These days, Greg Olsen is getting the kind of headlines and high praise that Tony Romo used to get not too long ago.
CBS’s former golden boy broadcaster has fallen hard in recent weeks as audiences have soured on his style, overexuberance, strange noises, and weird turns of phrase. Criticism of Romo has even come from big media names and some are openly wondering if the network is regretting its massive contract with the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback.
They’re certainly concerned, at least. That’s according to The NY Post’s Andrew Marchand, who said that CBS executives attempted an “intervention” with Romo during the last offseason, though it hasn’t appeared to have accomplished much.
“Tony Romo needs to study more,” Marchand said on this week’s episode of The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast. “He needs to be better prepared. As you move away from the sidelines, you need to do more work. I know CBS is aware of this. They tried an intervention last offseason. They knew, they anticipated this. That’s a credit to them, the people in charge there. But it has not gotten better.”
It would be fascinating to learn what that intervention entailed and whether or not CBS executives were keeping tabs on Romo this NFL season, noting all of the unappreciated things he continued to do.
Marchand also implied that Romo’s booth partner, Jim Nantz, isn’t exactly going to get his hands dirty trying to help his younger counterpart.
CLIP: Jim Nantz is about Jim Nantz ..
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) February 1, 2023
“Nantz is about Nantz,” said Marchand. “He’s been like that for a long time. You see that in the postgame when he does the broadcast and then he’s going down and doing the podium. I don’t understand why Tracy Wolfson or someone else can’t do that…but it’s Nantz all the time.
“This was the narrative out of CBS when Romo was getting all of the publicity: you heard from Nantz’s side and people from CBS that Nantz was the one creating Romo. So, the issue now is, why isn’t Nantz helping Romo get to this next level?”
For his part, Romo seems to be taking all of the criticism and concern in stride. In a recent interview with the NY Post, he said that his style is a continual “trial and error” process.
“I just think it’s enjoyable to try and be the best you can be, and the only way to do that is sometimes to trial and error, and staying inside the umbrella of what you think that the viewer wants to help them enjoy the show,” Romo told the Post. “You don’t always get it right, but I do think more often than not, just the people that come up to you all the time. I mean, it’s quadruple from my first 2-3 years, of how many people come up to me on the street and want to talk about it and how they loved it and stuff. So it’s really rewarding for that.”
[The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, Barrett Sports Media]
