A selection of comments:
Comment by RC on 10/29 @ 6:39 pm # |Edit This
G*d I am so tired of the Favre-gasm. You just about want to send a note to ESPN toe tell Kornheiser and Favre to get a room.
Comment by Jeff G. on 10/29 @ 7:08 pm # |Edit This
Thank you, RC. I have to turn off the game. Between the Bronco bashing from Kornholio, the Favre encomiums (and now, his wife in the booth, taking attention away from the actual game), and the camera coverage (LOOK! CHEESEHEADS IN THE STANDS!), I’ve lost interest in football.
The way ESPN markets sports these days is ruining the games for me. What was once about teams is now about individual personalities. It’s tedious.
And seriously, is the pro-Green Bay bias on a game being played in Denver really wise?
Comment by Tman on 10/29 @ 7:26 pm # |Edit This
I think ESPN should be banned from doing games. They can do the sportscenter and whatnot, but the way they turn games in to a MTV Video makes me violently ill.
I wish we could get Madden/Summerall back together. Did anyone call a better game than those two?
I say no.
Comment by lee on 10/30 @ 1:27 pm # |Edit This
I think the problem with football commentary these days is they are not hypermasculine. Sports are all becoming chickafied, in an effort to draw viewership from the three-quarters of the population that are feminine. I mean, my God! the broadcast booth looked like they should have been on Oprah, not MNF.
Comment by Sinner on 10/30 @ 1:38 pm # |Edit This
Starting corners were playing for Denver, they failed to cover a rook and a oft injured second year player. O-Line, back and receivers (the scrubs) did just fine. A freak fumble and 2 blown coverages was the difference…
Comment by Ted Nugent’s Soul Patch on 10/30 @ 2:04 pm # |Edit This
I’ve been watching the Broncos for a long time, and my thoughts are as follows:
–Kornheiser’s knob-slobbering over Favre was ridiculous. Keep in mind that Favre has the NFL record for interceptions as well as touchdowns because he’s so undisciplined. If Montana had been picked off that much, I doubt you’d hear anybody in the sports world making excuses for him they way they do for Favre. That said, hats off to Favre for finding the weak link of the defense–Dre Bly– when it mattered and exploiting it.
–Green Bay is in Wisconsin, cheeseheads. If your city is so fucking great, please go live there instead of in Denver–our traffic is bad enough. I swear to god about half the people in the stands were wearing green and gold. I guess that’s what we get for letting Bowlen put a parking lot over Mile High and taking away the home field advantage.
–This team’s struggles can be laid at the foot of one man–Mike Shanahan–and karma is proving to be a bitch. There’s plenty of talent on the team, but this is one of the most poorly-coached units I’ve ever seen in Denver, and I witnessed the Wade Phillips era(although I hear the Mac Speedie years were pretty awful). The defense can’t tackle, can’t cover, and can’t stop the run. The offense is great between the 20-yard-lines and a basket case in the red zone. This all started last season, when Plummer was set up for failure on a weekly basis by the coach so Shanny could have an excuse to get his hand-picked golden boy in the lineup (remember, he knifed Brister in the back to put in griese in 1999 and the team went a sparkling 5-11 as a result); Shanny’s conservative game plans put so much pressure on the defense to keep the team in games, thanks to a plethora of 3 and outs and field goals, that they were worn out by the middle of the year. And who got fired at the end of last year? The defensive coordinator and his staff, even though their scheming and planning was the only reason Denver won any games at all early in the year, and were forced to try and make chicken salad out of chicken shit when Cutler was put in. And suprise, suprise, the defense is worse than last year. You KNOW that Plummer is laughing his ass off in Montana right now.
I think it’s time for Shanahan to go. He got the job as a result of his relationship with Elway as much as his coaching ability, and we are seeing what happens when a coach gets too full of himself and thinks he can do no wrong. Except for running backs, the man can’t draft to save his life, his choice of coordinators is based more on media hype than actual ability, and it looks like teams have figured out his offense. So what good is he at this point?
Comment by Radish on 10/30 @ 2:41 pm # |Edit This
Anybody who watched that game last night would be sick.
So there WAS a game last night. My TV Guide said there would be a game on Channel 12, but when I turned it on they were showing a Lifetime Original Movie about high school sweethearts and breast cancer.
