It's not the worst ESPN telecast -- that's whichever one Dick Vitale is on at any given moment -- but Monday Night Football has become increasingly unbearable since the bottom-feeder of sports networks took it over this season. In fact, they ought to remove "football" from the title of the show altogether and just call it Monday Night ESPN/ABC Infomercial. Mike Tirico, Joe Theismann and Tony Kornheiser barely mention the game; they're too busy promoting whatever drivel ABC and ESPN are airing during the week.
Last night during the Green Bay-Seattle telecast, it was so bad that the visiting ABC semi-celebrity, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, actually had to remind the alleged sportscasters in the booth with him to take notice of the game. Repeatedly urged to delivery long soliloquies on subjects dear to his heart -- mostly having to do with hot dogs and hamburgers, which I can now tell you authoritatively are his favorite foods -- Kimmel finally started interrupting himself to point out plays. "I hate it when celebrities do this stuff," he said of his own recitation of anecdotes. So do we, Jimmy.
Couldn't agree more -- the incessant tie-ins on NFL broadcasts were parodied successfully on SNL.
The MNF broadcast has gone way downhill, is it wrong to pine for the Dennis Miller glory years?
Posted by: Lance | November 28, 2006 at 03:14 PM