Gruden Joins MNF

by abender20 on May 18, 2009 8:47 AM PDT in Seahawks News & Rumors

The combination of Tony Kornheiser, Mike Tirico, and Ron Jaworski did not work for Monday Night Football. It clearly wasn't Tirico's fault, as he provided the same caliber of vanilla that he can always be counted on to provide. The problem, then, was somewhere between Jaws and TK. As the MNF formula usually goes, mix one part ex-football guy with one opinionated (and potentially zany) talking head then layer in someone to take care of the administrative duties. After catching flak for an underwhelming booth last year, Jon Gruden will be taking over for Kornheiser.

Kornheiser was doomed from the start. Whoever thought it would be a grand idea to have Tony spend a solid minute or two reading directly from a script at the beginning of every broadcast was nuts. Kornheiser has always been at his best while given latitude, free to voice his opinions in the way that only Kornheiser can. His MNF stint was merely a caricature, the annoying quirks of Kornheiser distilled, bottled, and doled out shot by shot throughout the course of the game.

Jaws never really showed a tremendous interest in providing in-depth color analysis, so I imagine he'll fill the talking head role. While I can't say that the combination looks as good on paper, the end result should be better.

Tweet Comment 23 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

long overdue

…..tony does not belong in the booth and in regards to jaws, have you ever heard a guy who loves the sound of his voice more than this dude. get rid of jaws and bring in holmgren, along side gruden… what a pair!!! hey, atleast it will make listening to Tirico alot easier!

by Seahawka 12th on May 18, 2009 9:09 AM PDT reply actions

As a courtesy to those reading your comments, please utilize proper capitalization.

I don’t know if you heard Holmgren during his brief stint in front of a camera during the playoffs last year, but it wasn’t good. He may be a brilliant football mind, but he struggled to add anything of real significance. Also, he mumbles.

by abender20 on May 18, 2009 10:22 AM PDT up reply actions

Holmgren? Nay.

Similar abender20 said, Holmgren is a football introvert. It would seem that the only time he gets animated is when the men in stripes cross him. I’d rather read a book of his than have him in the booth. Truth be told, he would make MNF commentary rather dull. I love the guy, but King Walrus doesn’t belong up there.

by PRIDEin253 on May 18, 2009 11:15 AM PDT up reply actions

You can be an introvert and be good in the booth.

I think Holmgren just doesn’t have a passion for sports commentating. Hard to do a great job or get animated about something when you don’t care about talking football in laymen’s terms with a bunch of guys you don’t know well.

2010 Seahawks Mock: 1A: Eric Berry S, 1B: Ndamukong Suh DT, 2: Charles Brown OT, 4:Zac Robinson QB, 5: Stafon Johnson RB 6: Will Tukuafu DE, 7: Kerry Meier WR
Also acceptable, trade for Patrick Chung and draft Ed Wang so everyone can Wang Chung tonight.

by LantermanC on May 18, 2009 11:18 AM PDT up reply actions

3 men in the booth

is 1 too many.

by PattyB on May 18, 2009 9:25 AM PDT reply actions

It depends very much on how those three go together.

Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen do an excellent job on the basketball front. Barkley, Smith and Ernie Johnson are fantastic in the studio as a set of 3. The problems come when each guy is brought to fill a specific niche and then the broadcast is set up specifically to exploit that.

Kornheiser is great on PTI. He has a particular shtick and he and Wilbon play off of one another perfectly. MNF set Kornheiser up to do the pre-game monologue, and it was miserable. Asking someone like him to script his segments ruins what is innately good about Tony. It would be like asking Barkley to call play-by-play. If you’ve ever heard him do little play-by-play segments during highlights on Inside the NBA, it’s horrid. That’s the same failing MNF had with Dennis Miller (although to compound matters, Dennis Miller’s intended audience is polar opposite from the football audience). Context matters, and MNF hasn’t figured that out yet.

by abender20 on May 18, 2009 10:30 AM PDT up reply actions

It's weird how when people sub in for other people on ESPN shows, you come to really appreciate

the normal guys. For instance, Jim Rome’s Rome is burning is a horrible show. However, whenever someone fills in for him it is 10x worse. PTI is pretty good when it’s Skip v. Stephen A. Smith (going off of memory from 2 years ago, haven’t watched it lately), but when it’s Lebatard or Paige or some of the other guys on, I find the show to be a lot worse.

by LantermanC on May 18, 2009 10:42 AM PDT up reply actions

3 Men in Bed is 2 to many.

NEEDS MORE FREEDOM!

by Scruffy Lefty on May 18, 2009 10:56 AM PDT up reply actions

I love how I'm a admin and I've been flagged as trolling.

NEEDS MORE FREEDOM!

by Scruffy Lefty on May 18, 2009 2:47 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs

The title of 'wildcard' is too ambiguous and confusing.

What’s the difference between wildcard and corps anyways?

by LantermanC on May 18, 2009 2:57 PM PDT up reply actions

Technically I have more power.

NEEDS MORE FREEDOM!

by Scruffy Lefty on May 18, 2009 3:04 PM PDT up reply actions

Not technically. You do have more power.

We the writers do not have mod privileges, so no banning or whatever.

by abender20 on May 18, 2009 3:16 PM PDT up reply actions

Don't you talk back to me.

I’ll ban you so fast.

NEEDS MORE FREEDOM!

by Scruffy Lefty on May 18, 2009 3:30 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

2 men in the booth would be fine with me

with a special guest every week.

Maybe put in Jerry Rice or Rosenhaus or some football guy one week, one week put in Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise or something, another week put in Malcolm Gladwell or Bill Simmons.

by LantermanC on May 18, 2009 11:17 AM PDT up reply actions

An entire game with a guest would really dampen things.

While it’s fun to have Jimmy Kimmel in the booth for 5 minutes, the people calling the game need to build a good understanding of how the other person thinks and works so that they can play to the strengths of the other person. Trying to do so with a new person in the booth each week would prevent that.

by abender20 on May 18, 2009 11:37 AM PDT up reply actions

I suppose.

Like I said, I don’t really listen to the commentators anyways. So if it were Kimmel and Carolla cracking jokes the whole time, Id’ enjoy that more, since it would be like listening to a radio show while watching football for me.

by LantermanC on May 18, 2009 11:44 AM PDT up reply actions

Of topic, just placed a bet on the Seahawks to win the NFC championship at 20-1. Only teams that had worse odds were the 35-1 Rams and the 60-1 Lions. Cardinals were 6-1 and the Niners were 12-1.This is so wrong.

by blackvanilla on May 18, 2009 9:48 AM PDT reply actions