CALLING AN AUDIBLE
CBS exec: We’ve encouraged Romo to ‘calm down a little bit’
Tone it down, Tony! Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII comes with extra attention on CBS color commentator Tony Romo, whose unconventional broadcasts remain the subject of public scrutiny.
“He’s not your meat-and-potatoes analyst,” CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus told Chris Russo on SiriusXM’s “Mad Dog Sports Radio.” “He’s more of a fan. He gets excited. We sometimes say to him, ‘Hey, calm down a little bit because you do get too into the game,’ which I think is a plus. But I think generally speaking, people really enjoy listening to [Jim] Nantz and Romo and Tracy [Wolfson].”
Sunday marks Romo’s third time calling a Super Bowl since becoming the lead CBS football analyst in 2017.
The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback earned rave reviews early on through his ability to read formations and predict upcoming plays, but he’s received criticism in recent years as he becomes further removed from his playing days.
One moment of criticism in these NFL playoffs occurred when Romo suggested he didn’t realize the prominence of running back Jaylen Warren in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ backfield.
“I’m telling you, when you put the tape on, we know how good [Najee] Harris has been playing, but I didn’t realize they had this one-two punch,” Romo said as the Steelers faced the Buffalo Bills in the opening round.
Warren averaged 5.3 yards per carry and totaled 1,154 scrimmage yards during the regular season.
In that same game, an enthusiastic Romo declared of an incomplete pass by the Steelers’ Mason Rudolph, “I think it’s intercepted, Jim!”
“I saw you jumping up and down,” a laughing Nantz replied. “You thought it was a pick.”
Adding to the drama is that Greg Olsen, whose analysis on Fox regularly earns praise, is set to lose his job as that network’s lead color commentator with next season’s arrival of Tom Brady.
Romo, who replaced the more stoic Phil Simms in the CBS booth, said he wasn’t feeling pressure ahead of Sunday’s NFL title bout between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers.
“I was the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys,” Romo told reporters this week in Las Vegas. “This is small potatoes.”
Nantz, who is set to call his seventh Super Bowl, said he feels great about the CBS broadcasts.
“Never had one conversation with Tony about it. Not one,” Nantz said on the “SI Media With Jimmy Traina” podcast. “I mean, I take it kind of as a foregone conclusion, from what people tell me, that everybody gets [backlash].”
McManus, meanwhile, believes backlash against Romo is the result of social media users piling on.
“I do believe that because of some of the criticism, most of which, I think, is undeserved, but I mean it’s not an objective, it’s a subjective evaluation, I think it’s an important game for him no matter what,” McManus said.
‘He’s not your meat-andpotatoes analyst. He’s more of a fan. He gets excited. We sometimes say to him, “Hey, calm down a little bit because you do get too into the game,” which I think is a plus.’ CBS SPORTS CHAIRMAN SEAN MCMANUS
If the Yankees don’t get out of the gate fast, assorted Gasbags, and mouths from other media precincts, will urge the front office to pluck Joe Girardi from YES’ broadcast booth to replace Aaron Boone, the man who replaced him.
No matter how the powers that be spin it, they won’t be able to put a lid on the perception Girardi is more manager-in-waiting than TV baseball analyst
Looking down from the booth at the team he managed for 10 seasons, which included the Bombers last World Series title in 2009, Girardi will serve as The
Eye in the Sky for fans who blame Boone, when they’re not blaming Brian Cashman, for anything that goes wrong in the Bronx. Boone is in the last guaranteed year of his contract.
Yankees pitchers and catchers report to Tampa on Wednesday and there’s already speculation over Girardi’s motivation for taking the YES gig. Like on the “Yanks Go Yard” website where a headline asks: “Is Joe Girardi laying groundwork to be Aaron Boone’s Yankees successor?”
And on Tuesday’s edition of Yankees Hot Stove on YES, Bob Lorenz asked Girardi if he’s “open” to “managing in the big leagues again?” Girardi said he would “love” to have another shot. “But if I don’t, I’m very happy as a broadcaster,” Girardi said.
Girardi, who will be in his third stint with YES and has also gigged for Fox Sports, MLB Network, and the Cubs, is an accomplished voice. That’s why YES hired him. Yet, unless they are delusional, they know he arrives with added value.
