MNF Shakeup: Theismann Out, Jaworski In [Archive] - The Orange Mane

RhymesayersDU

03-26-2007, 11:33 AM

Now who will Tony K. bash?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/sports/football/26theismann.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Theismann Dropped From Monday Night Crew
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Published: March 26, 2007

After one season as the lead analyst for “Monday Night Football” on ESPN, Joe Theismann will be dismissed and replaced by Ron Jaworski, the network is scheduled to announce today. Theismann is expected to be offered another job at the network.

Replacing Theismann with Jaworski, who is known for his ESPN studio work but not for booth analysis, means exchanging one former quarterback with another. Jaworski, 56, played for the Eagles, and Theismann, 57, played for the Redskins.

It the second change for ESPN’s on-air crew since it acquired the rights to “Monday Night.” At first, Al Michaels was to be the play-by-play announcer, but he was released from his contract before he called a game in order to join NBC. Mike Tirico then replaced Michaels, and he joined Tony Kornheiser, the Washington Post columnist and co-host of ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption,” and Theismann.

Although the first season of “Monday Night” on ESPN was its least viewed ever after 36 seasons on ABC — falling by more than four million a game — it was an unqualified success as a cable series, increasing ESPN’s viewership by 41 percent over the audience for “Sunday Night Football” in 2005.

ludo21

03-26-2007, 11:34 AM

ok now get rid of Tony K. and sign VErmeil.

RhymesayersDU

03-26-2007, 11:36 AM

ok now get rid of Tony K. and sign VErmeil.

Ew.

SureShot

03-26-2007, 11:36 AM

This news just made my morning.

Bronco_Beerslug

03-26-2007, 11:38 AM

MNF is basically only a shell of the great history it once was now, the biggest reason, moving to ESPN.

Dukes

03-26-2007, 11:40 AM

MNF is basically only a shell of the great history it once was now, the biggest reason, moving to ESPN.

Pretty much! Now drop Kornhole, and that other douche and they might actually put together a good crew. Like someone else said, get Vermiel up there.

watermock

03-26-2007, 11:40 AM

The IS a God! I would like Maguire back..its was funny when we was slightly tanked and giving crap to Joe T. Cornholio is terrible. He's good on PTI but bad in the booth. He's not even a football man.

The constant blathering "analysis" of the obvious was beyond irritating. Joe never knew when to shut the hell up. Jaws with be a tremendous upgrade.

I totally agree that Vermiel would be a good addition. They usually have only one analyst tho. Dunno why . I would prefer two analysts and one play by play guy. WTF is a "color commentator?"

HEAV

03-26-2007, 11:58 AM

I just watch the games with mute on.............

FantomForce

03-26-2007, 11:59 AM

Jaws is so much better, and he doesn't have to change his name to ryhme with a trophy either!

cabronco

03-26-2007, 11:59 AM

ok now get rid of Tony K. and sign VErmeil.

Absolutely. I think he would be a good compliment to have in the booth with Jaws. They did a couple games together last year, and I thought it was the best combo I've hear in a long while.

rugbythug

03-26-2007, 12:00 PM

vermiel was the bomb. He made the Combine fun to watch. That is a feat in and of itself. They should try more old coaches. I wonder if Jerry Glanville would be any good.

Dukes

03-26-2007, 12:01 PM

vermiel was the bomb. He made the Combine fun to watch. That is a feat in and of itself. They should try more old coaches. I wonder if Jerry Glanville would be any good.

Ugh, No. Ever see him on "Inside the NFL" on HBO back in the 90's? No Bueno!

Billy Clyde Puckett

03-26-2007, 12:17 PM

Hope they send Theezman to cover Cricket or some other sport I will never watch.

Garcia Bronco

03-26-2007, 12:18 PM

Nice....now get rid of Tirco...bring back the irish guy

Barry Ramey

03-26-2007, 12:21 PM

I would like to see Tom Jackson get a shot. I think he would be good.

That One Guy

03-26-2007, 12:27 PM

They went south on MNF when they tried to make it more entertainment and less football coverage. As has been covered a thousand times, who cares about the guy that stars on Desperate Housewives and why is he talking from my TV while a football game is on? Solve that problem and it'll be a big step in the right direction. Finding a way to blacklist the other douches from the MNF coverage would just be icing.

watermock

03-26-2007, 12:30 PM

Glanville would be like Joe T. reincarnated. He certainly would be a color guy I guess.

