Monday Night Football: Theisman Out Part II
Posted March 26th, 2007 by George Thomas
By now it's all over the Internet that ESPN punted Joe Theisman from the Monday Night Football booth in favor of Ron Jaworski. The question I have: why now?
This is a move that would have been better off made when ESPN assumed ownership of television's top sports franchise. After all, ESPN moved Theisman's broadcast partners Mike Patrick and Paul Maguire out when they essentially switched nights and TV contracts a couple of years back.
Hiring Mike Tirico for MNF was a no-brainer. He's intelligent, well-versed in an endless number of sports and generally classy. It was bold hiring Pardon the Interruption and the Washington Post's Tony Kornheiser. They missed an opportunity to brand MNF as their own initially.
Was Theisman knowledgeable? He certainly was. And Lord knows he didn't lack for opinions. But what was once attractive isn't any longer. Part of the dilemma with Theisman is that you know you're going to get those opinions and they were often in your face, completely lacking subtlety. It didn't hurt that it often seemed that you risked his consternation in the booth if you disagreed with what he had to say.
Norby Williamson, a suit at ESPN, said that they want to find a prominent place in ESPN football coverage for Theisman. He'd fit in perfectly on Sunday NFL Countdown, a show that welcomes bold, brash opinions. Goodness knows Chris Berman put up with Michael Irvin long enough.
Will Jaworski work out? Who knows for sure. What I do know from watching him on NFL Matchup is that he has an uncanny ability to breakdown plays so that Joe or Jane Average football fan could understand them and he does so in a way that isn't condescending.
April 5th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
I never liked Theisman much as a commentator. His head is to far up the player's a**es and he never, ever, EVER admits when he's wrong about a play call or strategy or anything.
I Love Jaws and although he swears he's not going to be just X's and O's, I hope he realizes that many of us actually like to learn about The Game while we watch, and he's damn good at breaking it down real simple-like for us non-playing mouthbreathers.
But it wouldn't matter if it were Jaws, Theisman or Eric Dickerson(ha, remember that?!) as long as they keep traipsing dipsh**s like Christian Slater in the booth to spend 10 excruciatingly pointless minutes promoting his latest chunk of crap it's going to lower the quality of the show and The Game.