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Tony Kornheiser

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Tony Kornheiser
Born (1948-07-13) July 13, 1948 (age 76)
Template:City-state
Occupation(s)Sports columnist
Radio host
Television host
Color commentator
SpouseKarril
ChildrenElizabeth and Michael
Parent(s)Ira and Estelle

Anthony Irwin Kornheiser (born July 13, 1948) is an American sportswriter and former columnist for The Washington Post, as well as a radio and television talk show host. Kornheiser has hosted The Tony Kornheiser Show on radio in various forms since 1992, co-hosted Pardon the Interruption on ESPN since 2001 with Michael Wilbon, and served as an analyst for ESPN's Monday Night Football from 2006-2008.

Personal

Kornheiser was born and raised in Lynbrook, New York, on Long Island where he attended George W. Hewlett High School.[1] After graduation he enrolled in Harpur College, now Binghamton University, where he began his journalism career and graduated with a degree in English in 1970. During the summers of his youth, he attended Camp Keeyumah, a summer camp in Pennsylvania. His counselor there was basketball coach Larry Brown.

Kornheiser is the only child of Ira and Estelle Kornheiser.[2] Kornheiser grew up in a Jewish household, and celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at a Conservative synagogue. Kornheiser currently resides in Washington, D.C. and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware with his wife Karril.[3][4] They have two children, Michael and Elizabeth.

On August 15, 2006, Kornheiser revealed on The Dan Patrick Show that he had skin cancer and had received treatment.[5]

Politically, Kornheiser describes himself as a "blue state guy." He and Wilbon are good friends with Democratic political advisor James Carville, who has appeared several times on PTI.

Kornheiser began his career in New York City, where he wrote for Newsday between 1970 and 1976, The New York Times between 1976 and 1979, and also worked as a teacher. Kornheiser joined The Washington Post in 1979 as a general assignment reporter in Style and Sports.[6] He became a full-time sports columnist in 1984. He also wrote columns for the Post's Style Section between November 12, 1989, and September 30, 2001.

His columns were usually sarcastic with touches of humor. The most distinct style of his columns is that he often uses his alter ego in italics to question his points of views for self-deprecation, like "Excuse me, Tony..."

In 1991, Kornheiser created a string of now-famous Bandwagon columns to describe the Washington Redskins' Super Bowl run that year.[7] He started the idea when the Redskins trounced the Detroit Lions 45-0. He officially unveiled the first Bandwagon column when the team were 4-0. From then on, the Bandwagon column appeared weekly. When the Redskins advanced to Super Bowl XXVI, Kornheiser and his Post colleagues Jeanne McManus and Norman Chad rode a thirty-three-foot recreational vehicle decorated as the Bandwagon for a 1,200-mile journey to Minneapolis, Minnesota.[8]

In the 1990s, Kornheiser usually wrote three columns per week, which were a Tuesday column and a Thursday column in the Sports Section and a Sunday column in the Style Section. Because of his work on both radio and Pardon the Interruption, he stopped writing Style Section columns and only wrote one column a week. His last Style Section column was published on September 30, 2001.[9] His three books, Pumping Irony, Bald as I Wanna Be and I'm Back for More Cash, are the compilations of his Style Section columns.

Kornheiser was a finalist for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.[10]

He also started working for ESPN in 1997 and kept his column at the Post. As part of his ESPN Radio contract, Kornheiser wrote columns called Parting Shots for ESPN The Magazine between 1998 and 2000.

In 2005, Kornheiser started to write short columns called A Few Choice Words with his photo in the Post's Sports Section. These short, sports-related columns appeared on the second page of the Post's Sports section and were much shorter than the full-length columns Kornheiser used to write for the paper. This was the first time that the Post displayed a columnist's photo beside his column. He called these short columns "columnettes." He usually wrote three "columnettes" per week unless he had other duties. He did not write columns between April 26, 2006, and August 7, 2006, to prepare as an analyst of ESPN's Monday Night Football.

Starting August 8, 2006, he wrote columns called Monday Night Diary to describe his adventures on Monday Night Football.[11] His short-column space was later replaced by Dan Steinberg's D.C. Sports Bog.[12]

On May 14, 2008, it was announced that Kornheiser had accepted a buyout from the Post. "I love the paper. They were great to me every day that I was there," he told Reuters. "But I don't do much for the paper anymore." Kornheiser had not written a regular column for the paper's print edition since 2006.[13] However, Wilbon and Tony continue to tape a "Talking Points" mini online TV feature for the Washington Post as of February 2009.

Radio career

Main article: The Tony Kornheiser Show

He hosted The Tony Kornheiser Show first locally on WTEM, better known as Sports Talk 980, in Washington, D.C. between May 25, 1992, and November 14, 1997. The show was then syndicated by ESPN radio between January 5, 1998, and March 26, 2004. He was back on WTEM locally between November 10, 2004, and April 28, 2006. His show was once carried by XM Satellite Radio between February 28, 2005, and April 28, 2006.

