Looks like ESPN's producers' notes finally reached the booth last night.

At one point during the game last night, they showed a baby in the stands and Tirico said that maybe they could interview the baby at some point (why, I don't know). Anyway, Tony said interviewing the baby "would be better than some of the guests we had last year." So, I think he should get at least some credit for that.

ESPN Pods.

As in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers...

ESPN replicants need to justify their jobs just like everybody else. If moving up the corporate ladder gets in the way of something like a football game, so fucking what.

ESPN should be allowed to be bigger than the game the network covers because they have earned it, they've earned the viewer's consent to be insulted with years of outstanding product...like a half hour each week of NFL Live and Spelling Bees.

Tirico is an automaton, some jagoff yells in his ear and he does whatever he's told.

If they could turn the little milk dud into a cyborg without a mind and freewill, they would. They're close...

In order to work at ESPN, you have to be well on the way to that end.

Just remember, ESPN is god. War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.

Tony Kornhole is Joe Montana.

I think it would be better if they just stopped talking altogether. Did I really turn on the game to hear about Michael Vick??

I remember once that NBC broadcast a game without announcers, and this was before buffoons like Kornhead got involved.

I'm SURE this happened...

Guys, love you all ('specially you, AA), but I think this a really large bit of overreaction here. I am a big Bears fan, and even I realize that last night's preseason game was totally meaningless. You can't scout that well, because most backups (especially, say, backup quarterback Brian Griese) play against second and third string defenders, so it renders a lot of the second half stuff meaningless. Would you really prefer Jaws and Kornheiser to sit there and break down every single play of a meaningless preseason game? I think AA had it right last week ... it's the effing preseason. They're gonna go on tangents. They're gonna work on things. They're gonna have lots of interviews with starters while the scrubs kill each other on the field.

The booth's performance means no more than the action on the field's, and just like last night wasn't a real loss for the Colts, it wasn't a real loss for the three in the box. Everyone just relax.

All valid points E, but I think the main point I was trying to get across is that all the "bells and whistles" haven't been brought into play yet.

It's okay to go off-topic during the Preseason a bit, but you know they are going to talk about Vick Week 1 as well.

And those interviews are right around the corner.

Monda Night Football has become a pain. The first quarter was fine, the announcers were not shown and the game was in full view. After that it was all announcers and little football. I was frustrated and angry. Get those bafoons off the air and let us enjoy the game.

we all know TK doesn't want to be there.

He just a) wants the money and b) doesn't want to be branded a failure.

Let's just ride it out and soon he'll be back on the radio where we all want him to be.

that picture of the milk dud cracks me up.

I only saw about two minutes of the game and happened to catch Tirico utter this gem while schilling the fan vids:

"...so send your videos in and we will upload them...(what's that, that's not how it's done? oh)...I mean YOU upload the videos and we will look through them and choose which one..."

Priceless.

I find it mildy ironic that the downturn of ESPN has dovetailed nicely with the destruction of MNF.

Talk about a perfect storm.

It amazes me how natural TK is on PTI and how fake he is on MNF.

I would preach patience here. They may turn out to be bad, but it is a preseason game. No one cares about the action on the field in the late third and fourth quarters, and if you do, you really need to find a hobby or get out more. Give them three games into the regular season to make all the adjustments and receive the feedback they are going to receive, then judge them.

As soon as I saw the contrived, banal "Manning can do no wrong, everything Rex does is wrong" drivel that they call analysis, I was ready to puke.

Kornheiser does not belong in the booth.

Tirico is top notch and Jaws is already solid and will continue to get better. But what does Kornheiser bring to the booth? His stupid little pregame thoughts? He's no Larry Merchant. Get off the air.

You hit on it perfectly, Zoner. Kornheiser brings nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, to the broadcast.

I saw that MNF commercial where everybody hums the theme song. I thought to myself, "do they seriously think that people will buy Tony Kornheiser breaking down film with Jaws?"

The poster that said "he knows he doesn't belong in the booth" is 100% correct. The "Peyton: Good, Rex: Bad" thing had ZERO value whatsoever. It had no point.

"What is MNF?"


- Sage Steele

I would contend that the 4th wuarter doesn't matter in a preseason game. I would rather hear those guys blather on about literally anything than have to watch CFL level football. I'm probably the minority on this one, but like last year, wait for the regular season. But this year, hope that it doesn't suck donkey dong