Why I can't get into the NFL too much this year...

[Sport]

And another thing I just thought of too (I'm thinking of many!!!), most of the pre-game shows I dislike anymore. The Fox pre-game show was great when JB was still there, now it's not so much. The ESPN pregame show, 2 hours, too long. The CBS pre-game show is the only one I consider worth watching anymore, and at that, I still miss Deion Sanders being on there (yes believe it or not), and I prefer him far and away over Shannon Sharpe. The others are great, and the addition of Coach Cowher really compliments the team quite well, especially having JB there, and the former Houston Texans general manager whose name escapes me just now. The other shows have way too many personalities that they throw at us. I still long for the days of the NFL Today, the warmer feeling setting back when Brent, Irv Cross, Jimmy the Greek & Phyllis George/Jayne Kennedy were on the set, and the NFL '80 set w/Costas and Gumbel. The Sunday Night show on NBC I loved until they brought Olbermann on, and now Dan Patrick in addition to that. I never cared much for either of them when they were on ESPN, nor when they were on the radio, and why do they need to be there? You have Costas, Collingsworth, Peter King, Tiki Barber, & Jerome Bettis, that's more than enough people to talk about the games, and the highlights, now they throw Patrick & Olbermann at us too. Too many cooks spoiling this broth for me, though I do love the pairing of Madden & Michaels. I love listening to Enberg call a game still too. I miss the older voices, Don Criqui, Charlie Jones (RIP), Merlin Olson, many more classic announcers. And the Monday Night Football game on ESPN now, many times the matchups are very dull, and I cannot get into the folks in the booth very much. I loved when ESPN had the Sunday Night games, and had Mike Patrick, Theissman & Paul McGwire, the 3 of them worked really well together I thought, and I still miss that.

NFL pregame shows are just unwatchable. I know very little about football exes and o's. I would really like to hear more about that. Instead you have like 9 guys on ESPN and each of them has to say something regarding every issue, and of course very few of them have something I wouldn't have known otherwise. You'll actually hear some of these former players say something like "well they lost last week so they're 2 and 3 now. This is a big game today because it's a lot better to be 3-3 than to have to look at 2-4 in the standings column" No . I very much liked the show Jaws and Merrill Hogue did call 'Edge NFL Matchup'. If they could bring that back only with a less annoying analyst that would be worth watching.

[tBBP]

And another thing I just thought of too (I'm thinking of many!!!), most of the pre-game shows I dislike anymore. The Fox pre-game show was great when JB was still there, now it's not so much. The ESPN pregame show, 2 hours, too long. The CBS pre-game show is the only one I consider worth watching anymore, and at that, I still miss Deion Sanders being on there (yes believe it or not), and I prefer him far and away over Shannon Sharpe. The others are great, and the addition of Coach Cowher really compliments the team quite well, especially having JB there, and the former Houston Texans general manager whose name escapes me just now. The other shows have way too many personalities that they throw at us. I still long for the days of the NFL Today, the warmer feeling setting back when Brent, Irv Cross, Jimmy the Greek & Phyllis George/Jayne Kennedy were on the set, and the NFL '80 set w/Costas and Gumbel. The Sunday Night show on NBC I loved until they brought Olbermann on, and now Dan Patrick in addition to that. I never cared much for either of them when they were on ESPN, nor when they were on the radio, and why do they need to be there? You have Costas, Collingsworth, Peter King, Tiki Barber, & Jerome Bettis, that's more than enough people to talk about the games, and the highlights, now they throw Patrick & Olbermann at us too. Too many cooks spoiling this broth for me, though I do love the pairing of Madden & Michaels. I love listening to Enberg call a game still too. I miss the older voices, Don Criqui, Charlie Jones (RIP), Merlin Olson, many more classic announcers. And the Monday Night Football game on ESPN now, many times the matchups are very dull, and I cannot get into the folks in the booth very much. I loved when ESPN had the Sunday Night games, and had Mike Patrick, Theissman & Paul McGwire, the 3 of them worked really well together I thought, and I still miss that.

