The cringeworthy Booger McFarland-Joe Tessitore “Monday Night Football” booth is no more, according to Richard Deitsch and several other published reports. They somehow managed to lose their jobs even though the NFL season is far from a certainty.
The pair was, at best, uneven in two years doing Monday nights. In the first year, McFarland whizzed around the infamous Booger Mobile, while Tessitore and briefly retired tight end Jason Witten struggled to form any kind of rapport or timing in the booth. When Witten returned to the Cowboys for the 2019 NFL season, it seemed like Tessitore and McFarland’s more natural chemistry would produce a slightly better broadcast. And while McFarland occasionally was insightful when actually analyzing play, those moments were equaled by ones like the time in the playoffs when he loudly demanded the Buffalo Bills spike the ball on fourth down.
As for Tessitore, as Bob Raissman once wrote, he “cranks up fourth-quarter passion for first-quarter moments.” That might work in boxing, where Tessitore’s ESPN career began. On “Monday Night Football,” it sounded like he was constantly overselling to viewers who didn’t need to be sold.
According to Deitsch’s report, a game of ESPN musical chairs is imminent. Tessitore and Booger will stay at the network in “prominent roles,” and the next MNF booth will come from inside ESPN.
