Overblown announcing, incoherent analysis and bizarre graphics: ESPN’s broadcast checks every box when it comes to bad TV
The NFL has a real problem when the marquee match-up for its most famous broadcast is best enjoyed on mute. This week, Lamar Jackson eviscerated the Rams on Monday Night
Football in one of the most impressive individual performances in recent memory. The only problem: the experience of watching Jackson’s genius was made worse, not better, by ESPN’s announcing crew, Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland.
This is the broadcast of Madden and Gruden and Michaels and Cosell. It is the pinnacle of the profession. Such an event broadcast by a company that once styled itself the Worldwide Leader In Sports should not have you wondering every five minutes how this is the best they can offer. Here are just a few doozies from McFarland’s latest Monday night: