For His Next Career, Matt Light Will Attempt The Impossible: Make ESPN's NFL Coverage Watchable

I won't lie and tell you that I enjoy ESPN's NFL coverage or that I even watch it (by choice). If i'm tuning in to shows about the NFL, it's gotta be the excellent NFL Network. Sure, sometimes it'll be on at the gym or I flip over to ESPN during commercials of other things I'm watching. Still, it is basically awful with the legions of former players (Cris Carter) and coaches (Herm Edwards) masquerading as clowns.

Into that mess steps former New England Patriots offensive lineman Matt Light. After retiring this spring, Tom Brady's old left tackle was looking for a new career as I'm sure he's not ready to sit around the house all the time or endlessly play golf and talk about the glory days.

From ESPNBoston.com and ESPN PR
"Three-time Super Bowl champion and former New England Patriots offensive tackle Matt Light is joining ESPN’s NFL analyst team. A three-time Pro Bowl selection, Light will appear on NFL Live, NFL32 and SportsCenter. He will also contribute features to Sunday NFL Countdown.

Light, who visited ESPN as a guest NFL analyst in May, will make his debut Monday, July 23.

“Matt is a great addition to our ESPN team because he sees the world and the game of football from a refreshingly different perspective than most,” said Seth Markman, ESPN senior coordinating producer for NFL studio shows. “He has an engaging personality and he’s unafraid to offer honest opinions, which fans will appreciate.”

Light said, “I'm really looking forward to joining the ESPN family and getting a chance to see the game from a different side. I'm obviously depending heavily on my rugged good looks and ability to avoid run-on sentences to succeed in this new role.”

You'll remember that former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi is also a fixture of ESPN's non-stop football coverage so it's not all bad. Light has a pretty solid sense of humor and the Purdue graduate seems like a smart guy so let's hope that he can mold both of those strengths into a quality on-air persona. Lord knows there is enough one-note NFL commentators (hi Tom Jackson) littering the airwaves.

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Terry Francona Will Be Taking Over The Worldwide Leader's Baseball Coverage

Well as I predicted, Terry Francona has found gainful employment after only a month and change out of the limelight.

The former Boston Red Sox manager (it feels weird typing that) has joined ESPN as a baseball analyst. Ironically, he'll be replacing Bobby Valentine (Boston's new manager) on Sunday Night Baseball with Dan Shulman and Orel Hershiser.

Also, Tito will appear on Baseball Tonight (which is still a good show even though I often watch MLB Network instead) and Little League World Series coverage. Finally, he will be a featured guest on ESPN Radio's national shows, plus a contributor to ESPN.com and ESPNBoston.com.

You can't keep a good man down and while I fully recognize that Francona was a big part of the clubhouse issues at the end, the two-time World Series champion deserved a plumb gig like this. From all accounts, he's a decent guy and from the very small sample size during the ALCS on Fox (when Tim McCarver was getting a brain transplant or some shit), Francona was superb. Truly a breath of fresh air in a sport that really lacks new energy in its broadcasting.

That first Red Sox-Yankees game on Sunday Night Baseball will definitely be awkward, especially when Francona has to criticize Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Carl Crawford, etc. but he's a pro and a big boy, he can handle it.

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Tim Thomas & The Boston Bruins Nominated For 2011 ESPYs

Since they barely cover the NHL in the first place, it might surprise some that the ESPN's ESPY awards actually features an NHL category.

Boston Bruins all-world goaltender Tim Thomas is a nominee in two categories: best championship performance and best NHL player.

In addition, the B's are also nominated in the best team category. Thomas deserves both awards but the NHL player award is probably his best chance for more hardware. Likewise, you could make a great argument for the Bruins but it's hard to see America voting for them over the Dallas Mavericks, the San Francisco Giants and the Green Bay Packers among others.

All I can say is vote early and often so that the Bruins pick up all these awards and ESPN is made to look like clowns for not covering hockey nearly enough.

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Tom Brady Nominated for 2011 ESPY Award

The weather might not feel like it but with summer upon us, that means that we need any possible excuse to post anything non-MLB related.

In that vein, New England Patriots superstar quarterback Tom Brady has been nominated for an ESPY. He's in the category of 2011 Best NFL Player, an award he won in 2008 after his performance in the 2007 season.

The other nominees include Texans RB Arian Foster, Packers LB Clay Matthews, Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and Packers QB Aaron Rodgers.

Fans can cast their vote for the 2011 ESPY Awards here through July 9. The 2011 ESPYs air live on ESPN at 9 p.m., Wednesday, July 13. Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live is the host and while it's not a great event, it's usually entertaining and that's all you can ask in mid-July.

Brady had another spectacular season but since the Patriots choked in their first playoff game, I'd have to guess that Rodgers is the front-runner here and Matthews is his biggest competition.

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