Comment by Concerned Student on 10/30 @ 2:45 pm # |Edit This
I didn’t have to hear the commentary, and missed the pre-game commentary, well only sort of, my dad called me to tell me how disgusted he was with the commentary. He even went so far to actually suggest he would like to see Madden come back to Monday night, because while the man loved to talk up Brett Favre, at least he stuck with the football. He wouldn’t have stood for someone to be in the booth pushing her new book, or movie stars hanging around causing the game to be missed. Hell the world series of poker stays on better track than the coverage of last nights game.
I wrote ESPN to let them know how disgusted I was that it seemed like we were watching a tribute to Brett Favre/talk show more than we were watching a football game. Another thing I thought was funny is they did mention at least one of Elway’s records, but only because he was second to Favre in that list. The funny thing is it took Favre 17 years to get that record where Elway made it in 16… but you know that isn’t want the dumbass announcers were mentioning… just that, well you know, Favre is the greatest. I am not sure I will watch Monday night football again after the atrocity that was allowed to air last night, and that makes me mad. You see, the Broncos have 2 more games this year on Monday night and I am afraid of throwing my TV across the room if I have to watch something to blatantly biased again.
Good job ESPN you brought your Sunday night mediocrity to Monday night football and have pissed off one more fan. Oh well at least the NFL network gives me what I want.
Comment by David on 10/30 @ 3:05 pm # |Edit This
My meta-analysis says:
1) Shanahan’s not your problem, your players are. After all, the only reason the O-line is any good is because all they do is chop block, thanks to the coaching.
2) Green Bay is not as good as their record indicates.
3) Favre is good. That is, when he’s not throwing 4 picks and fumbling a couple snaps a game.
4) Kornheiser, really, really, really needs to start covering equestrian or some suitable non-sport on ESPN.
5) Players’ wives should not be in the booth.
6) Ditto for actors, although Vince wasn’t nearly as annoying as I thought he’d be.
Can’t you just imagine all of them feverishly beating off when Favre’s on the field? ‘Cause I do.
Imagine it I mean.
I just ordered a Brett Favre implant from ESPN.com. I’ll be able to sustain an erection until Brett Favre retires. Whoop!
So, Denver, just now discovering the national sports media knobslobbery over Brett Favre? We Bears fans have been dealing with it for 15 years, twice a year. And it hasn’t helped that the BEARS-PACKERS RIVALRY (John Facenda voice) leads to too many goddamn national Sunday and Monday night games that turn into Bears fiascos.
Anyone in the NFC North knows how much broadcasters will talk up Favre, even if he is the one directly responsible for the loss.
Such as the last time the Packers were in the playoffs against the Vikings. Favre basically blew the game for the Packers and I’m sure if they could they would have given Favre the player of the game award (if there was one).
TV sports is one of those things where I see how popular they are in Europe and the Third World and what I think is that this can’t be good.
Sarge, I’d known about the Favre-worship for a while–I’d seen criticism of the media’s excuse-making for Favre going back a couple of years when he was throwing picks like hand-wrapped Christmas gifts–but I can only imagine how bad it’s been for the other midwestern teams since they’ve had to deal with this shit for 15 years.
You should see the comments on the game over at deadspin.com. These guys can hardly be considered fans of Denver sports teams, yet even they were disgusted at the Favre-lattio going on. Of course, they’ve wanted Kornheiser to get Korn-holed for quite some time now, and last night just increased their rage exponentially.
Green Bay came into Indy undefeated one year, and left with a 41-3 loss om his shoulders, and all we heard was how much Peyton could learn from him.
I like Fav-ruh. But the fellation dished out by the talking head jobbers drives even me nuts.
So thor is having a menage a jockstrap with Vick and Fav-ruh? Gross.
Farve is good for the league. What’s the biggest QB story of the year so far?
Vick.
The NFL needs to put a positive face forward on TV. Farve is the guy, Peyton Manning is second. They are pushing the “Most QBs don’t electrocute dogs in basements” angle hard.
I think ESPN’s version of “Monday Night Football” is a plot to make people go down to the local high school on Friday nights.