NFL pregame shows are just unwatchable. I know very little about football exes and o's. I would really like to hear more about that. Instead you have like 9 guys on ESPN and each of them has to say something regarding every issue, and of course very few of them have something I wouldn't have known otherwise. You'll actually hear some of these former players say something like "well they lost last week so they're 2 and 3 now. This is a big game today because it's a lot better to be 3-3 than to have to look at 2-4 in the standings column" No . I very much liked the show Jaws and Merrill Hogue did call 'Edge NFL Matchup'. If they could bring that back only with a less annoying analyst that would be worth watching.

It also helped that the two had two different schools of thought in regards to success in the NFL. Jaws was a staunch supporter of "points come from the passing game"; Hoge a big-time supporter of the running attack (no surprise, since Jaws was a QB and Hoge an RB), and watching them argue over that was comical at times...but it made for an interesting analysis at times. Helps that both really knew what they were talking about, too--too few analysts really know their s#*! these days.

And with ESPN, it seems they just pluck any former player who thinks he could be an analyst and stick him on one of their shows. Emmitt Smith? Yeah right. Seriously...how did Shaun King end up on NFL Live? (The other night Tim Hasselbeck popped up on there.) I can deal with and respect Mark Schlereth (hope I spelled that right), cuz he really seems to know what he's talking about (helps that the dude got a fistful of SB rings too). But most of these personalities on TV these days are some serious blowhards who try too hard to either be funny, be a genius, or both.

[TFoA]

And with ESPN, it seems they just pluck any former player who thinks he could be an analyst and stick him on one of their shows. Emmitt Smith? Yeah right. Seriously...how did Shaun King end up on NFL Live? (The other night Tim Hasselbeck popped up on there.) I can deal with and respect Mark Schlereth (hope I spelled that right), cuz he really seems to know what he's talking about (helps that the dude got a fistful of SB rings too). But most of these personalities on TV these days are some serious blowhards who try too hard to either be funny, be a genius, or both.

Mark Schlereth seems like the only analyst on ESPN that pretty much has a grip on what he's talking about and seems like a straight shooter. Everybody else seems like they're getting fed what to say by the producers.

They still show ESPN Matchup though. That's a great show right there.

[Off topic]They seem to do that for NBA as well. Anybody who just got released or is not working for TNT or any other NBA team's local broadcast team, ESPN will pick them up. ESPN could easily field one of the best pick-up basketball teams you will ever see.[/off topic]

[Jigga]

And with ESPN, it seems they just pluck any former player who thinks he could be an analyst and stick him on one of their shows. Emmitt Smith? Yeah right. Seriously...how did Shaun King end up on NFL Live? (The other night Tim Hasselbeck popped up on there.) I can deal with and respect Mark Schlereth (hope I spelled that right), cuz he really seems to know what he's talking about (helps that the dude got a fistful of SB rings too). But most of these personalities on TV these days are some serious blowhards who try too hard to either be funny, be a genius, or both.

Mark Schlereth seems like the only analyst on ESPN that pretty much has a grip on what he's talking about and seems like a straight shooter. Everybody else seems like they're getting fed what to say by the producers.

They still show ESPN Matchup though. That's a great show right there.

[Off topic]They seem to do that for NBA as well. Anybody who just got released or is not working for TNT or any other NBA team's local broadcast team, ESPN will pick them up. ESPN could easily field one of the best pick-up basketball teams you will ever see.[/off topic]

Trent Dilfer is an excellent analyst. Eric Allen and Darren Woodson are good, but under-utilized. Emmitt sucks, Marcellus Wiley is bad, having both Chris Carter and Keyshawn Johnson is overkill, and Steve Young just seems disinterested on Monday nights. Tim Hasselbach probably got that TV gig only because his wife is on TV...lol

[TFoA]

And with ESPN, it seems they just pluck any former player who thinks he could be an analyst and stick him on one of their shows. Emmitt Smith? Yeah right. Seriously...how did Shaun King end up on NFL Live? (The other night Tim Hasselbeck popped up on there.) I can deal with and respect Mark Schlereth (hope I spelled that right), cuz he really seems to know what he's talking about (helps that the dude got a fistful of SB rings too). But most of these personalities on TV these days are some serious blowhards who try too hard to either be funny, be a genius, or both.

