The WORST ANNOUNCER in NFL on CBS HISTORY | Joe Greene

In 1982, Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Greene became a color commentator for the NFL on CBS, and joined the CBS Sports family. He was so bad that he was fired after just six games. This is the story behind the time Mean Joe Greene became an announcer, and failed horribly at it
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[@Ghost_of_a_Flea]

Kudos to him for trying something he always wanted to do that was out of his comfort zone and putting in the effort. No shame in that.

[@grinningchicken]

The genii said Joe you can take any 2 A. Tall dark and handsome B. A great football player C. A great broadcaster. I cant really fault his choices

[@TheAutumnWind_RN4L]

Lol. I think I'd make the same choices.

[@brianarbenz1329]

Imagine Howard Cosell playing on the Steelers defensive line. That wouldn’t detract from his greatness in broadcasting, just as Joe Greene’s stumble in the booth doesn’t diminish his spectacular accomplishments.

[@davidcobb2693]

I don't think the Steelers would have given Howard Cosell 6 games before cutting him loose, but Jack Lambert probably killed him at halftime of Cosell's first game.

[@eugenedenbrook322]

I like the analogy

[@MrRyan-wu4jx]

@@eugenedenbrook322 countless former players successfully make the transition into broadcasting though, that’s not unlikely. Joe Buck leading the lions to a super bowl would be. Not a very good comparison

[@DWilliam1]

Who is saying it does?

[@sartainja]

Amen, Brother Brian.

[@nasetvideos]

As a kid, I loved Joe Greene as a player-One of my favorites to watch in the 70s...but I remember him as a color commentator in that '82 season and felt awful for him. He just wasn't comfortable and it didn't work...and very quickly. He genuinely seemed to try but he wasn't cut out to be a color commentary guy. Great video. You really did your homework here with outstanding clips and analyses of Joe Greene's very brief color commentary history. As always, best channel on KZbin for football!

[@McConkey_Productions]

Mean Joe

[@BD-1-And-Only]

Fun fact: His college team, North Texas, renamed themselves in his honor. They are now known as the North Texas Mean Green

[@jimmym3352]

He certainly didn't belong in that position. Should have been in the studio first. But even there I'm not sure he would have done well. Now days it's usually former coaches or QB's (as in Bradshaw) in the studio. But the studio guys seem to me at least, to prepare what they are going to say when they come on in halftime. It doesn't require as quick thinking as a color commentator who must be fast, and talk a lot and hopefully be somewhat knowledgeable about the game.

[@felixleiter5092]

Roger Staubach was rubbish as an colour analyst too.

[@hunterwade9030]

@@BD-1-And-Only correct. I live right next to the campus

[@johnsmith9403]

The teleprompter clip pretty much says it all. He was too nervous in front of the camera and too scared to make a mistake. I see this kind of thing all the time with public speaking. Some people just never get comfortable with it. But you’re right, he shouldn’t have been put in that position from the execs. They should have seen that he just wasn’t cut out for it.

[@CTubeMan]

Pulled a Frank Zappa.

[@danevertt3210]

@@CTubeMan what was up with Zappa?

[@sovietonion72]

What I don't get is after both his auditions he admitted that he was terrible yet he was given the go ahead? Doesn't make sense 🤔

[@characterunderconstruction5891]

Joe Greene is the reason I started watching football. I saw him in a United Airlines commercial in 1973 and 1974. No one even remembers this commercial, they only remember the 1979 Coke Cola commercial with the little kid. I was a exclusive baseball fan until I saw that United Airlines commercial with Joe Greene taking about all the leg room United Airlines has at that time. I didn't know a first down from a punt that first season. When the commentators address some players as veterans, I thought they were Vietnam veterans.

[@KazeShikamaru]

I never knew he did this. Wow..my grandfather told me Mean Joe Greene was scary.

[@DolFan316]

Your grandfather's right, Greene's broadcasting work WAS scary!

