Is Michael Wilbon going the way of Keith Olbermann? With his fame he has become progressively more arrogant on the air. Today on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, he told Tony Kornheiser, “How pathetic. A New Yorker slurping a five-year old Washington D.C. franchise? Pathetic.” Wait, what? Both Wilbon and Kornheiser have spent more than 30 years in D.C. and are constantly disassociating themselves from the city and talking about how they love their hometowns, Chicago and New York. But at what point do you become a Washingtonian? Kornheiser has spent more than half his sports fan life in D.C., because you don’t really become a fan until you’re at least around 7. Wilbon has spent about 30 of his 45 years as a sports fan in D.C. Wilbon, you have it wrong. Anyone can like the Yankees (i.e. fair weather fans). You get more respect when you root for a perennial loser rather than jumping on bandwagons. And all Kornheiser did was mention that it was the anniversary of Stephen Strasburg’s major league debut. It’s weird seeing Wilbon up there on NBA panels with experts like Jon Barry and Magic Johnson. Why isn’t Jalen Rose up there instead of Wilbon? He thinks the more you yell, the more accurate your opinions are. It’s a shame, because Wilbon and Kornheiser both used to be good writers. June 9, 2011 – Wilbon jumps the shark.
Posts Tagged ‘Tony Kornheiser’
Has Michael Wilbon jumped the shark?
June 9, 2011Kornheiser: learn about performance enhancing drugs
May 21, 2010Tony Kornheiser just said the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a long time. On PTI, he said Lance Armstrong doesn’t have a swelled head and doesn’t look any thicker, so he must not be using performance enhancing drugs. In cycling, athletes use erythropoietin, or EPO, to boost their levels of red blood cells and give them more endurance. Muscle building steroids have nothing to do with it.
TONY KORNHEISER FIRED AND REPLACED WITH JOHN GRUDEN AS MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ANALYST
May 17, 2009(I was the first to publish this news, about 12 hours before ESPN formally made the announcement).
By Mike Frandsen
Monday Night Football color commentator Tony Kornheiser was fired yesterday and will be replaced by former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach John Gruden for the upcoming 2009 season, an unnamed source told http://www.coachmike.net shortly after midnight this morning. Gruden joins Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski on ESPN’s team.
Kornheiser will reportedly receive a severance package of one million dollars. Kornheiser, a former sportswriter for the Washington Post, co-hosts “Pardon the Interruption,” a popular nightly sports show on ESPN with Michael Wilbon.
John A. Walsh, Senior VP and Executive Editor of ESPN, reportedly agonized over letting his good friend go.
In my opinion, it’s a good move. While Kornheiser used humor and targeted the casual fan, the switch to Gruden should please most football fans because of his candor and knowledge of the game. Kornheiser too often stated the obvious, and talked to listeners as if they were in kindergarten.
After the 2006 season, color commentator Joe Theismann was replaced in the Monday Night booth by Ron Jaworski. Rumors circulated that Kornheiser preferred Jaworski. While Jaworski does an excellent job, Theismann was even better, and here’s hoping that ESPN considers bringing Theismann back to the booth.
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