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FanHouse Mike Tirico

Latest Mike Tirico Stories

Mike Tirico Survives Mosquito Attack

Posted: Oct 27th 2009 4:00PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: ESPN, Sports Media, NFL

1 COMMENT
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.
Continue Reading Mike Tirico Survives Mosquito Attack

ESPN on MNF: Fans Want Football

Posted: Aug 28th 2009 8:58AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: NFL Media Watch

28 COMMENTS

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.
Continue Reading ESPN on MNF: Fans Want Football

Admit it: You'll Miss Kornheiser on MNF

Posted: May 18th 2009 11:56PM by Jay Mariotti (author feed)
Filed under: NFL

59 COMMENTS
Tony Kornheiser gets very mad when I sit in his chair, pick up his personalized bobblehead from the studio set and shake the doll. In fact, even when I don't have the privilege of sometimes subbing for him on ESPN's Pardon The Interruption, he seems to dislike me -- maybe because I have a full head of hair or, more likely, because I'm intellectually beneath him.

That's OK. I am grateful anyway.

I thank him because he did the sportswriting profession proud in his three years on Monday Night Football. Kornheiser technically isn't a sportswriter anymore, having escaped the dying newspaper business like many of us, but when he was hired for one of the most high-profile assignments in sports television, he was dismissed by many viewers and critics as a columnist painfully out of his league.
Continue Reading Admit it: You'll Miss Kornheiser on MNF

Aaron Curry Bringing Leukemia Survivor With Him to NFL Draft

Posted: Apr 21st 2009 2:30PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Chiefs, Lions, Rams, NFL Draft, NFL Fans, NFL Media Watch

5 COMMENTS
Aaron Curry is considered the "safest pick" in this year's NFL Draft. It's for several reasons: he started all but one game in his three-year, redshirt career at Wake Forest, he plays a position that doesn't scream "NFL downside" like, say, quarterback, and perhaps most importantly, everyone is aware that he's just a good person.

This became all the more evident during a recent radio interview with Mike Tirico and Scott Van Pelt on ESPN Radio (autoplay) when Curry was asked about bringing a leukemia survivor and a patient at St. Jude's Children's Hospital with him to the NFL Draft on Saturday.
Continue Reading Aaron Curry Bringing Leukemia Survivor With Him to NFL Draft

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

Posted: Dec 22nd 2008 4:59PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Chicago Bears, Packers, NFL Media Watch, NFL Video

2 COMMENTS
At an ESPN event today in Chicago, I pulled Monday Night Football play-by-play man Mike Tirico aside to ask him a few questions about his preparation for the games, Ron Jaworski's film study, and whether Tony Kornheiser talks too much about Brett Favre:



Tirico, Jaworski and Kornheiser conclude their season with tonight's Packers-Bears game.

Obama and McCain Interviews Will Be Shown at Halftime of MNF

Posted: Oct 30th 2008 11:06AM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Redskins, Steelers, AFC North, NFC East, NFL Fans, NFL Media Watch

1 COMMENT

I'm sure everyone was happy about Barak Obama's infomercial prior to part two of Game 5 of the World Series. Now he, along with John McCain, will have their final words during halftime of the Steelers-Redskins game on Monday Night Football (via PFT).

ESPN has announced that both Obama and McCain will be interviewed during halftime of the Monday Night Football game between the Redskins and Steelers.

Chris Berman will interview both candidates separately. The interviews will be taped during the day on Monday and will air at halftime.
Who better than Chris Berman to do these interviews? What we need to hear from these candidates are their favorite 1970s rock songs and nicknames for their VP picks (Sarah "Lunch" Palin?). I don't need to hear Arizona senator John McCain chatting about the Arizona Cardinals.

I do need Berman talking to the candidates about the cost of "deux-deux-deuxs" in this country in relation to Canada.

I understand the significance of the Monday nighter in Washington. It is Election Day Eve and that city will be sitting on pins and needles as many of those people are gearing up for the biggest day of their professional lives.
Continue Reading Obama and McCain Interviews Will Be Shown at Halftime of MNF

Tony Kornheiser Will Use MNF to Only Talk About Brett Favre (and Dry Cleaning)

Posted: Sep 20th 2008 11:56AM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Chargers, Jets, NFL Fans, NFL Media Watch

15 COMMENTS

Tony Kornheiser really is an insufferable clown. It pains me to write that because for almost 30 years he was one of the best sportswriters in the country, but since cutting back (and eventually leaving) his Washington Post gig, and being named the third wheel in the Monday Night Football booth, he's gone from respected newspaperman to Woody Paige light. In case there's any confusion, that's not a compliment.

