Bryant Gumbel out as NFL Network announcer

Game over. The NFL Network has made a change in the broadcast booth and Bryant Gumbel will not be back calling games. The veteran broadcaster, one-time host of NBC's Today show and CBS's Early Show and currently the host of HBO's Real Sports, has been doing play by play on the NFL Network's eight-game schedule alongside color commentator Cris Collinsworth for the past two seasons. He's now the ex-play by play man.

The NFL Network didn't say who would be replacing Bryant, and the way it was presented it appears that the decision to separate at this time was a mutual decision. Still, it was Gumbel who tendered his resignation, perhaps avoiding the embarrassment of being dumped.

"We've agreed that we'd all be better served going in different directions," Gumbel said in the statement. As for the NFL Network, President/CEO Steve Bornstein sounded diplomatic, saying, "We appreciate everything Bryant did in helping us launch our NFL Network game telecasts; [he] helped create interest in our first foray into televising NFL regular-season games."

Truth be told, Bryant Gumbel was a bust as a play by play man. Although he has all the credentials of a first rate broadcaster, with expertise in sports to be sure -- and Emmys for his work on Real Sports -- but in the flow of the football games, he was out of step. He made mistakes, which were often not corrected by Collingsworth, and generally added nothing to the broadcast.

In a conference call after the announcement, Gumbel admitted his tenure at the NFL Network wasn't smooth. "It was a learning experience. Toward the end of the year, we made a dramatic improvement. We did a lot of things well. I'll be the first one to say that I wasn't one of them."

The New York Times speculated that Tom Hammond, who filled in for Gumbel on a December broadcast last season, might be the network's choice to replace him for the 2008-9 season. The NFL Network broadcasts commence in November.