ESPN.My memory of that was that Limbaugh got the gig but shot his way out of the job with his comments about McNabb before he even appeared on the show. Or was he on ESPN when he said all that?
Indeed. Limbaugh was hired to ESPN by Mark Shapiro in hopes of making a splash. It backfired in a predictably terrible way. General Wes Clark and Harold Ford demanded that he be fired for his comments about McNabb and he later was. Only made a few appearances on NFL Countdown. I'm guessing Romo's career will go a little more smoothly.
There's somewhere north of $19MM in dead money they'll spread on the cap over the next two years (would have been the same if they cut him, maybe with different splits) and they could theoretically go after $5MM of his signing bonus to get some cap relief at some point but doubt they do it.Any onerous cap implications for the Cowboys?
Common decency?Now that he has secured his release, is there anything to stop Romo from stiffing CBS, signing with Houston and leaving Phil Simms no recourse but to furiously text Jim Nantz from a local Cracker Barrel?
Who follows Bonnie Bernstein's twitter account?Bonnie Bernstein is kinda pissed:
Bonnie BernsteinVerified account @BonnieBernstein 4h
Tony Romo, w ZERO broadcast experience, reportedly replacing Phil Simms on CBS' #1 NFL game crew. No offense. But that's total crap.
Romo/2 A network's #1 NFL analyst is one of the most coveted positions in all of sports broadcasting. For those of u who think...
Romo/3 "All they do is talk," *live* broadcasting so much harder than you realize! Try, on the fly, sharing cohesive thoughts in 10-15 secs.
Romo/4 I like Tony. As a fan, I hope he'll be a great listen! But I've worked on that crew. And I know how tough that gig is. That's all.
Try, on the fly, sharing cohesive thoughts in 140 characters.Bonnie Bernstein is kinda pissed:
Bonnie BernsteinVerified account @BonnieBernstein 4h
Tony Romo, w ZERO broadcast experience, reportedly replacing Phil Simms on CBS' #1 NFL game crew. No offense. But that's total crap.
Romo/2 A network's #1 NFL analyst is one of the most coveted positions in all of sports broadcasting. For those of u who think...
Romo/3 "All they do is talk," *live* broadcasting so much harder than you realize! Try, on the fly, sharing cohesive thoughts in 10-15 secs.
Romo/4 I like Tony. As a fan, I hope he'll be a great listen! But I've worked on that crew. And I know how tough that gig is. That's all.
Anybody trading for Romo would be hit with a $14M cap charge for his 2017 salary. And while the acquiring team could restructure, it still would result in the acquiring team taking on a fairly substantial cap hit, as well as giving up whatever set of draft picks that Jerry Jones wanted. That's a lot for a QB that will be 37 with his injury history. Chances are nonzero that a 2017 Romo is a lot, lot worse than the 2014 Romo.All we know is that nobody wanted him as a starter on the terms of his present contract. All the smoke earlier in this thread about the teams who likely wanted him probably wasn't illusory. Healthy Tony Romo, for the first few games of 2015, looked perfectly fine. He looked perfectly fine in his cup of coffee in 2016 (yeah, it was 4 pass attempts in game 16, but he could move and throw unencumbered, and he hit a pretty sweet TD). In his last full season (2014) he led the NFL in Passer Rating, CMP%, TD%, Y/A, and was #2 in ANY/A and DVOA behind Rodgers. He's enormously valuable if healthy.
And QB health is exactly the sort of dice that mediocre teams are always willing to roll, because if he's injured they're only out cap space (not much in this case) and their fans forgive them, but if he's healthy they can have something truly exciting.
Sorry, this still smells to me, until and unless Tony comes out and says either "my heart wasn't in it any longer" or "my body couldn't do it any longer". Both of those are plausible, but I figure we would've heard them by now if that's truly where he was at.
I'm confused.Bonnie Bernstein is kinda pissed:
Bonnie BernsteinVerified account @BonnieBernstein 4h
Tony Romo, w ZERO broadcast experience, reportedly replacing Phil Simms on CBS' #1 NFL game crew. No offense. But that's total crap.
Romo/2 A network's #1 NFL analyst is one of the most coveted positions in all of sports broadcasting. For those of u who think...
