Even earlier than arrest, Tony Romo’s allure had waned at CBS
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“Had CBS really needed him again, he can be.”
When Tony Romo, recent off the sector after a 13-year run as a Cowboys quarterback, joined CBS’s prime NFL broadcast staff in fall 2017, he made the brand new gig appear easy.
9 years and a surprising fall from grace later, it seems that effort — or a scarcity of it — was a major a part of his downfall.
CBS formally “parted methods” with Romo, 46, on Friday, a bit of greater than a month after he was placed on indefinite depart following his July 23 arrest in Milwaukee for working a automobile whereas intoxicated.
The community introduced the choice in a 73-word assertion, which could appear terse if not for the one-sentence assertion it issued upon placing him on depart in late July: “Tony Romo is on depart from his position at CBS Sports activities till additional discover.”
Romo indicated in a September social media put up that he seemed ahead to returning to CBS and that he had medical doctors serving to him “make the mandatory adjustments” for his well-being.
Had CBS really needed him again, he can be — perhaps not quickly, perhaps not even this yr, however finally. As an alternative, a buyout was negotiated, and the explanations are clear to anybody who has heard him within the sales space the previous few years.
He was not as ready or targeted as he was in his early days. And the 10-year, $180 million contract he signed in February 2020 had change into an albatross for the community primarily based on the diminishing returns they had been getting on recreation day from Romo.
The buyout permits it to be referred to as a “mutual determination.” However make no mistake: this was solely a call by CBS Sports activities chairman David Berson and the community.
It stays simple now, 9 years later, to recollect what a sensation Romo was in early days alongside Jim Nantz within the sales space.
A Patriots-Saints matchup in Week 2 of the 2017 season was the second regular-season recreation Romo ever referred to as. He validated each early accolade. He predicted a Drew Brees landing to unheralded receiver Brandon Coleman, was forward of the referees in deciphering a number of complicated flags, and famous close to the sport’s finish that the Patriots had been nonetheless blitzing whereas safely forward simply to mess with future opponents’ scouting experiences.
He was charming and informative, maybe one of the best firm we’ve had within the broadcast sales space since John Madden’s prime.
However Romo’s preparation clearly slipped through the years, to the purpose that CBS administration referred to as him in after the 2022 season to tell him that he wanted to get his act collectively. Romo nonetheless had his moments, however too usually he acted as if his allure would cowl up for a scarcity of preparation, which in flip induced his allure to wane.
So what occurs now? J.J. Watt, who slid into the highest position throughout Romo’s depart, will get a full-season audition to be CBS’s everlasting No. 1 man.
There’s some potential flux in a few of different networks’ prime cubicles.
Greg Olsen, usurped in 2024 by Tom Brady in Fox Sports activities’ No. 1 position, can choose out of his contract if one other No. 1 job opens up. Troy Aikman isn’t any positive factor to return to ESPN’s sales space after this season. (Please, Disney, for the love of Mickey Mouse, don’t shoehorn that ubiquitous sentient monster truck Pat McAfee into that position, too.)
Romo will land someplace, if that’s what he desires. Earlier than he signed on with CBS, Fox pursued him to pair with Kevin Burkhardt in its No. 2 sales space. If Olsen departs for CBS, Fox can be a logical match for Romo.
However every time his comeback occurs, it virtually definitely received’t be in a No. 1 sales space immediately. With the job not easy for him, he first should show he’s prepared to place within the mandatory effort to seek out a few of the outdated magic.
. . .
Boston sports activities radio legend Glenn Ordway launched a brand new podcast in September, titled “The Massive O’” podcast. The primary half dozen episodes have been entertaining in a still-familiar manner, particularly for those who’re excited about reliving (and, in some circumstances, relitigating) WEEI’s heyday, in addition to some drama and debacles that adopted these better of occasions.
Ordway stays a wonderful interviewer and storyteller. Usually, his tales even qualify as non-fiction. However, amusingly, not all of them.
Throughout an episode in dialog with Kirk Minihane, Ordway claimed he found out my supply once I broke the story in February 2013 that WEEI’s dad or mum firm Entercom was firing him. Ordway stated my supply was Tim Murphy, who had a number of administration titles with WEEI and Entercom throughout his time there.
Two issues: It’s sources, plural. There’s no manner I’d run — or be allowed by the sports activities editor to run — a narrative of that magnitude with only one supply. Additionally, Murphy, who was about as forthcoming as an Easter Island stone, was not amongst them.
Maintain wanting, Glenn. Perhaps you’ll join the dots sometime. However first you’d have to seek out one.
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