I know you seen his ads T.

"I don't know about best football writer of our time. I'm partial to Len Pasquarelli."

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?

Nah I like Pasquarelli, King too though I could do without the coffee/travel notes/Mary Beth King references. For my money, Paul Zimmerman is in a class by himself.

Nobody has better stories, especially if you're a football historian, and he isn't an outright asskissing fanboy like most of these guys seem to be now.

Anybody who has the time and interest should dig into the SI Archives and read some of his 70's & 80's work. Same terrific writing and insight.

To me anyway, the NFL wouldn't be the same without him.

and: he called the giants over the pats last year!

Good wishes to Dr. Z! For someone who lives by the word, there is nothing more awful than being trapped inside a body that can't communicate coherently. (Way off topic, but check out some of the studies on aphasia, stroke-induced or otherwise. Really fascinating.)

But it does a great job explaining technical football stuff to people who love watching football, never played it, and would like to know a little more than the usual Kornheiser/Theismann gems. (At the end of the day you have to outscore your opponent to win? Really?)

Hurry up and decide whether you're a nerd or a football fan! The two are mutually exclusive, damnit, or haven't you seen every college movie ever made?

Hope the guy gets better soon, in all seriousness.

As obnoxious as Theismann can be, let's please not put the man on Tony Kornheiser's level. Theisman played the game for a long time. Tony Kornheiser is terrible. I would feel pretty confident saying that 75% of the people that comment on TNC's football threads knows as much, if not more than Tony Kornheiser. The man simply does not know sports. He knows storylines, big programs, and historical franchises. He's terrible.

I watched PAPER LION with Alan Alda a few months ago (it was on Turner Movie Classics, best movie station ever) - and it is easily the best football movie I've ever seen. Certainly the one that best reminded me of what it was like to be on a team, and to be doing double sessions in the dog days of summer (I only played high school, but it all rings true).

And it should ring true, because they used Real Football Players! The actual Detroit Lions! And Alex Karras was so good he became an actor and got to be Webster's dad! (Mr. Papadakis? He was awesome!) And of course Alan Alda is at his best.

If you like football, rent PAPER LION, about a sports writer who plays quarterback for the Detroit Lions. Not only is it a fantastic movie about a football sports writer, it's also a true story.

As to people bagging on Tony Kornheiser, that's crazy. The dude is a national treasure. A fantastic sports commentator.

But I guess if you hate Stevie Nicks and hate Tony Kornheiser, you're just not my kind of critic. It's like you hate people with personality. Those two IMO are above reproach.

As was George Plimpton, RIP.

As far as Stevie Nicks, well, I suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree. But if we were just going off personalities, I would definitely dislike her even more. If personalities are a deciding factor for you, and you really like Stevie Nicks, then you must love back-stabbing whores.

Okay, that's proabably a bit harsh.

I bet Tony Kornheiser is a HUGE Stevie Nicks fan.

As far as Kornheiser goes, he may not be the best football commentator but I got to say that he did a fine job tonight interviewing Plaxico Burress' agent. By the time the interview with Drew Rosenhaus concluded I started to wonder why he even bothered to appear on television as Kornheiser, with calm and respect, sliced him open. Frankly, that interview was better than many of the ones done on political candidates during the election season and showed why Kornheiser is actually a good addition to MNF.

No, no, no, no... That interview could be the the gold standard for sports interviews and it wouldn't come anywhere close to making up for dozens of hours of inane commentary during gametime. The single worst thing about MNF right now is having to listen to Kornheiser's blather if you want to hear the good game analysis coming from Jaws. If they'd just ditch Kornheiser, let Tirico call the game, and have Jaws breaking down the football it would be the best booth team since Cosell left. If they feel like you have to have someone babbling for color they could at least just replace him with Suzy Kolber since she's already on the team and far, far less annoying.

You might also add Rick "The Goose" Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News to that list, even moreso than Pasquarelli and King. Seriously. He's one of the most respected NFL writers in the biz.

For someone who knows football as well as he does, his picking record is quite suspect.

i never hold poor predictions against a sportswriter; i do hold poor analysis against a sportswriter.

Dr. Z has been wrong on many predictions over the years, but when it comes to analysis, he's as good as it gets.