What About Tony Kornheiser?

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?