I took a lot of flak for criticizing Tony Romo as follows in “Predicting NFL Plays Makes Romo More Smart Aleck than Nostradamus!” January 31, 2019:
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Tony Romo displayed an uncanny knack this season for calling plays from the broadcast booth that teams then played out on the field. This has made him far more popular as a commentator than he ever was as a player.
Except that, frankly, I don’t watch football to have some wannabe psychic predict plays. Besides, when he’s right, he ruins the suspense; when he’s wrong, he comes off like a carnival barker. In either case, the game becomes more about the calls he makes up in the booth than the plays players make down on the field.
I am also mindful that, if Romo were so good at predicting plays, he would have the record for leading his team to the most Super Bowl berths. But that record belongs to Tom Brady with nine. More to the point, Romo never led his team to a single berth in 14 years as quarterback.
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Truth be told, I’m not a big fan of NFL football. But I didn’t think I had to be to find Romo’s commentary irritating. That’s why the flak did not bother me in the least.
Still, I feel flattered and vindicated in equal measure that no less a person than Chris “Mad Dog” Russo has now echoed my criticism. Because Russo is arguably to sports radio what Howard Stern is to talk radio.
Here, courtesy of Tuesday’s edition of The New York Post, is what he said Monday on his SiriusXM show:
I’m not looking for a situation where I need hour upon hour, every play broken down for 30 seconds. On and on … ‘they’re gonna run this play now, Jim. Jim, they’re gonna run offside tackle!’ I mean, oh my God. Tony, just let the game breathe just a little. …
He’s won two playoff games in his life … Goodness gracious! I guess it’s me.
No Mad Dog, it’s metoo …
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