The announcing duo of Hannah Storm and Andrea Kremer did their job and did it well on "Thursday Night Football." I just wish Amazon hadn't dropped the ball on its end.
What should have been a history-making TV night — as two women called an NFL game for the first time — was unfortunately marred by Amazon's unforced errors.
For one thing, many football fans curious to watch ESPN's Storm and NFL Network's Kramer call the Rams' 38-31 win couldn't find it.
WEEK 4 PICKS: Straight up | Against the spread
Amazon Prime Video customers were greeted Thursday night with Fox Sports' game telecast with Troy Aikman and Joe Buck. If they wanted Storm and Kremer, they had to adjust their audio settings and select the exclusive Storm-Kremer audio feed.
It wasn't an insurmountable challenge. But was clunky and Amazon could have made it a lot easier.
1st thoughts about Kremer-Storm broadcast 1) Can Amazon make it any harder to find? 2) Why aren't they offered as the main event instead of a token option? 3) Holy shit, listen to them, my heart is singing.
— Melissa Jacobs (@thefootballgirl) September 28, 2018
Some viewers were so frustrated by the online scavenger hunt that they gave up and turned back to the TV broadcast.
Among them was Peter King of NBC Sports, the dean of NFL writers, who tweeted: "Just spent 10 minutes, after having signed up for Amazon Prime, trying to find a way to watch Storm/Kremer tonight. Gave up. Waaaay too complicated. Turned back to Fox."
With help from a friend, King tweeted he eventually found it. But if the blogging pioneer behind the "Monday Morning Quarterback" column had trouble finding Storm-Kremer, image the problems experienced by less technically-savvy fans. As King tweeted: "Amazon’s paying the NFL a lot of money to make people go hide-and-seek to find their telecast."
Not easy to find the Kremer-Storm broadcast but once you load up the game on Amazon Prime, look here. pic.twitter.com/hiq13gDTQ5
— Melissa Jacobs (@thefootballgirl) September 28, 2018
Once I did get their feed, I enjoyed listening to Storm and Kremer do their stuff. I thought Kremer was the stronger of the two. Storm seemed a little uncertain on a few big play-by-play calls. It shouldn't have been a big surprise to anybody that they pulled it off. Both have covered the NFL for decades. They're two of the top sports TV journalists in the field. They proved it again Thursday night.
But the technical difficulties continued to hurt the viewing experience at home.
MORE: Vikings-Rams, blow by blow, as it unfolded
My game stream repeatedly froze or skipped. One second it was clear as a bell. The next, it was stuttering.
At another point, the feed suddenly switched back to Aikman and Buck from Storm and Kremer. I thought I hit a wrong button. Instead, it was a glitch.
It was too bad because the Rams-Vikings shootout was exactly the kind of exciting barn-burner that "Thursday Night Football" needs to draw viewers.
Just spent 10 minutes, after having signed up for Amazon Prime, trying to find a way to watch Storm/Kremer tonight. Gave up. Waaaay too complicated. Turned back to Fox.
— Peter King (@peter_king) September 28, 2018
Unlike Buck and Aikman, Storm and Kremer were not at the LA Memorial Coliseum. Instead, they called the game remotely from a studio on the East Coast. Sorry, that's not good enough. You didn't see them on the screen.
If Amazon was going to go to the expense of hiring two heavy hitters like Storm and Kremer, why not give us a video feed too? Why not show them calling the game instead of streaming a TV/radio hybrid.
Still, this was just Week 1. Amazon has time to make changes during the 2018 season.
But still we're talking about the second company after Apple to achieve a market cap of $1 trillion, according to CNBC, and with a founder, Jeff Bezos, who's incidentally the world's richest man.
Found it, @bylindsayhjones. Appreciate your help.
— Peter King (@peter_king) September 28, 2018
Amazon’s paying the NFL a lot of money to make people go hide-and-seek to find their telecast.
Here's the bottom line: If Amazon really wants to make an impact, it should pay for Storm and Kremer to travel to each site and call the games in person. Just like Aikman and Buck. The company can certainly afford it.
Watching Amazon's live stream of Rams-Vikings stutter-step Thursday also reminded us that there's another technology that long ago mastered how to show a pro football game.
It's called television.
