Al for Oswald and a Cartoon to be Named Later

In case you find the machinations of corporate big wigs interesting, here's one involving my favorite sport, football, and tv's most prized show, Monday Night Football.

The NFL gets billions of dollars from television rights. This money pays salaries and pensions, builds stadiums, and generally makes professional football happen. The networks are glad to pay this money because even bad football gets pretty good ratings, which equals advertising dollars, which is how the studios make money. For years, ESPN has done the Sunday Night game, ABC has done the Monday night game, and NBC has been left out in the cold.

That changes this next year, when ESPN takes Monday night, NBC takes their place on Sunday, and ABC gets left out… sort of. These days, ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney, so in a way, nothing really changed hands there. But the PTB (powers that be) have plans of their own. So…

Good bye, John Madden. Yes you have more football knowledge than any person alive but you also have a less than average ability to communicate it. Good luck with those video games and good luck with your new job at NBC on Sunday Nights. NBC was frantic to get anything NFL, even the indecipherable Madden.

Good bye, Al Michaels. What? I thought Al said that after 30 years he would never leave Monday night? Well, it turns out he doesn't have the final word. Michaels recently had a sudden change of heart and was traded to NBC for all kinds of benefits for ESPN (and Disney), including "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" cartoons done by some guy named Walter Disney in 1927, but owned by Universal, forcing the young cartoonist to invent a new cartoon mouse named Mickey.

Besides consolidating the Disney archieves, ESPN gets rights to the Kentucky Derby and expanded privileges to various sports such as Notre Dame football, the Olympics, and NBC's own Sunday Night football. And by getting rid of Michaels, ESPN has unloaded a prima donna past his prime.

As punishment for working out such a great deal, ESPN must now keep Joe Theismann in the booth because otherwise Monday Night football would be way too good.