Simply Stated, Fox Making a Bad Call Axing Summerall

After taking 81/2 hours to say what could have been said in five seconds (“The Super Bowl kicks off at 3:30”), after spending four more hours tip-toeing around the three words that needed to be said (“The Rams stink”), after watching Jimmy Kimmel waste millions of dollars of Fox’s money (he wasn’t the only one), after horrifying us with the sight of Terry Bradshaw and Paul McCartney crooning a “A Hard Day’s Night” together (good thing George and John weren’t around to see it), after an endless procession of instant polls and over-hyped commercials and self-indulgent special effects, Fox and the Rams and the Patriots finally got to the heart of the matter in Sunday’s Super Bowl:

This was Pat Summerall’s last game as No. 1 play-by-play broadcaster for Fox, and this is why Fox will miss him more than it will ever realize.

“This would be from 48 yards,” Summerall simply, calmly intoned as New England’s Adam Vinatieri readied for the potential game-winning field goal.

John Madden, Summerall’s broadcast partner for the last 21 years, was overflowing with enough enthusiasm for the both of them, as has been the norm for the last 21 years.

“This has been a year about Vinatieri and making some great kicks against the Raiders--two of the greatest kicks that I have seen in my life,” Madden declared, about to splutter over the top.

Luckily, Summerall was at his side, playing free safety.

“Here comes one of greater importance--if he makes it,” Summerall said, succinctly and accurately.

Vinatieri drove his right foot into the ball.

Summerall, an old field-goal kicker with the New York Giants, knew it as soon as he hit it.

“And it’s right down the pipe.”

Summerall took a deep breath, allowing the nation to do the same.

The 14-point underdog Patriots had just defeated the supposedly invincible St. Louis Rams. Their actions--Ty Law returning a Kurt Warner interception for a touchdown, second-year pro Tom Brady coolly directing a last-second drive, Vinatieri putting his head down and going to work--spoke louder than any amount of words ever could.

Summerall realized it, and he might be the only one at Fox who did. He paused for six long seconds, drawing out the drama, letting the roar of the Superdome crowd supply the soundtrack while Patriot center Lonie Paxton laid down on the artificial grass and, mimicking the team’s post-overtime snow angels against the Raiders, began cranking out turf angels.

Six seconds of broadcasting bliss, interrupted only--of course--by another annoying laser-beam sound effect as the graphic next to “NE” flashed from a black 17 to a glowing red 20.

Summerall finally returned, marking the moment for posterity:

“Adam Vin-a-ti-er-i.

“No time on the clock.

“And the Patriots have won Super Bowl 36.

“Unbelievable.”

And Fox is showing Summerall the door because he’s 71 and understated--at Fox, that’s a felony--and this network is hip, you see, and can’t bother with old school when it has a new episode of “Boston Public” to hawk.

Fox just doesn’t get it, but what can you expect from a network that thinks “on-air chemistry” is having Bradshaw act like a buffoon while Cris Collinsworth eggs him on and Howie Long chortles in the background.

“That’s the way you should win a Super Bowl,” Madden said as red, white and blue confetti shot from sideline air cannons.

“Man, alive!” Summerall exclaimed, settling back in his chair, taking it all in.

“They came in here against all odds,” Madden said. “They were backed up. They had no timeouts. And they drove the ball and got into field-goal position. That was a great, great drive.”

And one Madden had argued against from the time it started, with the score tied, 17-17, 1:21 on the clock and the Patriots with the ball on their 17 with no timeouts.

“You have to just run the clock out, you have to play for overtime now,” Madden said as Brady lined up from the first play of the last drive. “I don’t think you want to force anything here. You don’t want to do anything stupid. Because you have no timeouts left and you’re backed up.”

But Brady wasn’t taking the snap and taking a knee. He was in the shotgun formation, passing downfield, again and again.

“I don’t agree with what the Patriots are doing right here,” Madden said. “I would play for overtime.”

The Patriots might have been two-touchdown underdogs, but their victory was only the second biggest upset of Super Bowl Sunday.

The first: Madden revealing himself to be more of a football conservative than Bill Belichick.

Madden gave Belichick his due afterward, sheepishly admitting that “I was on record saying I don’t think they should have done it.... They let it all hang out when they had to let it all hang out. And, doggone it, more power to them!”

Summerall, feeling for his old friend, graciously offered an assist.

“I thought that’s what they were going to do as well,” he told Madden. “You weren’t alone. I thought that’s what they’d do--send it into overtime.”

A few minutes later, after the trophy presentation and a few quick player interviews and a video-montage tribute to Summerall that left Madden choked up, Summerall eloquently provided support again.

“Well, they can take me from here, standing next to you, which is going to happen,” Summerall told Madden. “But one thing they can’t take is my feeling for you, the friendship we developed. We’ve been a team and I’m proud of that fact. We’ve been a winning team.”

The best in the NFL, for more than two decades. And now, against the wishes of both men, they’re breaking it up. In the television business, they call it progress.