Eli Gold is struggling.
The longtime play-by-play commentator for Alabama football is rarely at a loss for words—he has a radio background, after all—and he hasn’t been speechless following this week’s disclosure of his and the Crimson Tide Sports Network’s amicable 35-year separation.
After spending half of his Fall Saturdays watching Alabama football games from the broadcast perch, the 70-year-old had to have had a rough week. He was left feeling a little confused after talking about his best calls, favourite moments and thoughts on the best players he had ever seen.
Among the notable calls is the ‘Rocky Block’ field goal by Terrence Cody against Tennessee in 2009, which prevented the Titans from going undefeated. In 2012, the Crimson Tide defeated Georgia in the CFP thanks to two touchdown passes:
Tua Tagovailoa’s 2-yard touchdown throw on second-and-26 and a 28-yard screen pass to T.J. Yeldon, which sparked a 21-17 victory at LSU. Those three were critical times in the history of national championship seasons.
Gold finds it more difficult to sort through the 194 Alabama players who will be selected in the NFL draft and the dozens of All-Americans whose names he has called since his debut in the booth.
Trying to rank the best of those 53 draft picks—of which 53 were first-round selections—is foolishness, but Gold admits that some of them, in addition to being incredibly gifted, were revolutionary in one way or another.
