I'm officially on vacation in a few hours (my vacation spot looks a lot like my office, and I'm wearing the same clothes, but it's the principle of the thing), and @Van Everyman and others had some good reflections in the Jim Nantz thread, so I thought I'd use some of my work time to expand.
So: what are your tiers for color and play-by-play announcers? Let's limit this to NFL-only, so Michaels gets downgraded on my list. Also excluding studio presenters, so I can leave Chris Berman off of Tier 2. One more thing, I'm ranking them by their highest point rather than longevity, for those of you who may choke when they see where Phil Simms is.
Tier 1: Legendary
Howard Cosell
John Madden
Tier 2: Hall of fame
Al Michaels
Joe Buck
Dick Enberg
Pat Summerall
Tony Romo (I don't think it's too early)
Tier 3: Hall of very good
Greg Gumbel
Cris Collinsworth
Troy Aikman (arrow pointing up, too)
Frank Gifford
Don Meredith
Merlin Olsen
Kevin Harlan
Ian Eagle
Matt Millen
Tier 4: Good announcers
Phil Simms
Mike Tirico (I realize this is low compared to most people)
Steve Levy
Boomer Esiason
Jim Nantz
Daryl Johnston (tough to rate)
Mark Schlereth
Thom Brennaman (boooo!)
Ronde Barber
Dan Fouts (he was, I swear)
Gus Johnson
Vern Lundquist
Edit: Rich Gannon (I agree with @Gunfighter 09)
Tier 5: Average announcers
Brian Griese
Louis Riddick
Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy (convinced they were one person with two voices)
Paul Maguire (being verrrry generous here because I think he was funny his first season or two)
Adam Amin (too soon to tell, really)
Aqib Talib (sky's the limit if he wants it)
Charles Davis
Spero Dedes
Sam Rosen
Chris Spielman
Andrew Catalon
Adam Archuleta
Tiki Barber
Trent Green
Jay Feeley
Steve Tasker
Booger McFarland
Tier 6: Completely unmemorable (literally I have no memory of them)
Tom McCarthy
James Lofton
Marv Albert
Steve Beuerlien (14 years?!)
Bill Macatee (ditto?)
Tier 7: I never understood the appeal
Bob Griese
Kenny Albert
Tim Brando
Kevin Burkhardt
Beasley Reece (messenger of the bad times)
Solomon Wilcots (ditto)
Tier 8: No one understood the appeal
Dan Dierdorf
Joe Theismann
Tony Siragusa
Randy Cross (thanks @luckiestman, I guess)
Joe Tessatore
Tier 9: Immediately change the channel
Chris Myers
Tier 10: Disasters
Dennis Miller
OJ Simpson
Tony Kornheiser
Jason Witten
So: what are your tiers for color and play-by-play announcers? Let's limit this to NFL-only, so Michaels gets downgraded on my list. Also excluding studio presenters, so I can leave Chris Berman off of Tier 2. One more thing, I'm ranking them by their highest point rather than longevity, for those of you who may choke when they see where Phil Simms is.
Tier 1: Legendary
Howard Cosell
John Madden
Tier 2: Hall of fame
Al Michaels
Joe Buck
Dick Enberg
Pat Summerall
Tony Romo (I don't think it's too early)
Tier 3: Hall of very good
Greg Gumbel
Cris Collinsworth
Troy Aikman (arrow pointing up, too)
Frank Gifford
Don Meredith
Merlin Olsen
Kevin Harlan
Ian Eagle
Matt Millen
Tier 4: Good announcers
Phil Simms
Mike Tirico (I realize this is low compared to most people)
Steve Levy
Boomer Esiason
Jim Nantz
Daryl Johnston (tough to rate)
Mark Schlereth
Thom Brennaman (boooo!)
Ronde Barber
Dan Fouts (he was, I swear)
Gus Johnson
Vern Lundquist
Edit: Rich Gannon (I agree with @Gunfighter 09)
Tier 5: Average announcers
Brian Griese
Louis Riddick
Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy (convinced they were one person with two voices)
Paul Maguire (being verrrry generous here because I think he was funny his first season or two)
Adam Amin (too soon to tell, really)
Aqib Talib (sky's the limit if he wants it)
Charles Davis
Spero Dedes
Sam Rosen
Chris Spielman
Andrew Catalon
Adam Archuleta
Tiki Barber
Trent Green
Jay Feeley
Steve Tasker
Booger McFarland
Tier 6: Completely unmemorable (literally I have no memory of them)
Tom McCarthy
James Lofton
Marv Albert
Steve Beuerlien (14 years?!)
Bill Macatee (ditto?)
Tier 7: I never understood the appeal
Bob Griese
Kenny Albert
Tim Brando
Kevin Burkhardt
Beasley Reece (messenger of the bad times)
Solomon Wilcots (ditto)
Tier 8: No one understood the appeal
Dan Dierdorf
Joe Theismann
Tony Siragusa
Randy Cross (thanks @luckiestman, I guess)
Joe Tessatore
Tier 9: Immediately change the channel
Chris Myers
Tier 10: Disasters
Dennis Miller
OJ Simpson
Tony Kornheiser
Jason Witten
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