Joe Tessitore calls his new gig at ESPN a ”legacy job.”
Jason Witten notes he’s joining ”another iconic franchise.”
Booger McFarland says it’s ”the pinnacle of what we do.”
They are the three new voices who will work ESPN’s Monday night games this season.
Tessitore has been one of the network’s top announcers for 16 years on boxing Michael Roberts Jersey , college football and basketball, including calling the College Football Playoff semifinals the past two years. It will be his first NFL assignment.
”I am very conscious of that lineage,” says Tessitore, who at 46 is the oldest member of what he calls ”a young, vibrant crew.”
”When I got the call that I would be doing this, my first reaction was remembering when I was a kid watching Frank Gifford, Dandy Don (Meredith) and Howard Cosell. Everybody back then watched `Monday Night Football’ and `Wide World of Sports’ and Howard Cosell doing boxing. I did a Cosell imitation that had my grandfather, who didn’t speak English, laughing his tail off.”
Witten, one of the sport’s finest tight ends for 15 seasons and a likely Hall of Famer, retired from the Dallas Cowboys earlier this month to move into the booth.
Tessitore believes Witten will be a natural as he and McFarland replace Jon Gruden as analysts. Gruden, of course, is back coaching in the league with Oakland.
”We had a lot of candidates Aaron Colvin Jersey , and at the end of the audition process we all were saying, `This is very obvious,”’ Tessitore says of Witten.
”He has such an upside that this is a guy who could be the next generation’s face and voice of the NFL. He’s smart, respected, even beloved by coaches, and has a tremendously high football IQ. Jason has a little of all the traits and characteristics of the great ones. Most importantly, he is wholly authentic.”
Witten will be in the broadcast booth with Tessitore. McFarland, who won two Super Bowls as a player and has been an analyst for ESPN and SEC Network for four years, will be the first field-level analyst for ”Monday Night Football.”’
The idea is for the effervescent McFarland to give a viewpoint from near the trenches – exactly where he spent nine pro seasons as a defensive lineman.
McFarland’s wit and enthusiasm will be apparent from the outset of the broadcasts; ESPN’s first telecast will be Thursday night, Aug. 16 with the Jets at the Redskins in the preseason.
”I am going to use a strange word to describe Booger as an announcer: nimble,” Tessitore says. ”He’s dynamic, a huge personality and presence. You can’t have a cookie-cutter type of analyst and Booger is far from that – he’s a guy who you can turn on the red light for the broadcast and he’s ready to go.”
Tessitore replaces Sean McDonough, who returns to doing college football.
Lisa Salters is the only holdover Tyrod Taylor Jersey , returning for her seventh season as the sideline reporter.
Tessitore recognizes the platform he and his new sidekicks will have. Their first regular-season game will be the nightcap of the opening Monday night doubleheader, the Rams at the Raiders (and Gruden).
”The college game lends itself to every game being its own story, the pageantry and the storytelling attached to it,” Tessitore says. ”In the NFL, each game is a continuation of a well-told narrative that everyone is following.
”It’s like this is our weekly story, part of a book we’ve all been continuously reading, and each week we’re on to the next chapter.”
He also realizes that simply calling a game for three hours or longer isn’t what his new job should be about. There’s much more to it.
”There’s a vision of when we land in town we begin to create content for fans who can go to the app and hear what we have to say about the upcoming games or what’s happening in the league,” he says. ”We also want to have more content made available pre-game and postgame.
”I’ve become so football-obsessed, it has become ridiculous.”
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The Philadelphia 76ers listed Zhaire Smith as their 1-B choice on their draft board.
The Sixers landed the Texas Tech guard – they just had to give up their 1-A to get him.
The Sixers acquired Smith from the Phoenix Suns for Villanova standout Mikal Bridges in a swap of first-round picks that gives the blossoming Eastern Conference playoff team one more rotation played needed toward completing ”The Process.”
But the key to the deal may not be Smith. It’s the unprotected first-round pick in 2021 that the Suns surrendered in the deal that coach and acting general manager Brett Brown pegged as the pivotal part of the trade.
”How do you acquire things that attract stars or develop stars,” Brown asked. ”That pick might be the key to all of this. That pick might be the thing that links a possible trade.”
The Sixers are used to waiting in Brown’s five-year tenure; the franchise had made a habit of waiting for picks Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz to make delayed debuts for a variety of reasons.
Smith, who worked out twice for the Sixers during the draft process Johnny Hekker Jersey , will fight for minutes in the rotation. But at least he’ll play.
”They run in transition. I feel I can be a part of that,” Smith said. ”Ben Simmons, he can bring it up and make good passes. I’m a good cutter, so he’ll make me look good.”
For a while, the Sixers appeared to have a happy homecoming lined up on draft night. They selected Bridges with the 10th pick, a decision universally applauded in Philadelphia because of his starring role for the national champion Wildcats and because his mother works in human resources for the 76ers’ parent company.
The family affair turned sour in a hurry.
Bridges was traded shortly after he wrapped a press conference expressing his excitement at playing for his hometown team.
Brown said Bridges was listed as the 76ers’ 1-A player – their top choice – and had Smith at 1-B. Once the Suns sweetened the pot with a first-round pick, Brown knew the Sixers had to act on the deal.
The 19-year-old Smith averaged 11.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists a game in his lone season at Texas Tech.
”We believe entirely in time he has the ability to be incredibly unique and maybe even great,” Brown said.
The Sixers also selected Wichita State guard Landry Shamet with the 26th overall pick. He averaged 14.9 points and shot 44 percent from 3-point range in his sophomore season with the Shockers.
The Sixers made their picks just two weeks after Bryan Colangelo resigned as president of basketball operations in the wake of a Twitter debacle where he was found ”careless and in some instances reckless” of sharing of sensitive team information.
Brown was put in charge on an interim basis as the franchise searches for a new general manager and made all final decisions on draft night. Brown, who took the 76ers from 10 wins to the third seed in the Eastern Conference in just two seasons, signed a three-year contract extension that runs through the 2021-2022 season.
Brown had Smith, Big 12 All-Defensive Team selection, in his sight all along.
”He was like Jack Mewhort Jersey , `We’re going to make something happen,”’ Smith said. ”Apparently, he did.”
The Sixers won 52 games this season and beat Miami in the first round of the playoffs before they were eliminated in the conference semis by Boston. Under Brown’s watch, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons have blossomed into two of the top young players in the league.
The Sixers have roughly $30 million in salary cap space and expected to be players in the free-agent market.
”We are star hunting, or we are star developing. That’s how you win a championship,” Brown said.
At Barclays Center, the NBA draft site, a plane flying above the arena carried three banners. One had LeBron James’ No. 23 with a crown and the Liberty Bell, another urges him to ”Strive for GOATNESS” and the last reads (hash)PHILLYWANTSLEBRON. Power Home Remodeling, a Philadelphia-based company, has become a James recruiter, originally setting up three billboards in Cleveland urging him to come to the city. The company also flew Thursday’s billboards in Brooklyn.
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