Week 14 NFL Announcing: Festival of Lights, And Football

Hanukkah starts tonight. Or Chanukah or Hannukah or ... you get the point. The Festival of Lights, or as it was known in my house growing up, 'hurry up and eat so we can play F-Zero once I open it.'

There are a few 'presents' on this weekend's NFL schedule and none bigger than the Giants hosting the Eagles on Sunday Night Football. Considering the candles are lit at night and there are only four teams that could be playing night games during Channukah, it's interesting to note that the Giants are one of those teams, having played the night game, albeit on the road, on Thanksgiving as well. Now, Hanukkah is not even close to a high holiday on the Jewish calendar and, from what I recall in my many years of Hebrew School, only has relative importance over a holiday like Purim or Sukkot because of its relation to Christmas on the calendar (hence presents).

So in context, the Giants happen to be playing at night during Channukkah, but it's not an issue at all, like it was when the Jets were scheduled to play at home during Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. That, to fans in the New York area, was a big deal. This game might bring out a few more Giants yarmulkes (also available in Super Bowl XLII edition)... nothing more, nothing less.

CBS
For the second-straight week, CBS has five early games to just one late, but unlike last week, viewers in nearly every market get the doubleheader. The late game is the best game of the afternoon as San Diego visits Dallas, and an opportunity for CBS to call a Dallas home game always brings Jim Nantz and Phil Simms to town.

The early slate is led by Cincinnati at Minnesota with Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf, giving CBS both the Cowboys and Favre in the same weekend. Add Peyton Manning and the undefeated Colts to the mix, as Dick Enberg and Dan Fouts call Denver at Indianapolis. Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots get Miami at Jacksonville (not exactly Miami-Florida State in terms of in-state rivalries), Ian Eagle and Rich Gannon get the Jets at Tampa Bay and Bill Macatee and Steve Beuerlein get Buffalo at Kansas City.

FOX
FOX has seven games on Sunday, and again, five of those games are in the early timeslot. FOX is sending Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to cover New Orleans at Atlanta instead of Carolina at New England, which goes to Kenny, Moose and Goose. Kudos to FOX for realizing that the New Orleans story is a better one than New England. Even if ESPN's Chris Berman, just last week, referred to the Patriots as a 'de-facto champions,' – this was a day after they lost to Miami, mind you – FOX clearly expects to be riding the Saints deep into the NFC playoffs, so Buck and Aikman should start to get comfortable in the Superdome booth.

In the other early games, Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick get Green Bay at Chicago, which seems to have moved the tandem up the ranks a bit on the FOX announcing hierarchy. Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan get Detroit at Baltimore while Ron Pitts and John Lynch get Seattle at Houston.

In the late games, Dick Stockton and Charles Davis get Washington at Oakland and Chris Rose and Trent Green get St. Louis at Tennessee.

National Games
We mentioned Eagles at Giants on NBC with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth. The MNF crew of Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden will call Arizona at San Francisco.

Map links and announce crew pairings courtesy of The 506.

So with Hanukah starting tonight, this was obvious. But how about a little twist to the greatest holiday song ever. Take it away, Neil ...

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.