I was disgusted at the Favre/Greenbay worship last night. What a freakin joke. They sat there all night beating up on Denver… how bad there defense is, how bad the QB is, how bad blah blah blah… Then the love fest with Favre’s wife. Hell, they couldn’t even give Elway any credit, and he’s far better than Favre ever dreamed of being.
That’s the last time I will ever watch Monday night football on ESPN.
Jim C
But Jim–I’m just saying for the sake of argument–what if there were a device that could “filter out” all the unwanted stuff from MNF on ESPN? Would you watch it then? All right, now stay with me. What if I told you that there was such a device? How much would you be willing to pay for it? $400? $200?
You mean a volume control? ‘Cause I can install one for around $200. Plus expenses, of course.
It isn’t Favre’s fault that they gave him repeated virtual BJs; like I said in the other thread, I didn’t even know it was going on since I couldn’t hear the sound, but I knew they had the camera on him too much. But go ahead and hate on him all you want to, people. Now you know how I feel when quarterbacks/teams I don’t like, or who I don’t think deserve it, get the same treatment.
you’d think that Favre guy just launched a bomb 80-some yards to win the game… his arm is toast.
Enoch, I hear you’re going to have a boy. Congrats.
Translation: Favre blew your socks off.
Hate all you want, but he best part about this whole thread is that as much as you hate Favre and Favre-worship, you just have to sit there and “take it”. Just like the Viking fans had to sit there and “take it” when he broke the all time TD record. Couldn’t have happened in a better place. The really hilarious thing is that in private circles you all wish Favre was on your side for the last 15 years. Favre is, in fact, the second coming.
It has nothing to do with Favre. I have all the respect in the world for the guy, he has played the game as well as anyone in history and this is coming from a Vikings fan. We get annoyed when the people commentating on the game can’t get his dick out of their mouths. He could throw 4 or 5 interceptions and the broadcasters wouldn’t dare blame him for the loss, it’d always be some other factor. This was especially prevalent when Favre was struggling the last two or so seasons.
“The really hilarious thing is that in private circles you all wish Favre was on your side for the last 15 years.”
Tom Brady–3 Super Bowl wins. Brett Favre–1 Super Bowl win.
Yeah, we’d take Brett Favre any day, all right.
It has everything to do with Favre. What we’re talking about here is misplaced adulation. Brett is a nice enough guy. I have no issues with ESPN bobbleheads making a few references to him as an exemplary competitor at the twilight of his career. But see, when just to watch a football game I have to endure a pre-game interview with him, a separate interview of his wife, which was nothing more than promotional blow-jobbing for her book, cutaways to her every facial reaction, highlights of Favre’s career in Monday Night Football, interpretive references to what it means to be Brett Favre, his mono-syllabic post-game press conference and countless male mating calls from the ESPN play-by-play crew, all overtly homosexual, it mood-swings me, man, matter of fact, I’m not afraid to say it – Michael “Goddamned” Vick is the man, moreso that Brett Favre. Brett Favre almost lost his woman to cancer. Vick lost at least 20 women to a dog fight. Brett Favre admitted to poppin’ hundreds of pills, no penalty for him. Michael Vick is getting extra prison time because a pee test indicated he might’a toked a half-joint. Favre may go to the Superbowl. Vick can’t even pack a bowel to help ease the misery of a cruel world gone mad.
The NFL and ESPN may want you and I to worship a Brett Favre blow-up doll, fuck ’em, for them I wave Michael Vick’s soiled condoms. You want a winner? You want wholesome? Be one of the many kneeling to lick the man’s balls. For myself, I have set myself beyond the pale. I am nothing. I’m am hardly human anymore. I am Michael Vick’s French Lieutenant’s Whore.
Short memories.
Montana, Young, Marino and yes Elway have all been over-hyped. More so when the time was near for retirement.
To mix sports, who remembers the Michael Jordon retirement roadshow with encore performance. I do and I don’t even follow basketball.
I don’t know why you guys are complaining. Sportscasters are the stupidest bastards to walk the earth. They’re paid to talk, and have not one interesting or intelligent thing to say. That goes double for those pining for the halcyon days of Summerall and Madden. Summerall sounded like Cap’n Crunch, and Madden sounded like Corky overdosed on the cough syrup. It’s nothing but a hysteria-inducing circle jerk.