I honestly think Da Coach would be a decent guy. He was a TE but he seems like a defensive guy to me, at least old school. He would bring some bold statements, obviously, and probably manage to say something stupid but it would be amusing for awhile.

I think they should ban any chicken that is too scared to fly and needs a custom featherlight bus. Yes, that includes Mr. Boom, Tinactin. He looks more and more like an old fat iguana every year.

watermock

03-26-2007, 12:31 PM

Tom Jackson would be a great defensive voice to Jaws offense analysis. I remember his first few weeks, he was clumsy and nervous. Now he's very polished. Boomer really groomed him. He would be an outstanding choice and has love for the game. Cornholio sleepwalks thru games.

I agree, get rid of Tirico as well. He's adequate but hardly anything special.

crush17

03-26-2007, 12:40 PM

DAN REEVES FOR THE WIN!!

lol

-Slap-

03-26-2007, 12:44 PM

Tom Jackson would be a great defensive voice to Jaws offense analysis. I remember his first few weeks, he was clumsy and nervous. Now he's very polished. Boomer really groomed him. He would be an outstanding choice and has love for the game.

Boomer Berman comes off like a carnival barker. How the heck was he grooming anybody?

watermock

03-26-2007, 12:47 PM

I doubt you remember Jackson stammering and sweating early. Boomer has serious pull at ESPN and liked Jackson.

B-Love

03-26-2007, 01:16 PM

Maybe Joe will change the pronunciation of his last name to Themoted, since it rhymes with Demoted.

B-Love

03-26-2007, 01:19 PM

Tom Jackson called a Sunday Night Football game during its initial season in 1987.

Denver at Seattle.

Mr Unibrow joined him in the booth that night; Roy Firestone.

-Slap-

03-26-2007, 01:23 PM

They should go after Jim Nantz for play by play and bring in Artie Donovan if they feel they really need to make people laugh.

-Slap-

03-26-2007, 01:24 PM

Tom Jackson called a Sunday Night Football game during its initial season in 1987.

Denver at Seattle.

Mr Unibrow joined him in the booth that night; Roy Firestone.

Roy "I'm too hip for the medium" Firestone.

What a frigging egomaniac. Besides the uni-brow, he looks like the Joker from Batman.

cabronco

03-26-2007, 01:27 PM

Maybe Joe will change the pronunciation of his last name to Themoted, since it rhymes with Demoted.

Nice..:rofl:

bronco militia

03-26-2007, 01:28 PM

just give the gig to Jaws and Vermeil...

GonzoLays

03-26-2007, 01:31 PM

How does Jaworski go from calling nary of a games to the most prestigious gig in football broadcasting?

They got some clowns running MNF. From boomer easion to dennis miller to tony kornehiser to ron jaworkski. It's a joke.

sisterhellfyre

03-26-2007, 01:33 PM

vermiel was the bomb. He made the Combine fun to watch. That is a feat in and of itself. They should try more old coaches. I wonder if Jerry Glanville would be any good.

IIRC, Jerry G. will be busy as the head coach at Portland State next year.

Regards,
m.

(Portland, Oregon, not Maine.)

maven

03-26-2007, 01:39 PM

ok now get rid of Tony K. and sign VErmeil.

Vermeil was very good last year when he did a couple of games on MNF. tirico sucks. Brad Nessler was on the same crew as Vermeil last year. I don't know why MNF doesn't go with him. He does the college games though for ESPN. I can't remember if it was Jaws who did the MNF games last year with Nessler and Vermeil. But, they were the best crew I've heard in a long time.

Crushaholic

03-26-2007, 01:46 PM

Beerslug is right about MNF not being the same. It's amazing what a change to cable can do to perceptions. It's not an "event" anymore. It's just become the last game on the weekly schedule...

TexanBob

03-26-2007, 01:48 PM

WTF is a "color commentator?"

Originally, the term was given to the second booth announcer, usually an ex-athlete, whose role was to delve into subjects beyond the expertise of the PBP man and explain them for the average listener, thus making the broadcast more real and "life-like", i.e. adding "color" to the broadcast.

One of my black friends got upset with me once because he thought I was saying "colored commentator" (odd in that we were discussing Bill Walton at the time). He had never heard the term "color commentator" so I had to explain it.

Although the roles have blurred over the years, the PBP man's job is to tell you what happened and the Color man's job is to explain why it happened.

