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Faulk has served as an analyst on NFL
Network for last five seasons |
Marshall Faulk will be inducted into the Pro Football HOF Saturday night, and he has "found his niche in his post-football career" as an on-air personality for NFL Network, according to Nakia Hogan of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. Faulk is entering his fifth year with the net, and he serves as an analyst on "NFL Total Access" and the net's "Thursday Night Football" pre- and postgame shows. He also will serve as an analyst for the Rams' preseason games this year on St. Louis' KTVI-Fox, where he will be joined by play-by-play announcer Andrew Siciliano. NFL Network Exec Producer Eric Weinberger said, "We knew we weren't going to be taking a chance (on hiring Faulk). We already knew how smart of a player he was. When I first met him and really heard him just kind of express how he wanted to be an intelligent, cerebral football analyst we knew right away his greatness on the field was going to transfer off the field." Faulk said that he "scouted other networks looking for the best fits for his talents before signing with the NFL Network." Hogan noted before Faulk joined NFL Network, he had "begun to practice his craft, serving as an intern with NBC, working with the local St. Louis Fox affiliate, where he had his own show and occasionally sitting in at the bigger networks' pregame shows during bye weeks." Faulk said that he ultimately decided that NFL Network was the "best place for him." He said, "NFL Network had avenues for me to get better, and the only way to get better is to practice, to work at it. They provided a platform for me to work and to learn television and how it goes and all the things that you need to know, the do's and don'ts" (
New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 8/4).
WALKING THE WALK TO TALK THE TALK? USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand and Michael McCarthy debate whether athletes must succeed on the field before they "are qualified to become TV analysts." Hiestand writes former NBAer Shaquille O'Neal "upped the ante this week in deriding the credibility of TV analysts who hadn't piled lots of points." Hiestand: "Who cares? How athletes played won't guarantee how well they'll do as broadcasters. Many top sportscasters ... were high-level athletes but not up to O'Neal's standards." But McCarthy writes O'Neal, Heat F LeBron James "and others have a point when they complain about TV talking heads such as ESPN's Skip Bayless who never played in the pros passing judgment on their character." He adds, "There are too many analysts opining this player or team choked. ... I've often thought analysts should play a sport themselves, if physically able. Maybe they realize an athlete just didn't have it that day" (USA TODAY, 8/5).
