It seems like just yesterday that Tom Brady completely shunned MNF sideline reporter Suzy Kolber, but it actually took place all the way back in Week One. The Patriots haven't back since then, but Suzy remembers the dis and plans on hunting the QB down following tonight's game against the Saints. Via The Huddle....

Brady hastily tried to dodge an on-field interview with Kolber after a Week 1 win against the Bills. A persistent Kolber ran with Brady off the field and finally cajoled him into answering a few questions.

Now with the Patriots due back on MNF again, Kolber is set for another postgame meeting. ESPN's Kenny Mayne jokingly had Kolber training with Tyson Gay, whose 9.69 100-meter dash is a U.S. record.

Kolber, in ESPN's Mayne Event this week, playfully set in a sprinter's starting block and said:

"I'm getting you this time, Brady."

Well that's good. I think she got him last time actually, but it's good that she can joke about it. Now the question is whether the Pats will win or not, so she has the opportunity.

As Tom Brady returns to 'MNF,' ESPN's Suzy Kolber says 'I'm getting you this time' (The Huddle)

(P.S.- Yes, there will be a live-blog tonight)

Ah Suzy. Ever the professional, even when a player tells you they don't even want to talk to you. Just keep that hair bouncing until he acknowledges you. Well at least she didn't try to hook up with him on live television (*ahem* Andrea Kremer! *cough*)....

I was all set to follow up with the based on an article from the Detroit Free-Press that detailed Kornheiser and Wilbon's, extreme anger with Detroit's NBC Affiliate for the whole disclaimer thing, but this is much more entertaining.

PTI is still doing those live cut-ins during commercials, but apparently they're running out of ideas. Why do you ask? Well because yesterday they had Tony Reali make out with the camera during one of them....

Man, that was a bit too close, wasn't it? It might be time to try something else guys. Just sayin'.

PTI's Kornheiser, Wilbon not amused by Channel 4's Matt Millen crawl (Detroit Free-Press)

Some people might find this story annoying but I actually find it kind of refreshing that people from other networks would stick up for one another. It's a tough road for women in Sports and one sideline reporter is sticking up for her counterparts. NBC's Andrea Kremer is none to happy about the way ESPN handled the news of Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya's reduced role and she has something to tell the network....

Says Kremer, who worked at ESPN for 17 years before joining NBC: "They were doing the role that ESPN asked them to do — more feature-ish stuff — and they were fired for it? If you don't like them in that role, change their role. Don't humiliate them like that. The way (ESPN) handled it was terrible, just disrespectful. … They treated two professionals in a completely non-professional way."

But Kremer suggests she's "offended" by ESPN's move because "it sets back women." Referring to herself, Kolber, Tafoya and Fox sideline reporter Pam Oliver, she says "no one accused the four of us for being on television for our looks or figures. … This isn't five years ago, with eye candy on the sidelines. We established ourselves as reporters, professionals. Now, you've completely minimized that. These women don't have to prove themselves anymore."

No matter how you feel about Joe Theismann, Suzy Kolber, and Michele Tafoya they way they learned about their firings/"reduced roles" was pretty crappy. There's really no other way to describe it but unprofessional and I think Kremer is pretty dead on with her assessment of ESPN.

It's unfortunate when anyone gets fired but it has to be even more unfortunate when you find out through the media.

Bias seen in silencing 'MNF' sideline reporters (USA Today)

PFT is on the case again and it looks like ESPN is dropping both of it's sideline reporters for Monday Night Football next season....

A media source tells us that ESPN are relieving Michelle Tafoya and Suzy Kolber of their duties on Monday Night Football.....

It remains to be seen whether this is a first step in an effort to reduce costs by shrinking the cast of characters who cover the Monday night game for ESPN. Several analysts are stationed in Bristol, a trio of talking heads have a desk inside the venue where the game is played, and multiple reporters typically swarm the stadium in the three or four hours before kickoff.

Again this is just a rumor, but PFT is usually dead on after talking to it's sources. I didn't really care for either of them on the telecast but it's odd that they would get rid of both of them. Could this be a sign that they might be looking to bring EA on board? Who knows, but it wouldn't be the worst idea if they did.

That photo above is beginning to look like the picture from Back to the Future isn't it?

Tafoya, Kolber Out At MNF (Pro Football Talk)

If the rumors are to be believed, congratulations are in order for Suzy Kolber for being pregnant with her first child. Back in the beginning of the season Suzy was noticeably missing from the

Monday Night telecasts, and AA's thankful it wasn't for anything else. Via PFT.....
An industry source tells us that MNF sideline reporter Suzy Kolber is expecting company. And it's not a visit from Joe Namath.

