Ever since Joe Buck joined Twitter (@Buck), I’ve been surprised as to how open he’s been in discussing criticism of his announcing. Almost since day one, Buck has engaged with, made fun of, called out, and hit back at critics of his. Part of me believes this is a great idea for Joe Buck, someone that has always been unable to connect with viewers in any sort of likable way. Being engaging on Twitter and answering those questions makes him slightly more human. Anyone who is willing to publicly mention his career path and nepotism in his first Twitter salvo has to earn some points for being willing to put himself out there.

However, being so open about the critics is walking a delicate line. To see what crossing that line looks like, check out this arrogant, childish tweet from Mavericks announcer Mark Followill to NBA blogger Sebastian Pruiti last week. In following Buck’s Twitter feed, it is clear that he is bothered by the avalanche of negativity sent his way and needs some forum to get it off his chest.

The ultimate trump card for any Buck critic is his seemingly soulless delivery on one of the most exciting plays in the history of the Super Bowl – the David Tyree helmet catch. Let’s roll the footage…

If you weren’t watching the clip, you may have thought that was the third quarter of a preseason game. This clip has defined Joe Buck as a bland, unexciting, monotone announcer and it’s going to take a Gus Johnson like explosion in another Super Bowl to escape from that label. Fans haven’t connected to Buck as an announcer because of it. While that clip came four years ago, it must still haunt Joe Buck because he sent out a flurry of tweets last night about the call…













That was random. I appreciate him trying to explain himself and that infamous call, but the all caps and snarky “class dismissed” walk off will likely make those of you Buck haters even more firmly entrenched in your position. You may even read the “pulling your groin” quote as a very subtle dig at Gus Johnson, if you’re in a conspiracyish kind of mood today.

I thought Buck might have actually turned a corner with the public after the great job he did in this year’s World Series. In fact, I’ve come to appreciate Buck’s professional ability to call a game in the past year. He’s not going to be Gus or Kevin Harlan, but he was up for the big moments in the World Series and Super Bowl last year. Buck is also going to largely let the game tell the story and not talk too much over the big moments. While that leaves him open to complaints about his excitement, it’s his style of announcing.

If I can go against the grain on Buck… maybe, just maybe, this series of Tweets will cause some people to change their opinion of Joe Buck for one reason – it’s obvious he cares about his announcing and what we think of him. Would a guy that really dreams of hosting his own late night show and becoming JOE BUCK LIVE once again spend eight tweets on an announcing call from four years ago? Hasn’t our biggest complaint about Joe Buck been that it sounds like he just doesn’t care? That he’s not really a sports fan and he’s just doing this for fame and a paycheck and nepotism? You may still want to stay as far away from Buck and his Twitter feed as you can, but maybe now you can have peace as to why he called the Tyree catch the way he did.

Now if we can only get to that Randy Moss mooning situation…