[@schnarfschnarf5886]

On a football field ,he is one of the 3 players you don't wanna see in those days

[@dspsblyuth]

@@schnarfschnarf5886 who are the other 10?

[@KazeShikamaru]

@@DolFan316 I meant on the field but did tell me he couldn't some broadcasters.

[@jimmym3352]

I'm sure you are joking. But yeah, he seems like a really likeable and friendly guy. He was a bit before my time, and I never actually got into football until I was an adult. But as a kid even I heard of him and the Steelers D.

[@russellseilhamer4552]

I feel bad for Mean Joe. It seemed to me he needed speech therapy to correct annunciation of certain words. It’s not a matter of lack of intelligence either. I think it was a huge disservice for any network to put a guy with no experience out there to do a job like that where someone can make a fool out of themselves. I think he was set up to fail, he needed some formal training and to pay his dues before doing any broadcasts. Every man has success and failure in his life. Joe Greene in every measure of life is a winner and he rightfully owns it. He also owns this failure that the whole world has fortunately forgotten

[@DolFan316]

I hate to be "that guy" but it's enunciation. And yes, I took speech as well as voice and diction in college.

[@brianarbenz1329]

No, the “annunciation” would have been by Roman Gabriel.

[@bundesautobahn7]

Not everyone is just made for that job. I mean, we see what happened with Tony Romo when he got paired up with Jim Nantz, he blew up as a colour commentator and recently reupped for a lot of money. Maybe Joe Greene should've started as an analyst on The NFL Today or something before going to the booth, or try himself at preseason games from a local affiliate.

[@pronkb000]

@@G50-o5w There are a *lot* of instances of players absolutely being thrown to the wolves in this era, especially on ABC with its burgeoning MLB coverage, just throwing guys like Bob Gibson, Norm Cash, and even a still-active-but-injured Mark Fidrych into the booth with no safety net (aside from often being teamed with Al Michaels).

[@rontheauraknight9606]

Some people will likely get practice in the USFL that’s returning this spring. Greg Olson before he retired did sportscasting on XFL games (before the league folded) and his last season on his bye week he did some sportscasting for the NFL. Today he’s a color commentator like Joe green was and is doing a good job at it.

[@pcbullets8726]

Jason Whitten was more painful to listen to at times, but you can tell that Joe was a little nervous. Not everyone is cut out for this kind of work. Gotta have the gift of gab to do the job.

[@jackleonardi3577]

Witten was painful; there’s like a 10 minute video showing all of his awkwardness in the booth from just one season of commentating

[@kmjr2400]

Are you saying that Joe wouldn't have done any better if had just spiked the microphone on every play?

[@avrysportsshow]

LOLLLL

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

Actually, "Mean Joe" Greene isn't the worst former pro star to be a color commentator on network television. During the 1974 preseason, Fred "Hammer" Williamson tried his hand for ABC, doing two preseason broadcasts as analyst for "Monday Night Football", following the departure of Don Meredith. Williamson was a bust; instead of concentrating of what happened during the game, he kept mentioning all the backs and receivers he knocked out during his career as a defensive back (1960-67) in the AFL. Williamson was dropped prior to regular season.

[@justinpettit8099]

People said Jason Witten was pretty bad when he tried it out

[@AdamJ617]

I was watching a video you did from January 2020, before rewatching this one, and Boy have you come such a long way, you’ve made practically everybody else realize They’re better off just doing nothing but spiking the ball into the ground on every single play.

[@jmad627]

Maybe get Mean Joe and George Seifert together?! Sounds like a winning broadcasting combo….no?!

[@DolFan316]

Still not as bad as Emmitt Smith's stint as an analyst, though. At least Greene didn't speak like English was his third language.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

I really don't get it when networks put ex-pro athletes in the broadcast booth when said athletes clearly do not know how to articulate themselves clearly.

[@stevenbauer4799]

michael 'mumbles' irvin syndrome.

[@theecharmingbilly]

Irvin was never Emmitt bad.