The Moops

03-26-2007, 01:52 PM

Havling lived in DC for 10 years I've had a number of opportunities to speak with Theismann and he's pretty nice guy. Not sure why they're making the switch. I liked the banter he had with Kornheiser since K used to write about Theismann when he played. You could sense they weren't BFs.

The thing I don't get is why John Riggins has never been given a serious gig. He does some preseason games for the Redskins and he's friggin hilarious. He also has a radio program where he's terrific.

He's a bit of a loose cannon, but that's what makes Riggo so great. The producers of these shows have no idea . . . the first thing I would do is get rid of the sideline reporters . . . what a waste.

TexanBob

03-26-2007, 01:59 PM

I actually enjoyed Sterling Sharpe in his few color roles. He brings it strong and is not afraid to blast what he sees. He sometimes makes dumb statements (which will probably be his undoing in the long run) but he doesn't come across as someone from the jock fraternity that won't speak ill of the other frat members.

Los Broncos

03-26-2007, 02:20 PM

Put our own TD in the booth.

Nuggets4

03-26-2007, 02:36 PM

They should replace the "A" team on MNF with their "B" team of Jaws, Vermeil and (I think) Nessler. Those three were phenominal when used. Unfortunately, they weren't used often.

ColoradoDarin

03-26-2007, 02:54 PM

The games with Jaws/Vermeil they really broke the game down well. During the opening MNF game (2nd of the doubleheader) I remember one play where Randy Moss was covered, then the pass was thrown and his defender left him to go to the ball. The play by play man said "Moss was OPEN" Jaws corrected him, saying. "Yeah he was open, AFTER the pass was thrown"

Get rid of Kornholio and get Vermeil.

Billy Clyde Puckett

03-26-2007, 02:56 PM

I don't know. I hold a grudge for a long time Dick for Meal still carries the stench from KC

Kaylore

03-26-2007, 03:11 PM

Kornheiser stays? That's pretty funny. They need to kill off Bryant Gumbel. Man, that guy was terrible. I also thought Deion and Faulk did a decent job when they stepped in for Vermeil after he lost his voice.

Jason in LA

03-26-2007, 03:48 PM

Kaylore

03-26-2007, 03:57 PM

I never really understood all the hate for Joe Theisman, or any other broadcaster. It never really matters to me. If it's a good game I'm watching, no matter who is announcing the game.

To me Joe was one of the better ones. Simply because he made valid points. That's all I need.

Really thinking about it, there has only been one broadcaster who I disliked. That was Randy Cross. He made points that didn't make any sense. But other than him, I can't think of any other broadcaster that I had a problem with. Even though I didn't like the guy, I never stopped watching the game because of him.

I kind of wonder, is there a single broadcaster that anybody actually likes? And why do people get so caught in the broadcaster? I don't see what the big deal is.
I agree. A lot of people around here act like one man, actually almost all those men, always ruin every game. I hear idiots sitting around me at games say stupid stuff all the time ("Put in Van PELT!"). At least the guys calling the games are articulate and the color analysts usually have something you can glean about what's going on. I don't get what the hate is all about.

bendog

03-26-2007, 04:02 PM

Vermiel and Jaws would be awesome. For all the "Dick Jokes," the guy was a player's coach.

bendog

03-26-2007, 04:05 PM

Theisman's an egomanic. He's basically an asshole. His own teammates hated him, and the guy's in the booth want to strangle him. The exception being may cornholeer, since he's an egomaniac who know **** about the game.

Brookshire and Summrall were imo the best, but alcoholism did them in.

watermock

03-26-2007, 04:39 PM

If you want things explained on a third grade level he's brilliant.

-Slap-

03-26-2007, 04:42 PM

I hate the people who don't hate bad announcers. If it wasn't for your complacency, we wouldn't have to tolerate an inferior product. Your kind sicken me. You're not fit to be around decent people.

bronco militia

03-26-2007, 04:48 PM

bendog

03-26-2007, 04:49 PM

Michael Irvin, "What, what, Fred Thomas is just standing there like he's trying to sell a dime bag. You can't play corner by standing on a corner like you're selling, yah gotta play like you're buying and get your wheels moving."

bendog

03-26-2007, 05:26 PM

Seriously, I hate Irvin, but he could bring some of the atmosphere of free fall party.

"OMG, Ulracher's got Bush wrapped like a white boy from UT spread eagle on the bars at Huntsville."

