Bigger Foe for Broncos: Packers, or ESPN Crew?

The Broncos are preparing for quite a challenge this Monday Night – one of the greatest quarterbacks, EVER, rested from a bye, on a one-loss football team. The fans watching, however, may be facing an even tougher challenge: the ESPN booth announcers.

The trio of Tony Kornheiser, Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski promised better chemistry this season. They also promised a more strict selection process in their celebrity guests who join them in the booth. So far they’ve done nothing but give football fans headaches.

I understand Monday Night Football is a bit of a different animal. A little more flash. A little more sizzle. Targeted towards the mainstream before the hardcore football fan. But when your guest celebrity (Russell Crowe) even looks disgusted to be present, and talks more about his own rugby team than football, you have to wonder if you’re really appealing to the mainstream.

Jimmy Kimmel a few weeks back actually offered a few laughs. You could say his schpeel on Theismann‘s dismissal and whether his fellow boothmates could gamble on the games was at least entertaining. Yet he’s since received a lifetime ban from the booth for his “classless” act on the air. So which is it, ESPN, entertain or inform?

You’re certainly not informing. I remember the Monday Night Game the Broncos played in the preseason against the 49ers. By the second half, the announcers had forgotten about the game completely. They were interviewing John Lynch and Champ Bailey on the sideline as all the backups real fans were hoping to watch were minimized to a quarter of the television screen. At one point, a penalty against the Broncos on defense kept the 49ers squad on the field on a third down. What was the penalty? Against whom? Beats me – the announcers failed to let us hear the ref, discuss the penalty, or even let us view it ourselves, TiVo and all. With our game viewing experience conveniently filled with 80% orange filler, it was impossible to tell what the hell was going on with the damn game!

They actually did a half decent job on the Cowboys-Bills game. As this writer put it, they let the game breathe for itself. Two weeks removed from that lesson and you have the Colts-Jags, where they talked more about Tom Brady then Peyton Manning. Seriously. At one point, Manning impressively adds a touchdown to the score, and Kornheiser has the ridiculous notion that that was a message to Brady, saying “I’m pretty good too.” Are you kidding me?

FOCUS ON THE DAMN GAME, ESPN. I don’t want to hear about The Hugest Biggest Game Of All Time Ever in a week. I don’t want to hear about Brady’s 12 touchdowns the day before. I want you to tell me how our cover corners are going to match up against the Packers passing game, and what the Broncos can do to get their injury-riddled running game going. If you inform me, I promise, I’ll be entertained.

I’m not counting on it though. Mute button at the ready.