[@stevenbauer4799]

@@theecharmingbilly he is worse.

[@wilkiedriver]

Emmitt had issues. It didn't help that he didn't get much better as he went along. It also doesn't help that he played for a team that was very well hated outside of Dallas.

[@CTubeMan]

You mentioned that Frank Gleiber worked with Johnny Unitas. In “The Game Behind the Game” Terry O’Neil said that former CBS Sports President Barry Frank told him to take some remedial speaking classes. Unitas asked if Frank meant college-like courses and Frank shot back, “No, high school.” Unitas felt humiliated, yet took the courses. When he was done he said his game load got cut back. This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian will remind everyone you made videos about the following: 1. How Fox tried a broadcast booth of Terry Bradshaw and Jimmy Johnson for one game and how disastrous that was. 2. How CBS fired George Seifert from the NFL Today during his first season (though you did touch on it in the Jerry Glanville video to which you linked in this video).

[@davanmani556]

Johnny was rumored of being illiterate.

[@big8dog887]

Say what you will about his broadcasting, but if I'm an opposing QB having to face him, I'm spiking the ball on every play.

[@rhardee8]

Wah wah..it isn't about his football playing skills but about his broadcasting skills which he obviously sucked at.

[@pbft.j]

That just goes to show how impressive Tony Romo is at this job. Genuinely love hearing that guy's voice to the point that sometimes I forget he's Tony freakin Romo.

[@TheAutumnWind_RN4L]

Mark Sanchez makes my ears bleed. Troy Aikman puts me to sleep. It really is a skill all of its own.

[@antcantcook960]

overtalking tony

[@patrickjspoon]

Joe Greene caused the strike, as no player wanted him ever calling their games

[@DolFan316]

After watching this video, I am completely convinced of it.

[@luisreyes1963]

Hilarious. 😒

[@swells3156]

Ah good old Mean Joe Greene he was a core of the Steel curtain defense of the '70s but cannot do it as a television guy

[@donaldpaluga]

Ironic, Greene was a GREAT defensive player but a lousy commentator, whereas Tony Dungy was a OK safety but a great analyst

[@chriswahl4139]

Gleiber helped break in Madden for a few games in 1979 and with the NBA helped break in Hubie Brown and Doug Collins who are two if the best NBA analysts over the last several decades

[@pronkb000]

Glieber is an interesting story in his own right--he was mostly before my time, but he did EVERYTHING, from NFL to the NBA to the Texas Rangers to tennis to NASL soccer to the PBA, while also doing other local sports in the Dallas area. He had just worked his first NFL playoff assignment for CBS after many years in thankless roles like the one in this video in the 1984 postseason, and was in the middle of calling an NBA playoff series when he collapsed and died one morning while jogging. He was only 51.

[@teen_laqueefa]

@@pronkb000 damn, sad

[@joeylawn36111]

Imagine being the person that has to tell "Mean" Joe Green that he's fired.... 😬

[@matthewdaley746]

Better, than, telling Jack Lambert that he, was, fired, he, was, perfect, for, the Raiders, so, odd that he, never, would play, for, them.

[@beamerball666]

I think back then a lot more players took rivalries that they were a part of way more personally than today

[@matthewdaley746]

​​@@beamerball666 Perhaps, but, Curt Gowdy, was, one, of the, best, broadcasters ever, and, he got let go, after, The 1975 World Series, because, he, was, such an insufferable homer, too bad, it is.

[@dspsblyuth]

@@matthewdaley746 what’s the story behind this?

[@matthewdaley746]

​​@@dspsblyuth From what I've read, he did Red Sox Games, before, going national, during, The 1975 World Series, his bias, was, painfully obvious, removing him, mid-stream, would have been appropriate, but, also, A, PR, Disaster, and, thus, he, was, let go, right, after.

