What About Tony Kornheiser?

by tommasse on Sep 25, 2006 11:47 PM EDT in News Comment 4 comments

Is Monday Night Football Better?
Or Is It Spiraling Down the Drain?

I'm going to make this quick, because I want to hear what you all have to say.

I was going to write extensive analysis about Tony Kornheiser, but I just have to get this out.

It's about 11:20, and I just turned on the Falcons-Saints game about 10 minutes ago. No TV where I was earlier. Anyway, Joe Theismann is talking about one of the officials throwing a penalty flag for pass interference, and then it's waved off. Theismann says, "There must be a reason he took it out of his pants."

There's a couple seconds of silence, and then you here Kornheiser giggling like a girl. You could almost hear Mike Tirico rolling his eyes, and then Theismann blandly explains that he was talking about the penalty flag. By this time, Kornheiser is loudly forcing a fake laugh like he's in the audience at the taping of a lousy sitcom.

I think Tirico has been doing an admirable job in his role as play-by-play announcer. I thought he would, and I'm happy he's doing well. His few transgressions pandering to the "humor" are forgivable. I hope he realizes he doesn't need to tarnish himself by placating the masses, and he'll be fine.

I think Theismann has been doing a fantastic job in the little time I've been able to watch him, and miles beyond his performance during the former Sunday Night Football, where he had to deal with two buffoons. His analysis has often been insightful, and it's actually been "analysis." Mighty refreshing.

So what is Kornheiser's purpose? To pacify the hordes of Neanderthals? The Dennis Miller experiment failed, so they got a guy that is more sports-oriented, but less intelligent and far less funny. Far more annoying. Far more.

I thought Kornheiser was supposed to be a "football guy," but he certainly doesn't appear so.

Does MNF really need three in the booth? And if they do, should they have two legitimate analysts? Or do they absolutely need a "funny guy" in there?

I'm all for trashing all this "entertainment": The pre-game music video, the ridiculous player introductions, the miscellaneous busyness between plays (instead of replays). I'm trying to watch a football game, and I want to hear people talking about football.

Not politics. Not what's on Tuesday night. Not the other stupid shows their on. And I don't want to hear their adolescent "humor" when someone is trying to make a relevant point.

So much for making it quick. OK, what do you think?

Poll

Tony Kornheiser ...

... must go -- immediately.

6 votes

... learn about football and how to contribute to the broadcast.

3 votes

... nothing different. He's doing just fine.

8 votes

... act more like Paul Maguire.

1 votes

18 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 4 comments

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Comments

Regarding tonight's broadcast, specifically

I realize tonight was special because of the return of football to New Orleans, and I understand that there needs to be some amount of celebration, remembrance, glitz and glamor to thisbroadcast. I'm talking about the general week-to-week non-football activity.

Anyway, I want to know what you now have to say about Kornheiser, MNF and football "entertainment."

by tommasse on Sep 26, 2006 12:02 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

RE: Kornheiser

Count me in as one that likes Tony. Let me explain... but first.

I think Mike Tirico is bland but damned near arrogant. I found it very much in bad taste that Tirico went through the entire Reggie Bush scandal last night with less than 30 seconds to go in the first half. He routinely forced Tony and Joe to shut up ("Hold on guys, let me finish") while a play had just finished so he could do his best to recap Bush's entire deal. I don't know about you, but I really don't think a SportsCenter story should be harped on at that moment of the game? If one team is blowing out another, sure, that's a different deal because interest in the game is pretty much over. But I thought it was in real bad taste and didn't need to be "discussed". Tirico even concluded, it doesn't really matter now because he's in New Orleans. Umm, ok. Why bring it up?

I don't know what to say about Joe T., I just really really don't care for him.

On to Tony. I think it's unfair to cast him as a Dennis Miller like persona. Kornheiser has been writing about sports, and football, for decades. Whereas Miller has been a comedian, actor and political host/junkie; I didn't get most of Miller's jokes whereas Kornheiser mostly sticks to the theme of the night, mostly. Kornheiser has shown capable to quickly saturate information and provide a clear analysis of what's going on. Not in the Xs and Ox variety, but enough for a common fan (which we are NOT being bloggers and all) to comprehend and munch on.

I don't look to Tony to provide detailed analysis. I don't want that. I'm sure all of you, like me, have watched enough football to understand what works and what doesn't and what makes a play successful. Hell, I've really found all color guys to walk on the same beaten path anymore. If a QB is pressured forced to throw a pick, we all know that. However, the color guys will talk about it.

Does he ramble on about non-football things sometimes? Sure. And that's fine. I really don't care about that. But at least it's different and I think that's where I like him more than others.

I'm not saying Kornheiser is great neither. He just completed his third regular season MNF game. He will need to time to find his niche, which I think he's doing nicely. I'm sure a bigger sample size in time will give Tony a better grade.

And honestly, I was laughing pretty hard about the flag in the pants comment. C'mon, you just don't here that from a typical NFL crew.

Anyway, see y'all Sunday. :-)

Blogger at Cincy Jungle

by Kirkendall on Sep 26, 2006 8:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Mr. Tony

I think Kornheiser is terrific and the main reason is he keeps Theismann in check. Theismann has been making asinine comments ever since he entered the booth in 1987, but no one ever called him on it. Tony calls him on it. He makes him defend his asinine positions. No one did that before. It may make Theismann a better analyst in the long run, although I doubt it. Theismann is brutal.

The other problem with this booth dynamic is that Theismann doesn't have the sort of sense of humor that works well beside Tony. He seems to have no sense of sarcasm, which makes him a lousy fit in that role.

Personally, I think Tony is the best part of the show. The rest of it is mediocre. The opening each week is silly. The guests in the booth, I can do without. Tirico has sort of a forced hype to his voice.

Taking into account every football announcer that ESPN has, I think the best pair to put beside Tony would be Brad Nessler and Dan Fouts, but I guess they're too ingrained in the college football side of things.

Cola
http://www.classiccolaforthesoul.com

by Cola on Sep 28, 2006 3:13 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs