With Gus Johnson announcing tonight's Florida-BYU game, The Law of Gus is in effect.
What is incredible about Gus, at least from the perspective of someone who once did play-by-play, is how many of his calls we remember. It's not just getting a great game to call or a dramatic moment, it's the announcer conveying what he is feeling live. Unlike radio, TV announcers have to worry more about transferring the emotions of the game, rather than describing the action. Johnson is aware of this, choosing to call games like you would have. He has become so beloved for this, television historian Robert Thompson compared him to Walter Cronkite.
The ability to call a game like Johnson does is rare. For all the talk about how bombastic he is, Johnson is no different than Vin Scully or Verne Lundquist. Part of remembering Bill Buckner's error in the 1986 World Series is Scully's description of every detail that a fan on television might miss. Verne Lundquist, who we better know as the gregarious voice of the SEC on CBS, has two of the most memorable calls in golf history; Jack Nicklaus' birdie at 17 in the final round of the 1986 Masters and Tiger Woods' chip-in at 16 in the final round of the 2005 Masters. Their calls are no different from Johnson in that they made you feel like you were there, with the added bonus of a play-by-play call people at the event missed.
Of course, I can't imagine Scully or Verne having some of their best clips made into a soundboard or laid over a mix tape.