FanHouse JonGruden

I'm not sure who's more hopelessly out of place: Charlie Weis on the Notre Dame sideline or Jon Gruden in the "Monday Night Football'' broadcast booth. But two wrongs easily can be righted in one spectacular swoop. The Domers need to swallow hard again, reach down for that big wallet, send away Weis with his $18 million buyout and hire Gruden as their next coach.

Because Navy just sank the USS Charlie.

In a dizzying age in college football, when anything's-possible intruders such as TCU and Cincinnati can crash the top five, the Fighting Irish continue to pass bad gas at the most inopportune times. A direct yellow brick road to a Bowl Championship Series bid is theirs annually, thanks to some wretched politics that no longer should exist, but once again, they've self-destructed and will settle for an inferior bowl. It's not only the crushing 23-21 home loss on Saturday, their second in three years to Navy after beating the Midshipmen a laughable 43 straight times, that has sealed Weis' fate in Year Five of his dismal tenure. It's what he said afterward -- tripe that supports the growing conclusion that he has been stealing money much too long.

I guess it was only a matter of time. You can now place wagers on who the next Redskins' head coach will be. Though there is nothing official from the Redskins that they'll definitely terminate Jim Zorn at or before the conclusion of the season, online betting place Play Blackjack Online has compiled a list with odds of possible coaching candidates.

I'm not a Redskins or Eagles fan, but I watched the Monday Night Football telecast because, like most people, I wanted to see how a guy who was calling bingo games a month ago might do as a play-caller. Turns out, better than you might think. But as ESPN's Ron Jaworski reminded us every 15 seconds: IT'S MORE ABOUT THE EXECUTION THAN THE PLAY CALL.

Duly noted, sir.

Anyway, as Jaws, Jon Gruden and Mike Tirico came on the air to preview the game, I noticed what looked like a fly on Tirico's head. And thanks to Hot Clicks, that was apparently the case.

Video after the jump.

The first five weeks of the season have led to the widespread belief that Jim Zorn's got about as much time left in the nation's capital as a Congressman found in a hotel room with three dead prostitutes. That means that speculation about his possible replacement has ramped up to a fevered pitch and, since the Redskins are owned by Daniel Snyder, it's focused on only the biggest available names.

Tuesday brings a report from the Washington Examiner that sources close to Snyder have placed former Raiders and Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden at the top of the owner's wish list. It's not hard to figure out why that report would surface on a Tuesday.

Last night was Monday Night Football, after all.

BRISTOL, Conn. -- Everyone here at ESPN headquarters is taking pains to say that replacing Tony Kornheiser with Jon Gruden in the Monday Night Football booth is not an indictment of Kornheiser's work as an announcer. But in the next breath, everyone then talks about how great they expect Monday Night Football to be now that Gruden is a part of it.

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The Buccaneers have been busy little beavers this offseason. Jon Gruden got canned, Raheem Morris, the league's youngest head coach, was hired, and along with new (and young-ish) general manager Mark Dominik, they purged the roster of veterans and commenced with the youth movement.

Taking quarterback Josh Freeman with their first-round pick was a clear indication of that, but so too was trading for wildly talented but emotionally excitable tight end Kellen Winslow.

It's June, so a lot can change between now and the start of training camp in six weeks, but apparently the Buccaneers are thinking about giving the starting quarterback gig to rookie first-round pick Josh Freeman.

Before last season, I would have had a hard time supporting that plan, but Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco changed all that. Ryan led the Falcons, a four-win outfit in 2007, to the postseason; Flacco made it to the AFC Conference Championship game with the Ravens, a team that finished 5-11 the year before.

Now, the Bucs might have similar ideas for Freeman. And they were 9-7 in 2008, which, in theory, means they have fewer holes to patch.

Jon Gruden is the new Tony Kornheiser. Just about everybody not working for NFL Network is cool with that.

Mr. Tony the columnist and Pardon the Interruption co-host was nothing like Mr. Tony the third wheel in the Monday Night Football booth, and his departure -- whether on his own terms or otherwise -- is a welcome change. Before ESPN named Gruden to replace Kornheiser, NFL Network had similar plans: they wanted Chucky to move into Cris Collinsworth's seat (Cris graduated to Sunday Night Football after John Madden retired) and work alongside Bob Papa on the eight Thursday night games.

Rumor spread a few years ago at a golf course outside Chicago, that John Daly, who was supposed to be there, had had a heart attack and died. The next day, he showed up at his practice round.

Afterward, as he stuffed his clubs into the trunk of the car, prepared to head off to Hooters for an autograph session, and stopped for a quick smoke, I talked with him in the parking lot.

John Daly is a lot like Johnny Depp: born in the South, in his 40s, loves kicking it in Europe, and now, thanks to lap-band surgery, looks unreasonably thin (well, relative to the old JD, anyway). And while he has yet to bust out the pirate ensemble (although I suspect it'll soon be in the rotation), he enjoys dressing up in funny outfits.

Now, after serving a six-month suspension, Daly will be back on the PGA Tour. The former two-time major winner is still without his card, but he'll be in the field at the St. Jude Championship in three weeks on a sponsor's exemption. Just like old times. Save the fact that he's 40 pounds lighter and probably playing some of his best golf in recent years.