With Girardi behind the microphone the specter of controversy hangs over each telecast the former manager works. His close proximity to Boone will make the broadcast feel more like a reality show.
The number of games Girardi will handle has yet to be set in stone. Nonetheless, he will work games, spread out evenly, each month of the season. Girardi will appear in both two-person and three-person booths. He will start the season working in the three-person configuration.
Girardi will not appear in YES’ pre or postgame studio.
Adding Girardi could be good for YES’ business. There are two avenues he can travel. Both of them encourage a scenario where more eyeballs can be attracted to the telecast. Will Girardi protect Boone? Or will he question his moves, providing ammo for those who believe he wants to sink Boone?
Get it? Depending how the Yankees are performing, and how Girardi reacts, there’s always the possibility of lingering controversy.
Making inquiring baseball minds wonder if Girardi is really just auditioning for his next managerial role — only on YES.
‘TODAY’ TEAM WORKS FOR CBS
Consistent chemistry is elusive. Yet Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson and Mike Breen had it on ESPN’s NBA telecasts for years before The Faculty blew up that trio. Now Breen and Doris Burke are trying to establish it.
Meanwhile, reports indicate CBS Sports suits are pondering a chemical dump, by dismantling their veteran “The NFL Today” studio team.
If CBS eliminates all or some of these voices (host James Brown recently signed a new deal, according to The Athletic) Sunday’s four-hour Super Bowl pregame and the postgame show, will be the groups last performance together.
Or maybe not.
Maybe some suit actually realizes the core of the show (Brown, Phil Simms, Bill Cowher, Nate Burleson, Norman Julius Esiason) has long ago not only established their own brand of chemistry but a certain credibility, built on preparation, that viewers can rely on. That’s important, right?
The recent re-signing of Brown could be a sign that the rest of the group could also be returning. And that the suits actually realize the value of the studio crew the network developed.
GOODELL WIMPS OUT
Roger Goodell’s Bootlicker’s Ball, er, invitation-only press conference, was disappointing.
The Monday session, void of any tension or drama, was lacking the entertainment value some of Goodell’s other annual encounters with the media provided.
Why Goodell tried limiting the crowd by holding the event early in Super Bowl week (before the thundering herd stormed into Las Vegas) is mysterious. The commissioner is an expert in double talk. The prospect of hostile questioning didn’t scare him, did it?
Or was this the NFL’s way of “punishing” those media types they have “problems” with.
One thing is certain: Both Adam Silver and Rob Manfred can play their man-of-the-people cards by inviting anyone and everyone to their next event-based press conference.
NEW PARTNERS
This new sports streaming behemoth, which will include the properties of ESPN, Fox, TNT and ABC, should open up opportunities for current talent at these network rivals.
For the monthly fee consumers will pay for the product, these companies will have to entice potential subscribers by providing shoulder programming exclusive to the new all-sports streaming service.
For example, during the NBA Finals the stand-alone service could offer an exclusive studio show featuring ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith working with TNT’s Charles Barkley.
AROUND THE DIAL
This just in: Radio is not a visual medium. The MSG Radio Network crew must have forgotten this on Tuesday. While Kenny Albert’s play-by-play (Grizzlies-Knicks) went mostly silent, analyst Alan Hahn interviewed (Dollar) Bill Bradley about his latest film project, “Rolling Along.” Bradley is always an interesting spot. But not during a game radiocast. They should have saved Bradley for halftime. … On some of its college hoops telecasts, CBS has popped up a graphic ID of the ball-handler. This idea needs to be reconsidered. Unless CBS suits are thinking of phasing out playby-play voices. … Credit Bill Raftery with delivering a Marques Haynes reference during the second half of Purdue-Wisconsin. Very nice! … Did FAN’s Evan Roberts win some prize for being voice one million to say: “The Super Bowl itself is just a sideshow and not about football.” Congratulations. … Surprised Christopher (Mad Dog) Russo, on SXM, didn’t ask CBS Sports boss Sean McManus about the employment status of his “The NFL Today” team. Instead, Russo kept barking over what a make-or-break game Sunday’s Supe is for Tony Romo. What exactly is going happen to Romo if he messes up? Will he fall through a trap door in the broadcast booth? Don’t think CBS is about to eat Romo’s $17 million per year contract if he has a bad game.