Brad Nessler Thursday said that his schedule as an ESPN college football announcer will not change despite NFL Network hiring him as the new play-by-play voice for its "Thursday Night Football" telecasts. Nessler addressed the subject during a media conference call that included NFL Network Senior VP/Programming & Production Mark Quenzel and new "TNF" booth analyst Mike Mayock. Nessler: "It's not going to change any. It's going to be very hectic for about a five-week stretch." Matt Millen kept a similar schedule last season as an analyst for both "TNF" and ESPN's Saturday college football telecasts. When asked whether the net considered another three-man booth to replace Millen, Joe Theismann and play-by-play voice Bob Papa, Quenzel said, "It can work either way. I prefer a two-man booth. I think the dynamic we have between Brad and Mike lends itself to a two-man booth." Quenzel said the net looked at "a number of people" other than Nessler for the play-by-play job, but would not disclose any names. Quenzel also labeled Mayock a "rising star in sports broadcasting." Mayock: "If you had told me months ago that I'd be calling Notre Dame games on NBC, followed by an NFL playoff game on NBC, followed by the NFL Network offering me this package, I would probably inquire as to your hallucinogenic of choice” (Preston Bounds, THE DAILY). In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley wrote, "Apart from maybe ESPN’s Jon Gruden, you would be hard-pressed to name another football broadcaster on television, another sports broadcaster of any kind, whose star in the last year has risen as quickly as Mike Mayock’s" (JSONLINE.com, 5/5).
NESSLER ENTHUSED ABOUT NEW ROLE: Nessler appeared on Atlanta’s WQXI-AM yesterday to discuss his new role and said, "I'm on the back end of this career, so when something like this comes along, it kind of juices you a little bit and gives you a little bit of a new rush just to do something new and different challenge." Nessler added, "A lot of people think I'm leaving ESPN and ABC. I'm not. I might miss one basketball game here and there." Nessler said NFL Network offered him the position when he was at the Final Four "out of the clear blue." Nessler: "The one thing they always think is I've worked with so many different partners, and I think the perception is that I make my partner better. They love Mike (Mayock) and they knew I could be his guy next to him." Several former ESPN execs currently at NFL Network, and Nessler said they met with the current ESPN brass “before they ever contacted me and said, 'We want him. We want to do it the right way and we want your permission to at least approach him.’ … All the guys I work with at ESPN said, 'Okay.' I was a little bit shocked because quite frankly, this came up another time and there was a 'no' was said at that time" (“Mayhem in the AM,” WQXI-AM, 5/5).
ON SOLID FOOTING: In Boston, Chad Finn writes the Nessler-Mayock booth "should provide the NFL Network with stability and credibility" after becoming its fifth broadcast crew in six years. Papa was "perfectly competent, but Millen’s credibility was always in question given his disastrous tenure running the Detroit Lions, and Theismann never said anything in 20 words when 50 would do." Finn notes NFL Network reportedly "auditioned a few play-by-play men alongside Mayock," including Gus Johnson, but Nessler "never auditioned, suggesting that he was the NFL Network’s first choice all along" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/6). In L.A., Diane Pucin noted last year's three-man NFL Net booth was "widely criticized, mostly for the overwhelming amount of talk from Theismann and Millen" (LATIMES.com, 5/5). YAHOO SPORTS' Michael Darnell wrote, "I don't think I'm alone in saying that that little broadcast experience needed to end" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 5/5).
GOING ABOUT IT THE WRONG WAY: In N.Y., Bob Raissman notes NFL Net officials in March "had Papa go down to NFL Films headquarters in Jersey to audition for a job he held for three seasons." The network officials "held the audition knowing full well that Papa would be made to look bad when word leaked out." Raissman: "This was despicable and gutless. ... If NFLN honchos wanted to fire Papa, which they obviously did, why not just immediately tell him his services were no longer needed? Instead, they dragged him through the mud, humiliated him" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/6). On Long Island, Neil Best wrote, "No offense to Nessler, a respected pro, but ditching Papa was both unwise and unfair, given the lack of continuity he encountered during his term, and his rock-solid pro football bona fides" (NEWSDAY.com, 5/5). In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes Papa's exit "marks another bad idea from a network that has specialized in them since its birth" (N.Y. POST, 5/6).
