Thanks to NBC Sports' public relations website, we have the announcing teams for the sports which you will see from Sochi starting next month. We have sports from curling to hockey to speed skating all listed here. Some of the names might be familiar to you. Others may be totally foreign. We'll do our best to introduce everyone to you.

The names are listed below:

2014 NBCUNIVERSAL OLYMPICS ON-AIR TALENT LINEUP

HOSTS

NBC

Lester Holt (Daytime)
Bob Costas (Primetime & Late Night)
Al Michaels (Weekend Daytime)
Matt Lauer & Meredith Viera (Opening Ceremony)

Awful Announcing's take: Lester Holt is actually an Olympic veteran having been a host for MSNBC during the 2004 Athens Games and a SportsDesk reporter starting in 2006 in Turin. Costas has been hosting the Olympics dating back to 1988 in Seoul, South Korea and Michaels got his big break when he called the Miracle on Ice in 1980.

The big surprise is the return of Viera this year. She and Lauer were widely criticized for their poor performance during the London Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2012. 

NBCSN

Rebecca Lowe (Daytime)
Al Michaels (Afternoon)
Dan Patrick (Daytime)

Awful Announcing's Take: It appears Rebecca Lowe has the slot that would have gone to Michelle Beadle. Lowe, who has been a wonderful host on NBCSN's English Premier League coverage, should do well on her first Olympic assignment.

Dan Patrick will be on his third Olympic assignment for NBC and second Winter Games.

CORRESPONDENTS & SPORTSDESK REPORTERS

OLYMPIC CORRESPONDENTS

Ato Boldon
Mary Carillo
Cris Collinsworth
Vladimir Pozner
Maria Sharapova

Awful Announcing's Take: Old school readers may remember Pozner's appearances on Nightline representing the old Soviet Union's point of view. This will be Boldon's first Winter Olympics assignment. Collinsworth is back on the Olympics after taking London off. Carillo's features can be hit or miss. The wild card will be Sharapova who will working in front of the camera for the first time.

SPORTSDESK REPORTERS

Tanith Belbin
Richard Engel
Willie Geist
Stephanie Gosk
Nastia Liukin
Sal Masekela
Dr. Nancy Snyderman
Brian Shactman

Awful Announcing's Take: Engel, Gosk and Dr. Snyderman come over from NBC News to report on any breaking news. Belbin is a former Olympic ice dancer. Liukin comes over from the gymnastics field. We already know about Sal's battle with Bob Costas

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR

David Remnick (Opening Ceremony Contributor & Commentator)

Awful Announcing's Take: Remnick is a former Moscow bureau chief for the Washington Post and current editor of The New Yorker. His experiences living in Russia will be utilized not only during the Opening Ceremony but throughout the Games. 

FEATURES REPORTER

Jimmy Roberts

Awful Announcing's Take: A multiple Emmy Award-winner, Roberts will be on his 15th Olympics. A talented writer and essayist, Roberts will provide his unique analysis on the events of the Sochi Games.

ALPINE SKIING

Play-by-Play: Dan Hicks
Analysts: Todd Brooker, Christin Cooper

Awful Announcing's Take: Brooker and Cooper return. Dan Hicks replaces the venerable Tim Ryan on the mountain moving over from Long Track Speed Skating.

BIATHLON

Play-by-Play: Steve Schlanger
Analysts: Chad Salmela, Stacey Wooley
Reporter: Alex Flanagan

Awful Announcing's Take: Schlanger called multiple Olympics sports for NBC in London. He concentrates on one sport in Sochi. Salmela will analyze three sports in Sochi. Alex Flanagan will be at her third Olympics for NBC in Sochi. 

BOBSLED/LUGE/SKELETON

Play-by-Play: Leigh Diffey
Analysts: Duncan Kennedy (Luge), John Morgan (Bobsled), Bree Schaaf (Skeleton)
Reporter: Lewis Johnson

Awful Announcing's Take: Diffey comes over from NBCSN's Formula 1 and IndyCar coverage to call the frozen track sports of the Winter Olympics.

Morgan has been on every Winter Olympics since 1984 in Sarajevo on ABC. He's one of three people on this on-air staff to have worked on the Olympics for ABC, CBS and NBC. 

Kennedy will be on his fourth Olympics assignment for NBC.

Schaaf makes her NBC Olympics debut after competing in Vancouver in 2010. 

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING

Play-by-Play: Al Trautwig
Analyst: Chad Samela
Reporter: Alex Flanagan

Awful Announcing's Take: Al Trautwig is an Olympic veteran who will be on his 15th Games and 10th for NBC. Luckily for 2014 viewers, Trautwig will not have any crying Russian gymnasts to obsess over as he did in London in 2012. 

CURLING

Host: Fred Roggin
Play-by-Play: Andrew Catalon, Jason Knapp
Analysts: John Benton, Pete Fenson
Reporter: Trenni Kusnierek

Awful Announcing's Take: Curling became the darling of the 2010 Olympics and should be again in 2014. Andrew Catalon should do his usual bang-up job as he did back in Vancouver on curling. He'll share play-by-play duties with Jason Knapp. 

