Their broadcasting styles are similar.
Both offer a knowledgeable on-air cockiness, sometimes bordering on arrogance, when reporting and offering commentary.
Such a style, while irritating to some, puts them at the top in their local venues — Vic Lombardi as a TV sports anchor and Sandy Clough as a radio sports talk host.
Lombardi is the key sports personality on KCNC-Channel 4, “the Broncos station,” meaning the CBS-owned outlet shells out quite a few dollars for “exclusive” coverage in some areas and the right to promote the team through weekly TV specials.
And while Lombardi can be cordial to Broncos personnel on “feel good” interview shows, he seldom backs away during regular newscasts regarding the team’s play.
Lombardi’s direct style of praise and criticism doesn’t end with the Broncos. He revs up enthusiastic coverage for other local pro teams and college and high school games.
On the Denver radio scene for 30 years, Clough (rhymes with tough and rough) has gradually eliminated his once loud, overbearing style to callers (“Sir, you’re an idiot!”).
Clough regularly uses a studied, thoughtful debate style — something almost foreign on guffawing sports talk radio. (Who else uses words like “analogous” when discussing the Broncos, or any other local team?)
For some, Clough’s style is too erudite because it’s normally free of the joking, laughing happy-talk comments so prevalent on sports talk in Denver.
While Lombardi thrives in his highly visible Channel 4 anchor role, Clough, on KKFN (104.3 FM The Fan), has been relegated to a sportstalk dead zone — 7-10 p.m. weeknights as a solo host. He’s equally at home in a two-person format.
Optimistic fan.
Speaking of sportstalk radio, it’s time to acknowledge the area’s most persistent caller — Bronco Billy, seemingly a co-host with Irv Brown and Joe Williams (KEPN 1600 AM) during the football season.
OK, that may be a bit of an exaggeration. Still, it seems every time I tune in, Bronco Billy is on the air, spilling out his outrageous optimism about his home team.
I’m left with the feeling that if the Broncos were 1-14, Bronco Billy would still be talking about the team’s Super Bowl chances.
E-mails . . . we got your e-mails.
Last Monday’s column about the best national college and NFL football broadcasters produced a wide variety of opinion.
Lumping together play-by-play men and analysts, the Sporting News and two other media services listed this top 10: Gary Danielson, Cris Collinsworth, Al Michaels, Phil Simms, Kirk Herbstreit, Troy Aikman, Ron Franklin, Verne Lund- quist, Joe Buck and Jim Nantz.
While disagreeing with the “lump-together” format, I played the name game. My top 10: Michaels, Collinsworth, Lundquist, Danielson, Herbstreit, Dick Enberg, Mike Tirico, Dan Dierdorf, Nantz and Buck.
Curiously, my selection of Enberg among the top 10 produced the most reaction — most of it positive. And rookie analyst Jon Gruden, not on either list of 10, had a lot of e-mail support.
Bob White is an Enberg fan but believes Dierdorf is “awful . . . opinionated and wrong.” He also says Tirico and Buck are not top-10 material.
Heading Doug Sundby’s list are Michaels and Collinsworth, followed by Enberg. He’s also positive about Gruden.
Derek Nagy says Enberg “screws things up too much. . . . He should stick to tennis now.”
Donald L. Vasicek asks: “Where are Dan Fouts and Phil Simms on your list?” — adding “Joe Buck puts me to sleep.”
Ed DeRose enjoys the “Monday Night Football” trio, particularly Gruden.
Lou Lankin believes Lundquist is “the most underrated sports broadcaster on television.” He was glad to see the Steamboat Springs resident make both top-10 lists.
Even highly rated broadcasters in both polls took their lumps.
Van Nicholson: “I come to bury Al Michaels, not to praise him.” Nicholson says Michaels thinks he knows more than coaches and general managers.
Longtime Denver journalist Dusty Saunders writes about sports media each Monday in The Denver Post. Reach him at tvtime@comcast.net.
NFL still prime Sunday night fare
A sports series has become the most-watched prime-time fall show on network television.
Nielsen ratings through 10 weeks of the NFL season report that “NBC’s Sunday Night Football” has that honor, averaging more than 19.8 million weekly viewers while leading in key demographic statistics.
Such figures indicate the football show has had more consistent viewers than CBS’s “NCIS” and ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”
