Fox NFL analyst Troy Aikman has "signed a three-year contract extension" with the net, where he will "continue to work with" play-by-play announcer Joe Buck and sideline reporter Erin Andrews on Fox' top announce team, according to sources cited by Michael McCarthy of SPORTING NEWS. Aikman during his 15-year sports TV career has "become one of the most respected analysts in the business," as "nobody is better" at identifying a play before it happens. McCarthy wrote most observers would say Aikman and NBC's Cris Collinsworth "are the two best NFL game analysts" ( SPORTINGNEWS.com, 11/10 ).
TALKIN' BASEBALL : Buck appeared on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” on Thursday, with host Jimmy Fallon calling him a “man at the top of his profession.” Fallon complimented his broadcasting of Game 7 of the Cubs-Indians World Series, saying there were “rave reviews, they just love you.” Buck: “Well no, unless you’re on Twitter, then there are no rave reviews.” Buck said of broadcasting through the rain delay in Game 7, “It’s a little bit intimidating because you know 40 million people are hoping to see the end of this game and you’ve got to kind of lie a little bit and go, ‘Well, it’s stopped raining. It looks like they’re going to pull the tarp off here soon,’ and eventually you get back to baseball” ( "The Tonight Show," NBC, 11/10 ).
