ESPN Gives Irvin The Boot...

**Ironlung** · February 18th, 2007, 11:10 AM

Michael Irvin not returning to ESPN
By Barry Horn

The Dallas Morning News

(MCT)

DALLAS - Two weeks after his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Michael Irvin's television career is on hold. The former Cowboys wide receiver has had an amicable parting with ESPN, his employer since 2003.

ESPN has chosen not to pick up the option on his contract, Irvin said Saturday. But he hardly sounded despondent in a telephone interview from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He said he is looking forward to opportunities to expand a motion picture career that kicked off in 2005 with a role in The Longest Yard.

During contract talks, ESPN was not supportive of his burgeoning movie career, Irvin said. There was no hint of any of the improprieties that sometimes have marred his years in Dallas.

"I worked hard at ESPN, and I loved my job and the people there," said Irvin, who lives in Plano, Texas. "But I want to do different things and not be stuck in a box. They had other ideas."

Among the options he might consider is tutoring candidates for NFL studio shows. Irvin said he prepped former Cowboys teammate Emmitt Smith for a recent audition with ESPN.

Smith, basking in the glory of his Dancing with the Stars success on ABC, is a candidate to replace Irvin on ESPN, which like ABC is a member of the Disney family.

Recently retired Cowboys coach Bill Parcells agreed to a deal that will return him to ESPN, but not to replace Irvin. Parcells worked at ESPN before joining the Cowboys in 2003.

Given his history of legal issues as a player and broadcaster, Irvin was quick to respond when asked if similar issues were involved in his split with ESPN. It was those issues that may have forced Irvin, a key player in three Cowboys Super Bowl championships in the 1990s, to wait until his third season of eligibility before he was elected to the Hall of Fame. That was on the eve of Super Bowl XLI. The Indianapolis Colts-Chicago Bears game was his final assignment for ESPN.

"I didn't do anything wrong," Irvin said.

ESPN spokesman Bill Hoffheimer agreed that nothing in Irvin's network past influenced the decision not to pick up the contract option. He stressed that Irvin had not recently violated any network guidelines or violated any morals clauses.

"There was an evaluation of the studio talent lineup, and a decision was made to go in a different direction," Hoffheimer said. "There is nothing here but good feelings about Michael."

Irvin joined ESPN in 2003 as an analyst for its two most popular studio shows, Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday NFL Countdown. It wasn't long before he became the lightning rod for both shows. His loud wardrobe and definitive opinions made him stand out on sets with Chris Berman, Steve Young and Tom Jackson.

Irvin championed Terrell Owens' cause throughout the wide receiver's tumultuous final season with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005. Irvin was suspended for two shows after a late November 2005 misdemeanor drug arrest in Plano.

In 2006, Irvin joked on Dan Patrick's ESPN radio show about Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo's racial heritage. It created a minor controversy, and Irvin later apologized.

Should he want to work in a studio next season, Irvin's options were limited last week. CBS completed its lineup by adding retired Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher. NBC hired retired New York Giants running back Tiki Barber to replace Sterling Sharpe.

Fox, which lost ground to CBS' pregame show last season, may be an option. The expanding NFL Network, where Smith spent a pedestrian 2005 season, could be another for Irvin.

**BALLCOACH** · February 18th, 2007, 11:23 AM

Good riddance....He made watching ESPN unbearable...

**UTVols2** · February 18th, 2007, 11:25 AM

I loved Michael Irvin, I thought he made the show interesting and he didn't care to share his opinion. I will watch whatever show he is on next year.

**CoeburnCane** · February 18th, 2007, 01:03 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I loved Michael Irvin, I thought he made the show interesting and he didn't care to share his opinion. I will watch whatever show he is on next year.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can't help but love Playmaker. If you don't like him, you don't like fun mixed in with your football.

At least he doesn't waffle one way or the other or try to say the PC thing all the time like other broadcasters on these shows do--he says what he says and if he's wrong, he sticks by it, and if he offends--he apologizes. More than what can be said for a lot of guys.

Whoever picks him up will get a ratings bump for sure.

**starbuck** · February 18th, 2007, 01:06 PM

He backed up and talked up T.O. way too much for me. That just pushed me to the side of not liking him. T.O. could do no wrong in Irvin's book [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

**CoeburnCane** · February 18th, 2007, 01:12 PM

The backup of TO was him embracing the bravado of another flamboyant WR--it's like a fraternity inside the fraternity of WR's. I knew that's what it was when he was doing it...plus, you gotta think, for TV purposes...someone had to debate the good side of TO's debauchery--Irvin was the perfect devil's advocate to defend him. I think most of it was for someone to be giving the other side of the TO story--not everyone can bomb on him and say he's wrong.

**jtw61194** · February 18th, 2007, 01:12 PM

He's a crack-smokin, pimp daddy. I kept waiting for him to yell, "Where ma money at, ho? Daddy best gets his money, hear? Go get me a Blunt and a fruity drank!" Pauses for a second, "Dem b i t c h e s must be out da mind try to play a playa, ya know?" [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

**imported_ut1** · February 18th, 2007, 02:27 PM

[ QUOTE ]
At least he doesn't waffle one way or the other or try to say the PC thing all the time like other broadcasters on these shows do--he says what he says and if he's wrong, he sticks by it, and if he offends--he apologizes. More than what can be said for a lot of guys.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree completely. I never cared much for his flamboyance, but I liked what he had to say as a commentator.