Jon "Chucky" Gruden, possibly the most intense human in the world, will be replacing Tony Kornheiser in the Monday Night Football booth this season.Kornheiser said the reason for his resignation from MNF is, and I kid you not, because of his fear of flying. I wonder if Kornheiser proposed that he announce via video conference like he an Wilbon occasionally do in Pardon the Interruption?
I am glad to see Kornheiser, who I thoroughly enjoy on PTI, leave the MNF booth. He just wasn't cut out for covering an NFL broadcast. His commentary and personality in the format of a sports talk show is outstanding. But with uber-guru Ron "Jaws" Jaworski and always-solid Mike Tirico in the booth, Kornheiser's color commentary never quite felt right. After failing with Dennis Miller and Kornheiser, ESPN seems to finally understand that the Howard Cosell color-guy is an extinct species, especially with NFL broadcasts.
Most viewers, I would bet, would rather listen to insightful football discussion around the table instead of the consistently forced color commentary meant to bridge the gap between the hardcore fan and the casual fan. Just focus on the football game itself and the casual fan will soon be a real fan!
I think that Chucky, with his obvious intensity and passion for all things football, will be an excellent addition to the booth. It will be fun listening to Jaws and Chucky go back and forth about football strategy instead of Jaws and Kornheiser awkwardly transitioning from football to pop culture topics.
Check out this vid on espn.com:
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