Robert L. Papa (born September 19, 1964) is an American sportscaster who is currently the radio play-by-play voice for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Papa also is the lead broadcaster for PGA Tour Champions events on Golf Channel and has been the blow-by-blow announcer on many professional boxing telecasts, notably for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

and for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

’s '' Boxing After Dark'' series.

Biography

Early life

Papa grew up in Dumont, New Jersey, and graduated from Bergen Catholic High School in nearby Oradell. He graduated from

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

in 1986. He is not related to the San Francisco 49ers broadcaster (and former long-time Oakland Raiders radio voice) Greg Papa.

Career

New York Giants (1988–present)

He is best known as the radio

play-by-play In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

voice of the

, a position he has held since he replaced Jim Gordon prior to the

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

season. He announces all 17 regular season games and all postseason games on the radio, and all of the team's pre-season games for

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey� ...

in New York City and simulcast across the state. During his time with the Giants, he has called the team's victories in Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI, as well as their loss to the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

Super Bowl XXXV Super Bowl XXXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2000 Baltimore Ravens season, Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2000 New York Giants season, New York Giant ...

. From 1988 to

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, he worked on the Giants' pregame and postgame shows on the radio. His work with the Giants also includes his role as host of the

YES Network The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises (the largest shareholder with 26%), Main Street Sports Group (which owns 20%), Amazon (which owns 15% ...

's ''Giants Training Camp Report'', and ''Giants Access Blue'', ''Giants Chronicles'', and ''Giants Online''.

Other work

Additionally, Papa was the voice of Thursday Night Football on

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League NTP and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...

until 2010. He files pregame and postgame reports from

games on Sundays for NFL GameDay Morning and contributes to NFL.com with columns, chats and reports. He works for the Golf Channel during the NFL off-season. In addition, he was added as a member for Golf Channel and has called boxing for

, SportsChannel America,

, NBC, and Versus. Papa called the infamous November 23,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, match between James Butler and Richard Grant on '' Friday Night Fights''. At fight's end, after Grant had been declared the winner, Butler sucker-punched Grant, breaking his jaw. Both Papa and his

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

, Teddy Atlas, loudly called for both Butler's arrest, and permanent suspension from boxing. Butler later pleaded guilty to the slaying of artist/writer Sam Kellerman. Papa was the radio voice for the

New Jersey Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

on WOR for several years in the mid-1990s after Ian Eagle was promoted to television. From

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

– 92, he was the studio host for NHL on SportsChannel America.

Denis Potvin Denis Charles Potvin (born October 29, 1953) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman and Captain (ice hockey), team captain for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is a four-time Stanley Cup winner as a ...

was his analyst. From 2008 to 2010, he did play-by-play on NFL games that took place on

before being replaced by Brad Nessler. Papa currently hosts "Airing It Out," along with various co-hosts, on

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

NFL Radio.

Olympics

A graduate of

, Papa, along with two more alumni, participated in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

held in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. Papa worked on NBC's coverage of the Olympics since

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, as he covered boxing at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. In 2002, he covered

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

and

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

. In 2010, he covered

luge A luge () is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds Supine position, supine (face-up) and feet-first. A luger begins seated, propelling themselves initially from handles on either side of the start ramp, then steers by using the Ca ...

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

, and

bobsled Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobs ...

. He served as the play by play announcer for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

coverage of

Boxing at the 2008 Summer Olympics The boxing program of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China, China was held at the Workers Indoor Arena. Medals were awarded in eleven events, with each event corresponding to a recognized weight division of male boxers ...

. He called Rugby at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Personal life

Papa has four sons: Christopher, Will, Nicholas, and Max.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Papa, Bob 1964 births Living people American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers American golf commentators Arena football announcers Bergen Catholic High School alumni American boxing commentators College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Curling broadcasters Gabelli School of Business alumni NBA broadcasters NFL announcers National Hockey League broadcasters NFL Europe broadcasters NFL Network people New York Giants announcers New Jersey Nets announcers People from Dumont, New Jersey Olympic Games broadcasters WFUV people