"Monday Night Football" is switching to a two-man booth. ESPN said Wednesday that analyst Ron Jaworski had signed a five-year contract extension to appear on other programming on the network and would no longer join play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico and color commentator Jon Gruden on Monday nights. "I am grateful for having the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of working on Monday Night Football the past five seasons with Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and so many other talented people behind the scenes who make the show so great," Jaworksi said in a press release sent out by ESPN. "I look forward to bringing my passion and knowledge of the game to more fans in more places than ever before on any and all football topics." Jaworski called "Monday Night Football" games the past five seasons. The former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback will work various ESPN studio shows year-round. Gruden joined "Monday Night Football" in 2009 after coaching the Raiders and Buccaneers and agreed to a five-year extension in October. This is the first time in 15 years ESPN has used a two-person lead team on its NFL game coverage. Link
MNF hasn't been the same since ABC foolishly dismissed Dennis Miller. The broadcasts were completely existential and put the viewer in the uncomfortable position of having to watch MNF with a dictionary, thesaurus, and a laptop long before fantasy football made watching football with a laptop a necessity. Had ABC gambled and substituted Jeopardy with the pre-game show, MNF might have gone the way of leather helmets and headslaps. Thank Gawd the powers that be dumbed down the game enough (also known as Kornheising) just in time!
It doesn't matter much to me who the broadcast team is. So long as the game is good, I don't really care. I am normally in a Sports Bar, anyway. Our running commentary is usually more fun. Still, the game is the important thing.
I think Jaws got pushed out. He just didn't seem to fit with Smooth Mike and Chucky. If I recall correctly, Chucky even called him on a few of his comments this past year. I want Al Michaels back, but that is just me. The game is the game, let the Monkeys from the Career Builder commercials call it for all I care.
I like Chucky giving Jaws a bad time about some of his comments....I thought Chucky ribbing Jaws a few times during a game was very entertaining. Bring back Madden....his comments always made me laugh. We'd get to hear about Brett Favre again too!
