With Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Lisa Salters and Producer Jay Rothman
Today, ESPN Monday Night Football play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico, analyst Jon Gruden and sideline reporter Lisa Salters participated in a media conference call to discuss the 2012 NFL season. They were joined by MNF producer Jay Rothman. A full audio replay is available at ESPN MediaZone. The transcript is as follows:
MIKE TIRICO: Good morning, everybody. Love getting back with our team. It’s tremendous to have Lisa with us, worked with Lisa at the NBA over the years. She’s a great friend, terrific at what she does and we are excited to have her. Working with Jon is a treat and will continue to be such. Our team is very cognizant of the history of Monday Night Football. There’s nothing that’s had a run like this on the history of American sports television and it has been a great six‑year experience so far. Look forward to many more with Jon, Jay, our producer, and all of the talented folks.
Our schedule is much better and I think the games will be better, including the Bears. The Bears are a team I think will have a great year and we see them three times, all against marquee opponents. The Texans, my choice in the AFC, we see them a couple of times against the Jets and Patriots. I’m excited about the schedule, people we are with and look forward to kicking it off here in a week and a half.
JON GRUDEN: Very excited about the upcoming season and doubly excited about the team I’m on with Mike and Lisa, Chip Dean, Jay Rothman and the team of experts, it’s truly the best and it’s a lot of fun and hopefully we can bring a lot of quality, hard‑fought type football games to our fans. We are really excited about it.
LISA SALTERS: Obviously I am just honored, humbled, thrilled to be a part of the team. Like Mike said, I’ve worked with Mike for a few years now, so I feel really comfortable with him and he’s always been a great friend and a great leader, whether it be the NBA or the NFL.
Jon Gruden, the passion that he brings, every day, not just on game day, you learn so much. He’s like Hubie Brown, except for the NFL. Just so smart and so talented. It’s a great team with Chip and Jay and all the other folks behind the scenes. It’s a great team and just in the couple of weeks that we have been doing the preseason, I’ve just been honored to be a part of it and to see what a family it really is. Nobody is above anybody else and everybody helps each other out. I think it’s going to be a great season and I’m looking forward to it.
To read the complete transcript of ESPN’s Monday Night Football Aug. 30 conference call, click here.