ESPN's Mike Tirico Discusses His Preparation and Working With Jaws and Tony

What ever happened to the play by play guy? It used to be that you could be doing something, out of view of the TV and still know what was going on by listening to someone describe what was occuring on the field of play. As a kid, that's how I learned the nuances of professional football, someone describing the play and giving a name to what I was actually seeing occur on the field.

Tirico, Jaworski and Kornheiser spend the majority of the telecast talking (and pontificating) about everything other than the actual movement of the game. I've watched games where they go 4 to 5 plays without describing what is happening on the field, then talk about a play only to go the next 3 or 4 plays without mentioning any play because they are talking about something that occured in practice or off the field duriing the week.

Talking about the "story" outside the game is fine, but it seems to me this is stuff for the pre and post game analysis, radio shows, magazine or newspaper articles. To spend 3/4 of a game talking about an interview with a player, a coach, teammates, wives, friends, etc is the reason I often turn down the volume and listen to the live radio broadcast. As Mike Tirico describes it, Jaws gives us the coaches perspective; the X's and O's, Tony gives us the storylines of the game and he talks about the "view from the blimp" and what is going on in the NFL. Who the heck is talking about the game?

Please bring the "play by play" guy back to the booth!

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Tirico is a smart prepared and professional broadcaster. Tony Kornheiser is the opposite.

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