As just announced by Bob Costas on NBC's Winter Olympics coverage, Jerome Bettis will join him and Cris Collinsworth on their Sunday Night Pre-Game Show this fall.
It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them. P. G. Wodehouse (1881 - 1975), The Man Upstairs (1914)
I like Bettis, but after all of the exposure he got at Super Bowl XL, I don't know if I'm ready to watch him on NBC. I think some Bus Detox is well in order.
I'm also tired of Bettis. I'm more interested in where Ricky Williams will make his next stop, since he's apparently failed a drug test and is going to get suspended for one year...
Every time that I saw Bettis offering commentary in a pre-game or halftime situation, it was refreshingly intelligent, well-considered and just all-around pleasant to hear. I couldn't care less about the Super Bowl hype. By the time football comes around again, we'll have forgotten most of it. And Costas and Collinsworth aren't the types who will, every other minute, say, "Now, they're going to have to make some handoffs in this game to establish the run, Bus. How do you think the back will accomplish running, The Bus? What's it like, The Bus? And can you compare the running done in this game to, say, a hall-of-fame fullback in the last game of his life playing for his first title ring... in his hometown, The Bus?" Give me Bettis over Deion, Shannon Sharpe, Michael Irvin, Theismann, Maguire, Mike Patrick. Hell, a LOT of people.
I wonder how much commentary they'll even get to do. NBC only has the one game, so will it be only a 30-minute pregame show? It seems a shame to get Costas/Collinsworth/Bus for only half as long as the gong show over on CBS. FOX might not even be as good this year without JB to control the madness.
(edited by Big Bad on 24.2.06 0047) "Oh, gosh, you know, I'm not much on speeches, but it's so gratifying to leave you wallowing in the mess you've made. You're screwed, thank you, bye."
Originally posted by Big BadI wonder how much commentary they'll even get to do. NBC only has the one game, so will it be only a 30-minute pregame show? It seems a shame to get Costas/Collinsworth/Bus for only half as long as the gong show over on CBS. FOX might not even be as good this year without JB to control the madness.
(edited by Big Bad on 24.2.06 0047)
Well, with the Sunday night game, NBC also gets exclusive rights for all of Sunday night until midnight. Meaning no more NFL Primetime on ESPN. So I would imagine that they'll do a recap show and a pregame show. At least, that's what they'll do if they're not crazy, because not replacing Primetime would be a really dumb move.
And I think I read that NBC is dumping all Sunday programming for the NFL, so that's possibly a 7PM-Midnight block to fill, so I'd imagine you'll see a lot of Bettis, Costas, and Longneck pregame and possibly postgame.
Good move, IMO, dumping all programming. There hasn't been a good network show on before major NFL programming since MacGyver.