[@gamerboy6787]

Former players turned color commentators that I like: Greg Olsen (he seems a bit dry at times, and he's still finding his footing as a commentator in his first year, but he does a solid job; I expect he'll be a lot better in the years to come) Cris Collinsworth (yes, I know many people hate him, but I think he's solid) Mark Sanchez (when he gets goofy or silly, or tells funny anecdotes from his playing days, I think he's good) Brady Quinn (he ain't half bad) And of course, Tony Romo (he has a knack for it) Good video! This is a good reminder that there is a deft art to being a good TV personality.

[@rudyeksh8217]

James lofton with cbs is pretty good. And he was great player with Bills and packers

[@mikelavin9704]

I think Andrew Catalon and James Lofton are perhaps the most underrated pairing for CBS.

[@TLT1986b]

Man, he is up there with Magic Johnson as far as being bad for an announcer

[@joeylawn36111]

Kareem was another who didn't do too well in the broadcast booth

[@JAWrightonline]

@@joeylawn36111 Message to you and Marcus Barnes: Leave my Lakers out of this mess...LMFAO 🤣!!!!

[@joeylawn36111]

@@JAWrightonline Kareem did better as a airplane co-pilot.... :wink:

[@orbyfan]

Elgin Baylor was reportedly so bad that CBS replaced him during the 1974 NBA playoffs. Bill Simmons mentioned this in "The Book of Basketball," and wanted someone to post video of his work on KZbin so that we could hear for ourselves.

[@teen_laqueefa]

Bill Walton, worst of all.

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

"Mean Joe" was 4th pick of the 1969 draft and the 5th was Greg Cook who went to the Bengals. Imagine those picks being reversed..the Steelers likely never draft Bradshaw in '70 unless Cook got hurt like he did in '69.

[@matthewdaley746]

Imagine if Terry Bradshaw puts the Steelers ahead of himself, after, the 1982 season, and, retires, instead, of stealing money from, The, Rooney Family, and, ruining the Steelers, for, the next, two, decades, they draft Dan Marino, and, don't miss a beat.

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

@@matthewdaley746 Especially since Marino was a local product who went to U of Pittsburgh.

[@matthewdaley746]

​@@andrewpadaetz5549 Yeah, there, were, rumors of a cocaine habit, so, going to Miami in the 1980s should have gotten him arrested, or, worse, that didn't happen, the Steelers, totally, blew it.

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

@@matthewdaley746 As did the Jets picking Ken O'Brien or Chiefs with Todd Blackledge (won't second guess Bills on Jim Kelly).

[@matthewdaley746]

​@@andrewpadaetz5549 Yeah, but, the teams around them, weren't, nearly, as, good, and, neither, of those players, were, a local product, simple as that.

[@morghenmurdochlundgren8640]

Good lord,the sound guy in all those clips was definitely trying to help him out,and hell,he should've been fired as well. Maybe Joe should've improved his percentage by spiking the headset and mic down on every single play.

[@pronkb000]

I know he had a legit sports and journalism and teaching background but I was not expecting to hear Bill Mercer's name on a JG9 video. People of a certain time and place will associate him with the voice of World Class Championship Wrestling in Texas calling the matches of the Von Erichs and the Freebirds and others. Those same people would probably question how he was qualified to teach speech therapy or public speaking and broadcasting--this is the guy who once referred to wrestler Nord the Barbarian as "Nord the Norwegian," from "Norwegia," among other gaffes.

[@mgb4692]

Probably all those years of the Von Erichs doing Warrioresque promos (only as straight white meat 80s faces, no rambling) got to him

[@davanmani556]

Fred Dryer wasn’t good when he became a color commentator after retirement. But Fred improved and got into acting which lead to his role in Hunter.

[@teen_laqueefa]

I had a crush on DIDI

[@Undecided0]

I remember Ryan Clark said that Joe Green advised him to get his degree in broadcasting & communications.

[@curtismcneil8695]

I mean He even said himself that his auditions didn't go well, so CBS is at fault for putting him into that spot. I don't blame Joe Greene I blame CBS.

