. . . what is the use of three people in the "Monday Night Football" booth if one of the most crucial plays of the game escapes not only their notice, but apparently that of their director, their producer, and their spotters?
Fourth quarter, MNF part II. Cardinals 17, 49ers 13. Cards' ball. About five minutes remain. Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea are on the same page. If the Cards score a touchdown, game over. If the Cards score a field goal, overtime, worst case (for them) scenario. If the Cards run the clock out, well, they run the clock out.
Second down and long. Leinart gets Fitzgerald open on a swing pass. Fitzgerald, not the stupidest receiver in NFL history, sees open field in front of him and runs toward the first-down marker. Anticipating a tackle, he leaps toward a space of ground past the stick, and lands on the ground in first-down territory . . . only his momentum slides him out of bounds before he's touched, the last thing he wants.
Now: the crucial point. The timekeeper, unclear as to the nature of the tackle, allows the clock to run. Leinart, content to let the clock run until next pancake Sunday, leisurely calls the play and trots to the line. Suddenly, a whistle. No, since Fitzgerald was out of bounds, the clock needed to have stopped. Extra thirty seconds.
Well, all right. We reset the clock.
But here was the crucial point. As all of this was going on, None of the three announcers in the booth made a single comment as to why the clock was being re-set. Instead, Mike & Mike seemed more interested in Mike Ditka's collegiate experience at (Larry Fitzgerald's!) Pitt, how Ditka planned to be dentist, and oh, how funny is that?
Good Lord. Where has the competence gone?
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4 comments:
The ESPN 7.0 tautology: when everything is schtick, everything is schticky. Very few on ESPN are actually capable of balancing competence with forms of humor and irony, the least among them, Goldberg and Golic. Golic's I'll-play-it-stupid-because-I-recognize-both-the-cultural-capital-of-such-a-move-coming-from-an-ex-lineman-turned(always)-teddy-bear-and-because-I-actually-am-stupid-and-that's-not-playful-self-effacement is somewhat bearable, but Goldberg's stuff is brutal. He is the kind of ex-frat boy who needs a thorough beating every single week. But apart from disliking both and their show, they are products of the system, so your expectation of compentency from them, although well intended and justified, is perhaps a bigger issue than their own inadequacies as commentators.
Perhaps you are right about my issues. But these guys get millions to do what they do. And I notice it for free.
You are right on anonymous! Mike and Mike and Mike were offered to us as part of the ESPN/Disney cross marketing schtick (to borrow a word from you). That really makes us viewers victims. Oh, did you know that Golic played football for Notre Dame? That Goldberg watched football as a child? Those two are hard to take. Normally, I feel fortunate to live in the Pacific time zone as one can enjoy a lot sports at a decent hour. However, as proven last night, you can get incompetents calling the game.
Hah, dead on and funny, SundevilJoe.
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