You know, it's amazing, after 17 years in broadcasting I get more blogs and emails about my glasses then about anything I’ve ever done on television. I look at it this way – at least people are watching. I change them up every year, so I’ll have a new look this year.

With Jaws' pineapple-shaped head, he might want to go with a bigger frame in order to offset it a bit. Maybe something along the lines of what Judah Friedlander wears.

What's Up With Those Glasses? [OnTheDL]
Ron Jaworski [Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians]

Yes, the addition of Ron Jaworski to the booth has already dramatically altered the whole dynamic in there. (We're not the only skeptic turning around on this.) Jaworski looses up Tony Kornheiser — he, lo, laughs at his jokes! What a concept! — and lets Mike Tirico work as a sort of moderator (which is what he does best), but what he brings most to the contest is ... well, he actually knows what he's talking about. He breaks down plays in a smart, accessible way, without sounding like a snot about it. He's likable and informative. See? It's really not that hard.

The jury is still out — it was just one preseason game, after all — but yeah: We might have to get used to not despising the entire "Monday Night Football" crew, people.

Official "MNF" Review: Game One [Awful Announcing]

Tony loves Ron, Ron loves Tony, everybody loves Mike and Tony hates himself. Should be quite the show.

"More than anything else, I hope it's fun, and Jaws' personality seems to lend itself to fun. As neurotic as I am, as pessimistic as I am, as cynical and subversive as I am, I have fun doing those [games]. Jaws and I can have fun together.

"There is no chance [Jaworski will make Kornheiser more optimistic]. I'm going to be like Darth Vader and welcome him to the dark side. I'm going to be, 'Come and see the music of the night. I am the Phantom of the Opera.'"

We're gonna go ahead and ask somebody out there to do a Kornheiser Phantom of the Opera photoshop now.

We think this year's crew can't help but improve with Theismann's absence, particularly with the likable and smart Jaworski in there, but we still love that supreme leader John Skipper watched the whole practice session. He seems optimistic, as long as Kornheiser puts the correct cover sheet on his expense reports.

New Monday Night Football Crew Will Have Some Fun [Newsday]

Theismann, in an interview with Shapiro, says he still doesn't understand why he was taken off the show and replaced by Ron Jaworski.

"It was a total and complete shock to me that they were going to make a change. They told me they wanted to make the show more issue-oriented, I asked them 'was it the quality of my work?' They said no. They said they noticed that when they studied the tape, when it came back to me, I talked about football. I guess that was the problem, but you'll have to ask them.

"Hey, I'm a football guy. It's what I do. To say I'm not disappointed would not be correct. I'm very disappointed. I believe that 100 percent of the audience, whether it's Sunday night or Monday, wants to be entertained and educated about football. We have enough shows on ESPN about issues all over the place. To me, when you call it Monday Night Football, the expectation of the fan is to see football, and hear about football."

We think the answer is simple, Joe. When John Skipper — a true leader! — and Norby Williamson — Norby! — told you they wanted the show to be more "issue-oriented," what they really meant was, "Jaworski is so much freaking better than you at this. Oh, and Kornheiser can't stand you."

Theismann says he won't be doing any on-screen NFL work for the network, though he will still be paid by the network. Poor guy.

Theismann Benched By ESPN [Washington Post]

A Super Bowl-winning quarterback with the Redskins and ESPN NFL commentator since 1988, Theismann, 57, was apparently informed of his removal on Friday. But Newsday quoted an ESPN spokesman as saying "we have nothing to announce."

As anyone who has listened to Theismann talk over the last few years knows, this was a long overdue move. (We hope that Theismann kid can land on his feet.) We're not sure Jaworski is necessarily going to make Tony Kornheiser any better ... but it certainly can't hurt.

Theismann Out Of MNF Booth [New York Times]
But Who Will Exchange Witty Banter With Jim Belushi? [Deadspin]

A source with knowledge of the situation tells us that ESPN is yanking analyst Joe Theismann from Monday Night Football. Earlier this year, the network said that the lineup for the weekly NFL broadcast would return unchanged in 2007.

Per the source, the likely replacement for Theismann is Ron Jaworski, who performed well (despite wearing ladies' glasses) during the back half of a season-opening Monday night doubleheader and who currently is handling booth duties for the ESPN/ABC coverage of the Arena Football League.

