Mike Tirico Is a Master of Microsoft Excel

A look inside Monday Night Football.

Visiting the ESPN Monday Night Football booth a couple of hours before kickoff, I asked play-by-play man Mike Tirico what kind of preparation he does before the games, and he showed me a stack of incredibly detailed, color-coded charts that have the names of every player on the Bears and Vikings followed by stats and personal information.

I assumed he must have had a very talented assistant, but no, he produces the charts all by himself: "I set up my own Excel program," Tirico told me.

In addition to MNF, Tirico has his own ESPN Radio show and covers the NBA and golf, and he has two kids, but he finds enough time to prepare that he has watched every play of the Bears' and Vikings' last few games to get him ready for tonight. (He uses the DirecTV Short Cuts to save time.) He also says he reads every article written about the teams he's covering.

How much of all that actually gets on the air? Tirico only puts the best stuff into his charts, and he says he's lucky if 25 percent of what's on the charts actually gets on the air.