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Report: ESPN considering putting Herbie and Fowler in MNF booth


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58 minutes ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

I've grown fond of Joe and Booger.

 

Bring on the confused reactions. Obviously not everyone agrees that they're terrible, or they wouldn't have gotten the job in the first place.

 

I'd rather listen to this crew than Buck/Aikman any day.

 

Hating on Booger is like hating on Nickelback. A few people started doing it, and then it became the cool thing to do. There may be some justification, but the herd mentality has pushed the disdain to an unreasonable level just because it's cool.

 

Ha!  Ha!  You like Nickelback.

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4 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

They are voices I associate with college. I don’t think they should move them either. Plus Herbie is their face of College Game Day even though Fowler isn’t on there anymore. And while we are at it. Give us back Sam Ponder, rescue her from having to work with Rex every Sunday on nfl countdown. She belongs on CFB too 

Anyone who works with Rex has their talents wasted. She is talented on the sidelines and she is very pretty. 

 

I really like Herb. He knows the college game and has a talent to cover a game in a smooth way without the hucksterism that is too prevalent in the booth.

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4 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I like Harlan but I am not sure him and McAfee would be a great mix. Harlan needs a calm color guy because he can get a bit over excited and lost in the moment. I think if you put him and McAfee in a box together they would end up shouting over one another and it would be a mess. Similarly I don't think Harlan could work with Romo. Just isn't the right mesh. Rich Gannon is good for him. Think he has to be matched with someone a bit deadpan.

 

EDIT: If there is a booth I'd put Harlan in at the moment I'd put him in the Fox booth if they insist on keeping Troy. Buck and Aikman are never excited. By anything. Harlan and Aikman could work.

 

I was thinking Kurt Warner, just take the Westwood One radio team and plop them into the MNF booth.

 

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ESPN is all about personalities rather than raw talent.  They have no interest in hiring a "nobody" like Kevin Harlan or Spero Dedes that does a good job of play-by-play.  Instead they want a personality that draws controversy and/or can fill programming hours outside of the actual football game.  This is exactly why they hired Dennis Miller, Jason Witten, Booger McFarland, and the like.

 

CBS, on the other hand, sees raw talent in Romo and picks him up right after retirement.  Sean McManus actually cares about the quality of his broadcast so he sets him up to succeed - having him learn from and practice with Nantz before the season so that he doesn't look like a fool on opening weekend.  A few years later, ESPN is so desperate to land Romo that they throw buckets of money at him, but Romo is smarter than that and stays at a network where he can call the Super Bowl, AFC championship game, and high-profile golf tournaments.

 

This is a sign of desperation by ESPN.  They already have these guys under contract and with the COVID outbreak, they cannot afford to hire a high-priced "personality" that can fill this role.  The longer this goes on, the more people are learning that they can live without ESPN and that standalone streaming services are the way of the future.  ESPN stands to lose $8 per person that cancels cable... that is a ton of money, even for Disney.

 

I know people like to B word and moan about us getting the CBS D/E/F teams but I will take any of those combinations over what ESPN will likely offer.  ESPN could learn a thing or two from CBS.

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Its a great team, but it just feels like college football and is unique to that.  I dont want/need it for the NFL. 

 

 

 

Im in the minority (extreme minority) who actually liked Booger.  He was cringe-worthy, but it was kind of in the entertaining and unintended way.  He was truly excited to be there and be a part of it which was fun.  Then he would say something completely head scratching and it would be funny (such as pleading with "America" not to allow defensive linemen to cover tight ends).

 

 

Would love Gus Johnson to do the MNF games

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Safe, weak and uninspired move.  I'd hate to work for that hand wringing, anxiety-ridden company.  

 

Instead of truly taking the time to fix the MNF product, they will instead have two broken products.  

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Dan Orlovsky is a great analyst, but I have no idea if that would translate to live color commentary, but he'd be my choice. I initially laughed when I saw the comment upstream about bringing back McDonough, but maybe it would work with a different analyst. He and Gruden had no chemistry so that could have thrown his rhythms off.

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5 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

My favourite Booger-ism which he says almost every time he breaks down a sack is "If the left tackle [exchange for any other OL position] blocks his man, that sack doesn't happen."

 

Well done Booger. Nothing gets past you.

He is a deep thinker.

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5 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

Spiels is staying busy during quarantine 

 

 

:lol:

 

Spielman is great.

 

I love that he doesn't play favorites from his NFL playing days in this video. Even better, the Bills helmet is red, and he has the old Lions logo.

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Thats ESPNs best combo.  I assume ESPN is getting leveraged by NFL to step up the quality.  A few years ago they moved away from talent and too personalties like Stephen A.  Nessler and Tirico are 2 guys who are still better than anybody they have now and they let both leave.