Per the source, Kolber is due to give birth to a junior version of herself, complete with Leather Tuscadero mullet and turtleneck.

Word is that it's a girl. The due date is presently unknown. As is the identity of the father. (We assume that Suzy knows.)

Again, it's just rumor but Suzy....I'm going to miss you. I'd much rather Michele Tafoya taking maternity leave if you know what I mean. Congrats.

KOLBER IS EXPECTING A LITTLE SUZY (ProFootballTalk)

Came across this interview with Suzy Kolber in the Kansas City Star, and I was wondering why she would talk to a random KC paper and not return my phone calls. 87 messages isn't a bad thing is it? Anywho, the writer (Jeffery Flanagan) posed the question of how awful and annoying sideline reporting hasn't gotten and I thought Suzss'ss answer was pretty interesting.

At some point in the last decade, sideline reporters lost their identity and seemed to concentrate more on fluffy pregame features that might as well have been presented from the studio or the booth rather than from the sideline.

But Suzy Kolber, who along with Michele Tafoya works the sidelines on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” said sideline reporters are slowly regaining their identity, at least at her network.

“I think you’re right that the trend went the other way for awhile,” Kolber told me by phone. “But I know here at ESPN our executives had a meeting about halfway through last season and the decision was made to try and redefine the role of sideline reporting to make it much more ‘in the moment.’

Umm did you? Because I haven't f'ing noticed.

“There’s going to be a change of philosophy to go back to what sideline reporting used to be, more about what’s going on on the sideline in terms of injuries or players interacting. We have access no one else does, so we have to be the eyes and the ears for the viewers.”- Kolber

Holy Shit! I can't believe they figured it out....it only took how long? Can you let me know when that happens please? I'd love to witness that first hand.

In all seriousness I never understood the job at all, and I don't think Producers did/do either. Sideline Reporters rarely ask hard questions and their pieces have became so cheesy and boring that they had to get the hottest women they could find just to keep people interested. I mean how hard would it be to give the coach or player a headset and a mic like they do in Soccer and save a few 100 thousand bucks a year in salary?

I also think Kolber, Bonnie Bernstein, and Erin Andrews' talents are wasted down on the sidelines and they could do just as good a job if not better than some of the male leads they have in place now. You can fire everyone else though.

Putting the ‘report’ back in sideline reporting (Kansas City Star)

I'd love to tell you that I stuck it out for the sake of the site, but that's not the case. The moment I saw Chris Mortensen (while being interviewed by Michele Tafoya) talk over an amazing touchdown by Jerious Norwood (1:50 Mark), I started watching Enemy of the State on cable.

The Vick coverage started yesterday at 9am and didn't end until almost midnight. You knew it was coming (hell the producers even told us ahead of time), but I would have really loved to have watched some Football last night. They so could have wrapped up all the discussion at halftime and just moved on.

I think Sean Pendergast (during my spot on 1560AM in Houston last evening) summed it up best. The only people staying up that late to watch the 2nd Half of Monday Night Football are hardcore Football Fans (and probably high stakes gamblers). Times that by 20 for the preseason. The only people watching the 2nd half of that game are people who want to trash MNF, degenerate gamblers, guys trying to decide who their 12th round fantasy pick is, and insomniacs.

Everything was just too much last night. The legal analyst, Mort, the African-American lady that Suzy Kolber interviewed for 14 minutes, Tony getting mad because Chad Johnson didn't celebrate a TD in the preseaon, etc, etc. It never ended. The only highlight for me was when Tony Kornheiser took Bobby Petrino to task for not allowing media to ask his former teammates questions regarding the quarterback. It's the first time I've agreed with Tony in awhile. This is what you are good at....not those cheesy jokes. Keep this up.....

"That may work for him as a new coach, but these guys were his teammates, some of them for many years. And to deprive them a chance to see his first step in rehabilitation, I would have gone the other way on that."- TK

ESPN has set MNF up to fail, but again....we already knew that. And can we please get rid of the term "Dress Rehearsal"? Any game that has a TD from Ovie Mughelli is not a "Dress Rehearsal"....it's a crappy preseason game.

Sports Business Daily is reporting that none other than Suzy Kolber will be heading to the NASCAR booth....

ESPN’s Suzy Kolber will join the net’s NASCAR coverage for the final 17 Nextel Cup races of the season as the host of the pre-race “NASCAR Countdown” program. Kolber will also host “NASCAR Countdown” for Busch Series telecasts on ESPN2.

Good for Suzy. She can now get ogled by drunk rednecks (as if the Namath incident wasn't enough).