[@maryannsullivan7724]

Reminds me of when Chevy Chase tried to have a late night talk show. Totally out of his league -- a disaster of an experience that last only 5 weeks.

[@rustyshackleford1114]

He did the 1982 Lions @ Bucs and yes, he was as bad as the video suggest. He was pitiful and not made for TV.

[@stingrey1571]

i was too young for joe greene on commentary. he was just another example of a network falling in love with a name and not worrying about the work. other bad examples were joe montana, jerry rice, emmitt smith, jason witten, hines ward, and ray lewis.

[@tommyparkerparker]

Imagine if Joe Greene had to fill in for Madden at the last minute and worked with Pat Summerall on the big game. OMG!

[@RodgertheNegotiator]

I love your content. You're going to be big like million followers honestly. I love these obscure videos that the big guys don't cover.

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

Thanks so much! Really appreciate it

[@harrymann5523]

A shame, he was paired with Frank Glieber who was a great announcer at CBS.

[@DuckOfRubber]

Frank Glieber’s confidence and competence in the role almost magnified Greene’s deficiencies by making a literal side by side comparison.

[@denniscatanese4846]

Bless the "Mean" one, but the contradiction on the pass interference call had me 💀

[@LateNightTableCo]

6:48 "It was either obvious or nonsensical..." *Laughs in John Madden*

[@cadimarucut7724]

yoooooooooooooooo

[@TheTicktockman321]

It is amazing the Greene and Rocky Blier were 2 of the most well-spoken leaders of those great teams and were the two guys that the press went to first after games. They both make a good living on the speaking tour to this day. Yet both were horrendous in the booth. Yet Bradshaw had success despite being a horrible interview as a player.

[@davidnelson6874]

I can’t even start to listen to Joe fail in the booth. Joe was so incredible as a player. I’ll just remember that and try to forget how his team beat mine in Super Bowl IX. He was a big meanie! I always rooted against them yet had the utmost respect for Joe. Plus, the Coke commercial will stand as one of the greatest commercials in television history. Plus, Greene says he slammed 24 bottles of Coke until the producer was satisfied they got the commercial right. “Just all in a days . . . ‘Burp!’”

[@matthewdaley746]

That's why my favorite defensive player of that era, was, Ted Hendricks, when he eventually got to the Raiders, the Steelers would finally begin to fall.

[@DickyCox]

you know its bad when frank goes from smiling to uncomfortable look on his face, that coke commercial would be nice to see. the boy must be in his 50's now.

[@dominickgaramella6431]

You make great content but I had no idea how funny you are. This one is getting saved

[@rewing84]

for some weird reason i keep watching this video over and over

[@ChrisCastellaniCLC]

"The touchdown makes me feel better." I laughed.

[@mattlport]

Your channel should have many more subscribers, great commentary, good energy

[@mrchopsticks3]

Almost as bad as when someone thought giving Magic Johnson his own talk show was a good idea.

[@michaelkoszowski3716]

Lol !! ...yes he was brutal .

[@barryharris5108]

Man!!! This has got to be the funniest sports announcer video I’ve seen in all my years of watching KZbin 😂😂

[@3nineteen319]

Merlin Olsen had the luxury of living in Los Angeles and having trained actors as friends. He definitely used that to his advantage for his work in the booth.

[@donaldpaluga]

If only the Connecticut School of Broadcasting existed in the 80s......

[@videonut1988]

They have. Just only in the home state of Connecticut. (No satellite campuses yet)

[@pronkb000]

No discussion of all-time NFL broadcasting disasters would be complete without Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, whose 2-game preseason stint on Monday Night Football made Joe Greene's broadcasting career look like Vin Scully's. Unfortunately I don't know if any video exists, but he's probably worth discussing anyway.

