Here’s something that sure to spice up a fairly slow Monday.
Charles Barkley recently claimed he was offered Monday Night Football, and that he turned it down.
The remark was made during an appearance on the first episode of The Jim Brockmire Podcast, in which Hank Azaria inhabits the excellent Brockmire character for some sports talk. During a discussion with Barkley (use earbuds if at work; it gets a little salty) about Twitter trolls, Barkley casually drops the MNF bombshell.
He doesn’t say when the offer was made, only that, “I like football, but I ain’t gonna be one of these jackasses get on TV and act like he know about football.” (I resemble that remark.)
The comment largely has gone unnoticed. I saw it a little while ago in an item from Demetri Ravanos of BarrettSportsMedia.com.
ESPN has tried to elevate the quality of the Monday Night Football booth in recent years. The result has been a largely-revolving door that still doesn’t feel like it’s truly found it desired voices. Peyton Manning remains a constant possibility, as does Philip Rivers and perhaps even Sean McVay, if he burns out on coaching before he turns 40 (and some think he will).
If they offered the gig to Barkley, it shows that they’re willing to go outside the box for the first time since the powers-that-be blurred the line between ingenuity and f--kin’ nutty when ABC hired Dennis Miller more than 20 years ago.