County Louth man Tommy Smyth is famous for his soccer commentaries on ESPN but last year made a dramatic switch in sports.
According to The Journal.ie back in November 2017, “Along with Derek Rae, he is the co-commentator on the ‘UK English’ feed for 11 Thursday night games this season on Amazon Prime. The Seattle-based organization paid $50 million to win the broadcast rights from Twitter.”
His NFL Thursday night broadcasts were carried worldwide. A former New York City St. Patrick’s Parade Grand Marshal, Smyth has a unique Irish accent that endears him to fans.
“I didn’t believe it at first,” he said about getting the call.
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OK, Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth broadcasting the NFL is enough to get me to pay attention. This should be a regular thing.
— Jeff Holland (@jholland444) October 20, 2017
“I thought it was one of my friends joking. But I was delighted to be asked.
“I’ve followed the NFL quite closely for years but I’ve still to do a lot of studying before each game because the fans won’t appreciate it if you get any statistics wrong.
“But I enjoy it.”
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Some of you are really missing Tommy Smyth as the color analyst for an NFL game
— B Derby-U P (@FIA_Derby) September 29, 2017
Smyth also has a daily two-hour show at Sirius XM — The Grumpy Pundits with football legend Rodney Marsh — but he has one great desire left in sport, a special game he wants to call.
“Without a doubt, the All-Ireland final,” he says.
“And Louth don’t even have to win it.”
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