During the first two MNF games, Mr. Tony spent equal time yelling about Brett Favre -- even though, you know, the Jets weren't playing -- and making inane observations while talking over boothmates Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski, two guys made infinitely more interesting by comparison.

And now, with the Chargers and Jets facing off this Monday night, guess where Kornheiser will focus his attention? Yep, it's FAVRE-MANIA! Or something.
Continue Reading Tony Kornheiser Will Use MNF to Only Talk About Brett Favre (and Dry Cleaning)

MNF's Kornheiser Drops Offensive Spanish Line During Hispanic Heritage Month

Posted: Sep 16th 2008 11:19AM by Shane Bacon (author feed)
Filed under: NFL Media Watch

406 COMMENTS
I think we can all agree that the Tony Kornheiser project on Monday Night Football hasn't gone very well. The gentleman, who from all accounts seems like a decent human being, just kills it on "Pardon the Interruption" but, like most, doesn't really fit the mold of a booth announcer. The "joke first, football second" mentality just seems too Hollywood for football.



Last night's game featuring the Cowboys and Eagles didn't really boost his appeal, especially with the Hispanic community. While promoting the fact that it is Hispanic Heritage Month, ESPN continually gave us a listen to what the ESPN Deportes announcers were saying, and Kornheiser dropped this gem after Alvaro Martin called the Felix Jones kickoff return for a touchdown.
"I took high school Spanish, either he said he's not going to be caught, or please pick up my dry cleaning tomorrow."
To his credit, even Mike Tirico and company laughed at the comment, which didn't seem malicious but did seem a bit inappropriate and a poor choice of words. Dry cleaning? Really?
Continue Reading MNF's Kornheiser Drops Offensive Spanish Line During Hispanic Heritage Month

Philadelphia Eagles' DeSean Jackson Drops Ball; Refs, Pacman, Westbrook Save Him

Posted: Sep 15th 2008 9:53PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys, Eagles

16 COMMENTS
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson committed what ESPN broadcaster Mike Tirico called "one of the all-time bonehead plays" tonight against the Dallas Cowboys, spiking the football and celebrating a 61-yard touchdown -- before he crossed the goal line.

That means it wasn't a touchdown at all -- it was a 60-yard reception that ended with a fumble at the 1-yard line. Fortunately for Jackson, however, two other people made mistakes on the play: The nearest official, who signaled a touchdown, and the nearest Cowboy, Adam "Pacman" Jones, who assumed it was a touchdown and failed to pounce on the ball when Jackson dropped it.

If the official on the field had realized what happened, and if Pacman had jumped on the ball, it would have been the Cowboys' ball at the 1-yard line. Instead, although the Cowboys successfully challenged the play, it became a moot point because Eagles running back Brian Westbrook took a handoff and dove into the end zone on the next play.

But while the mistake will have no impact on the game's final score, Jackson deserves a place in football infamy, alongside Leon Lett.

Eight Belles: PETA Spokeswoman Can't Answer Mike Tirico's Questions

Posted: May 6th 2008 7:31AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Horse Racing

32 COMMENTS
Yesterday I questioned whether some horse racing opponents were damaging their own cause in the wake of Eight Belles' death at the Kentucky Derby. It turns out that one prominent horse racing opponent was in the process of damaging her own cause just as I was writing that.

Nicole Matthews, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was on Mike Tirico's ESPN Radio show yesterday afternoon. And when she was asked to defend PETA's position that Eight Belles' jockey, Gabriel Saez, should be suspended, she revealed herself as completely incapable. Here's a transcript, based on the portion of the interview that was re-played on ESPN Radio this morning:

Tirico: Did he do something that other jockeys haven't done in the recent past?

Matthews: Well, horse racing is a dirty, greedy money game.

Tirico: OK, that's a big picture question, Nicole, and I understand that and we can get that for a brief moment in a minute. But come back to my point. Did he do something that somebody in the seventh race at the Derby didn't do?

Matthews: Well, you know, thoroughbreds are raced on hard dirt surfaces, too young and too often and they're whipped viciously as they come down the stretch.

Tirico: Let me try my question a third time. Did he do something that a jockey didn't do in the sixth race at Churchill Downs Saturday

Matthews: [inaudible] horses is a standard practice, of course.
If PETA can't answer the basic question of whether Saez did anything different from any other jockey, then it shouldn't take the position that Saez should be suspended. Advocates for animal rights have many valid points about the dangers of horse racing, and I personally believe that the sport needs to make changes, including banning the whip. But if PETA can't answer the most fundamental questions about this situation, then it doesn't have much to add to the conversation.

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