Madden Money Was Once Mad Money

Posted on March 6, 2020March 6, 2020 by thependulumswings staff

And you thought Tony Romo was getting paid well. News broke yesterday that Peyton Manning met with ESPN officials this week. What for you ask?

The “for” is ESPN’s attempt to take the one-year Booger McFarland Monday Night Football analyst experiment out behind the barn and put it down in a merciful way.

Tony Romo, after only his sophomore year in the analyst chair in the NFL on CBS booth next to Jim Nance, is set to earn $17 million per year according to sources close to the deal. Now ESPN, who has been shedding aged employees and bloated salaries for years, wants to up the game of who announces the game and how much they get paid to do it.

How much will it take to get Manning? Will Manning be gotten at all? He has thwarted several attempts to date to entice him to enter the broadcast industry. Sources close to this yet to be agreed to deal place the value at $18-$20 million per season. If true Manning would have Nationwide, ESPN, and a whole lot more cash by his side.

Booger in year one was as forgettable in the booth as Jason Witten’s one and done just one year prior. One of McFarland’s best/worst quotes was “It’s a run/pass option meaning they have the option to run it or pass it.” Got that? Unfortunately, there were too many others.

ESPN needs an MNF spark in the worst way. THE game has become one of the games available in a busy weekly NFL schedule. Long, long gone are the must-see MNF TV days of Howard Cosell, John Madden, and even recently departed Jon Gruden.

Madden, the godfather of NFL broadcasts, made $8.5 million a year in his best year. Adjusted for inflation that equates to $13 million in 2020 money. This latest round has really upped the ante.

Somewhere Troy Aikman is smiling. FOX will need to keep up with the Romo’s and Manning’s won’t they? Or, will they? The seats are getting full and the opportunities are few.

Are you ready for a Monday Night party? Peyton Manning will bring the quips and the party favors. He’ll be able to afford them.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on September 16, 2019 by thependulumswings staff

If you blinked you missed 25% of the NCAA football season as of this past Saturday. The NFL concludes week 2 tonight. But, worry not. Our Ten Piece Nuggets are here to give you another serving of all that you need to feed the craving. The nuggets, as always, are the original, no leftovers here. Help yourself below.

The NCAA football weekend had exactly zero games where the opponents were both ranked in the top 25. Chalks dominated the outcomes for the most part. The Top 10 saw only a very minor change. Michigan was idle and was passed by. Passing them by was now 3-0 Utah who won 31-0 over Idaho St. Michigan only slid one spot to 11.
A week after Kentucky lost starting quarterback Terry Wilson they ended Florida’s starting quarterback Felipe Franks season in a wild 29-21 loss. Franks’ gruesome injury was diagnosed as a dislocated ankle. Backup and one time brief starter Kyle Trask came off the bench to throw for 126 yards and score a rushing touchdown, leading the Gators from 11 down to 19 unanswered points and victory. Astute local observers of the program contend that Florida might even be better with him starting going forward. Florida is ranked 9th and has Tennessee coming to The Swamp this weekend.
Florida is only the fifth highest ranked SEC team however. Alabama (2), Georgia (3), LSU (4), and Auburn (8) are higher. Those four scored 47, 55, 65, and 55 in blowout wins over inferior opponents Saturday. South Carolina tried to make a game of their tussle with Bama, but only slowed the Tua scoring machine a bit.
Wisconsin (tied for 13) took last weekend off and have the aforementioned Michigan Wolverines coming to Madison this weekend. It’s but one of many in conference match ups across the land this coming weekend that will capture more of our attention than last weekend. Wisconsin has scored 110 points in two games and surrendered a big fat 0. It would be a good destination for College Gameday.
But, Lee Corso and Company are headed to Athens, Ga. The Bulldogs host The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in a rematch of the 2017 thriller in South Bend. With Georgia sitting at 3 and Notre Dame at 7, it’s a good choice. A Notre Dame win would vault them squarely in to the National Championship Playoff picture even if it’s only late September.
UCF, which held a parade for itself a couple of years back after an undefeated season found them looking from the outside in at the playoffs, is 3-0 and perched at 15. The put 45 on a once proud Stanford team. The Cardinal (we love teams with singular nicknames) surrendered 45 last week to USC as well. UCF has little opposition until a trip on 10/26 to Temple. We love parades.
In the NFL there are teams with franchise quarterbacks and teams without. If you are with out you get to watch the playoffs from home usually. If you are with you usually play in the playoffs. Yesterday the Pittsburgh Steeleers lost Ben Rothliesberger to an elbow injury. And, Yesterday, the New Orleans Saints lost Drew Brees to a thumb injury. Both are seeing specialists today to determine the proper medical course of action. It doesn’t look good for either. ANd, as a result, they might watch the playoffs from home too.
Brees was interviewed this summer on The Dan Patrick Show a day after the NFL Top 100 players (voted on by the players) were revealed on the NFL Network. Brees finished second only to Aaron Donald, DL extraordinaire of the LA Rams. Patrick asked Brees about finishing second to Donald. Brees said, in effect, that it made total sense as Donald is in a league by himself. He went on to say that Donald is unblockable and needed to be specifically game planned for. Yesterday Donald broke thru the line and his hand hit Brees’ hand as he released a pass. It sent Brees to the locker room and may send him to the operation room soon.
Colin Kapernick’s nike commercial won an Emmy Award last evening. The spot is dubbed Dream Crazy. The commercial climaxes with the former San Francisco 49er saying, “Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything.” He concludes the commercial saying, “Don’t ask if your dreams are crazy. Ask if they’re crazy enough.” Fair enough. Disruptor enough.
Fifty years ago ABC disrupted normal fall Monday Night network programming by paying $25.5 million for a three year run of Monday Night Football. The rest, as they say, is history. Fifty years later there is Sunday night and Thursday night football to go along with MNF. MNF was the first in prime time and it was the first with a “three in the booth” announcer set up. In that first booth was Howard Cosell, Dandy Don Meredith, and? And? That’s right, it was Keith Jackson. Unfortunately, all three are no longer with us. But MNF sure is.

It’s only four days till Friday. You’ve been fed. Now, get after it.