Rothman Guides New Era of Monday Night Magic

THIS WEEK:

• Jay’s day
• Terry’s time

Rothman guides new era of Monday Night magic
Terry Francona earns his stripes as game’s best manager

As the Patriots get set to invade Cincinnati Monday night at 8:30 p.m., so to do the cameras and cavalcade that is ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” (MNF). Producer Jay Rothman says that this particular game has no shortage of storylines.

“It’s all right there for you,” says the 45 year-old Rothman. “Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson, I hope we get a shootout. This game is an easy sell. The personalities make people watch.”

As a lead-in to the game, ESPN will feature Jamie Foxx, star of the film “The Kingdom,” in a pregame parody that caused some waves in New England this week. The Boston Herald wrote that the espionage theme is tied to the recent spying issue that resulted in fines for Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

Says Rothman, “Nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve had to do some damage control on this. The idea was actually conceived in the summertime. We worked with (“The Kingdom” director) Peter Berg on the concept. It was shot between weeks one and two of this season.

“Basically, Jamie Foxx breaks into a vault and finds photos of some players in this game. When the spying stuff went down with the Pats, I seriously looked at this again and thought about not running it. The Herald piece was way off and they ran a correction. It has nothing to do with the Patriots spying issue.”

Rothman is the keeper of one of sports most legendary properties. MNF has become part of Americana, first on ABC and now on sister network ESPN. “We are not shy about going into the vault,” says Rothman, who previously produced ESPN’s “Sunday Night Football.”

“First off, Hank Williams, Jr. is “Monday Night Football.” This off-season, we did extensive focus groups comparing our game with other networks. Hank resonated more than anything else.”

According to Rothman, the move to ESPN has not dampened MNF’s impact. “Current players don’t differentiate between broadcast and cable. ESPN is older than most of the players in the NFL. The combination of ESPN and MNF resonates with them. It is a bigger deal to be on Monday night than any other night.”

Indeed, ESPN’s SportsCenter and a host of related catch phrases and MNF’s deep history with Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, et al are a powerful combination. Rothman says that it remains a numbers game.

“38% of people who watch ESPN are hardcore sports fans. 62% of ESPN’s viewers are casual sports fans. However, with ESPN’s NFL coverage, it is 50% hardcore and 50% casual fans.

“(NBC Sunday Night announcers) Al Michaels and John Madden may appeal to the hardcore fan more than our show, but we also have to play a bit to those casual fans. We do this through news, analysis, fun features and having celebrities visit the booth. The way I see it, we do a Super Bowl every Monday night.”

For the Pats-Bengals tilt, Cincy defensive end Justin Smith will be “Wired” for sound. The New England-Cincinnati game and pregame show will highlight new music from Bruce Springsteen and Matchbox Twenty.

Inevitably, there will be comparisons between NBC’s Sunday Night fare and ESPN’s Monday Night game. The NBC plate is loaded with star power from Madden and Michaels to Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Peter King, Tiki Barber, etc. NBC also has the advantage of flex-scheduling, the ability to change its schedule to show a meaningful late season game.

The latter option was not available to ESPN. Says Rothman, “It’s impossible to switch a game to Monday night. With hotels, tickets and all that, it would be problematic from a logistical standpoint. In that way, not getting flex-scheduling was a non-issue.”

ESPN counters NBC’s talent with technique. One strategy is the use of two sideline reporters, Michele Tafoya and Suzy Kolber.

“It allows us to cover both teams extensively,” says Rothman whose 19-year football producing career includes both ABC’s and ESPN’s lead college football game, Major League Baseball and the NHL.

“They are the eyes and ears of the game, they can smell it and hear it. If an injury happens on one side of the field, we don’t have to lose time running a reporter over there. Michele and Suzy work very hard before and during the game.

“They are most compelling when they react to a moment. They create a sense of immediacy and urgency. Look at CBS, they touted last year that they were going without any sideline reporters, yet in the Super Bowl, they had one on each sideline.”

Tafoya and Kolber’s impact is not always seen. Rothman explains, “They constantly feed info to the booth. Last week, during a break, Michele told us that due to the noise in the Superdome, they had to turn the volume up in Vince Young’s helmet. Michele was not on air with this, but she provided the information to us.”

If there is a wild card in ESPN’s booth team it’s sportswriter and “Pardon the Interruption” cohost Tony Kornheiser. Kornheiser is neither an announcer, nor a former player. Rothman took note of the comments of NBC “Sunday Night Football” producer Fred Gaudelli in a recent edition of Media Blitz.

