You are not doing Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live. You are doing (supposedly) football commentary on Monday Night Football.
Who is the doofus that decided we needed a stand up comedian during Monday Night Football?
I know I’m not the only person who almost wishes Dennis Miller would contract anthrax. But is there anyone out there who actually likes the guy on MNF?
UGH!
Only reason I watch.
Oh, I’ve seen this episode of “As The Miller Turns”, it ends with someone complaining about him. Give him a break, he’s not nearly as bad as evryone makes him out to be. I was just glad to see the Vikings win for a change 
At least he’s entertaining. The average footbal commentary consists of “well, it’s 3rd and 15, so they’re gonna need a big play. About 15 yards drool on self well, that’s going to be holding on the team that was just signaled and announced as having comitted holding.”
It’s annoyed me so much that I just hit mute half the time; I know all the penalty handsignals by now anyway. Of course, this doesn’t work so well when lack of TV forces me to follow the game via radio.
only reason I watch
Sure, he’s an ass, sure he’s lame sometimes, but he makes me laugh. The other drips in the booth with him get soooooo tiring, and he’s the only thing that breaks it up.
BTW, I’ts not like I don’t watch football all weekend, either…it’s just the MNF guys(and Madden) that bore the shit outta me. He also makes it more interesting for Joe Sixpack.
Sam
So there are people who like him. Hm. That’s all I wanted to know. I’d honestly never heard anyone say anything good about his commentary, so I wondered.
<shrugs>
I LOVE Dennis Miller-I’ve even read all three of his books.
I own two of them, and have the other on audiobook.
What’s great about Miller is that he makes Al Michaels and Dan Fouts better at their job, he keeps it loose, and they have fun.
And I enjoy it. I even get most of the references. 
Dennis fucking Miller? When he goes, who will take his place? Pee Wee Herman? Pauly Shore?
And he understands football like I understand women.
Yeah, yeah, he’s an American icon. So is John Madden, but you don’t see him doing comedy.
Wait a minute…
I’d love to see Jimmy Kimmel replace Dennis Miller in the booth. Far funnier, far more blue collar, and far more knowledgeable about the game. Dennis Miller, IMHO, is a plague upon MNF, and not much better than those fools who say things like “Well, John, if they want to win this game, they’re going to have to start scoring a bit more and keep the other team from scoring so much.”
My biggest problem with Miller on MNF is that he’s not joking enough. He too often tries to do straight football commentary, which he’s as qualified to do as me. We have ex-players and coaches for that.
Unleash the full-rant-mode Miller, I say.
Right. Dennis Miller as a comedian is great. I agree.
But NOT on Monday Night Football. I’m not watching for stand up comedy, I’m watching for football! I’d be fine with it if he tossed a joke in here or there impromptu, but when it’s blatantly planned I think it sounds stupid, not funny.
I was excited and a bit nervous when I heard before last season that Miller was going to be added to the MNF lineup. Unfortunately I have been living in ‘Yerp’ for the entire period, so the only game I really saw him do in person was this year’s Denver/NY Giants game, and I was concentrating too much on the game to notice much of what was said by the commentators (Elvis could have appeared for color commentary and I might not have noticed). However, having read some of the quotes from the shows (and knowing how witty ol’ Dennis is), it seems that he is far more entertaining than the countless other football “gurus” announcing NFL games. But that is saying anything new. Just one more vote for Miller in the booth, even if I don’t get to benefit from it.
It must be said that the reason I was nervous to hear that Dennis Miller was going to be taking on such as task was because I knew a lot of half-wits would be infuriated by the fact that a non-ex-jock with little sports-journalistic insight would be slipping in innuendo-laden insights and referencing Victorian literature during their treasured male-bonding Monday bar ritual (hyphen-fest-). Many of them would assume (and they would be correct in doing so) that the only reason ABC got Miller was to increase their core audience to include those who might not otherwise know or care about the difference between Astroturf® and intentional grounding. But I am glad that some of the people on this thread have shown that there are plenty of us out there that both like football and being a bit cerebral every now and then. Of course, I can see the intellectual appeal in John Madden’s monosyllabic bellowing.
I just wonder if the OPer thinks that Boomer was better?
While I agree with you about needing more full-on rants, I have to say that ex-players as announcers–more often than not–just annoy me. While I grant you that there are some real bright and knowlegable guys out there, playing cornerback for 10 years does not qualify you as knowing that much about the game as a whole.
Ex-coaches tend to have a better view of the whole game, as it was their job to do so. They tend to provide less drooling and more insight.
That said, fuck John Madden in his stupid ear.
Another football fan who likes Dennis Miller here.
Actually, I think Miller does have a pretty good grasp of football. He definitely does his homework.
And, if you recall, it was Al Michaels who made the lame Lewinski joke last night, and Miller who turned the talk back to the game.
Wracker: No, I’m not saying that another boring not-so-smart ex-jock would be better. I’d be fine with Dennis Miller being there… if he didn’t try to turn it into a stand up routine.
Ferrous: Yes, I caught the Al Michaels’ feeble attempt at humor that was the lame Lewinski joke. And I think he should stick to football.
That’s just my opinion.
I’m fully aware that they brought DM in to draw a crowd that doesn’t usually watch football. But it should have been to turn them ONTO football. Has it really done that? I don’t think so. People tune in to hear DM, but not because they give a rat’s ass about the game.
And ratings-schmatings. I know it all comes down to that. People who do watch it for the game, aren’t going to stop watching just because of dingo-boy. So they draw the people who only want to listen to DM’s jokes.
They think it’s a win-win situation, but I still think it sucks.
People don’t like Dennis Miller? What the hell is going on here? I’m reading his book now, the man is freaking hilarious.
I hate hate hate Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football. He doesn’t have any competitive grasp of the game, and he’s just up there to mimic what Dan Fouts and Al Michaels say, and add his, “This blank is about as blank as a blank doing blank!!! Hahaha!!!”
I never understood why they ditched Esiason for this guy. I’d rather have serious talk about football from people who know what they’re talking about than lame jokes that make me want to put the TV on mute just so I am under the impression that he has stopped talking for once.
And being a stand up comedian does…?
I love Dennis Miller, although he is cringe-inducing, sometimes. I think he and Al Michaels are well-matched, as they’re both witty, quick, likeable, and daringly individualistic; I’ve admired Michaels ever since he covered the 1980 “Miracle on Ice”. [ducks and runs]
But I’ll take the most flat-footed joke and the most strained cultural reference of Miller’s over the sheer irritation that is [thread hijack] MNF sideline guy Eric Dickerson.
According to a poll on SportsCliche.com, the most cliche-reliant football announcer, bar none, is John Madden, followed by Dan Dierdorf. I can’t comment on the accuracy of this, since I haven’t listened to Madden in years.
Here’s the site, followed by the poll link:
http://www.sportscliche.com
http://www.sportscliche.poll.html
[hijack/]
I do believe in miracles, and if Dennis Miller doing MNF isn’t one, I don’t know what is!