Mark Schlereth seems like the only analyst on ESPN that pretty much has a grip on what he's talking about and seems like a straight shooter. Everybody else seems like they're getting fed what to say by the producers.

They still show ESPN Matchup though. That's a great show right there.

[Off topic]They seem to do that for NBA as well. Anybody who just got released or is not working for TNT or any other NBA team's local broadcast team, ESPN will pick them up. ESPN could easily field one of the best pick-up basketball teams you will ever see.[/off topic]

Trent Dilfer is an excellent analyst. Eric Allen and Darren Woodson are good, but under-utilized. Emmitt sucks, Marcellus Wiley is bad, having both Chris Carter and Keyshawn Johnson is overkill, and Steve Young just seems disinterested on Monday nights. Tim Hasselbach probably got that TV gig only because his wife is on TV...lol

Completely forgot about Allen and Woodson, which shows you how underused they are. When do they bring them in, 3 days a month? Damn. Idk where my mind was, but I do agree with Dilfer. That man also knows what he's talking about.

But I will say this: As bad as everybody else is, they still got rid of the worst guy, IMO. Sean Salisbury. I could not stand that dude.

[Jigga]

And with ESPN, it seems they just pluck any former player who thinks he could be an analyst and stick him on one of their shows. Emmitt Smith? Yeah right. Seriously...how did Shaun King end up on NFL Live? (The other night Tim Hasselbeck popped up on there.) I can deal with and respect Mark Schlereth (hope I spelled that right), cuz he really seems to know what he's talking about (helps that the dude got a fistful of SB rings too). But most of these personalities on TV these days are some serious blowhards who try too hard to either be funny, be a genius, or both.

Mark Schlereth seems like the only analyst on ESPN that pretty much has a grip on what he's talking about and seems like a straight shooter. Everybody else seems like they're getting fed what to say by the producers.

They still show ESPN Matchup though. That's a great show right there.

[Off topic]They seem to do that for NBA as well. Anybody who just got released or is not working for TNT or any other NBA team's local broadcast team, ESPN will pick them up. ESPN could easily field one of the best pick-up basketball teams you will ever see.[/off topic]

Trent Dilfer is an excellent analyst. Eric Allen and Darren Woodson are good, but under-utilized. Emmitt sucks, Marcellus Wiley is bad, having both Chris Carter and Keyshawn Johnson is overkill, and Steve Young just seems disinterested on Monday nights. Tim Hasselbach probably got that TV gig only because his wife is on TV...lol

Completely forgot about Allen and Woodson, which shows you how underused they are. When do they bring them in, 3 days a month? Damn. Idk where my mind was, but I do agree with Dilfer. That man also knows what he's talking about.

But I will say this: As bad as everybody else is, they still got rid of the worst guy, IMO. Sean Salisbury. I could not stand that dude.

Word to that!

[jkrdevil]

i say pick up college football

every week is fun to watch plus players aren't being paid so they are out there for pure enjoyment

Well, most players aren't paid.

Actually, almost all the players are getting paid in one form as they receive full ride scholarships. Sure they aren't getting salaries but the scholarships do have an a monetary value to them (not to mention the value of getting a college education brings for the majority who aren't going to go to the NFL). For many of the big schools it's a substantially value as the cost of tuition for that institution is in many cases very high. For example if you are an out of state student who wants to go to Michigan the cost of attending is about $44,761 (according to the Michigan Website). That is a lot of people's yearly salary. If it wasn't NCAA sanctioned, that is something that would be a clear cut violation.

