Paul Kasabian
CBS attempted to have an “intervention” with №1 NFL game analyst Tony Romo prior to the 2022 NFL season to address issues in the broadcast booth, but the situation “has not gotten better,” according to the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand, who relayed the information on his podcast with John Ourandof Sports Business Journal.
“Tony Romo needs to study more,” Marchand said (h/t Mike McDaniel of Sports Illustrated).
“He needs to be better prepared. As you move away from the sidelines, you need to do more work. I know CBS is aware of this. They tried an intervention last offseason. They knew, they anticipated this. That’s a credit to them, the people in charge there. But it has not gotten better.”
When Romo started in the booth, everyone agreed that he was a breath of fresh air. Even myself, and I didn’t like Romo as a player, to say the least.¹ I always thought the “predicting plays” thing was overrated — I mean, he literally walked right off the field and into the booth, he probably knew most of the plays all the teams ran because he saw them first-hand — but the enthusiasm he conveyed felt real. This guy loved football. Even and maybe especially watching Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, the pinnacles of his profession that he never got close to on the field.
But there’s a downside to such enthusiasm: as a listener, it wears on you over time.² It becomes eye-roll-inducing when it’s not warranted, and it simply cannot be warranted as much as Romo conveys. And so what was once fresh now becomes a schtick. And worse, you lose the ability to trust what Romo is saying because everything is awesome, always.
“Two years ago, Tony Romo was hailed as the next great color commentator, seemingly able to predict plays in real-time and provide interesting game analysis. Since then, however, he seems to have devolved into a human catchphrase and exclamation machine who can’t even be counted on to be ready to speak when asked a question. Critics are out in full force wondering what happened and his performance on Sunday during the AFC Championship Game didn’t do much to quell their concerns.”
His performance this year has just been bad. And it’s made worse by the fact that Greg Olsen, another former player (though not nearly as high profile as Romo) is now pretty fantastic as a part of the Fox booth. Of course, Olsen may be about to be replaced because of a certain aforementioned 7-time Super Bowl champion who just (re)retired with a contract in hand.³ That would be too bad — can we trade Olsen for Romo?
I’m not sure we can make the contracts work given that Romo is 3 years into a 10 year, $180 million contract. Which… yikes. Still, once again, it’s nothing compared to Tom Brady, at 10 years, $375 million.
¹ “Hated” is too strong, I just always felt that he was extremely overrated, largely because he played for the Cowboys, and his playoff success ultimately spoke to that — in that, he had none.
² And this was obvious years ago — but I really thought he would learn this sooner. But he hasn’t, hence the “intervention”.
³ For the record, I’m not sure Tom Brady will be good in the booth either. And as much as I dislike Romo as a player, I love Brady. A Michigan Man. I get why you want him there, but he’s never been particularly great in interviews. He’s almost too focused and too emotional. Maybe getting off the field changes that, but I’m not so sure…
