Monday, August 14, 2006
Could we be seeing the next Cossell?
Tony Kornheiser is no stranger to the world of sports. In fact, he's been a sports journalist for 35+ years. He has been hugely successful in print, radio and television. It's therefore somewhat surprising that he's only now getting his biggest break on the national stage as one of the comentators on ESPN's Monday Night Football.
I felt he did a great job in the spotlight and after watching some tape on Howard Cossell I think that Kornheiser has the opportunity to bring that kind of flavour to football broadcasting. Kornheiser won't be as bombastic as Cossell was but he'll bring a fresh perspective to the booth that will be a great change of pace.
Watching Kornheiser tonight I can already see something that will make listening to the games almost as exciting as the on-field product and that is his relationship or lack thereof with Joe Theismann. I love the fact that Kornheiser is not afraid to expose Theismann as the fraud that he is and bust his chops live on national TV. It's evidently clear that these two DON'T like each other and we could see Mike Tirico being the traffic cop between their verbal fisticuffs.
If Kornheiser gets more comfortable in his role then he could be the modern "provocateur" for the MNF broadcasts. If the tension between he and Theismann stays relatively high without leading to violence or becoming a manufactured thing then we could be seeing something special here.
I felt he did a great job in the spotlight and after watching some tape on Howard Cossell I think that Kornheiser has the opportunity to bring that kind of flavour to football broadcasting. Kornheiser won't be as bombastic as Cossell was but he'll bring a fresh perspective to the booth that will be a great change of pace.
Watching Kornheiser tonight I can already see something that will make listening to the games almost as exciting as the on-field product and that is his relationship or lack thereof with Joe Theismann. I love the fact that Kornheiser is not afraid to expose Theismann as the fraud that he is and bust his chops live on national TV. It's evidently clear that these two DON'T like each other and we could see Mike Tirico being the traffic cop between their verbal fisticuffs.
If Kornheiser gets more comfortable in his role then he could be the modern "provocateur" for the MNF broadcasts. If the tension between he and Theismann stays relatively high without leading to violence or becoming a manufactured thing then we could be seeing something special here.
# posted by Chris Fung @ 11:57 PM 
