The Green Bay Packers have had plenty of great plays over the years, which have resulted in exciting and memorable calls from play-by-play announcers. Whether on TV or radio, these individuals help add color, excitement, and energy to the broadcasts, and have done so in great fashion over the years.
Today, a tweet got us thinking about the best calls over the years in Packers games, or in games that directly affected the Packers:
What's the most memorable play-by-play call of your lifetime?
— Josh Zavadil (@JoshuaZavadil) May 26, 2016
Here are a few nominees from our perspective over the past 16 years, though this is by no means an exhaustive list. Excluding Jim Irwin and Max McGee was not intentional, but most of the memorable calls from the Packers' Super Bowl run in 1996 are difficult to find.
Give us your favorites that we either did not identify or could not find in the comments. Here are some of our favorites.
He did what?!
The 2000 season was a weird one on Monday Night Football. Dennis Miller and Dan Fouts were in the booth and they used nicknames like "PACK", "VIKES", and "FISH" on the scorebox in the corner. One thing that remained classic though was Al Michaels on play-by-play, and he gave us one of the great calls of recent Packers memory when Antonio Freeman caught this overtime miracle:
Paul Allen loses his mind
This isn't a Packers game, but it had a direct effect on the Packers, as they were praying for a miracle to get them into the playoffs in 2003. With just a few seconds left, Josh McCown (then of the Cardinals) found Nate Poole for a touchdown to win a week 17 contest and give the Packers the NFC North title, but Paul Allen, the Vikings' radio broadcaster, had a scream of anguish for the ages:
Rodgers-to-Cobb
It's 2013, and two players who each missed half of the season combined for a division-clinching touchdown. For those listening on the radio, longtime Packers announcers Wayne Larrivee and Larry McCarren put on a masterpiece, with McCarren's "HE'S GOT COBB!" interrupting Larrivee's play-by-play adding to the charm of this call. It was also probably Larrivee's longest-winded "dagger" of his Packers career. Click here for video and audio of the call at Packers.com.
The Hail Mary, Part II
Listening to Larrivee and McCarren really is a treat sometimes. Although their call on the Hail Mary to Richard Rodgers against the Lions in 2015 was a bit subdued (due in part to not believing there was any chance of winning, as Larrivee later alluded to), but they got up for the moment a few weeks later. Perhaps having seen it done successfully earlier in the season made the Packers' radio duo more apt to believe that there was a chance at the end of regulation in the playoffs against the Cardinals - this call was much better and more fun to listen to.
The Fail Mary
Ugh. While we would rather not relive this particular memory, Wayne's and Larry's consistent commentary and discussion about the botched call while both trying to illustrate the replays for those listening and avoid any comments that would lead to FCC violations is worth remembering.
Perhaps the best part of the whole thing is this disgusted comment from McCarren: "As broadcasters, we get letters from the league office to play nice with the replacement officials, but that was awful."