Romo/3 "All they do is talk," *live* broadcasting so much harder than you realize! Try, on the fly, sharing cohesive thoughts in 10-15 secs.
Romo/4 I like Tony. As a fan, I hope he'll be a great listen! But I've worked on that crew. And I know how tough that gig is. That's all.
When you get married you'll get it.I'm confused.
She seems, in the first two tweets, to say he doesn't deserve it because he hasn't paid his dues or something. But in the 3rd and 4th she gives reasons why it's hard, as if CBS wouldn't have made sure he can handle it.
I think she's right. It's hard to do it well. And few do it. That's why so many of them add so little to the broadcast.I'm confused.
She seems, in the first two tweets, to say he doesn't deserve it because he hasn't paid his dues or something. But in the 3rd and 4th she gives reasons why it's hard, as if CBS wouldn't have made sure he can handle it.
Okay, then Bonnie is confused about the industry she works in?I think she's right. It's hard to do it well. And few do it. That's why so many of them add so little to the broadcast.
The job does require a particular skill. Maybe he has it; maybe not. But most of them suck catastrophically, so the bar for immediately being among the best isn't that high. CBS has no clue whether "he can handle it." What possibly makes anyone think that CBS gives one micro-shit about how "well" he can do this. This is 95% PR, 4% "I'll only come to your network if you give me the #1 spot" and 1% "I guess he'll be OK. He doesn't swear too much."
Her point is this is kind of bonkers decision considering how hard the job is and how little experience he has, but then wishes him well.I'm confused.
She seems, in the first two tweets, to say he doesn't deserve it because he hasn't paid his dues or something. But in the 3rd and 4th she gives reasons why it's hard, as if CBS wouldn't have made sure he can handle it.
Maybe that's the "total crap" reference. And why she got out of the game-day end of things.Okay, then Bonnie is confused about the industry she works in?
One of the networks would sign Peyton to their #1 team in a heartbeat.Bonnie Bernstein is kinda pissed:
Bonnie BernsteinVerified account @BonnieBernstein 4h
Tony Romo, w ZERO broadcast experience, reportedly replacing Phil Simms on CBS' #1 NFL game crew. No offense. But that's total crap.
Romo/2 A network's #1 NFL analyst is one of the most coveted positions in all of sports broadcasting. For those of u who think...
Romo/3 "All they do is talk," *live* broadcasting so much harder than you realize! Try, on the fly, sharing cohesive thoughts in 10-15 secs.
Romo/4 I like Tony. As a fan, I hope he'll be a great listen! But I've worked on that crew. And I know how tough that gig is. That's all.
I'm sure they already tried.One of the networks would sign Peyton to their #1 team in a heartbeat.
Collinsworth retired before Simms. I don't think that has much to do with their respective abilities.Simms hasn't played in the NFL since Kurt Cobain was alive. I'm sure CBS is ready for a fresh perspective and I doubt it will take Romo long to get comfortable. He already knows all the rules, terminology, most of the players, etc. All he'll really need to do is practice the on air timing. If he puts forth any kind of effort, he'll be great at this.
Most announcers seem to be hated, but Simms was definitely the worst, IMO. Early in his broadcasting career, he was calling a Raider/Jets game and claimed that one of Rich Gannon's passes "fluttered in the air and stayed up longer than normal because of the pouring rain." I couldn't stop laughing, and I still think of that comment every time he does a game.How can Romo improve on this?
No, but Romo can offer a different kind of analysis and perspective since his playing days are more recent. There's a reason why these networks keep going after these recently-retired guys.Collinsworth retired before Simms. I don't think that has much to do with their respective abilities.
OK, but given that Murderers' Row of color analysts that CBS assembled that was posted above, it's hard to think they know what they're doing.No, but Romo can offer a different kind of analysis and perspective since his playing days are more recent. There's a reason why these networks keep going after these recently-retired guys.
His agent is already making "Phil has many years left on his contract" noises.So is Simms #2 team now? Or FA.
If it's as easy as you seem to think it is, Simms would still be there.I'm sure CBS is ready for a fresh perspective and I doubt it will take Romo long to get comfortable. He already knows all the rules, terminology, most of the players, etc. All he'll really need to do is practice the on air timing. If he puts forth any kind of effort, he'll be great at this.
