Syracuse Orange: Nominees for the top play-by-play announcer include 3 'Cuse alums

The nominees for the top personality/play-by-play announcer at next month's Sports Emmy awards show include a lot of Syracuse Orange flavor.

I love it.

According to a post on X, there are five nominees in this particular category. Three of them, I'm proud to say, are Syracuse University alums in Mike Tirico, Ian Eagle and his son, Noah Eagle. A huge congrats to Mike, Ian and Noah!

The other two nominees are Mike Breen of ABC and Joe Davis of Fox and FS1. I'm particularly fond of Breen, who serves as the lead play-by-play announcer of the NBA Finals.

By the way, the 46th-annual Sports Emmy awards show will be held on Tuesday, May 20, at the Rose Hall in New York City.

Syracuse University is the epicenter of sportscasting.

I'm an extremely proud alum of SU's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. I graduated in 2000 with a degree in broadcast journalism, and even though I ended up going into newspapers and digital media, I have a huge affinity for the sportscasting world.

That's why I'm beyond excited to see that Tirico and the Eagles are up for the Sports Emmy for top personality/play-by-play announcer.

Tirico is an absolute giant in sportscasting, serving as play-by-play announcer of NBC Sports' Sunday Night Football and primetime host for NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Olympics. Later this year, when the NBA returns to NBC and debuts on streaming service Peacock, Tirico will serve as the lead play-by-play voice.

Noah Eagle will also be a play-by-play announcer when the NBA returns to NBC. He has served as the voice of NBC Sports’ Big Ten Saturday night college football games. Last summer, Eagle was the play-by-play announcer of Team USA men’s and women’s basketball at the Paris Olympics.

His dad, Ian Eagle, works for CBS, TNT and the Netflix streaming service. Eagle, one of the top sportscasters in the world, is the lead play-by-play voice of the men's college basketball NCAA Tournament and calls the Final Four and national championship game alongside Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson.

Eagle is also on the No. 2 announcing team for CBS calling NFL games. Per his CBS Sports' bio, in 2023, Eagle was named the national sportscaster of the year by the National Sports Media Association.

The only other play-by-play announcer who I wanted to see get a nominee in this Sports Emmy category is Kevin Harlan of CBS and TNT. He rocks.