Those Guys Have All the Fun - James Andrew Miller [369]
You know, it is interesting that the really passionate people who don’t like authority also seem to be the people who have had problems at ESPN in the past. I’ve heard about the struggles that Olbermann had with the company and now that I know Kornheiser, knowing some of the shit that he’s dealt with, it does seem like we’re all certain types. Olbermann’s much crazier than I am. But we’re all kind of like the same mold—very impassioned almost to a fault, and we just can’t believe ESPN works this way, and why can’t it work better, and it’s just like we’re a bad match for a company like that, and I think that’s why a lot of those people have left. Kornheiser left and then came back for PTI but really only because of [producer] Erik Rydholm. If it was anybody else I don’t think he would have lasted.
FRED GAUDELLI:
Everybody knew that Monday Night broadcast was bad except for Skipper and Walsh, and I mean everybody. Walsh loves Kornheiser. Now, everyone knows how much I respect Walsh, but he has no feel for this part of the business—none. Then you think back and remember that Shapiro could have had Al and John, which would have truly brought Monday Night Football to ESPN.
Has anyone missed Kornheiser? Hardly. Now they got Gruden, and he’s good, but here’s what’s happened because of Gruden: he made Jaws superfluous. They don’t need Jaws. But the problem is, what are you going to do now? You can’t get rid of Jaws, and Gruden’s going to be coaching somewhere soon.
JON GRUDEN, Football Analyst:
The biggest surprise is how much I enjoy it. My first preseason, we got on the bus in Pittsburgh. We did the Steelers-Cardinals game, and we drove up to watch the Giants in training camp—about an eight-hour bus ride to Albany to watch the Giants practice. Then we did the Giants-Carolina game. We had eight or nine days when we were together and really got to know each other, Ron and Mike and I, and Jay and Chip and Jeff Leonardo, our bus driver. It was kind of like our training camp, and I really felt comfortable with the guys I was with and hopefully they became more comfortable with me. It was all football all the time, and it was the start of some really special relationships.
Going back to Lambeau Field in Green Bay and to the 49ers game in San Francisco, places where my coaching career started, those were two of my favorite trips. During the San Francisco trip, I went back to Ruby Hill, where I lived when I coached the Raiders. And of course in Green Bay, I had a chance to hang out with Mike McCarthy, who I worked with at Pittsburgh. I got a chance to go to Brett Favre’s Steakhouse—that wasn’t there when I was coaching. And I got a picture of me next to Mike Holmgren Street.
We did something in every town. When I was in Dallas I had a chance to sneak a lunch in with Randy White. I took the guys to Splitsville. I’m a part owner of a bowling alley. It’s probably not doing very well, but I took the guys up there and we rolled balls down the alley. We went to the Cleveland Cavaliers game when we were in Cleveland, my first time seeing LeBron James play. I got to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I even got to go curling! You know, every town we went to, Saturday night was kind of our night to be together. I got to go over to Archie Manning’s house and meet Archie and Olivia Manning in New Orleans, right there in their house where Peyton and Eli Manning played catch in the backyard. That was pretty cool.
Another fun thing about being part of Monday Night Football was hearing from friends and people I hadn’t spoken with in years. I got a letter not long ago from my fifth-grade schoolteacher back in Bloomington, Indiana, Mrs. Williams, who said she was a big fan of Monday Night Football. That blew my mind.
FRED GAUDELLI:
This was not from Jerry Jones but came from someone