This tastefully choreographed publicity shot of what can probably best be described as "Mike Tirico Microphone Bukkake" signifies one thing: The new ESPN "Monday Night Football" crew is indeed kicking off tonight. Ignoring the wisdom of CBS banning sideline reporters entirely, the crew consists of Tirico, Joe Theismann, Michele Tafoya, Suzy Kolber and, of course, the wildcard everyone's curious about, Tony Kornheiser himself.
Many of us gathered our first glimpse of the crew working together during "SportsCenter" this morning, in which we learned that everyone on set has bizarre hair and that Kornheiser is not opposed to the occasional dramatic pause to put on his glasses.
Kornheiser's schtick of late has been to note that he doesn't know anything about football, that'll he'll be terrible, that he never stays awake for games, so on, what forth. But we remain optimistic that he'll be fun, at least for a while; in a pinch, he can always just fall back on a fun touchdown call.
Monday Night Hair [Choke Artist]
CBS Does Something Smart, World Stops [Kissing Suzy Kolber]
Tony Kornheiser Is Into Leather [Deadspin]