Jim Rome To Join CBS

Romey's eternal Tool Move.

Sharpton's Tawana Brawley fantasy is its political equivalent.

Both huge, phony, look-at-me moves. Worked for 'em, too.

 

That is HUGE

 

Phe-NOM-inal!

 

For some reason, the read like Bill Pullman's voice in my head.

 

Not bad, but it needs more awkward pauses and paper shuffling.

 

I've never really understood the vitriol towards Jim Rome. Sure, the Jim Everett incident was very unprofessional, no one is going to deny that. But this guy crafted a style all his own and became one of the biggest sports talk show hosts of the last 25 years as a result. Has the act gone stale? Maybe. But he's the best interviewer in sports talk, he still has his moments and the dude has been doing it HIS way in a very tough industry for almost 30 years. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I admire what the guy has done.

 

I interviewed him for a magazine article back in 1997 or so. Could not have been nicer and could not have been more different than he is on the air.

 

Sorta good to see this. Rome gets on my nerves a lot, but he also delivers good content. And I didn't know until last week that he rakes it for $30 million a year now. Very impressive that he made it all work his way for so long.

Wouldn't mind a re-invention at this point, though. Those "Clone" commands bug me.

 

Don't dislike his act, on balance. But the Everett thing was bush, classless, and weak, and will remain so.

 

This was how he explained the Everett thing to me when I did the magazine story on him.

Rome told me that his ESPN producer told Everett that he had been referring to him as "Chrissy" on his radio show and that he would be doing it during the interview. Rome said that Everett told his producer that he was fine with that, or he didn't mind and basically had a "whatever" attitude about it. He also told me that Everett smiled and winked at him after he went after him. I did not see this on the tape that I saw, but you can't see everything.

When I talked to Everett for the story he said, "Is that what he told you? Do you believe that?" He did tell me that he was aware that Rome had called him "Chrissy" before, but somewhat disputed that he had told anyone that it didn't bother him.

I asked him if Rome was lying about his version of the events and he said, "He may remember it that way. I'm not calling him a liar."

 

I never watch the pregame shows, but I heard that each of the NFL Today guys (Boomer, Marino, Cowher) were asking football questions of Rome when he was introduced last sunday. That must have been some phenomenal tv.