Shame on you, Tony Kornheiser
On yesterday’s Pardon the Interruption, the retirement of broadcaster Keith Jackson was one of the topics. You guys already know how I feel about the man (if not, see my last post), so I was pretty shocked and annoyed that Tony Kornheiser didn’t even take 2 seconds to compliment Keith, say “thank you,” or remind the audience that Jackson was one of the best ever. Instead, Kornheiser decided to joke around about Jackson’s recent comment, “I don’t want to die in a stadium parking lot.” I was so taken aback that I quickly hit “Record” on my DVR so I could re-watch it and make sure I hadn’t missed something. I hadn’t. Michael Wilbon at least made sure to make some kind comments about Jackson, but Kornheiser just grinned and joked around, even turning the conversation away from Jackson and on to legendary columnist Red Smith of The New York Times.
I really shouldn’t have been shocked, because Kornheiser is not a football fan. He may be a fan of the NFL, but he is not a football fan. He grew up in New York, and is a baseball fan first and foremost. Many East Coast natives don’t follow college football, because there aren’t many good teams (or even many Division I programs) up there. So, I can’t blame him too much, but it is clear that his knowledge of college football is very, very limited. Whenever they talk college football on PTI, he just regurgitates the same comments and stereotypes: “Notre Dame is the University of Football in America,” “Urban Meyer is the hottest young coach in the country,” “The Pac-10 is weak,” etc. While some (or all) of these comments might be accurate, it is obvious that the guy doesn’t actually watch many college games. He wouldn’t know Steve Breaston from Steve Buscemi.
So now he will be the “quirky” color man in the Monday Night Football booth, and I don’t think it is going to end well. And for three reasons: (1) Because he won’t know enough about the players to satisfy the real football fans, (2) because he isn’t nearly as funny as he thinks he is, and (3) because he doesn’t seem to have much humility or respect for those that came before him.
Permanent Link Here - posted by Nick at 1:52 PM
2 Comments:
I try to like Kornheiser, but it is hard. PTI is pretty good. But the radio show is intolerable (Mr. Tony this and Mr. Tony that). And his new columns in the Post are really unreadable.
As for MNF, you are right on the money. He really does not seem to actually know anything about sports in any detail. On PTI, he only has to banter on each topic for between 15 - 45 seconds.
On MNF, he is going to have to focus for four hours on one game. It's not going to work, and I am going to enjoy watching that obnoxious jerk go down in flames.
I think MNF the watching is more attractive by Tony Kornheiser
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