ESPN's signature NFL show, "Monday Night Football", makes a rare appearance in SF tonight as the 49ers play the Arizona Cardinals.
No longer the marquee, appointment-TV it used to command, MNF is now just another football game, albeit the only game on the schedule. While it still possesses a modicum of strong football-fan interest, it no longer has the buzz factor of the Sunday night game on NBC, and it long ago lost any semblance of the 70's, 80's, early-90's inertia of Cosell, Meredith and Gifford.
Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and ex-Raiders/Tampa coach, Jon Gruden, are all adequate and competent broadcasters and ESPN has never seen higher ratings, but the game's nexus is still the game. There is no non-football histrionics and the only pop-culture smidgen of non-NFL minutiae consists of the Hank Williams Jr. opening theme song, which has become contrived itself. (You'd think Williams Jr. could compose something a bit more creative and different as opposed to highlighting the various NFL cities--bet he's got one shot of the GG Bride tonight)
Out of the three, Tirico is the best. His straight-forward play-by-play and strong command of the broadcast is usually very good and concise. On the negative side, Ron, "jaws" Jaworski is way too technical and inside-football, and new-comer Gruden, while obviously knowledgeable of players and the x's and o's, has a habit of over-talking and stating the obvious.
Too bad, also, ESPN lacks the production savvy of NBC's Sunday night game. Just take a look at the replays, the camera angles of the field and the crispness and visual clarity of their performance versus ESPN's. It's not even close, particularly when viewing the games in high-definition.
Nevertheless, the game itself still has a gridiron luster and the New England--New Orleans game a few weeks back drew one of the biggest cable audiences in history.
**ESPN Monday Night Football
5: 30 PST (Comcast Cable channel 38/KPIX-CBS5)
SF 49ers vs. Arizona Cardinals
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Rich, you hit this one right on the head: "adequate and competent," but there's no sizzle, no reason to watch if I am not interested in the individual teams.
ReplyDeleteNo 'sizzle indeed Kevracer.
ReplyDeleteDid you notice that CBS5 had to carry promos for "Lost" on ABC?
ReplyDeleteDo you want more interesting?
ReplyDeleteIndianapolis Colts’ Head Coach Jim Caldwell pulled out the starters in the third quarter and the Colts lose to the New York Jets.
The Indianapolis Colts perfect season came to an end today at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Indianapolis Colts hosted the New York Jets that are close to missing the playoffs, but kept themselves in it with a win on sunday.But how to get the players clothes,yeah,you can go to the NFL Shop.
The Colts scored first with a 21 yard run by Joseph Addai, but got the PAT blocked. The Colts added an Adam Vinatieri 35 yard field goal and the Jets countered with 35 yard Jay Feely field goal. The Colts started the third quarter with up 9-3, but the Jets opened the third quarter with a 106 yard kickoff return by Brad Smith to take a 10-9 lead.