I'm not upset if it's true that Joe Theismann's no longer a part of the Monday Night Football booth, and if it's true that Jaws is in, that's good news too. But the problem in the booth was not Joe Theismann. The problem was named Kornheiser, and trying to fix the MNF broadcast team by cutting Theismann is like trying to fix the Dallas Cowboys chemistry problems by cutting Terry Glenn.

And when you want to real scoop on ESPN's NFL broadcast plans, you know where to go: Detroit Tigers pitchers. Nate Robertson talked to Parcells, and says that Parcells told him he was offered, but turned down, the Monday Night gig.

Are You Ready For Some Tuna? [Chicks Dig the Long Ball]
Sunshine Out at MNF [Pro Football Talk Rumor Mill]

Yes, this weekend marked the return of short attention span football, and kicked off ESPN's partnership with the Arena League. I spent some time checking in with the Rush vs. Brigade game during timeouts in Creighton/Southern Illinois, and I'm happy to say that Ron Jaworski is wholeheartedly embracing his role as Arena analyst.

He was in the booth with Merril Hoge, breaking down plays and babbling like he just pounded two cases of Red Bull. He's either wholly captivated by the 50-yard indoor war, or he's just thrilled to be able to talk about football while he's not sitting next to Mike Ditka, or on that one show that usually airs at around 4:00 a.m.

Anyway, the Brigade did pull the huuuuuge upset over the defending champion Chicago Rush in one of ABC's games today. There's so much parity in the Arena League. That's what makes it great.

In the other ABC game, the Dallas Desperados embarrassed the New York Dragons, 60-7. Seven points is a little embarrassing, sure, but at least the Dragons got young third-stringer Rohan Davey some time under center. I knew that guy had a bright future.

Brigade defeat defending Champion Rush, 54-41 [AFL]
Desperados crush Dragons, 60-7 [AFL]

You can do a lot with $25,000. You can provide food for starving Africans before Sally Struthers eats them first. You can buy 1,518 copies of Bill Simmons new book (not counting shipping, which is probably a bitch). You can even join 2,500,000 of those record clubs where you get 11 CDs for a penny.

You can also hire ESPN anchor Stuart Scott to come speak at your corporate function. The site HireSportsSpeakers.com allows you to bring your favorite ESPN personalities to come talk to you and your fellow corporate drones about leadership, teamwork or, you know, just how to read off a Teleprompter. The site serves as a broker between corporations and sports personalities, negotiating their fees and putting together their schedules.

One would think that paying Stuart Scott $25,000 plus "travel is almost always on top of the fees, usually something like first class for two, ground transportation and hotel" to do anything other than promise never to use the terms "pillow," "cool," "boo" or "yah" again would be somewhat excessive. But Scott isn t even the most expensive anchor on his own network. In fact, he s not even close.

Full list of top ESPN anchors/sports personalities and their speakers fees after the jump. Start saving those pennies for Tom Tolbert now!

The appearance fees for major "sports personalities."

$15,000 and below
Mitch Gaylord - $10,000
Greg Gumbel - $15,000
Ron Jaworski - $10,000
Tony Kornheiser - $15,000
Tom Tolbert - $15,000

For a guy who has a sitcom based on his life — albeit a pretty unwatchable one — we think that's a pretty good price. Well, relatively speaking. By the way ... Mitch Gaylord! Still alive, we guess. Good for him.

$20,000-$30,000
James Brown - $30,000
Rich Eisen - $25,000
Roy Firestone - $22,000
Marion Jones - $20,000
Jim Nantz - $25,000
Dan Patrick - $30,000
Rick Reilly - $25,000
Stuart Scott — $25,000

We don't know how much Dan Patrick made for his Hair Care For Men ads, or, for that matter, how much Rick Reilly got for encouraging his readers to become drunken idiots, but it couldn't have been too far from this amount. By the way, Reilly's amount is probably around the starting salary for entry-level print journalists in this country, if you were wondering what that collective "pounding-head-against-desk" sound was.

$40,000-$50,000
Mitch Albom - $40,000
Chris Berman - $50,000
Jim Rome - $40,000

You know, we wonder if Mitch Albom actually has to be there giving the speech to collect his cash, or if he can just say he was there.

$50,000 and above
Bob Costas - $60,500
Al Michaels - $75,000

For an extra 10 grand, Bob Costas will promise not to lecture you about your lack of class and decorum. Don't worry, though; he brings his own stepstool for the podium.

Just For Fun
Leslie Nielsen - $70,000

Enrico! Pallazzo! Enrico! Pallazzo!

HireSportsSpeakers.com [Official Site]