They might not get what the NFL players get but in actuality any college athlete on scholarship is professional. They are being paid in a form of a scholarship to basically promote the school, through their play, to make it a more attractive place for other students to want to come attend.

[tBBP]

And with ESPN, it seems they just pluck any former player who thinks he could be an analyst and stick him on one of their shows. Emmitt Smith? Yeah right. Seriously...how did Shaun King end up on NFL Live? (The other night Tim Hasselbeck popped up on there.) I can deal with and respect Mark Schlereth (hope I spelled that right), cuz he really seems to know what he's talking about (helps that the dude got a fistful of SB rings too). But most of these personalities on TV these days are some serious blowhards who try too hard to either be funny, be a genius, or both.

Mark Schlereth seems like the only analyst on ESPN that pretty much has a grip on what he's talking about and seems like a straight shooter. Everybody else seems like they're getting fed what to say by the producers.

They still show ESPN Matchup though. That's a great show right there.

[Off topic]They seem to do that for NBA as well. Anybody who just got released or is not working for TNT or any other NBA team's local broadcast team, ESPN will pick them up. ESPN could easily field one of the best pick-up basketball teams you will ever see.[/off topic]

Trent Dilfer is an excellent analyst. Eric Allen and Darren Woodson are good, but under-utilized. Emmitt sucks, Marcellus Wiley is bad, having both Chris Carter and Keyshawn Johnson is overkill, and Steve Young just seems disinterested on Monday nights. Tim Hasselbach probably got that TV gig only because his wife is on TV...lol

Completely forgot about Allen and Woodson, which shows you how underused they are. When do they bring them in, 3 days a month? Damn. Idk where my mind was, but I do agree with Dilfer. That man also knows what he's talking about.

But I will say this: As bad as everybody else is, they still got rid of the worst guy, IMO. Sean Salisbury. I could not stand that dude.

Word to that!

Word to ya MUTHA!!!

(I've never actually seen Trent Dilfer on any of ESPN's shows to know how he is, so I'll take y'alls word for it.)

[Jigga]

And with ESPN, it seems they just pluck any former player who thinks he could be an analyst and stick him on one of their shows. Emmitt Smith? Yeah right. Seriously...how did Shaun King end up on NFL Live? (The other night Tim Hasselbeck popped up on there.) I can deal with and respect Mark Schlereth (hope I spelled that right), cuz he really seems to know what he's talking about (helps that the dude got a fistful of SB rings too). But most of these personalities on TV these days are some serious blowhards who try too hard to either be funny, be a genius, or both.

Mark Schlereth seems like the only analyst on ESPN that pretty much has a grip on what he's talking about and seems like a straight shooter. Everybody else seems like they're getting fed what to say by the producers.

They still show ESPN Matchup though. That's a great show right there.

[Off topic]They seem to do that for NBA as well. Anybody who just got released or is not working for TNT or any other NBA team's local broadcast team, ESPN will pick them up. ESPN could easily field one of the best pick-up basketball teams you will ever see.[/off topic]

Trent Dilfer is an excellent analyst. Eric Allen and Darren Woodson are good, but under-utilized. Emmitt sucks, Marcellus Wiley is bad, having both Chris Carter and Keyshawn Johnson is overkill, and Steve Young just seems disinterested on Monday nights. Tim Hasselbach probably got that TV gig only because his wife is on TV...lol

Completely forgot about Allen and Woodson, which shows you how underused they are. When do they bring them in, 3 days a month? Damn. Idk where my mind was, but I do agree with Dilfer. That man also knows what he's talking about.

But I will say this: As bad as everybody else is, they still got rid of the worst guy, IMO. Sean Salisbury. I could not stand that dude.

Word to that!

Word to ya MUTHA!!!

(I've never actually seen Trent Dilfer on any of ESPN's shows to know how he is, so I'll take y'alls word for it.)

He's usually on the Sunday evening SportsCenter (7:30ish EST) with Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, and John Saunders. Trust me, B, dude is the truth.