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LOS ANGELES (AP)—Bryant Gumbel has given up his role as an NFL Network play-by-play announcer after two seasons. The NFL Network said Friday it was looking for a new play-by-play announcer to work with Cris Collinsworth on the network’s Thursday and Saturday night games. “I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to call NFL Network games the past two years, which was a new experience for me,” Gumbel said in a statement. “But we’ve agreed that we’d all be better served going in different directions.”

As Tom Johnson noted, Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon wrote a column for Thursday's paper, headlined "Gumbel Has the Right To Say What He Feels." After Gumbel insulted union leader Gene Upshaw about needing a "leash" because he was the NFL Commissioner's "pet," Wilbon said he disagreed with the argument that Upshaw made bad deals for football players, but suggested the idea of the NFL Network removing Bryant Gumbel from broadcasting their football games later this fall "not only won't fly but will look like the silliest Nixonian attempt at censorship." But don't give him a First Amendment Award. That's...

In a scathing rebuke of Bryant Gumbel's recent comments on HBO's Real Sports last week that NFLPA head Gene Upshaw is a "personal pet" of outgoing NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, former Minnesota Vikings running back and longtime player rep Robert Smith accused the TV host of both desperation and jealousy.

NFL to discuss Gumbel remarks Future with network up in air after harsh criticism Posted: Monday August 21, 2006 1:59PM; Updated: Monday August 21, 2006 2:30PM NEW YORK (AP) -- The job status of Bryant Gumbel, scheduled to be the play-by-play broadcaster on the eight late-season games on the NFL's in-house network, could be the subject of a discussion by NFL officials after Gumbel's suggestion that Paul Tagliabue show his successor "where he keeps Gene Upshaw's leash." Tagliabue said Monday that incoming commissioner Roger Goodell and Steve Bornstein, who runs the NFL Network, will discuss the remarks after Goodell takes...

Bryant Gumbel, Cris Collinsworth to announce NFL Network games (April 26, 2006) -- Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth will form NFL Network's broadcast booth, when the league-owned and operated television channel kicks off its live regular-season coverage on Thanksgiving in primetime Nov. 23. "Bryant is a premier broadcaster with impeccable credentials and allows NFL Network to immediately distinguish its coverage," said NFL Network President and CEO Steve Bornstein. "Cris has proven himself to be the top analyst in football and his presence establishes instant credibility to our telecasts." Longtime NFL fans might remember when Bryant Gumbel used to host NBC's...

The Winter of Bryant’s Discontent HBO’s Bryant Gumbel sounded off about the Winter Olympics, finding them deficient in athletic prowess, something he attributed to the lack of black athletes. “So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention,” Gumbel said. Gumbel immediately became the focus of right-wing scolds. We here at The Blogaroni don’t usually find ourselves providing fodder for such a crowd. However, in this case it’s pretty clear. Gimbel was wrong. Ten Reasons the Winter Olympics is NOT...

Some cast aside traditional loyalties... Adam Hunter, an ambitious law student with bright eyes, an easy smile, and plenty of charisma, seems practically destined for politics... a first-year law student at Howard University, a historically black campus with a long record of liberal activism. He has political ambitions of his own -- but not with the Democrats. Instead, Hunter, who as an undergraduate headed Howard's chapter of College Republicans, sees himself as part of a younger generation of African-Americans. He is ready to cast aside traditional loyalties to the Democratic Party and forge his own political identity. ''There's a lot...

Here's a riddle: So if it takes Rush Limbaugh a full week to be booted from ESPN for rather nebulous comments – at best – about black quarterbacks in the NFL, how many times can Bryant Gumbel incite direct racially based "playa hatin" before he gets a slap on the wrist? Sorry, I now recognize that is a rhetorical question with no known answer. But doesn't it just rub somebody wrong somewhere that Gumbel can echo the thoughts of Hitler and someone barely notices, while fellow broadcasters say far less and receive merciless verbal beatings? What did he say? Well...

Where is the outrage that was manufactured to run Rush Limbaugh off the air? Is it absent because Gumbel is allegedly black? So just picture for a moment, if you will, that you're watching SportsCenter tonight and Dan Patrick says, "The lack of whites in the NBA makes it look like a welfare office." Think that would get buried like Gumbel's comments? For what it's worth, maybe Gumbel should do some research on the emerging face of the GOP.

There were some eye-opening remarks from Bryant Gumbel on the most recent episode of HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. According to a transcript posted by a television columnist named Seth Frelich, Gumbel said the following in his closing monologue last week (emphasis mine): "Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don’t care about them and won’t watch them ... Because they’re so trying ... Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when...