Gumbel hasn't been the CBS studio host for yearsEdit: Assuming Simms isn't bumped to the studio where his old partner Greg Gumbel was sent.
It's the rare analyst who doesn't stay too long. People forget how good Tim McCarver was when he started out, or how good Ken Harrelson was in the Red Sox boothI remember really liking Simms in the early 2000s. He's fallen really far IMO. Too bad because he was pretty good back in the day.
Most announcers seem to be hated, but Simms was definitely the worst, IMO. Early in his broadcasting career, he was calling a Raider/Jets game and claimed that one of Rich Gannon's passes "fluttered in the air and stayed up longer than normal because of the pouring rain." I couldn't stop laughing, and I still think of that comment every time he does a game.
Not sure how Romo will be, but good riddance, Simms.
But he was sent there no?Gumbel hasn't been the CBS studio host for years
Fair enough, but just for one season. Then he went back to the booth as the No. 2 announcerBut he was sent there no?
In a way you just proved Bonnie's points.Who is on the bench at CBS that is getting unfairly bypassed by Romo taking the gig?
Dan Fouts
Trent Green
Rich Gannon
Solomon Wilcots
The bar currently set by Simms is ultra low. If Romo can remember which teams are playing and not curse, he will be a passable upgrade.
Huh? I never said it was easy. I do think that Romo might have a natural ability and clearly CBS does too.If it's as easy as you seem to think it is, Simms would still be there.
Some people seem to think that because there are a lot of people who do this job poorly then it must be easy – it actually means exactly the opposite. I actually think Romo is likely to fall down on his face doing this because CBS are putting him in the #1 slot where he is going to be facing tons of pressure and probably some Bernstein-esque resentment because he has no experience. Even the best ones at this took a long time before they got that way.
As for Simms, now he's going from being the #1 color guy and host of Inside the NFL to being completely unemployed. I didn't really care for him either anymore but that's rough.
This whole thing makes so little sense it must be some weird backroom deal cut by some rando CBS executive and Jerry Jones.
Edit: Assuming Simms isn't bumped to the studio where his old partner Greg Gumbel was sent.
XXXVIIIYep it was Gumbel for the snow bowl. Maybe the 2004 AFCCG too can't remember
I was listening to Francesa as well and IMO the "outrage" by his callers was more Giant fans showing love for Simms. Many of them talked of him as still possesing a fastball that he hasn't thrown in years..Bill Simmons and Cousin Sal have been talking about Romo doing tv for so long that I was not shocked by the news. However, I heard Mike F on the fan today and he was holding back but doesn't seem to love it and the callers were going absolutely nuts. I was surprised people cared that much but they did not like the idea of a greenhorn taking Simms job.
It's worse than that, $19.7M due to the restructuring; Dallas only keeps the $5M signing bonus proration either way. And along with the rest of what you say, that's a very good reason why nobody would possibly see trading for him under his current contract as a good idea.Anybody trading for Romo would be hit with a $14M cap charge for his 2017 salary. And while the acquiring team could restructure, it still would result in the acquiring team taking on a fairly substantial cap hit, as well as giving up whatever set of draft picks that Jerry Jones wanted. That's a lot for a QB that will be 37 with his injury history. Chances are nonzero that a 2017 Romo is a lot, lot worse than the 2014 Romo.
Or, a team needing a veteran QB could simply wait for Dallas to release Romo after June 1st and sign him for a lot less and no draft picks.
First I'll confess that I of course have no proof, but it still smells. Collusion would here be between Jerry Jones and the other owners to make it clear to Romo that they wouldn't sign him even if he were a FA. Bob McNair and Pat Bowlen (and maybe Jed York, or McCaskey, or Woody god help us, or or) must have wanted some favors from Jerrah more than they wanted Tony Romo doing a Montana-in-KC impression.I agree it is surprising especially at this point. Why not retire months ago?
But where's the collusion? Between who? As you said no other teams can talk to Romo at this point.
Its television. He's famous and good looking. That's his "natural ability."Huh? I never said it was easy. I do think that Romo might have a natural ability and clearly CBS does too.
So male football fans will be tuning in to see Romo's pretty face every Sunday?Its television. He's famous and good looking. That's his "natural ability."