Jon Gruden Right for Monday Night

You're going to love Jon Gruden on Monday Night Football.

Or you might hate him.

That's the nature of the performing business. Beauty is in the eyes and ears of the beholder. Unless you were looking at Tony Kornheiser.

Beauty was never an issue with Kornheiser, whose chair Gruden will be filling this fall. What bothered viewers was Kornheiser's sarcasm and his inability to use a telestrator or adequately discuss the hamstring pulls.

Hey, what did they expect from a sportswriter?

I thought Kornheiser was pretty good in the booth. But then, I was a big fan of Dennis Miller's work.

Sure, he knew as much about football as Bill Belichick knows about comedy. But there has always been enough chalk talk to keep the hardcore fans happy. Give me one of Miller's references over an ex-jock analyzing the two-deep zone.

"That punt was higher than Marion Barry on a fact-finding tour of Cartagena," he once said.

If you can't laugh at that, you are either a member of Barry's staff or you take football too seriously. It's supposed to be entertainment, especially on Monday night.

Enter Gruden, a.k.a. Chucky.

If you don't remember why, Google the movie "Child's Play." When Gruden was Tampa Bay's coach, he never minded all the Chucky references. That alone tells you he has more entertainment potential than Bill Parcells. And all we can talk about for now is potential.

Gruden has never even been in a booth to analyze one of his son's Pee Wee games. What made ESPN think he was ready to join Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski on MNF?



For one thing, nobody can question his football knowledge. Well, Al Davis would, as might some Tampa Bay fans who beheaded their Chucky dolls after the Bucs lost their last four games and missed the playoffs.

But Gruden won a Super Bowl, which is more than Kornheiser will ever do. So at least we'll no longer have to hear how the announcer has no street cred.

The road to TV oblivion is littered with ex-jock football experts, of course. Only a small percentage can translate their knowledge into something informative and entertaining. About all we have to go by with Gruden is his work on the NFL Network during the draft.

He knew his stuff without coming off like Mel Kiper Jr. He was also amusing without trying to be funny.

"Who would have thought Georgia and Georgia Tech would work together to rebuild the Detroit Lions?" he said of Detroit drafting ex-Bulldog Matthew Stafford to throw to ex-Yellow Jacket Calvin Johnson.

About the only other TV work Gruden has done is a few hundred post-game and post-practice interviews. He was usually quotable, often amusing and always in control. Especially considering his tongue and facial contortions were often out of control on the sidelines.

One thing I know, nobody will work harder at his job than Gruden. He was famous for setting his alarm clock for 3:17 a.m. There was no good reason it was 3:17 as opposed to 3:19 a.m. As long as he got to the office in plenty of time to start breaking down tape, or whatever coaches do at 4 a.m.

After the Bucs fired him, Gruden still got up at 3:17 a.m. He would go to the offices of the Tampa Bay Storm, the city's Arena League team. Coach Tim Marcum gave him a key, and Gruden would study tape trying to teach himself the spread offense.

Expect Gruden to be up at 3:17 tomorrow studying tape of John Madden. Both were young coaches with the Raiders. Both won Super Bowls.

That will be enough for people to wonder if we have a budding Madden on our hands. Check back 10 years, or maybe after EA Sports comes out with "Gruden NFL 19."

I'm not predicting Chucky will be the next video game tycoon/broadcasting legend. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if he likes the booth so much that he never returns to the sideline.

None of which means you're going to love Gruden. But he has the looks, the knowledge and the charisma.

If he can come up with a few Marion Barry jokes, he could be a real star.