[@mgb4692]

His attempts at "bringing *color* to the the booth" went about as well as his vow to drop some hammers in Super Bowl I

[@theecharmingbilly]

There's clearly zero chance CBS didn't know and see this disaster coming. It also can't be expected that Frank Glieber is gonna say, "Hey Guys, Joe isn't the guy for this." He has a job to do himself, and most aren't trying to rattle the brass, nor is he gonna dog Joe out. I'm sure even on short notice, even if by committee that Joe could have been swapped with a veteran. Even from another sport. Just tell the fans that Joe was off to "spend more time with his family " That way he gets to bow out like a champ, and the network doesn't embarrass Joe or themselves.

[@orionparish9858]

Let's be honest. You could make these videos an hour-long probably. There's no way that everything you got doing research and putting the video together, made the final cut.

[@badsenator2108]

14:02 Schrodinger’s Pass Interference

[@staubach1979rt]

Where’s the link to the Steelers’ Super Bowl that was mentioned? There was nothing to click on the screen.

[@88cutty]

Damn, I thought you were gonna have a stroke on Joe's PI analysis 😂

[@classicsports5057]

Here's some awful announcers I can think of. Jim Brown was pretty awful as a commentator. He probably did games off and on for a couple years and was pretty awful at it. The MNF disaster with Witten was pretty infamous. OJ Simpson was pretty awful color commentator for MNF IMO. There was one year he was with Joe Namath and Frank Gifford. I think they rotated some other guys. But that was a bit of an odd year for MNF. OJ was better when he went to NBC and did studio stuff for the most part. I think he called a few games at NBC but he was mostly either sideline reporter or studio guy which was a better fit. A couple notable bad PBP guys that I can think of James Brown. He's been great in the booth since the mid 90s but in the late 80s early 90s he was a play by play guy for CBS and he was pretty bad. Never seemed comfortable doing it. It's kinda hard to explain but he seemed stiff in the PBP role. I'm not sure how he survived getting a natural fit as studio announcer. Bryant Gumble is another case of being great as a studio guy but terrible as a PBP guy. I think he did a few games for NBC in the 80s. But he had a stint in the 2000s with NFL Network that was awful. People complained about Dennis Miller but he was nowhere near as bad as people remember. The sideline reporter that time was Eric Dickerson and he just couldn't even pronounce words a good part of the time and never added anything to the broadcast.

[@classicsports5057]

Also one more to add. Dan Dierdorf as a play by play announcer. That happened in CBS for like a year or two. Good thing he got picked up by ABC and as a color announcer.

[@stevenbauer4799]

i liked the miller mnf. It was refreshing. And oj and namath was a disaster on mnf. namanh. 'And its a touchdown on the PLU-AAY.' Dickerson couldn't complete a sentence let alone in english. And remember LT on tnt. Dudes brain was fried from all of those roids by then. Just babbled incoherently.

[@MrInterVention149]

I love to commentate. To be honest, it’s fun to be able to make the calls, then bounce into the “color” aspect of things. I really enjoy those that I have heard, over the years, Like Summerall, and Madden. It is why I enjoy doing this, even if it is not for a paycheck. 😁

[@stevenbauer4799]

I met mean joe at a pre super bowl bash before s b xvi. Nitschke was there too. I got my pic in the paper with mean joe. Haha to the haters who never did. Joe was a nice guy. So leave joe alone. And does anyone remember LT on tnt snf set? dude just babbled incoherently like his brain was fried from all of those roids. I also met the hammer fred williamson at a comic con around 2012. He showed me his s b iv ring. Then he said 'that aint football today'. Hammer came from old time football. Not the pretty boy me me its all about me nfl of today.

[@JourneyToMars]

Why do your videos get stopped for ads every 30 seconds? You might want to investigate that. I love your videos. Just too many interruptions.

[@leondraw1766]

Just imagine if social media was alive that year. Yikes. That being said you can't fault the man for trying. I'm positive that he did better than I would have. I followed his career from the beginning and yes, I remember him in the broadcast booth. It was painful to watch.

