Dr Z's piece on MNF team and opinion on how they did in our game;
"Al Michaels and John Madden, ABC -- Now I could be way off, but here's what I think is happening, why a successful three-and-a-half star rating last season has fallen so far. I think there's a huge resentment at the network against the NFL and the doggy games the league has provided this season. ABC has taken a hard pro-choice stance -- when it comes to the schedule, it wants flexibility. Consequently, somehow Madden and Michaels have been steered toward getting off the game action quickly and turning to events of the day or problems of the league, or farm prices in Argentina, or something. I cannot believe that on their own they would show such a lack of interest in the action on the field when the spread reaches 10 points or so, no matter how early in the contest. I think there's bad stuff coming in through their head sets. And that's also why they let Michele Tafoya run her sideline stuff, interviews or whatever, right through the live action, sometimes totally obliterating a play or two or three, which are never followed up. And a game that looks shaky from the start? Forget it.
Case in point, New England at Miami on December 20. So we get the usual Patriots puff pieces, on Brady and the Belichick defense, etc., and it's like the Dolphins are not even on the field, except for a brief mention of Jason Taylor. But guess what, the Dolphins are actually in it, and in the fourth quarter they're within one score, and they've got the ball. But Madden and Michaels have kissed off the game long before this, and they're talking about Charlie Weis going to Notre Dame, and then prospects in general for the Irish and to dress this up we're hearing the Notre Dame victory march on the sound track. This is while Miami is driving, mind you. So then it gets real tight, and Madden and Michaels are dragged back into it, almost reluctantly, but they haven't really been paying attention, you see, so all they can offer is a cursory description without any real analysis. Which was why the key play of the game was totally blown, when Brady's last pass was intercepted by safety Arturo Freeman, which turned out the lights. Earlier in the game, the Dolphins ran a successful tandem blitz, two linebackers coming up the pipe, forcing Brady into an errant throw. On the last pick, Miami ran the same blitz, with the second guy, Morlon Greenwood, hitting Brady just as he delivered the ball. The Patriots were very sloppy in their blitz pick up, both times, and a point could have been made here, about maybe Weis' split duties causing a decrease in the offensive efficiency. I had seen what had happened, so I waited for the official explanation from the booth. It never came. They went to commercial, which is when they find out what happened, if they missed it the first time. When they came out of it and showed the replay, Madden mumbled something about how "the safety was playing back." Gosh, John, that's why they call them safeties. Not a word about what really had happened. Nope, it just won't do, even though millions of viewers out there love the shtick and the horse trailer and all that crap. I don't and this is my toy."
I've been noticing them not concentrating on the games too.
They just start rambling on about nothing and last night they had a basketball HOF on there for no particular reason.