That said, it’s quite clear to anyone not sending him flowers that Favre, though talented and hard-working, never developed the self-discipline necessary to really have a long-term franchise built around him. Had a few good seasons in the mid-90’s, and it’s been mediocrity ever since. Though that whole division is pretty much hosed now, and I expect the Packers to win it.
I understand that’s pretty common in prison, so no worries there.
/frontrunner for typo of the day
“Sportscasters are the stupidest bastards to walk the earth”
Truer words have not been spoken. Simply imbeciles, the whole lot of them. This is one of the only times that I will so egregiously generalize. That being said, Favre is a great player, but they do go way overboard in praising of him. And no, Jimmy, as mentioned before, I could think of at least two QB’s that I’d want more. Manning and Brady.
Wait, did somebody say that Denver was on MNF twice more this year? Surely, that’s some sort of error. What retarded Disney suit thought that the Horsies would be anything but a 7-to-9 win team this year? That team has no right to be in 17% of the MNF games this year.
Actually, I disagree. Out of sight, out of mind. The focus has been on Tom Brady in a huge way since about the second week of the regular season. He’s setting himself up to demolish several season records. He’s finally got a top-notch receiving corp and is taking advantage of it in a huge way.
Unless he gets hurt, this is the QB story of the year. Between him and Belichick the Patriots are going to do everything possible to win out. They’ve got a huge chip on their shoulders (videogate?) and are out to prove they’re the best ever. And you know what? They just might be. Three rings so far, and the fourth is the one that everyone’s going to be talking about.
And I’m not a Patriots fan. Chargers and Ravens are my teams. The Bolts have already been demolished by the Patriots, and the Ravens, unless someone wakes them up, are gonna get their clocks cleaned. Billick could take some ruthless lessons from Belichick.
If an alien were to land in Times Square and ask “Who’s this Brett Favre guy?” the ideal place to point him would be a recording of Monday night’s broadcast. It was the perfect storm of Favre cliches–having spent the better chunk of my life in the Chicago area, I’ve heard all of the at least 20 times.
It makes you wonder just who it is ESPN is trying to reach with its MNF coverage.
“That team has no right to be in 17% of the MNF games this year.”
I’d agree, but typically, Bronco games on MNF tend to be pretty exciting affairs regardless of who wins–Monday night being a prime example. The MNF Bronco-Raider games always seem to come down to the wire, with a few exceptions, and their shootout with the Rams back in 2000 was awesome.
Ted Nugent’s Soul Patch … yeah, but Favre won his without binoculars.
I reduced my MNF viewing a while ago. ABC’s musical lead-in almost lead to a baseball bat through the screen several times. Since ESPN took over, I almost never watch. In fact, even last monday I saw live exactly three plays – an interesting quirk of timeing – Favre’s first touchdown, Cutlers imcomplete pass into the endzone, and the subsequent field goal to send it into overtime.
A long way to get to the point I know, but then, isnt that just how MNF commentary has become…
There is a device, and it is free for the fan of the teams playing. You see, back when the Donkeys were the Broncos, I’d mute the TV and turn on local radio. And there’s a rather nice benefit of this proceedure – you don’t have to watch the whole game.
Tony Kornheiser and company are simply awful on Monday night. Theissman is putrid, and Jaws is the only saving grace. I I used to mock John and Al, but now I thank God for them. They make Cornhole and crew look like a bunch of bums. In addition to the fact that they are horrible on the play by play, they are semi-classless. During the Miami-Steelers game, they couldn’t get off the bash Ricky William and 0-16 Dolphins bandwagon. As if they weren’t already defenseless,
easy targets, these commentators truly lacked the originality to come up with some new material. To add to that, Cornheiser’s enormous lack of football history is usually very evident. On top of everything else, it’s almost nauseating to look at his grotesque dome. Come on guy, please, in the name of all things good and holy, use some of your big TV money and get some hair plugs. That look is appalling. Try to look the part.
I cannot say how right you are!!! These other people have failed to see your point. I am going to put a link on my blog back to you ok?
maybe in the near future there would be natural breast implants that are based on stem cells or something;;.
breast implants will just become ordinary surgical prodedure these days.’`