[@Burton72]

Plenty of announcers sound similar to this today, at least on the basement teams coverage

[@willpomeroy7711]

None are this bad at speaking.

[@toprope_]

All the smoldering stares from Greene on every single shot when he isn’t nervously presenting tells me some 70’s CBS exec said “he looks good on camera see if we can’t whip him into shape”

[@JohnTrimmer-fd8sx]

I'm laughing so hard.He was so bad.

[@unitedwefalldividedwestand5040]

Is that the Bill Mercer of World Class Championship Wrestling fame?

[@OhThankKevin]

red flag should have been noticed as soon as “watching game film” was an issue.

[@CTubeMan]

Must’ve made Madden mad.

[@miketemple7686]

Next broadcaster up for CBS the incomparable Marshawn Lynch. Mr. I’m Just Here So I Don’t Get Fined. The CBS tradition continues.

[@matthewdaley746]

That, along, with, their, totally, disgraceful performance, after, the 2014 NFC Championship Game, made me root, for, the Patriots in the, SB, (only, time).

[@daveorme1683]

They left this out in his Football Life. I thought he went right into coaching. Well, at least he tried.

[@DiversityDragons]

These clips are painful to watch.

[@sportshistorybuff319]

As I recall, Johnny Unitas's brief 1974 foray into broadcasting was painful to watch, if not at the level of Greene's struggles.

[@epaddon]

Unitas actually lasted several years through the 1977 season. At least one of his games is on YT from that year. He wrote in his book how the CBS execs made him take high school classes in public speaking to try and improve himself, which he wasn't too keen about doing.

[@johnselwitz5362]

@@epaddonDo you have the link? I’d like to hear that

[@RIPdixiecarter]

If its any compensation for Green at least the 82 season was cut in half over the strike.

[@brianoneill7186]

Joe Greene's performance as an announcer was worse than if he'd spiked a Coke bottle to the floor of the booth on every play.

[@YammaChobba]

You should hear Lomas Brown do Lions games on the radio.

[@greggrusnak6094]

Well Back then there was no Pre Sports Talk or even cutaways like they have today Where former Pro's rehash the game and give Insight

[@darthuncle]

40 years later we now know some of these guys could barely read and write. I wonder if that hampered him?

[@altfactor]

By pairing "Mean" Joe Greene with Frank Glieber CBS thought Greene would quickly learn the ropes at the hands of an experienced play by play commentator.

[@kevinmiller2676]

Way overdone criticism, most announcers are just describing what everyone see with their own eyes. Tread lightly with Mean Joe , even people who are barely into football respect this man. His legacy is heavily romanticized in Pittsburgh.

[@willpomeroy7711]

No one ever said he wasn’t a legendary football player, lol. He was just horrendous on Live TV, which is nothing to feel sorry about, it’s very difficult to master.

[@marionluigi6517]

In this video he didn't really disrespect Joe at all as a player. As a commentator yes because he was not good at it, and even then it seems like must people understand that he just wasn't built for commentary.

[@stanhankins3175]

I know I couldn’t do it.

[@johngalyon8934]

Apparently you haven't heard Aquib Talib announce a game. Insufferably bad ...and embarrassing.

[@thekcsugethe_kc_suge7930]

Greene was in a classic commercial everyone loved loves. That’s probably why he got the gig. That and being the most popular Steeler.

[@craighouse1279]

I played next to Anthony Munoz and he was the best. Before each game he would eat a big plate of refried beans and then shit on himself. This kept the defenders away and made him slippery.

