The college football season ends in spectacular fashion, while the NFL playoffs roll on with play-by-play, color commentary and rules analyst discussions on this week’s episode of the Last Word on Sports Media podcast. Host T.J. Rives is joined the week by Last Word on Sports media writer Steve Carney breaking down all things involving the media this week.
Romo’s Rebound And Rules Analysts Rule Conversation
Both T.J. and Steve felt that after what was a rough Wild Card round for him, CBS color commentator Tony Romo had a much better call in the divisional round matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos. They said he definitely felt more engaged in this matchup than what we saw the week prior. T.J. posited that someone in charge of the game (a coordinating producer or maybe even higher) might have said to Tony that he needed to be better than what we saw last week.
“He seemed more engaged in this past week than he did in the Wild Card round,” Steve agreed. “But you know, I’ve heard from so many people over the last couple of weeks about how they all think that Tom Brady is a much better color analyst than Tony Romo is now.”
The conversation turned to the rules analysts the networks use for when a call is being looked at on review. More and more often, the rules analysts give their opinion, only to have the officials come out and rule the other way. Steve said he believes some of that comes from the amount of time being removed from their former roles as referees or officiating supervisors.
“I really do think that that makes a difference,” Steve said. “The farther away you get, the more removed you get from being in the room, I think the less the less insightful your your commentary becomes, because things change in that room.”
Indiana’s National Title Made For The Movies
Turning to the College Football Playoff victory for the Indiana Hoosiers, T.J. asked Steve about where the story of the Hoosiers’ run to their first college football title ranks.
“There’s an old movie poster from the 1970’s, that at the top of it said ‘His whole life was a million-to-one shot,'” Steve replied, referencing the tagline for the 1976 film Rocky. “This is Rocky Bleeping Balboa coming out of nowhere.”
What troubled the guys with the broadcast of the game was the issues with the audio, specifically the nat sound. For an extended period to start the game, ESPN did not have any crowd noise, nor did they have any television effects, meaning you heard no pad impact, no whistles, and even the referee mic was not being heard on the broadcast. Steve, who has nearly two decades of experience as a radio producer, speculated that with ESPN carrying so many different broadcasts of the game, it appeared that the TV effects weren’t routed properly for the broadcast.
They played the radio call from Sean McDonough on Fernando Mendoza’s touchdown on 4th down, as well as play-by-play from Don Fischer, the long-time broadcaster of Indiana football on Jamari Sharp’s game-sealing interception.
The Latest On RSN Troubles, And A Senate Run For A Football Broadcaster
The guys wrapped up talking about the troubles involving Main Street Sports Group, as nine teams terminated their contracts for 2026 with the regional sports network distributor. Steve believes that while some teams, namely the Cardinals and Braves, have enough of a fanbase that they could start their own networks like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs have, many will end up with Major League Baseball producing their broadcasts and having to find a local over-the-air channel to carry the games. They wrapped up by discussing Michelle Tafoya’s announcement that she is running for the open United States Senate seat in her home state of Minnesota, and what sort of chance she might have.