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15 hours ago, /dev/null said:

 

Same here.  I love watching some ABC/ESPN College Football games with this pair, but I'm not sure how well their game translates to the NFL.

 

Part of what makes Herbie and Fowler so great at College Football is they genuinely seem to love the game.

 

Part of what makes ESPN MNF so bad recently is the NFL and ESPN have been pushing Narratives, on and off the field, that their announcers have had to frame the game in terms of.  That and the ESPN MNF on air crew is what, about a dozen or so personalities counting the pregame and halftime clowns they have to squeeze in at some point

 

 

Ever watch ESPN College Game Day?  Non-stop hours of hype and narratives.

 

 

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I like Herbie and Fowler for college games - not sure if they would be the right fit for NFL.  It really surprises me how the networks struggle so much to find decent talent.  With all the national and local sportscasters out there, you'd think that the top networks and the top leagues could find a few decent broadcast teams.  As to some of the other names that were mentioned in the thread, I like Harland and I like Gus Johnson.  I love Chris Speilman the person and the player, but not a huge fan of him as a broadcaster.   I really dislike Spiro Dedes and cringe every time he gets assigned to a Bills broadcast, but I'd listen to him 24/7 before having to listen to Beth Mowins.

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15 hours ago, StHustle said:

Never got why people hate Booger so much (besides the terrible nickname). He is one of the he more knowledgeable guys on broadcasting and articulates it well imo. I think all he needs is polish.

 

Would love to hear the reasons you want Booger out of the job. I always see people bad talk him but rarely hear any reasons of substance

 

Well, this post proves that EVERYBODY has a fan.

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5 hours ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

I've grown fond of Joe and Booger.

 

Bring on the confused reactions. Obviously not everyone agrees that they're terrible, or they wouldn't have gotten the job in the first place.

 

I'd rather listen to this crew than Buck/Aikman any day.

 

Hating on Booger is like hating on Nickelback. A few people started doing it, and then it became the cool thing to do. There may be some justification, but the herd mentality has pushed the disdain to an unreasonable level just because it's cool.

 

I don't dislike Booger that much; he used to be good on SiriusXM but I think ESPN is encouraging him to be more of a clown.  At the end of the day he's harmless.

 

Tessatore, however, is perhaps the worst play-by-play guy I've ever heard.  He has Gus Johnson enthusiasm at the most inopportune moments, and has no "feel" for the game whatsoever.  I have told the story of how at the end of the 4th quarter of the Bills/Texans playoff game he exclaimed, breathlessly, that "NEVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE NFL HAS A PLAYOFF GAME GONE TO OVERTIME TIED AT 19!!!!!"

 

The dude has no freaking clue and needs to go back to announcing college swimming or something like that.

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On 3/24/2020 at 4:51 PM, C.Biscuit97 said:

Yeah, I hate former MVPs and SB qbs too.  
 

I never got the hate Cam has gotten.  I bet a lot of the people who don’t like him are very similar looking.  Brady screams at his coaches - passionate.  Rivers talks crap to an opponent - competitor.  Rodgers has a td celebration- confident.  Newton does the same - cocky jerk who isn’t about the team.

 

i hope he is healthy and signs with a good team.  Guy is a baller and what we should hope Allen comes close to being. 

MVP 

SB

Heisman

National championship 

Most rushing yards for a qb 

rookie passing records

 

hell, we are building a statue for Allen who can’t sniff Newton’s resume.  

 

7 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

Spiels is staying busy during quarantine 

 

 

That is a riot Yolo.  Thanks for sharing.  Spielman is a nut.  Who is the chick?  His daughter or his girlfriend?  I went to Michigan when he was at Ohio State.  But I still respect the hell out of him.  

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7 hours ago, Paup 1995MVP said:

Gus Johnson is the best sports announcer going.  Noone has his enthusiasm and his use of the English language is tremendous.  Him and Joel Klatt make a great team on Fox College Football.  Can't stand Herbie.  Acts like a know it all and thinks he is the Commissioner of College Football.  Fowler is good calling the game (and he is a big Metallica fan)  But ESPN college gameday by this point is so old news.  Maybe you have to be in your 20's to like it.  To me its just overkill.  Bring me the games.  Who has time for all the extra shtick.  Chris Spielman is very underrated.  Has great knowledge of the game.  And really good humor.  If you youngsters could have watched him play.  That was a football player.  As tough as they come.  So many of you talk about Matt Milano, and how good you think he is.  Back 20 years ago he would not have made it on the field at his size.  You had to be able to tackle.  And that meant putting someone on their ass.  I think Spielman had 26 tackles in the Michigan-Ohio State game in 1986.  Chew on that as you all start your day.

I just watched “A football life “ Chris Spielman. He was awesome. I wish we had him for more of his prime years. Herbie is awesome, one of the most knowledgeable TV guys out there. I just wish those two guys had gone to Michigan instead of Ohio State. 

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