The End Of An Era

Back before all of this silliness, where we need six people on a pregame show to generate more heat than light, we watched just three folks talk it over before the NFL game that CBS would show – Brent, Irv and Phyllis.

That was Brent Musburger, Irv Cross and Phyllis George. Musburger’s signature call with each cut-in a stadium was, “You’re looking like live at …” and the entire show took 30 minutes, not 90. Of course, that was the 1980s, before big became extra-large and then titanic.

Musburger, 77, announced his upcoming retirement from ESPN on Wednesday. He’s going into business with his family – moving to Las Vegas to get involved with sports handicapping.

Musburger was truly iconic. In his prime, a TV comedy show did a parody of “NFL Today” and nicknamed Burnt Hamburger. I’ve almost never thought of him as anything but.

And now he’s cooked.

He’s been somewhat controversial in recent years. During an Alabama football game, he almost drooled on the microphone talking about the quarterback’s girlfriend. He described another woman announcer as “smokin’ hot.” His widespread compliments aimed at Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon at this year’s Sugar Bowl completely overlooked Mixon’s year-long suspension in 2014 for punching a woman and breaking several bones in her face.

The network must have urged Musburger to apologize, but he simply made matters worse with an argumentative statement that he believed in second chances. You could see the end coming. USA Today columnist Christine Brennan promptly called for him to step down, saying he addressed “a vital 21st century issue the only way he could, with a 1950s answer.”

And so he’ll leave. He’ll work the Kentucky-Georgetown men’s basketball game on Tuesday and exit.

Toast? Well, burnt hamburger.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman