The NY Times and Newsday are both reporting that Joe Thiesmann is out of the booth for ESPN's MNF telecasts. Speculation is that he'll be replaced by Jaws, Parcells, or perhaps even Emmitt Smith, all ESPN employees.
Can't we just please have the Patrick-Maguire-Thiesmann booth back? Why did everything have to change once ESPN ponied up for MNF?
And if it is a Tirico-Jaws-Kornheiser booth, I think ESPN should have just canned the whole trio and gone with Trey Wingo-Merrill Hoge-Jaws. Quit sissifying football coverage and let the three of them do what they do. Trey is a great moderator with a live television pedigree from Sportscenter. Merrill Hoge is very credible on player personnel issues and knows a lot of people around the league. Jaws is considered the best real-time analyst by anyone who ever watched a game with him. I'm sick of all the ESPN/ABC gimmicks.
Here are the lineups ESPN and the Disney family rejected:
1) Roy Firestone - Jim Rome - Steven A. Smith (The game will be the backdrop to their lively discussions on Orenthal)
2) Barbara Walters - Meredith Viera - Rosie O'Donnell - Elisabeth Hasselbeck - Joy Behar (It's in the ABC/ESPN family and Hasselbeck must have learned something about football....from Survivor. Plus, if a three-man booth is better than a two-man booth, a FIVE-women booth must be best! As Colby, also of Survivor fame, put it in his commercial, "Where does it stop? HERE! Five blades!")
3) Stat Boy - Woody Paige - J.A. Adande (Commentators get few facts straight so we might as well have a booth intended to get every detail wrong. Adande is just there to cringe.)
4) Sean Salisbury - John Clayton (This wouldn't be so bad except Clayton would get sick of being immasculated by Salisbury. Plus, why fire one horrible QB just to hire another?)
5) Charlie Steiner (Charlie is like cowbell. You really can never have too much and yet you really have to search to find any.)
6) Kornheiser - Wilbon - (Norman Chad/Dan LeBatard) (I figure Chad and LeBatard can platoon depending on whether or not the game is expected to be any good. Obviously Chad gets the stinkers and LeBatard gets the important games as well as any game in which he might be able to induce a player into admitting that he "hates gays", or wishes they didn't exist, or something to that effect.
March 26, 2007
Thiesmann Out of ESPN MNF Booth
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Barbara Walters could be the sideline reporter. If she gets Tom Coughlin, Mike Holmgren, AND Albert Haynesworth to cry during games she's automatically promoted to Undersecretary of State for Hostage Negotiations. Hey, Jimmy Carter and Jesse Jackson are going to die eventually.
I think this can only be a good development. I'm still hopeful that Kornheiser will find his stride and be as funny on MNF as he is on PTI.
Jaws seems like a good fit. I've never seen a game with him doing color, but I've heard only good things. I'm interested to see how he does without having a lot of time to really break down the plays. If Jaws does get the job, ESPN needs to make sure that they have the full-field coaches film view available on the telestrator for the whole game.
As much as I'd like to see Tirico-Jaws-TK, if ESPN doesn't offer Chris Collinsworth an absurd amount of money to take the job, they're insane.
Parcells or Emmitt would be terrible.
Also, check out Awful Announcing's take on the issue.
Jaws is good. That is all.
It's officially Jaws.
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