Just as I speculated and then confirmed by Al Michaels last night, and now made official by NBC Sports, the Notre Dame announcing crew of Tom Hammond, Mike Mayock and sideline reporter Alex Flanagan will be on the call for the New Orleans-Seattle NFL Wild Card playoff game on Saturday. This only makes sense. No need to make a new team like last year when NBC attempted to make magic with Hammond, Joe Gibbs and Joe Theismann, only to have it implode.
Hammond and Mayock established some very good chemistry in their first year together on Notre Dame games. There should not be any fireworks this time around.
MIKE MAYOCK JOINS TOM HAMMOND TO CALL SAINTS AT SEAHAWKS, NBC SPORTS’ FIRST OF TWO NFL WILD CARD SATURDAY GAMES ON JANUARY 8“A broadcaster with a maniacal devotion to film study.” – Sports Illustrated on MayockSNF Team of Michaels & Collinsworth to Call Jets at Colts in PrimetimeNEW YORK – January 3, 2011 – Mike Mayock, who recently finished his critically acclaimed first year as NBC Sports’ Notre Dame football game analyst and serves as a NFL Network studio analyst and draft expert, will team with his Notre Dame broadcast partner Tom Hammond (play-by-play) to call the first game of NBC Sports’ NFL Wild Card Saturday doubleheader on January 8. Joining Hammond and Mayock as sideline reporter for the afternoon game will be “Football Night in America” reporter and Notre Dame football sideline reporter Alex Flanagan.
NBC Sports will broadcast live coverage of NFL Wild Card Saturday Doubleheader, on January 8 starting at 4 p.m. ET with a special edition of the “Football Night in America” followed by Saints at Seahawks. At 8 p.m. ET, the “Sunday Night Football” team of Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Andrea Kremer will call Jets at Colts.Mayock, a former NFL defensive back, is a studio analyst on numerous NFL Network programs throughout the year, including Playbook and NFL Total Access. Sports Illustrated said he is “a broadcaster with a maniacal devotion to film study.” Mayock is also NFL Network’s leading college football and NFL Draft analyst, providing content for all NFL Draft-related programming. The Los Angeles Times said he is “one of the most respected NFL draft voices on television.”
A 10th-round pick in the 1981 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mayock played for the New York Giants from 1982-83. He is a member of the Boston College Hall of Fame, where he starred in football and baseball and received a Communications degree. Mayock’s father, Mike Sr., is a former Penn football coach whom the Steelers selected in the 24th round of the 1955 NFL Draft.In addition to his work as NBC Sports’ Notre Dame football game analyst, Mayock’s extensive football broadcast experience includes serving as a game analyst for NFL Network’s coverage of the Texas Bowl, the Insight Bowl, and Under Armour Senior Bowl, as well as preseason games for the Minnesota Vikings. Prior to joining NFL Network, he served as a college football analyst for ABC Sports (2001-03), Fox Sports Net (2000), and CBS Sports (1996-99).NBC Sports’ Notre Dame football producer Rob Hyland, who worked as the SNF replay producer for three years under ‘Sunday Night Football’ producer Fred Gaudelli, will produce Saints at Seahawks. Fox Sports’ Artie Kempner, who served as the lead NFL director for Fox’s NFL package from 2003-2008 and directed Super Bowl XLII, will direct the game. Tommy Roy, who served as executive producer for four NBC Sports Super Bowl broadcasts and is one of the most decorated sports producers in history, will serve as executive producer for the afternoon game.The “Sunday Night Football” production team of Gaudelli and Drew Esocoff (director) will produce Jets at Colts. “Sunday Night Football” has won the Emmy for Outstanding Live Sports Series for two consecutive years and also won the Emmy for Outstanding Live Sports Special: Super Bowl XLIII earlier this year. Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports and Olympics, is the executive producer of “Sunday Night Football.”
That’s it.
