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Let’s cut Danielson some slack
Published October 24, 2009
It was just a coincidence, but I had breakfast Friday morning in Tuscaloosa with Gary Danielson.
Nice guy. I got that impression before I told him I was a newspaperman.
“Please be sure and tell your readers that,” he asked, when I requested his permission to write about our conversation. “Not every Alabama fan has that impression of me.”
Danielson, you may know, is the color commentator for CBS Sports. He and Verne Lundquist are the “A” team of that network’s sports announcers. He and Lundquist were in Tuscaloosa to broadcast the Alabama-Tennessee football game later today.
Danielson gave me permission to share some of our conversation over eggs at our hotel.
He shared his opinion of Alabama’s football team. He has gained this perspective from watching the Crimson Tide several times in person this year. Remember also, he spends countless hours studying film of each team every week in preparation for the telecast.
“Alabama has a really nice team,” the Purdue graduate and former Detroit Lion quarterback said. “This is the year I thought they would be great; they surprised me how well they played last year. Their quarterback [Greg McElroy] needs to settle down a little bit and not lose the game for them and they could win it all. I’m a little surprised at how well the offensive line has played.”
Danielson has come under a lot of fire from Alabama fans this year for what I viewed as objective and fair comments he has made while broadcasting the game.
“That goes with the territory,” he said. “I tell you what illustrates it best. I grew up in Ohio and, after playing for the Lions, I still live in Michigan. Verne and I did the Ohio State-Michigan game, in Columbus, Ohio, a couple of years ago and, after the game, I drove home. It’s about a five-hour drive. I listened to the radio call-in shows all the way home. The first half of the drive, I listened to the Ohio radio stations and all I heard was, “Danielson is an idiot. He grew up in Ohio and he had nothing good to say about the Buckeyes. What a traitor.”
Then he crossed the state line and began to listen to the Michigan call-in shows.
“Nothing changed,” he said. “The callers were saying, ‘that Danielson guy. He lives here in Michigan What a traitor. He’s an idiot.’ You just can’t win,” he said with a laugh.
He had strong feelings about the SEC office’s decision to suspend the officiating crew that was involved with controversial decisions in the recent LSU-Georgia game a couple of weeks ago in Athens, Ga., and the Arkansas-Florida game, in Gainesville, Fla., last week In each game, officiating calls late in the contest had an effect on the outcome.
After the first game, the SEC office issued a press release that officials had erred in penalizing Georgia for excessive celebration. After the Florida game, SEC officials not only said the referees made a mistake, they suspended the crew for two weeks.
Two of these officials are from Fort Payne, people I know, good people of the highest integrity. Mistakes were made — neither one by the friends of mine — but Danielson thinks the suspension was unwarranted.
“It was a real mistake to do that,” Danielson said. “Officials will make mistakes, just like players and coaches do but they shouldn’t have been suspended over judgment calls. How can they come back and officiate again after this?”
I enjoyed the conversation and found Danielson to be engaging and outspoken and a nice guy. Let’s cut him some slack.
Ben Shurett is publisher of The Sand Mountain Reporter. He can be contacted at ben.shurett(at)sandmountainreporter.com.
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