[@stevebishop5601]

One point of clarification, and I say this as someone who has worked on in-game productions for college football, and the NFL is no different, the broadcasters during the on-camera opens to NFL broadcasts do not have tele-prompters. The opens are rehearsed, often times twice about a half-hour before the broadcast, a good part of the production meeting the night before is spent talking about 2-3 items you want to talk about at the beginning because it's the one aspect of the game the production crew has total control over, but it's not written out word for word on a teleprompter. What's more likely here is Greene is nervous, he loses track of what was discussed and rehearsed, and that leads to him stumbling over his words while his mouth is moving faster than his thoughts. And yeah, he's definitely terrible. But NBC and CBS should've nipped his on-air aspirations in the bud when he auditioned. And had this been today, the networks would not have taken a chance on him. But it was 1982, there was no internet, no NFL Sunday Ticket. They probably figured they could hide him on some of the smaller games only seen by 10-15% of the country while they worked on improving his on-air skills and maybe he'll improve. Clearly he never did and so CBS parted ways. But again, it should've been evident when he auditioned that he lacked the ability to provide any kind of analysis in a concise way.

[@JImstone2047]

I wish it worked out for him better unfortunately some people are just not good at being broadcasters

[@MrThegov1020]

wah my friend jaguar gator 9 i love your videos man but chill out a little we need you to do more......if you are taking requests can you do one on why cbs is showing NFC games now a days

[@bigjared8946]

Listening to this same class of people dog on Jeff Saturday for not "earning it" has been amazing.

[@usernameisusername]

Difference between the field and the house....

[@joeb9216]

Still better analysis than Booger MacFarlane telling the Bills to spike the ball on 4th down in the Wildcard game against Houston.

[@mgb4692]

Or getting in position for Stephen Hauschka walk-off field goal, which would have made sense if it was in OT and the Texans had whiffed, but it was merely the tying FG to send it to OT

[@mikepainter3111]

Probably better than most they have now. Phil Simms Tony Romo stink it up too

[@ericdunbar6230]

I Joe's defense Tampa Bay, Green Bay, Indianapolis and Detroit where bottom of the stink barrel back then it's not like anyone was watching.

[@astrosjer822]

Comparable to me was Brian Urlacher a few years back. Just awful for Fox!

[@thedrizzle619]

woof this is rough

[@michaelkoszowski3716]

Green got sacked .

[@tastethejace]

Imagine Mean Joe Greene trying to play in today's NFL with its rules lol

[@AEMT-ks4so]

I know its a year later but i just came across this video. In defense of the PI call you spoke about, anmouncers backtrack and contradict themselves moments later all the time. Although usually going from saying its bad to saying its good as opposed to the opposite

[@marcburroughs2969]

Wow that was brutal

[@robbpowell194]

He wasn't as bad as you hyped. He comes across as relatively warm and at least he isn't speaking backwards.

[@harrymatthewsmusic]

I think what they were thinking is that they could use his name to get more views, and that he might at least know a thing or two about defensive plays, given he was such a great player, but it didn't work out because he never seemed to be comfortable with it

[@shrapnel77]

JG: Notice Anderson's legs moving here.That's important during a running play. Frank: What do you think of that pass play, Joe? JG: The ball travelled through the air, something you can't take for granted. Frank: They have a new d-line coach in Floyd Peters, Joe. JG: Floyd coached the Cardinals that wasn't not unsuccessful. That success hasn't wanted not unlike being successfully unsuccessful.

[@blazer79]

Joe Greene was an All Time great football 🏈 player who was not fit to be an analyst. Go back many years and listen to Oscar Robertson after his great career in the NBA. Same situation.

[@MikeHL78]

Sweet Jesus, I had forgotten how bad Oscar was until you wrote that. John Havlicek also helped call the 1978 NBA Finals for CBS and Hondo sucked, too.

[@davee.9906]

Ok this is how gullible I was when I was like four or five. My brother and sister used to tell me that Mean Joe lived in this house on the corner near the highway in my town. And when we would drive by it they would tell my mom I was being bad and that they should leave me at Mean Joe Greene's house. I would get scared as hell and start crying. As I got older I finally believed my mom telling me that they were lying and that she would never leave me anywhere. That and we lived in Florence NJ which is nowhere near Pittsburgh. Lol

[@awesome123306]

He does seem to be very close. If he had some confidence i think it wouldve worked out.