Benton and Fenson both make their Olympic broadcasting debuts after competing in Vancouver. 

Roggin who is the sports anchor for KNBC in Los Angeles is back to host to curling for the fourth straight Olympics for the Peacock. 

This will be the first Olympics assignment for Trenni Kusnierek, formerly of MLB Network and currently of Comcast SportsNet New England. 

FIGURE SKATING

Play-by-Play: Terry Gannon, Tom Hammond
Analysts: Sandra Bezic, Scott Hamilton, Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir, Tracy Wilson
Reporter: Andrea Joyce

Awful Announcing's Take: Hammond, Bezic, Hamilton, Wilson and Joyce will be back to call figure skating and they'll be seen on NBC's primetime coverage where the network will provide features and expanded coverage of the events from earlier in the day. 

Gannon, Lipinski and Weir will call the figure skating live on NBCSN during the morning coverage. 

FREESTYLE SKIING

Play-by-Play: Matt Vasgersian
Analysts: Jonny Moseley, Luke Van Valin
Reporter: Carolyn Manno

Awful Announcing's Take: This will be the third consecutive Winter Olympics for MLB Network host Vasgersian. He called ski jumping in 2006 and 2010. He gets a different sport in Sochi.

Moseley will be on his second Olympics for NBC. Van Valin is seen on NBC/NBCSN's coverage of the Winter Dew Tour.

Manno, a co-host of NBCSN's Sports Dash with Yahoo! Sports, in on her second consecutive Olympics assignment for the Peacock after making her debut in London. 

HOCKEY

Hosts: Liam McHugh, Kathryn Tappen
Play-by-Play: Kenny Albert, Mike Emrick, Dave Strader
Game Analysts: Brian Engblom, Pierre McGuire, Ed Olcyzk, Natalie Darwitz (women's), A.J. Mleczko (women's)
Studio Analysts: Keith Jones, Mike Milbury, Jeremy Roenick

Awful Announcing's Take: NBC utilizes its well-known and venerable NHL on NBC crew for men's hockey. Mike Emrick, Eddie Olcyzk and Pierre McGuire are familiar to hockey fans and will be on their second consecutive Winter Olympics as an announcing team. Emrick will also call women's games as he did in Vancouver. This will be Doc's 7th Winter Olympics assignment.

Liam McHugh will be the main host for hockey. And, as first reported by our Steve Lepore, Kathryn Tappen comes over from NHL Network where she has done very good work as host of NHL Tonight.

On the women's side, A.J. Mleczko will be the main analyst and she'll be on her third Olympics for NBC. She'll be joined by Darwitz who is making her broadcasting debut. One negative of Mleczko, she has a tendency to talk over her partner and that can get old very fast. 

NORDIC COMBINED

Play-by-Play: Bob Papa, Al Trautwig
Analysts: Jeff Hastings, Chad Samela
Reporter: Randy Moss

Awful Announcing's Take: This will be the combination of Cross Country Skiing and Ski Jumping utilizing the announcers assigned to their respective sports. 

SKI JUMPING

Play-by-Play: Bob Papa
Analyst: Jeff Hastings
Reporter: Randy Moss

Awful Announcing's Take: Papa, the Voice of the New York Football Giants, returns for his 10th Olympics assignment for NBC. He'll handle ski jumping for the first time after being on Bobsled, Luge and Skeleton in 2006 and 2010.

Hastings will work his 8th consecutive Winter Olympics on television dating back to 1988 in Calgary when he began with ABC, 

Moss, not be confused with the former wide receiver who's currently working for Fox, has worked on several sports for NBC, most notably horse racing, and can be seen on NFL Network. 

SNOWBOARDING

Play-by-Play: Todd Harris
Analyst: Todd Richards
Reporter: Tina Dixon

Awful Announcing's Take: This should be the crew that has worked the Winter Dew Tour for NBC/NBCSN. It'll be Olympics #6 for Harris.

SPEED SKATING (LONG TRACK)

Play-by-Play: Ted Robinson
Analyst: Dan Jansen
Reporter: Steve Sands

Awful Announcing's Take: Robinson has been the Voice of Short Track Speedskating dating back to 1998 on CBS and moves to the long track taking over for Dan Hicks. This will be the 9th Olympics assignment for Robinson who also calls tennis for NBC and is the radio voice of the San Francisco 49ers. 

Jansen who won the gold medal in the 1,000 meters in 1994 will be on his fifth consecutive Winter Olympics as Speed Skating analyst. 

SPEED SKATING (SHORT TRACK)

Play-by-Play: Terry Gannon
Analyst: Apolo Anton Ohno
Reporter: Andrea Joyce

Awful Announcing's Take: Gannon will be on his second sport for Sochi on Short Track Speedskating. Apolo Anton Ohno, the most decorated Winter Olympian in history makes his analyst debut in Sochi. He worked for NBC in London as a SportsDesk reporter.

So there you have our takes on who will be working the Olympics for the networks of NBCUniversal next month. 

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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