As CBS reportedly scrambles to figure out what’s causing Tony Romo’s regression as an analyst, Colin Cowherd already has the answer.
Romo loves golf, he plays a lot and is quite good at it for an amateur. But according to Cowherd, the more Romo plays golf, the worse he gets at being an NFL analyst.
“I always had this theory, and I used this for years,” Cowherd said on his podcast for The Volume. “When I would interview people and I was gonna hire them, if I had lunch or coffee with them, I always asked if they loved golf. ‘Oh I love golf, do you love golf?’ And if they said yes, I wouldn’t hire them.
“Cause I always had this theory that as guys age, many of them get addicted to golf,” Cowherd explained. “They’re on PGATour.com, they’re putting in the backyard, they’re thinking about it at work, they’re scheduling a trip to Scotland and they lose sight of their other job. Romo wants to be on the Tour.”
Not long ago, Romo was on the verge of cementing himself as the best NFL analyst on television. He brought infectious enthusiasm to the booth. He was lauded for his groundbreaking ability to predict plays before they happened. But in recent years, and this season especially, Romo’s enthusiasm has become infectiously annoying as he sounds more like Captain Obvious than a prophet in the booth.
As audiences have soured on Romo, CBS reportedly had conversations with him in an attempt to right the ship. But maybe they should have just sought Cowherd out as a consultant.
“I’ve always felt like Tony Romo is one of those guys, and we all have somebody in our social circle like this, they got the golf bug. He’s had it for 15 years,” Cowherd said. “Tony wants to be on the PGA Tour, but he likes the paycheck at CBS. And I don’t think he does a bad job, I think he’s fine. I think, initially Romo was overvalued with predicting plays.”
Romo has had the golf bug for 15 years. If that’s the reason for his demise, why was he a massively successful analyst as recently as three years ago when he earned a $180 million contract from CBS?
Cowherd made a much better point on Romo earlier in the podcast. He noted retired players are more familiar with teams and coaches in their first couple of years out of the league. But Cowherd pivoted the take to fault golf for Romo’s regression in the booth.
Romo was more interesting during his first few years in the booth. His enthusiasm was paired with the ability to inform the audience. Maybe he doesn’t have the same interesting insight and information that he did when he was more tied in with the league. Maybe the job requires more digging and preparation. Especially now that some of Romo’s previous connections have similarly retired in the last six years. But golf? Cowherd’s preaching a hiring bias because of golf? Come on now.
