SmashMouth

Dan Dierdorf said he nearly didn’t work as an NFL broadcaster this year.


“The reality is, from a physical standpoint, it’s too much for me, especially the travel,” Dierdorf told SI.com from his home in St. Louis. “I have two artificial knees, two artificial hips, nerve damage in my legs, and it’s a struggle for me to walk. That’s the reality of it. Ask anyone who has seen me go through a press box.”

On Wednesday CBS announced that Dierdorf, the NFL’s longest tenured announcer, will retire from broadcasting at the end of the 2013 season. He has worked as an NFL broadcaster since 1984, a journey that started as a color analyst for KMOX’s Radio coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals and NFL games for CBS Radio Network. Dierdorf had a brief stint with CBS Sports from 1985 to ’87 before joining ABC’s Monday Night Football for 12 years. He returned to CBS Sports in 1999 and currently serves on the No. 2 team with play-by-play announcer Greg Gumbel after a long tenure with Dick Enberg.

The 64-year-old Dierdorf said his health and attitude are good but his body is breaking down regarding travel. He said he has been dropping hints for the past year to his friends and colleagues that this would be his last season in the booth and he called CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus last Wednesday to make it official. He will continue to work this season for CBS and will get at least one playoff assignment. Dierdorf praised his on-air partner Gumbel, his producer Mark Wolff and director Bob Fishman, citing them as family. “It was pretty obvious I caught Sean off-guard,” Dierdorf said. “I don’t know why he thought I was calling, but he didn’t think I was calling to tell him that. If another network called me and offered me some spectacular job, I just can’t do it. It’s not realistic. And in some ways it makes it easier. It makes it easier to leave knowing I can’t do it physically.”

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73Saint

Not my favorite broadcaster, to say the least. But he was one heckuva O-Lineman. It's got to be hard walking away from something you've done for so long, because you physically cannot do it anymore. Wish him the best.

dizzle88

good, I'm tired of listening to him on game day

saintfan

fo' shizzle. Best of luck to him. c-ya

TheOak

It's hard for Dan to walk away or to anything.

Never was a fan.

Rugby Saint II

He was part of a great announcing crew for a while.

Mardigras9

GOOD, he is hard to listen to.

QBREES9

Thanks Dan. Good job. Go relax.

SaintsBro

I hate to rag on an old veteran guy like that, but he is one of those guys like Hokie, that you can tell has been doing it a long time, and he's sorta stopped paying attention, and is really out of his depth compared to where the game is at today. If you watch Dierdorf and his commentaries, he never really says anything insightful or interesting, it's always just sort of generic vague comments about the obvious -- "they really are expecting a lot from this young kid" or "a lot of poise in the pocket from Tom Brady there" or "the Jets have to get some kind of momentum going here." Like Hokie, he obviously does not prepare for the games with any depth, he doesn't know anything inside the game or about the players, he just kind of goes in there and wings it by the seat of his pants. He doesn't offer anything more to the commentary than what some random old dude on a barstool could give you.

That kind of style could work in the booth 30 years ago but today, I think people want and demand more depth from their broadcasters.

D_it_up

Dan Dierdorf was, is, and always will be one of my top three most disliked commentators along with Cris Collinsworthless and Brian Billick. In the Super Bowl year against the Jets, the game was televised on CBS. The Jets were completely owned in that game, and all Dierdorf could talk about was Darrelle friggen' Revis and Mark Sanchez. Gave no credit to the Saints whatsoever.