Gaudelli stated, “I was at ABC for Dennis Miller’s second season on “Monday Night Football” and he brought more than Kornheiser. I just don’t see what he brings to the broadcast and if he has a place. He is not negative or positive. He’s just there.”

Rothman, who worked with Gaudelli at ESPN, responds, “It is a disservice and a cheap shot to Tony to compare him to Dennis Miller. Saying that Dennis added more value is garbage. The people doing the game couldn’t understand Dennis. Tony is extremely articulate and experienced as a reporter.”

“We were the only NFL television group to be nominated for an Emmy and our Emmy reel was dominated by Tony. He has a great way of elevating a big moment in the game.

“There are some fixable mechanics issues such as when to elaborate on a moment in the game or when to let Jaws run with the X’s and O’s analysis.” In response to Rothman, Gaudelli would only offer, “Jay, thou dost protest too much.”

Jaws, of course, is Ron Jaworski, easily the breakthrough performer in this 2007 NFL media season. Jaworski has impeccably applied his immense skills as a studio analyst to the broadcast booth. In short, Ron Jaworski is the most in-depth and intelligent NFL analyst in the business, period.

Rothman agrees stating, “He is a great team player and breaks the game down like no one else. He called me the other day to tell me that he had just charted every Brady pass and every Moss catch. Jaws can laugh at himself and he fires up everyone around him. The respect he has around the league is incredible.”

Regarding the Pats-Bengals matchup, Jaworski states, “(New England) can run the football inside. The offensive line has the athletic ability to run the football outside and clear the way for the running backs the Patriots have. They have also been protecting Tom Brady very well. That’s why Brady is off to such a fantastic start.”

The emergence of Jaworski, Kornheiser and play-by-play man Mike Tirico has come at the expense of longtime ESPN Sunday Night booth mates Mike Patrick, Paul Maguire and Joe Theismann. Rothman worked with that trio for five years.

“I love those guys and I’d do anything for them, but anyone who understands the business knows that change can be good sometimes. It is personally tough, but I had to move on. They handed me a new playbook and I have to run with it.”

Monday’s game will present challenges to both teams. Can the Bengals stop the balanced New England attack? Can New England go into hostile territory and remain undefeated?

For Rothman the challenge is ongoing. “Covering a football game is easy. The challenge for us is to find a balance in playing to that total audience, casual and hardcore. We’ve won our night’s ratings outright two times in three weeks.

“At the end of the day, I want a rich, balanced telecast with all the bells and whistles. It’s my job to pull out the right tools at the right time. “

Viva Francona

He lacks Tony LaRussa’s hair, Tommy Lasorda’s wit and Joe Torre’s Kleenex bill, but Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona deserves some props for what he is, quite simply the best manager in baseball. I’m writing this before the playoffs because what the Red Sox do over the next few weeks is immaterial as it pertains to Francona’s feats.

Since joining the club in 2004, Francona has ended an eternal curse, mastered the heretofore-brutal Boston media, shrewdly combined youth and experience on the field, created chemistry with a $100 million roster and kept some of the most unique personalities in the game happy and healthy.

Francona’s greatest strength is his handling of the media. Make no mistake. Boston is the toughest place to manage in all of sports. With a media horde that prefers hangings to harmony and a fan base that can be as lethal as they are loyal, every day is a season unto itself. In Boston, one loss is Armageddon.

Francona has been nothing short of exemplary in his weekly radio stints on Sportsradio WEEI and other outlets. He plays the media like Clapton plays the ax. There are no outbursts, dumb statements or public humiliations. He protects his players, takes the blame and effortlessly sidesteps the many silly questions he is posed.

Moreover, Francona has been professional in victory and levelheaded in defeat. His postgame chats with NESN’s Tina Cervasio are models of consistency and his press conferences reveal the game’s nuances without sharing family secrets.

While Patriots coach Bill Belichick treats the media like IRS agents, Francona kills them with cooperation. He massages their needy egos, but in the end, gives them nothing more than what he wants to give them.

While Celtics mentor Doc Rivers tends to tell the media his entire life story on a nightly basis, Francona knows when to clam up or toss in an interview-ending cliché. He is stern, and unafraid to scoff justifiably at the oftentimes-inane queries he faces.

So, here’s some long overdue credit to Terry Francona, a superb leader who truly puts the man in manager.