Apparently, ESPN has decided to remove Joe Theismann from Monday Night Football for the 2007 season.
The former Washington Redskins quarterback began working as an NFL commentator for ESPN on Sunday nights in 1988. He moved to Monday nights last season after ESPN obtained those rights, working alongside play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico and fellow commentator Tony Kornheiser.Look, this isn't a big deal except inside the insular world of sports broadcasting and, perhaps, to some of us Redskins fans. I thought chemistry between Kornheiser and Theismann, was, as the story indicates, poor, and I never really noticed any improvement. The main problem, it seemed to me, was that Theismann simply didn't respect Kornheiser's knowledge of football and seemed to brush off many of his observations. This, understandably, made Kornheiser nervous and reluctant to offer interesting commentary.
Critics complained early in the season about a lack of chemistry between Theismann and Kornheiser. But both said the chemistry improved as the season progressed, and after Kornheiser said in January that he would be back, it was assumed Theismann would be too.
In my opinion, it's Kornheiser who should have been replaced. I like Tony's schtick, but I don't think it translates well to the booth. For years ABC and its sister network ESPN have been trying to attract a different crowd to Monday Night Football. [Meaning, younger people and those not intensely interested in football.] A realization that the games themselves were often less than ideal made the producers believe that comedy could replace football to a certain extent and that explains the selection of people like Dennis Miller and Tony Kornheiser as broadcasters. Unfortunately, Dennis Miller hasn't been funny for at least 10 years and the ratings for MNF on ABC continued to decline. Unlike Miller, Kornheiser still is funny, but his brand of observational sarcasm works much better on radio or a sports talk show [like Pardon the Interruption] than it does in a football broadcast, where serious analysis of the game is required. Theismann has been taught for 40 years to take the game seriously and he does. Pairing him up with someone who has made a living by not taking games seriously was a poor fit.
It is rumored that ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski will replace Theismann on MNF. Maybe that arrangement will work better, but if I could name one person at ESPN who takes football as seriously as Joe Theismann it would be Ron Jaworski, who normally spends a good part of his week in a darkened film room. No doubt ESPN will coach Jaworski to be more open to Kornheiser's act than Theismann was, but I don't really see that this grouping will work much better.
Theismann has reportedly not been fired by ESPN and could be re-assigned, perhaps to the pre-game show on Sunday morning. It's hard to see Theismann appreciating such a move since he's been doing game analysis for over 20 years and would have moved out of the booth by now if he didn't enjoy it. I wouldn't be surprised to see Joe T try to get out of his ESPN contract and find work at another network. I'd like that since I have for years regarded Theismann as the best football color analyst on television.
As for Monday Night Football, does it really matter? NBC has the better slate of games on Sunday night, since it can receive "flex schedule" matchups that MNF cannot. For years MNF has suffered declining ratings and poor games from Thanksgiving onward. There is no reason that will change. Theismann has lost the prestige and perhaps some of the paycheck from MNF, but he will probably have a chance to do better games elsewhere. This ain't your father's Monday Night Football, after all. The franchise is smaller and less glittering than it has ever been. Truth be told: Theismann is too good for that show anyway.
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