CBS NFL analyst Dan Dierdorf today announced he will retire from the broadcast booth following this season. Dierdorf is the longest-tenured NFL TV analyst and has most recently been teamed with CBS’ Greg Gumbel. The Pro Football HOFer has spent the last 30 years in the booth, including 12 years as part of "MNF," following a 13-year playing career. Dierdorf began his NFL broadcasting career in ’84 doing color analysis for St. Louis-based KMOX-AM’s Cardinals telecasts, as well as for CBS Radio Network (CBS). Bleacher Report's Aaron Nagler wrote on his Twitter account, "People love to make fun, but I'll miss him. His voice meant football was on." Author Jeff Pearlman wrote, "People have been waaaay too hard on the man. True pro, good at his job. No one's perfect -- but solid." SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote, "I'd look for Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts to be bumped up to the No. 2 NFL team at CBS."
OUR TOWN: In Charlotte, Erik Spanberg noted the Patriots-Panthers "MNF" game was watched by 656,320 people in the Charlotte market, up 44% the Panthers' previous season best of 455,580 viewers for WJZY-Fox' Nov. 10 telecast of Panthers-49ers. Panthers-Patriots drew 347,490 viewers on the local ABC affiliate and 308,830 local viewers on ESPN (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/19). In Houston, David Barron noted KHOU-CBS drew a 21.5 local rating for Sunday's Raiders-Texans game, down from a 27.3 rating from the Nov. 10 Texans-Cardinals game (CHRON.com, 11/18).
LANDING ON BOTH FEET: CBSSN's Amy Trask said of her role with the net, "When I resigned my position with the Raiders, I had no plan, no idea, no thought as to what I would choose for my next adventure. ... I had an opportunity to speak with a group of CBS and CBS Sports Network representatives, and their vision, passion, intelligence, creativity and enthusiasm was very exciting and very enticing." Trask added, "This new adventure is terrifying, but the entire CBS, CBS Sports Network and 'TOPS' team is tremendous -- supportive, encouraging and tremendously helpful in every regard." Trask said of adjusting to being a TV analyst, "I find it quite a challenge to share my thoughts and views in a manner which is ideal for television. I tend to be a reflective, thoughtful speaker and I must learn to speak more concisely" (ESPNW.com, 11/19).
TIME FOR A CHANGE? In Cleveland, Mark Dawidziak reports U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) this week called on the FCC "to eliminate the Sports Blackout Rule," which was instituted in '73. Brown said, "I really don't want to go through the legislative process. My intent is work with the FCC to encourage them to change this, or to get the NFL to change its policy. We'll see if something comes down the line in the next few weeks and months. The NFL has bigger issues to deal with. They're under a lot of public criticism right now, but this would be a small step in respecting the fans" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 11/20).
