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Posted by Mike Florio on April 18, 2009, 9:51 p.m.
The fine folks at ******** report that former Lions exec Matt Millen, who presided over arguably the worst stretch by any pro sports franchise in pro sports history, is headed back to television.
But he won’t be working for NBC, which hired him for the 2008 postseason. And he won’t be working for FOX, where he served as the No. 2 game analyst behind John Madden
before being hired to do a job for which he wasn’t qualified.
Millen will be working for ESPN, replacing Emmitt Smith on the Monday night desk with Stuart Scott and Steve Young.
We still wonder whether Millen has become sufficiently tainted by his time in Motown to possess the ability to speak with authority on anything relating to professional football. As we see it, a certain percentage of the audience (including Jason Whitlock) will scoff and sneer whenever Millen opens his mouth.
At a minimum, the producers at ESPN would be wise to avoid having Millen comment on issues relating to the actual management of a team.
Meanwhile, don’t assume that Millen’s role will be confined only to Monday nights. He excels at game analysis — after all, he did it well enough at FOX to persuade the Lions that he’d be able to run an NFL franchise.
Our guess? Millen also will be working some college games for ESPN/ABC, too.
Elsewhere in ESPN-ville, ******** says that Len Pasquarelli is moving on and moving out. (Actually, we wish Len only the best; he has had some difficult health challenges over the past 14 months, starting with open-heart surgery on the day of Super Bowl XLII.)
And John Clayton might not be all that far behind. Several sources have told us that Clayton is extremely miffed at the impeding arrival of Adam Schefter at ESPN. Apparently, it was believed at first that Schefter would work in a Sal Paolantonio/Ed Werder-style capacity. As it turns out, Schefter essentially will be sandwiched between Chris Mortensen and Clayton, and Schefter is now the presumed heir to Mort.
As we currently hear it, Schefter will be supplanting Clayton on Sundays and Mondays during the football season.
But Clayton should hold no grudge against Schefter; he didn’t hire himself. This was a decision made by the execs that run the show at ESPN, and if Clayton has a beef with anyone his beef should be with them.
The fine folks at ******** report that former Lions exec Matt Millen, who presided over arguably the worst stretch by any pro sports franchise in pro sports history, is headed back to television.
But he won’t be working for NBC, which hired him for the 2008 postseason. And he won’t be working for FOX, where he served as the No. 2 game analyst behind John Madden
before being hired to do a job for which he wasn’t qualified.Millen will be working for ESPN, replacing Emmitt Smith on the Monday night desk with Stuart Scott and Steve Young.
We still wonder whether Millen has become sufficiently tainted by his time in Motown to possess the ability to speak with authority on anything relating to professional football. As we see it, a certain percentage of the audience (including Jason Whitlock) will scoff and sneer whenever Millen opens his mouth.
At a minimum, the producers at ESPN would be wise to avoid having Millen comment on issues relating to the actual management of a team.
Meanwhile, don’t assume that Millen’s role will be confined only to Monday nights. He excels at game analysis — after all, he did it well enough at FOX to persuade the Lions that he’d be able to run an NFL
franchise.Our guess? Millen also will be working some college games for ESPN/ABC, too.
Elsewhere in ESPN-ville, ******** says that Len Pasquarelli is moving on and moving out. (Actually, we wish Len only the best; he has had some difficult health challenges over the past 14 months, starting with open-heart surgery on the day of Super Bowl XLII.)
And John Clayton might not be all that far behind. Several sources have told us that Clayton is extremely miffed at the impeding arrival of Adam Schefter at ESPN. Apparently, it was believed at first that Schefter would work in a Sal Paolantonio/Ed Werder-style capacity. As it turns out, Schefter essentially will be sandwiched between Chris Mortensen and Clayton, and Schefter is now the presumed heir to Mort.
As we currently hear it, Schefter will be supplanting Clayton on Sundays and Mondays during the football season.
But Clayton should hold no grudge against Schefter; he didn’t hire himself. This was a decision made by the execs that run the show at ESPN, and if Clayton has a beef with anyone his beef should be with them.
