Whoa, Nellie!
By Zach
I knew it would happen eventually. The great Keith Jackson, the voice of college football and my childhood, would retire. And what better way to go out than after one of the greatest college football games in recent years, the 2006 Rose Bowl.
Jackson has always been my favorite broadcaster. I've told many friends that I'd want the man to be the master of ceremonies at my funeral. Just hearing his distinctive southern drawl recalls sundrenched Pac-10 fields, the glory years of Husky football, and particularly of watching UW-Cal games with my father and his father.
Besides growing up with him, one of the reasons I loved Jackson so much was that he was the rare national broadcaster with, if anything, a West Coast bias. Despite growing up in Georgia, he went to college at Washington State and has lived in the Pacific Northwest ever since. In a landscape in which few West Coast teams get the attention and respect they deserve (besides USC for the moment), I could always trust Jackson to know that we played some good ball out there.
Even as he got older, and slowed down quite a bit, he had a distinct knack for making you feel a part of the game. I can still hear him pronouncing Marques Tuiasosopo's name (no easy feat) in the 2001 Rose Bowl, the last real glorious moment in Husky football.
As of yet, ABC hasn't decided who will replace him on their national telecasts. Whomever it is will have very large shoes to fill.
Jackson has always been my favorite broadcaster. I've told many friends that I'd want the man to be the master of ceremonies at my funeral. Just hearing his distinctive southern drawl recalls sundrenched Pac-10 fields, the glory years of Husky football, and particularly of watching UW-Cal games with my father and his father.
Besides growing up with him, one of the reasons I loved Jackson so much was that he was the rare national broadcaster with, if anything, a West Coast bias. Despite growing up in Georgia, he went to college at Washington State and has lived in the Pacific Northwest ever since. In a landscape in which few West Coast teams get the attention and respect they deserve (besides USC for the moment), I could always trust Jackson to know that we played some good ball out there.
Even as he got older, and slowed down quite a bit, he had a distinct knack for making you feel a part of the game. I can still hear him pronouncing Marques Tuiasosopo's name (no easy feat) in the 2001 Rose Bowl, the last real glorious moment in Husky football.
As of yet, ABC hasn't decided who will replace him on their national telecasts. Whomever it is will have very large shoes to fill.
posted by Zach at 12:18 PM
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