Jaws

Re: SHUT UP KORNHEISER

You guys are all crazy. Mr. Tony is the only reason I make sure the game is on my TV on Mondays after a weekend of covering DI and a Sunday watching NFL all day.

If the one... or maybe two... mentions of his fantasy team during the 3-plus hour broadcast is enough for you to ignore everything else he brings to the broadcast, you guys are being as shortsighted as the soccer mom who calls in asking why we didn't mention her son had an assist in the 10-0 soccer match last week.

The fantasy thing doesn't bother me... it cracks me up half the time, but I can understand its frustration for many. But to say Vermeil would do better... or pairing up Jaws with Theisman in the booth would be better... thats ridiculous. Jaws instead of Theisman I'd like, but I like a 3-man booth without two jocks or coaches. I think Kornheiser's presence is the perfect touch that no other broadcast team has -- a non ex-jock or ex-coach who offers a critical, yet underappreciated knowlegde of the game. He gives what Theisman can't as an ex-jock and what Tirico can't as the down-the-middle, straight forward play-by-play guy.

Also, millions of the viewers aren't sports editors or reporters like us and are far less knowledgeable about the game than Kornheiser and probably appreciate the way he asks Theisman to explain the jock-speak that most broadcast teams let slip by assuming the public knows what they mean all the time.

I say, long live Mr. Tony!

 

Re: SHUT UP KORNHEISER

No, no, no, you got my dream booth all wrong. No Theesman. Just Nessler, Vermeil and Jaws.

To some extent, Tony K. "gives what Theisman can't as an ex-jock and what Tirico can't as the down-the-middle, straight forward play-by-play guy." But you could say the same about Dennis Miller, and we saw how that turned out. Tony K. is OK at times, intolerable at others (screaming about his fantasy team or claiming he doesn't know this player, when it's his job to know it). Personally, I like him best as an antagonist to Theesman.

What might be great in doses might not necessarily be great during a four-hour broadcast.

 

Re: SHUT UP KORNHEISER

I love his antagonist role with Theisman. And I also know I'm partial to Kornheiser more so than a lot of people as I play the part of the angry sportswriter, often for no good reason like Tony.

I do like Jaws though, just thought you meant one of those three in the booth instead of Tony. I like Dennis Miller, too, just not in the booth.

 

Re: SHUT UP KORNHEISER

Trust me: there's little else more boring on Planet Earth than hearing someone nattering on
endlessly about their fantasy league(s).

Yawnnnnnnn . . . zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz . .

 

Re: SHUT UP KORNHEISER

agreed, but i'd hardly say Kornheiser's customary 1 comment every broadcast hardly qualifies as "nattering on
endlessly"

 

Re: SHUT UP KORNHEISER

Add in the fantasy football comment on PTI here and there, plus maybe in the pregame ... yeah, it gets old quick.

 

Re: SHUT UP KORNHEISER

A couple of responses here if I may:


Someone suggested I am Mr. Tony. I'm not. That's my real name and not a screen name up there.

Someone said that my advice for "hitting the MUTE button" has been offered here more than a few times. Certainly true, but it seems as if more than a couple of folks haven't gotten that memo yet.

Someone suggested that the games drive the ratings and not the announcing crew. I couldn't agree more. But that's not the way the suits at ESPN/Disney evaluate ratings. The MNF ratings have been extremely positive from ESPN's point of view and so everyone associated with getting those games on the air - and bringing in those numbers - gets credit for it. Ratings drive television and as long as lots of people tune in, the announcing crew ain't gonna change.

Remember that Howard Cosell was once voted the best liked and worst liked person in the sports media in the same year. ABC didn't fire Cosell because people hated him - and some people hated him in spades - because lots of those haters tuned in so they could continue to complain about Cosell.

If I could wave a magic wand, I'd replace Theismann in that booth with someone who had a slightly broader "world-view" so that the guys could chat about other things when the game in front of them is "over" before the final gun goes off. But that's me and I don't have a magic wand. Even if I did, someone here would not like my choice to replace Joe Theismann and would yearn for the days when Fred "The Hammer" Williamson was on the air.

 

Re: SHUT UP KORNHEISER

Somebody up there must feel sorry for Theesman.

He should be working high school games in Kansas.

 

Re: SHUT UP KORNHEISER

No, he shouldn't. High school games in Kansas deserve better than that.

 

Re: SHUT UP KORNHEISER

No offense, of course.

Interchange any midwest outpost for Jayhawkland.

 

Re: SHUT UP KORNHEISER

Those of you defending Kornheiser kind of take some of the starch out of your arguments when you fawningly call him "Mr. Tony". It reads like you're a bunch of fanboy loosers.

The name is Kornheiser, Tony. And right now, I have no doubt he's ignoring anything in depth on the Ravens and Broncos to come up with master of the obvious talking points on Brian Billick, Steve McNair, Ray Lewis and Mike Shanahan.

 

Re: SHUT UP KORNHEISER

People hated Cosell. And loved to hate Cosell.

Except for the apparent fantasy shit, Kornheiser is almost invisible. There is no "there" there. I don't hate him. If there wouldn't have been so much hype, I'd be hard pressed to even know he's in the booth. The Cosell comparison is ridiculous.