Willynowei

03-26-2007, 05:44 PM

Jaws is going to make MNF a whole lot better. For some reason, despite how great Kornheiser is in PTI, he's terrible during games. Maybe they need Wilbon there.

bendog

03-26-2007, 05:48 PM

Jaws (drawing on that telestrater thingee), "see how the free safety is cheating up, then the te motions out, and splits the safeties deep."

Michael, "yeah sort of like the opposite of my deviated septum."

Kaylore

03-26-2007, 08:46 PM

I hate the people who don't hate bad announcers. If it wasn't for your complacency, we wouldn't have to tolerate an inferior product. Your kind sicken me. You're not fit to be around decent people.

http://www.cv.nrao.edu/%7Eabridle/videoconf/control_mute.jpg
To quote captain Planet

"The power is yours!"

I don't get what the big deal is anyway. Theisman's hysterics are funny to me. I don't like Korholer, Brant Gumbel sucks, but other than that, there really aren't any that I have trouble dealing with. I think if people let an announcer have that much affect over their ability to enjoy a game then there's something wrong with them.

Wes Mantooth

03-26-2007, 08:54 PM

As much as I don't like Theisman, the Sunday night crew from a few years ago would have been perfect. Breaking up that group was a big mistake. Should have just moved them to MNF.

Wes Mantooth

03-26-2007, 09:05 PM

http://www.cv.nrao.edu/%7Eabridle/videoconf/control_mute.jpg
To quote captain Planet

"The power is yours!"

I don't get what the big deal is anyway. Theisman's hysterics are funny to me. I don't like Korholer, Brant Gumbel sucks, but other than that, there really aren't any that I have trouble dealing with. I think if people let an announcer have that much affect over their ability to enjoy a game then there's something wrong with them.

I miss McGwire telling Theisman that he is an idiot.

-Slap-

03-26-2007, 09:16 PM

The thing I don't get is why John Riggins has never been given a serious gig. He does some preseason games for the Redskins and he's friggin hilarious. He also has a radio program where he's terrific.

He's a bit of a loose cannon, but that's what makes Riggo so great. The producers of these shows have no idea.

That's pretty obvious. There are lots of football people who very entertaining personalities, but the networks force Dennis Miller and Tony Kornheiser on us "because Monday Night Football is for everybody."

I want to know who makes these decisions. Some network executive is watching HBO one night. He sees a tiny man telling overly verbose jokes and then twirling his hair and giggling girlishly when the audience reacts. By what leap of logic does he decide Joe Sixpack wants to hear this guy talk about football?

Kornheiser is an even bigger stretch. At least Miller seemed to want to learn the job and get better. Kornheiser has always considered himself above the unwashed masses who comprise most of the MNF viewership and that contempt was apparent by his woeful lack of preparation on a weekly basis.

ESPN axed the only football man in the booth. Now they're left with Corny Tony and Mogwai from Gremlins.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1/dsc7494lrzu4.jpghttp://img89.imageshack.us/img89/3561/mogwaiep9.jpg

bronco militia

03-27-2007, 09:41 AM

http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/drew/archives/drew0327toon.gif

Hogan11

03-27-2007, 09:51 AM

Bring back the Mac. Pauly with ten beers down him houses any of these guys any night of the week. Keep those feet moving...........

epicSocialism4tw

03-27-2007, 10:55 AM

From Joe "nails-on-chalkboard" Theisman to Ron "beat-me-over-the-head-with-a-frying-pan-again-please" Jaworski.

Billy Clyde Puckett

03-27-2007, 11:03 AM

http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/drew/archives/drew0327toon.gif

That's a great one!

epicSocialism4tw

03-27-2007, 11:04 AM

[QUOTE]Kornheiser is an even bigger stretch. At least Miller seemed to want to learn the job and get better. Kornheiser has always considered himself above the unwashed masses who comprise most of the MNF viewership and that contempt was apparent by his woeful lack of preparation on a weekly basis.

Kornheiser is decent on PTI, but he really made himself look unprofessional with MNF. He took the most coveted job in the broadcast sports world and tried to separate himself from it daily. Maybe he should go back to slapping ink on rags so he can reveal his cynicism without having to be accountable to his audience.

ESPN axed the only football man in the booth. Now they're left with Corny Tony and Mogwai from Gremlins.

I heard a guy on sports radio talking about that group the other night, and I thought, "Man, MNF has really become an annoyance. Those guys are all intolerable." I would rather turn it off than listen to those guys vomit their opinions from a pulpit.

It has really become a calling card of ESPiN...they are arrogant about the way they present their product.