Mr. Gumbel's statement: “Because [the Winter Olympics] are so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like try not to be incredulous when someone tries to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of Blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.”

Join host Bryant Gumbel as SCI FI exposes one of the most notorious UFO incidents of the 20th century, a series of events that occurred near a U.S. military base in Rendlesham Forest, England, in 1980. Now that the British government has admitted it classified documents to cover up the incident, witnesses (both civilians and former military personnel) have come forward to provide new evidence for SCI FI's investigation. Premieres Friday, December 12, at 9/8C On December 9, 1965, an object landed near Kecksburg, Pa. It was observed as a fireball in the sky across several U.S. states and Canada....

Boom Boom Donahue If there were a lifetime achievement award for sucking, Phil Donahue would get my vote. As the father of the daytime talk show, Phil Donahue is the Marco Polo of trash TV and the reason that modern presidential elections are won by the candidate who causes the most autoerotic secretions by women watching Oprah. It was Phil Donahue who birthed a television format where one day his audience could watch an abortion and the next day stick a dollar in the crotch of a Chippendale dancer. In its 29-year-run (1967-1996), there were nearly 7,000 Phil Donahue shows....

Son of TV Host Bryant Gumbel Arrested in New York NEW YORK (Reuters) - The son of former morning television host Bryant Gumbel was arrested on Thursday on charges he snatched a purse from a woman walking on a Manhattan sidewalk. Bradley Christopher Gumbel, 24, was accused of approaching a woman from behind as she walked along Manhattan's posh Upper East Side, grabbing her purse and fleeing, police said. The unidentified victim, 31, contacted police, who arrested Gumbel a few blocks away at 2:30 a.m. Gumbel was arrested on charges of assault and robbery, and he was awaiting arraignment in...

KDKA radio reports at 6AM that William Jefferson Clinton is being seriously considered as a replacemnet for the departing Bryant Gumbel on the CBS Morning Show. They gave a source, but I was so stunned (Shouldn't have been. After all they're ready to sign D. Rather through 2006...sigh) I didn't catch it. Hopefully another FReeper did and can post the source. Seems to me this was a trial balloon going up and it might be a good time to start ringing the phones, stuffing the e-mail boxes and otherwise letting CBS know they could suffer the same fate as the...

Clinton in running for TV job From correspondents in Washington 27apr02 FORMER US president Bill Clinton could soon start a gig as the co-host of a morning television program, US media reported today. ABC-TV's gossip show "Extra" reported that Clinton is a candidate to succeed retiring television host Bryant Gumbel as the co-anchor of "The Early Show" - a breakfast news program on rival network CBS-TV. The ex-president, who left office 15 months ago, already has been busy in retirement: his William J Clinton Foundation is assembling teams of business experts to provide financial, marketing and other technical advice to...

In a cable TV interview, former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson pulled no punches when discussing his former boss, Frank Broyles. In an interview with HBO Sports that was obtained by the Arkansas Democrat newspaper, Richardson was asked by Bryant Gumbel if he thought Broyles is a racist. "Somewhat, yes," Richardson responded. Richardson would not stop there, saying that his former athletic director has been trying to force him out and intimidate him for years. Under tremendous pressure, Richardson was bought out of his contract in March. Despite recent struggles, Richardson had tremendous overall success at Arkansas, including winning the national...

<p>Bryant Gumbel said yesterday that he'll quit as host of CBS' "Early Show," leaving that network searching once again for an anchor who can haul it out of the ratings cellar, where it's been for nearly half a century.</p> <p>Gumbel, 53, took the anchor chair in 1999. In announcing his departure, he said that he felt "it was time to move on and do something else with my life."</p>

Bye-Bye Bryant: Gumbel Announced His Departure from The Early Show; Highlights of Gumbel’s History of Liberal Bias   1) CBS has announced that Early Show co-host Bryant Gumbel will be leaving the show still mired in third place two-and-a-half years after he was brought in to revive it. No date has been set for his final broadcast. 2) Gumbel’s record of liberal advocacy and of denigrating conservatives, with links to the best examples from the MRC’s archives.   1 In an announcement posted at noon EST today on the Early Show Web page, CBS stated:      "Bryant Gumbel is leaving...

CBS: Bryant Gumbel to leave morning show By Jon Friedman CBS, a division of Viacom (VIAB) , Thursday said Bryant Gumbel is stepping down as co-anchor of "The Early Show" program to pursue other interests. Gumbel established himself by co-anchoring "The Today Show" of NBC before joining CBS. Viacom is a significant investor in MarketWatch.com, publisher of this report. Viacom shares rose $1.15, or 2.4 percent, to $48.50 on Thursday.