SI Media Mailbag: ‘Monday Night Football’ Broadcast Crew Update

Welcome to the 17th installment of a weekly mailbag that I will be writing about the world of sports media (and anything else you want to chime in on). Please email me any questions you have to Jimmy.Traina@si.com or send them via Twitter.

We start the mailbag off with a little NFL broadcaster news.

Who do you think Chris Fowler will call Monday Night Football with if you had to guess?

— Robert Zoline (@RobertZoline) July 25, 2023

As you know, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are ESPN’s regular Monday Night Football broadcasters.

However, ESPN/ABC needs a backup crew to call five games in the 2023 season. 

ESPN/ABC will have doubleheaders in Weeks 2, 3, 14 and 18. In addition, the backup crew will call the Week 4 Falcons-Jaguars London game at 9:30 a.m. ET, which will be aired exclusively on ESPN+.

The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand reported in May that Chris Fowler would be replacing Steve Levy as the play-by-play caller for the No. 2 booth, and ESPN is expected to formally announce that in August..

ESPN did confirm to Sports Illustrated that Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick, who worked with Levy, will again be the analysts for ESPN/ABC’s backup booth.

Obviously, Fowler couldn’t work with his regular partner, Kirk Herbstreit, who he has called NFL games with in the past, now that Herbstreit works the Thursday night game on Amazon Prime.

So for five games this season, you'll get Fowler, Orlovsky and Riddick calling the action on ABC/ESPN.

I already asked a question this week that I hope you answer but just thought of this- is there anyone more polarizing in sports media right than Pat McAfee in regards to you either hate him or love him and nothing in between?

— Isles Mets Jets fan (@bigjimfan) July 25, 2023

This is such a fascinating question to me because I don’t find Pat McAfee that polarizing. He’s overwhelmingly popular, and I think the people who don’t like him are probably old-school folks who get offended if someone says the f-word. 

When I think “polarizing,” I think of someone who is loved and hated. I don’t consider McAfee hated. There are plenty of awful media people out there who are hated, but I’m not going to mention them, because that’s exactly what they want.

McAfee has a very high-energy personality, and that may not be some people’s cup of tea, but that doesn’t lead to being hated. Being an a-hole leads to people hating you. I don't think anyone would say McAfee is an a-hole.

If you are someone who is on the fence about McAfee, I recommend you listen to his recent appearance on SI Media With Jimmy Traina. I think it would be nearly impossible to listen to him on the pod and come away not liking him.

I've had the Sunday Ticket forever and it worked great on DirecTV. But I live in a place with horrible internet service (Mediacom) that crashes constantly.

Is there any alternative to YouTube TV?

Did the NFL ever consider that not everyone can stream games?

— Nick Harlow (@AuthorHarlow) July 24, 2023

I’m pretty sure you’re screwed. My guess is that the NFL never considered that some people might be shut out of Sunday Ticket due to living in areas with spotty internet, because the NFL is going to make $2.5 billion annually from the YouTube deal and that was the only thing the league considered.

There are three 3-man booths for CBS for this upcoming NFL season. Some might say that is three too many. Your thoughts?

— Michael Silvers (@msilvers1979) July 25, 2023

As I’ve said many times over the years, I have a strong dislike of three-person booths. There’s just no need for it, and, more times than not, it comes off as clumsy and awkward, especially when they all try to crack each other up. In the case of CBS, the three-man booths are for the lower-level games. CBS’s top three crews are Jim Nantz–Tony Romo, Ian Eagle–Charles Davis and Kevin Harlan–Trent Green. So the best CBS games each week will still be called by a two-man booth.

When will the studio shows retire the former players who last played in 1970's? I am looking at you Terry!

— Don Ridenour & CEO of Klutch Sports Rich Paul (@DonRidenour) July 24, 2023

Stop it! There will be no Terry Bradshaw slander on my watch. Sure, Terry may not be as sharp as he once was, and he’s in that “goofy old guy” stage of his career, and he probably shouldn't be doing the trophy ceremonies anymore for Fox, but he’s a national treasure who should go out on his own terms. 

If you were SVP, would you want to host Monday Night Countdown?

— TJ (@TJRamsey44) July 24, 2023

If they come up with good money, yes. If they don’t come up with good money, then no. No deal for Monday Night Countdown has been made yet between ESPN and Scott Van Pelt, so we’ll see what happens.

Last week you mentioned the underwhelming national TV broadcast booths for Major League Baseball. Question, which announcers (pxp and analyst) would you like to see calling the postseason and World Series. Has to be broadcasting in mlb now (i.e., don't say Vin Scully).

— Eric Larson (@sportsblog2) July 25, 2023

If I could pick people who work at other networks, the play-by-play choice is easy: Joe Buck. He was the voice of Major League Baseball for a long time, and he is an excellent baseball broadcaster. The analyst would be TBS’s Ron Darling, who I think is the best in the business today.

Jimmy,

I grew up in NY. Big Yankees fan. I now live in Charlotte. I pay for the MLB package, Amazon, Apple TV, Peacock, and YouTube TV (for ESPN), and I still can't watch any game involving Atlanta, Cincinnati, Baltimore, or Washington. Will MLB ever do anything about this?

— Craig Slater (@Slatertime11) July 24, 2023

This question has been asked for years and years and years. What you need to understand is that Major League Baseball doesn’t care about its fans. No league cares about its fans. We are all suckers and we will always watch, and they know this. So there’s no reason for them to fix ridiculous things like the blackout rule.

Has Saquon's heavy financial losses in Bitcoin driven him to desperate contract negotiations? pic.twitter.com/ne9PqzPLvW

— Satoshi Guacamoto ???? (@guacamoto) July 24, 2023

I would have no way of knowing this, but it’s completely bonkers to me that so many athletes got in on the Bitcoin craze. It was bonkers to me then and now.

Corey Graves doing a Kaiser impression last night... Thought it was spot on. You?

— RyRy76 (@RyanMichael2244) July 25, 2023

This was very well done by WWE broadcaster Corey Graves on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw.

Rate Corey Graves' impression of Kaiser on a scale of 1-10... pic.twitter.com/CXRtBOm1Z3 #WWE #WWEARW

— NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW news (@nodqdotcom) July 25, 2023