I have watched MNF since its inception. It has always been about Entertainment and not Sport. I accept that. The Cosell days were all about "what will he say?" and driven by the public's mixed emotions about him. In other words...being a draw was about the audience both LIKING and HATING him. Unfortunately those were the GOLDEN DAYS> Lets bypass the rest of the ABC years(sorry, but this post is about the junk we get now) and jump to the present. I am appalled at the quality of the coverage....the mindless talking over important plays...the use of the show to promote moronic games shows and enterprises....the stupidity of the announcers(fill in which ones)...and lack of focus of the coverage....why is the best part of this show now the Half-time reports?...I'd love to hear how we feel about this degradation of a tradition. And what is the future for this once major event? .
I couldn't agree more. Just horrible coverage on multiple levels. The poor announcing/"analysis" deserves its own thread...awful.
MNF blew it. The punt Jackson got hurt, my wife saw a Jet get punched in the facemask, I missed it but MNF interviews 2 tennis players when we should see a replay.WTF? And then Haar throws what could be a backwards pass and we see an ESPN update and no replay from anyone in the booth. I need to see these plays on replay.
I was never a big fan of the MNF "experience" - in the early years I hated Cosell with a passion, and Dandy Don Meredith was an idiot. By the time Madden got to MNF he was already a caricature of himself. Thus, I don't think that there was ever such a "golden age" for it, other than the actual idea of a game in primetime, something that was truly radical in 1970. Having said that, there is no doubt that the announcers for MNF now are pathetically horrible. The Kornheiser experiment has been a complete failure, and the way he flip flops, it seems that Theisman is incapable of remembering what he said 5 minutes earlier.
These MNF broadcasts are pitiful. ESPN is missing the boat. These broadcasts are aimed at the casual fan with all the celebrity interveiw nonsense and the lack of analysis and focus on the game. The only problem is that the casual fan is not putting ESPN on TV on Monday Nights. It was so bad tonight, I put the Jet radio broadcast on (WABC was not delayed and behind the DIRECTV broadcast). It was well worth it.
right on. It sounds like Kornheiser still thinks hes on PTI on MNF. One of the guys is losing hair bad. It just stinked and the interviews were horrible. They need somebody to solidify MNF and make it happen. Steve Young I think is the best guy they have.
Anyone remember tonight when Leon had his first decent punt return to the Fish 45? There was a penalty marker on the field, so what does ESPN do? Cut to the booth camera with Theisman going on an epic 2 minute monologue about Joey fucking Harrington. They didn't check the penalty or even show the ref doing the hand signals. All of a sudden the Jets were on their own 35 with only a slight mention of a "panalty on the Jets" by Tirico. WTF ESPN?
Exactly what im talking about.....what a pitiful excuse for a sports coverage program...and people watch it?.....I went to the radio as well....I just cannot accept the downhill slide that is ESPN...take yer profits boys...cause you don't generate anything else.
At least Kornheiser challenges Theismann every now and then. Here is the problem and its not only on Espn. The broadcast guys have decided that the broadcast MUST cater to the lowest common denominator. Meaning, even though, most people watching an Xmas night game on Espn are sports fans -- they try very hard to not talk "football." Football teams have one coach for every two players. There are overhead cameras, fax machines and digital printers on sidelines; headphones, computers printouts etc -- yet -- the announcers will never teach anything. NOT A THING. Once, I heard an interview after the game with a QB. They asked what was that last play -- he explained it totally in Football Speak and, someone (maybe Simms or Esiason, if thats possible) had to explain what he said and why and it was great. You have former coaches and players in the booth and they do not even try to explain the game from an insiders perspective. Very frustrating.
I pretty much agree with you, but I do think that it varies from crew to crew and even more from context to context. MNF set the tone in 1970 when they went with Cosell and Meredith - that primetime football was going to be about entertainment, not sports. That has never changed, and eventually moved over to the Sunday night game on ESPN (now Monday, of course). I think you do hear some expert commentary on a Sunday 1 PM game, but you're not going to hear any in prime time, unfortunately.
Very little -- even at 1 oclock. I mean the game is so complicated that youd think someone would try. I know a lot of people hate Tim McCarver. Im not one of them. He showed that you can broadcast games with intelligence and show the "game within the game." When he did Met games in the 80's I learned more about the game from him actually taking the time to explain it. Glanville used to do it a bit -- and they told him to stop -- and he just became a buffoon -- trying to be a Southern Madden. (I found out on Sunday that hes with June Jones in Hawaii -- didnt know that).
Mike Tirico is better at play-by-play than I thought he'd be, but Theismann and Kornheiser are just atrocious. Joe knows that he's the only football guy on the entire broadcast, so I think he thinks that, if he suddenly stops talking, we'll confuse him with all the other non-football people. He just doesn't shut up. Kornheiser adds nothing at all. I'd really like to see ESPN somehow steal Gary Danielson - who I think is the best color guy going - from SEC college broadcasts, and then have the third guy be left open. This idea of having each third be a one-year experiment has been unproductive. Maybe they can even change it up each week. Like a guest host, almost. If someone strikes a nice chord, THEN keep him. Of course, none of that will happen.
