<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Tony Gonzalez is in; Dan Marino and Shannon Sharpe are out as part of a CBS NFL studio shakeup. Full story will be in SportsBusiness Daily.</p>— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ourand_SBJ/statuses/435826437526802432">February 18, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Good. Sharpe was horrible and Marino was below average. CBS was unwatchable for me. Gonzalez can't be worse.
He was the only one who tried to bring humor to the program though. I feel like they need to follow the structure of Inside the NBA, and have two or three dudes who can bring the humor and knowledge (Charles / Kenny) and one dude who can be funny but also the straight man, like EJ (I guess James Brown is good enough)? A "Shaqtin' a fool" segment for the NFL would be pretty funny too, but I don't think there's enough dumbassery in the league for that.
I doubt any real diehard football fan watches the network pre-game shows seriously for "new" information. Most people just have it on in advance of whatever game they plan on watching. Fantasy info is best procured from the other pre-game shows (ESPN/NFL) as the network rarely break any last second injury news fast enough to get your lineups set. Lets see what network pre-game shows consist of: Reports from the stadium (for the game you're going to watch anyways). Comments on the story of the week. Insider info (with Jason La-whatever, or Charlie Casserly!) Featurette/interview with someone of note "Picks" of the week (who cares?) First on the field! Again, rarely is any of this actual "news" that isn't already known by the time the pre-game show starts.
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I don't care for either group (CBS/Fox). Though, I blame a lot of why I hate Fox on the way the show is produced.
Fox guys bore me. Old geezers talking about todays football like its 25 years ago. I honestly enjoy NFL Networks show. Rich Eisen is as witty as they come and for me Michael Irvin says things at both ends of the spectrum... he can say the most meaningful thing on the entire show but then say things that sound like a 2 year old would say. I also like Showtime's group of personalities on their show.
Marino was boring and Cowher seems lost most of the time, but Boomer was ok (he's admittedly better on radio). Sharpe was great. Gonzo probably needs some seasoning doing crappy NFL Live stints first. Anything beats Fox though. Howie Long offers decent insight and Strahan is amusing, but Jimmy Johnson is Elmer Fudd, Terry Bradshaw is borderline r****ded, and Curt Menefee has the personality of a wet dish cloth. CBS will have a tough time finding anyone as entertaining as Sharpe.
I do not care what any has been talking head thinks about football. I get all I need daily from my twitter feed.
America disagrees. You could get "pretty much everywhere" guy, put some marbles in his mouth and tell him to talk football. Nobody would know the difference.
This seems unnecessary and counter-intuitive given these guys' name recognition; but I guess with the types salaries and ad dollars flying around they need to optimize all aspects of the product.
I'm sticking with the NFL Network for pregame. ESPN is just getting worse by the year. Besides Berman (who is 30 years past his prime), they're the latest to think Frank Caliendo is somehow remotely funny. He is not. He is an idiot.
Thought I was the only one, though I couldn't decide between handfull of marbles or a roll of gauze, but basically he was playing "chubby bunny" without marshmallows.
