ESPN prepares for another year of Monday Night Football

Hank Williams Jr. asks us every week if we're ready for some football. The answer, ESPN has found, is yes. And only football, if you don't mind.

When ESPN kicks off its third season of "Monday Night Football," and the 39th overall, with a doubleheader Sept. 8, it will be with a streamlined telecast that will concentrate more on the game itself, rather than the bling that surrounds it.

Back when "MNF" was on ABC, it was known for showing off celebrities in the broadcast booth and for constantly trying to give the viewer something to look at between plays, other than the huddle. Through offseason focus groups, ESPN has found most of its fans would rather have it just direct its attention on the game.

"I think we may have been trying to overdeliver for all audiences and casual fans," said senior coordinating producer Jay Rothman. "You could call us the old ABC on steroids, but the truth of the matter is we are a sports network and people tune into ESPN for a sporting event.

"One of the things we heard was You're trying too hard.' Well, we're going to pull back. We may not be 20 pounds in a 5-pound bag; we'll give you 5 pounds in a 5-pound bag. But guilty as charged: I think we were trying to service too many and found we were doing too much."

Jed Drake, ESPN's senior vice president and executive producer, said the network's tried and true recipe for most of its other programming is exactly what fans said they wanted on "Monday Night Football."

"The good news is that they want the playbook for virtually everything else we do," Drake said. "The feedback that we got was that they love our coverage, they want us to focus on football and that when we do that, we do it really well."

ESPN plans in particular to let analyst Ron Jaworski shine more at what he does best, which is taking the intricate X's and O's of the game and making them easy for viewers to understand.

"We're going to make him the new (John) Madden," said Rothman. "Jaws is one of the most credible and well-liked football analysts out there, not just by fans, but by teams and players as well."

ESPN also plans to utilize high-speed cameras and new graphics, but says it wants to get its graphics "out of the way" of the action on the field, another thing it says its focus groups wanted.

Mike Tirico and Tony Kornheiser return with Jaworski and Rothman said he plans to use Kornheiser to deliver "instant columns" to put events in perspective.

"I think we were not quite aligned with Tony when we brought him on the show (three years ago)," said Rothman. "I think our group inherited what we were used to as the PTI' Tony. What we really didn't put our attention on was an award-winning columnist who brings incredible information, incredible depth, incredible perspective and humor to the booth.

"Last year, in the biggest and best moments we had, Tony always heightened the moment."

"MNF" will go from having two sideline reporters - Michele Tafoya and Suzy Kolber - to only one and even that will be only on an as-needed basis, Drake said, when news necessitates it. Tafoya and Kolber will still be utilized on pregame and postgame coverage.

E-mail Jim Carlisle at jcarlisle(at)VenturaCountyStar.com.

(Jim Carlisle writes for the Ventura County Star in California)