Advice for Seahawks fans who are sick of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman

They are “disrespectful,” “negative,” “biased,” and provide “skewed commentary.” One of them is even a Hall of Famer quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. How can these “clowns” be allowed to broadcast?

For the 12s who would like to ban FOX Sports’ top play-by-play team from ever calling another Seahawks game, the hosts of 710 ESPN Seattle’s “Bob, Groz and Tom” have some advice: Get over it.

“Let me just speak for the broadcasters for a minute when I tell you, and I can’t emphasize this enough: They don’t care who wins,” Dave Grosby said. “They don’t care, they’re not biased… They aren’t your home team broadcaster, which is what you want. So you should be listening to Steve Raible do the games. Turn the sound down, turn the radio up.”

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As of Thursday morning there were nearly 14,600 supporters of the online fan petition asking FOX to ban Joe Buck and Troy Aikman from calling future Seahawks games. The petition reads:

“The Seattle Seahawks 12th man are growing increasingly tired of the negative remarks that are consistently made against our team by Fox Sports commentators Troy Aikman & Joe Buck. As nationally televised games, we understand that the commentators need to be sensitive to both the fans of the home and away team. However, Aikman & Buck’s comments heavily favor any and all of the Seahawks opponents. Their comments are incredibly critical and degrading. Not only do we respectfully request, the 12th Man DEMANDS that these two commentators be banned from calling any future Seahawks games.”

Seattle fans are not alone in their distaste for the veteran tandem. In baseball, the World Series champion Royals also asked to ban Buck from broadcasts and San Francisco Giants lovers complain that his allegiance lies with the Cardinals, the team where his legendary father, John Buck, did play-by-play for 47 years. There are also more than 39,600 Likes for the Facebook page asking that Aikman and Buck stay away from Packers games. Wisconsin’s primary newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, even wrote a story explaining to Packers fans that, believe it or not, the pair really do love Mike McCarthy, Aaron Rodgers and Lambeau Field. Buck told the Journal Sentinel that he tries not to let accusations that he cheers for – or roots against – a certain team affect the way he calls games.

“I deal with this every game, every week,” he told the Journal Sentinel. “I’m not crying about it. I do take it totally lightly, and I’m not hypersensitive about it like some guys are in this business.”

Groz seconded Buck’s perspective, saying 12s who are complaining are hearing the game from the perspective they want to hear.

“Look, if you want the home team call, where everything is peaches and cream, that’s what you’ll get,” he said. “If you don’t want a balanced call, that’s what you’re getting from a network. They don’t care. They really don’t.”

On the “Brock and Salk” show, Mike Salk admitted that he understood where the fans fans were coming from, saying he’d have signed a petition against commentators Tim McCarver, Joe Morgan or Paul Maguire.

“I would have signed it thrice over, without a problem, so I am not anti-petition,” Salk said. “I do kind of understand the hatred you can work up for an announcer based on something that maybe you’ve contrived in your own mind, because I’ve done it myself. I just don’t happen to hear it about Troy Aikman.”

Brock Huard, said ESPN has told him and other NCAA football color-commentators to “cut through” and have an opinion on the broadcast. He also knows there are many fans at the University of Clemson who hate him for pronouncing the school’s name with a “Z” and not “Clem-son.” He recalled being called a “demon-possessed Ken-doll looking idiot.”

There’s also the hatred that comes from farther south.

“I got my life threatened in Miami,” he said. “It’s a brutal job when you sit up there in the booth. It’s very difficult. It’s very demanding.”

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Groz noted that the funniest thing about the 12s controversy is that the petition seemed to mainly gain traction following Seattle’s game against Dallas – where Joe Buck wasn’t even calling the game.

“It was Thom Brennaman,” Groz said.

“Troy Aikman is really not rooting for the Cowboys; he really isn’t,” Groz added. “Fox is who’s paying him… They get hate mail from every city in the league who thinks they are biased against their teams.”

Tom Wassell added that, even if Aikman were biased, it shouldn’t make a difference to fans.

“It’s a question of taste,” he said. “I don’t understand what is so threatening to the fans about something that is objective and honest.”

If you’re still not convinced, or simply dislike the baritone-voiced duo, Groz has one other piece of advice.

“If you don’t want them calling the games, start rooting for the Seahawks to lose, because Buck and Aikman only call what they perceive to be the biggest, most important games with the best teams,” he said. “So if you start rolling out 7-9 seasons, you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”