Jaworski Replaces Theismann on `Monday Night Football'

Mar 26, 10:20 PM

Current Headlines: PHILADELPHIA _ He had made six-figure salaries as an NFL player, but Ron Jaworski was willing to pay his dues to begin a new career.

After his 17-year pro football career ended in 1989, the former Eagles quarterback took quite a pay cut.

Looking to break into broadcasting, he was host of the two-hour Eagles pregame show on WIP-AM. And the all-sports station didn't break the bank to hire Jaworski.

"My first job at WIP, I was hired for $50 to do the Eagles pregame show," Jaworski said Monday, a few hours before a conference call with reporters announcing that he would replace Joe Theismann as an analyst on ESPN's "Monday Night Football."

Jaworski's first job in broadcasting says a lot about his desire to succeed. Nowadays, he says he is called virtually every week by athletes who seek his advice on how to break into the broadcasting business.

"I tell them that you have to start from scratch," Jaworski, 56, said. "I had to sacrifice, and it wasn't about the money."

No, it sure wasn't. Fifty dollars, even in 1990, didn't go that far. The experience Jaworski gained was worth far more than his salary.

"Everything I have done in broadcasting has helped me, including that job," he said. "I was talking football, and the spontaneity of it was great because you don't know what is going to happen next. It helped me prepare for being on live."

As an athlete, he wasn't called Jaws for nothing. Jaworski was blessed with the gift of gab, but there are many who have a similar talent. What separates the top analysts is their ability to say something that most of the general public doesn't know. And the only way to do that, especially in football, is to study film.

Norby Williamson, ESPN's executive vice president for remote and studio production, said Monday that Theismann is a "phenomenal" analyst, and hopes he can stay with ESPN. But the bottom line is, if Theismann were doing a great job, he would still be there.

The rest of the Monday night team will stay intact, with Mike Tirico and Tony Kornheiser joining Jaworski in the booth, and with Michele Tafoya and Suzy Kolber as sideline reporters.

Quite a talker in his own right, Theismann often would contradict himself during games.

Jaworski's strength is that he gets to the point quickly, and there is very little he sees that surprises him because of his insatiable appetite for film study.

"The people who know me know I'm a football geek," said Jaworski, who was watching films of college players at NFL Films during Monday's interview.

In the late `90s, CBS had offered Jaworski a job as a football game analyst, and last year, he was courted by the NFL Network. Opting to stay at ESPN, he turned down both offers.

ESPN opened the 2006 NFL season with a doubleheader, and Jaworski and Dick Vermeil served as analysts for the Oakland-San Diego game with play-by-play announcer Brad Nessler.

"That was probably an audition for me, to see if I could handle the spotlight and handle the game," Jaworski said. "I'm sure it had a positive effect. I enjoyed doing it."

Jaworski will remain president of the Soul, but he won't be calling Arena Football League games for the rest of the season.

In fact, it was during halftime of Thursday's 71-47 win by the Soul over the visiting Colorado Crush that Jaworski was offered the job as "MNF analyst by Williamson. At first, Jaworski was more than mildly stunned.

"I said: `Are you kidding me?' " Jaworski said. "I think my heart was pounding out of my chest."

After the initial shock, Jaworski collected his thoughts, and accepted the position. No financial terms were revealed, but it's a safe bet that Jaworski is going to make more than $50 per game now.

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