Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo joined CBS Sports to become an announcer for this football season, and just like football players need preseason games to get ready for the regular season, so do new announcers.
So while Romo isn’t calling Thursday night’s Cowboys-Cardinals preseason game for TV, he is doing a practice run with legendary announcer Jim Nantz … from a deer stand.
Most of the time, there would be a better solution for a backup announcer than a deer stand, but this is the Hall of Fame Game at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio, which is very much not an NFL-grade stadium. With nowhere for this practice team to work, CBS had to come up with a makeshift solution.
There’s good news for Romo, though, as even if this goes poorly, he can rest easy knowing he’ll never have a worse vantage point, or worse announcing conditions, than this.
How many more cops do they need around there?
Well this worked out perfectly for Nantz. He would have been in town anyway to call the Bridgestone Invitational for CBS. He usually goes to the HOF game if it doesn’t conflict with the golf coverage (and the stadium being 15 minutes from Firestone).
BTW people have to remember that this is A HIGH SCHOOL STADIUM owned by the Canton City School District. The school district makes a pretty good chunk of money from the NFL each year, and Saints owner Tom Benson just sunk a ton of money into the remodel.
I like Romo as a player and a person but I’ll be shocked if this lives up to #1 team billing. Romo earned quite a bit of money during his career and if he is unable to do the job he will leave on his own accord. CBS won’t have to force him out. Jerry Jones will offer Tony some executive position and the rest of time Tony will be out golfing on the Pro-Am circuit.
Please, Drew. A cadaver would have been an upgrade over Phil Simms and he will do a great job. He is a nice guy and a good character player who handled being backup to Dak Prescott with class last year and is a team player. He will be a good commentator and Nantz even seems more energetic with Simms not there farting in the booth. Stop the hating on Romo. I, for one, look forward to hearing him call games with Nantz this fall.