, Eli did commercials for Salvatore’s Italian Restaurant in Bham. Eventually, Eli opened his own Italian restaurant nearby that competed with them. Salvatore’s pulled those old commercials out and played them everywhere. Soon after, Eli’s restaurant went out of business.

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I know this is a tangent but this isn’t at all how it happened. Eli opened Nino’s in Pelham with a partner. It was great. The partner ran the place, and it did well until he died in 2019. It closed after that.

ETA: what you said about the Salvatore’s ads is true, but it didn’t cause his restaurant to close.

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It’s easy to say someone should be given the chance to go out on their own terms. Some people just can’t go out without a push. Trust me, I’ve lived it.

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1. If your lack of productivity is affecting the bottom line of a business (especially a competitive, big money business) you will be replaced. It doesn’t matter what you did ten years ago or even yesterday.

2. Who listens to the fricking radio broadcast anyway unless maybe you’re driving or doing something that requires your eyes? The only time I can remember listening to Bama on the radio was the 1993 Iron Bowl that wasn’t televised.

I don’t need Eli Gold (or anyone else) to tell me “Touchdown Alabama!” I can see the guy with the football standing in the end zone.

Get over it man. Eli had slipped. Didn’t matter what he did in 1992, there had been a major fall off. Like I said earlier in the thread, people within CTSN were saying he’d become a huge jerk to work with. It was time. They gave Eli a chance at a graceful exit and he declined. We should all be so lucky that at the end of our careers, our employer gives us an that kind of grace.

Meanwhile he’s saying he wanted to do it for another 10 years while Chris Stewart, the guy who could do it for 35 years, is getting offers to go elsewhere. What are they supposed to do? Just let Eli do it until he croaks? He’s not entitled to that job.

I was watching a video replay of a call he made in a game this year. Our color guy was looking out the window at the field and Eli was sitting in a chair making the call while watching it on a TV monitor. Did anyone else see this? Did he call all his games that way this year? If so could this be one of the factors that lead for the change. I liked listening to Eli but TV was my number one choice and I am not smart enough to sync up the radio to the TV.

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1. If your lack of productivity is affecting the bottom line of a business (especially a competitive, big money business) you will be replaced. It doesn’t matter what you did ten years ago or even yesterday.

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This is the part I’m having trouble understanding??? How on earth is a radio calls affecting the “bottom line” of the Alabama football business??

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?

I could totally understand if Eli was the head coach and we were going 6-6 each year. I could totally understand if Eli was the quarterback & was only completing 50 to 60% of his passes.

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?

I don’t know the guy. Maybe Eli Gold is a horses arse. But my sense is that he’s a decent enough person that Nick Saban kept him on for 17 years after he had already been here for 20 something years….. I’m pretty sure that if Coach Saban thought Eli was an a-hole (OR a liability) then Eli would’ve been fired the next day.

Bottom line: the university fumbled here. This would’ve been super easy to handle with class and dignity EVEN IF Eli was being totally unreasonable.