Will He Go Long?

The move to cable -- the result of slipping ratings on the broadcast channel -- also ensures an even smaller audience for "Monday Night Football" and potentially a different one, too. ESPN viewers tend to be hard-core sports fans, more knowledgeable about the game than the largely casual audience that ABC attracted.

It would be a mistake, though, if Kornheiser gets wonked out about coverage packages and defensive-line stunts, says John Riggins, the former Redskin-turned-radio broadcaster (on Redskins owner Dan Snyder's new stations) who has known Kornheiser for years.

"It's about entertainment," Riggins said. "You can't take it too seriously. That's the beauty of Tony -- he won't make that mistake. That was Miller's problem."

Riggins sees an opportunity for Kornheiser to mix it up with his booth mates, particularly Theismann, an opinionated, sometimes abrasive analyst whom Kornheiser covered during the quarterback's playing days.

"I can only hope he gives a lot of [grief] to Theismann," Riggins said. "I hope Tony has the usual scorn that he has for everyone on this earth. They're really an odd couple. I really don't see Tony and Joe as great drinking buddies."

Theismann is a little more diplomatic about it. In a panel discussion with the nation's TV critics in Pasadena, Calif., last month, he said: "I'm really looking forward to being with Tony Kornheiser. And I say being with him because I have absolutely no preconceived notion of what it's going to look like. . . . We're going to fly by the seat of our pants a little bit. It's going to be unique. It's going to be different. It's going to be irreverent probably at times."

Added Theismann: "Tony has certainly taken me to task, as a writer. He's -- you know, he's very candid in what he says. He's very cynical as an individual, and he likes being a cynic."

Theismann points out that Kornheiser will be in a different realm on "Monday Night Football." He won't have the relatively luxurious deadlines he has as a newspaper columnist, and won't be able to tape the show, as he does with "Pardon the Interruption." Nor will he have time for extended opinionated monologues, as he did on his daily radio program, heard until recently on WTEM-AM.

"We're all going to find out where we fit in," Theismann said, "and that's, I think, part of the excitement of what I'm looking forward to. . . . I understand my role as the football guy. But how Mike holds this thing together and what Tony does, we all have to see."