After completing the 2006 season on ESPN's Monday Night Football, Kornheiser signed with WTWP, Washington Post Radio, to relaunch his radio show on February 20, 2007.[14] The show aired live from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and was then replayed from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. XM Radio carried his show on a thirty-minute delay, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., beginning March 5, 2007, on XM Sports Nation, Channel 144.[15] Kornheiser went on hiatus from the show following the June 28, 2007, broadcast because of his Monday Night Football duties. The show was hosted by David Burd and included the same supporting cast. The show was called The Tony Kornheiser Show Starring David Burd during the hiatus. Kornheiser returned to the show as the full-time host from January 21, 2008, to June 27, 2008. The show aired live from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and was replayed from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m on WWWT, and on XM Sports Nation, XM channel 144 from 8:15 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.[16] He recently announced that he will not be back on the radio until he is done with Monday Night Football.[17]

Television career

He appeared on a local weekly Washington Redskins TV show during the NFL football season on Washington's Channel 50 in the early 1980s with Pete Wysocki, a popular former Redskins LB and local hero, which was televised from a local restaurant/bar in Washington, D.C. called "Champions".

He appeared on ESPN's The Sports Reporters beginning in 1988. He sometimes guest-hosted the program when the then-host of the show, the late Dick Schaap, was away.

He was also a panelist on Full Court Press hosted by George Michael on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. during the NFL off-season until that show was canceled in December 2008 due to budget cuts.[18] He sometimes guest-hosted Redskins Report on WRC when Michael was away.

He has appeared on numerous other ESPN productions, including SportsCenter, Who's Number One?, and multiple player's/sportsman's profiles entitled SportsCentury.

Pardon the Interruption

Main article: Pardon the Interruption

His lively segments with colleague Michael Wilbon on the radio and on Full Court Press, which mirrored their actual discussions in the press room of The Washington Post, sparked the idea for Pardon the Interruption well before the end of his run at ESPN Radio. As of August 2006, Pardon the Interruption is the highest rated sports talk show on ESPN.

Monday Night Football

Main article: Monday Night Football

When Monday Night Football moved from ABC to ESPN, Kornheiser received and accepted an offer to be a color analyst on Monday Night Football in early 2006. He was originally passed over in favor of Sunday Night Football commentator Joe Theismann; however, when play-by-play man Al Michaels left ABC/ESPN, Kornheiser was brought in alongside Theismann and new play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico.

Unlike Wilbon, Kornheiser does most episodes of PTI in-studio due to his self-admitted fear of flying. Prior to joining MNF, his last trips outside of the studio were to cover Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans and to attend the NFL owners meetings in Orlando in 2006; Kornheiser both times traveled via train, though returned from the Orlando trip via airplane. On the April 6, 2006, edition of PTI, he expressed his dismay at the amount of travel required for MNF. Though he has mentioned on his radio program that he is taking steps to overcome his aviophobia, he in fact spent a five-week period on the road traveling to mainly western MNF sites, doing PTI via satellite.

Kornheiser returned for a second season of Monday Night Football. On January 9, 2007, Kornheiser told Newsday, "If they would like to have me back, my inclination is that I would like to do it again."[19]

Kornheiser reportedly earned $1.8 million for being a Monday Night Football announcer and $900,000 for co-hosting PTI.[20].

On May 18, 2009 ESPN announced that Kornheiser would be leaving Monday Night Football due to fear of flying. Former Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden replaced Kornheiser in the MNF booth.[21]

Entertainment

The 2004–2005 sitcom Listen Up!, which aired on CBS, was loosely based on Kornheiser's life. It featured Jason Alexander as Tony Kleinman, and the sitcom's material mostly came from Kornheiser's columns (collected in I'm Back for More Cash) that he contributed to the "Style" section of the Washington Post; the columns took a humorous view of his family life.

Criticism

While earning a name as a critic of many people and organizations, he is not averse to criticism himself.[22] Stephen Rodrick wrote for Slate that Kornheiser was allowed by ESPN to argue aimlessly on television and that his Washington Post column was being used to plug side projects rather than gather news from cited sources.[23] Kornheiser called on Slate, then owned by the Post, to fire Rodrick.[24]

After Kornheiser's first game on Monday Night Football, Paul Farhi wrote in The Washington Post that Kornheiser had emphasized the obvious, played third fiddle, and was reminiscent of Dennis Miller "in a bad way."[25] Kornheiser responded during an interview on The Dan Patrick Show on August 15, 2006, saying that Farhi was a "two-bit weasel slug" and his own newspaper had back-stabbed him. His response generated more criticism from The Washington Post[26] and other media outlets. Other criticism has come from Toronto Argonauts play-by-play commentator Mike Hogan, who said, "The thing that really bothers me is that Kornheiser doesn't seem to know his place. If you're there for comic relief, that's one thing. But for God's sake, leave the football analysis to guys who actually played the game." Former NFL offensive lineman Mike Schad also criticized Kornheiser, saying that "when people watch a game, they want to learn something. I don't need a guy who's sarcastic or trying to be funny. I love listening to Ron Jaworski on Monday Nights. He played the game and has lots of good insight and Kornheiser just gets in his way."[27]

Mike Golic, an ESPN colleague of Kornheiser's, who had expressed skepticism regarding his prospects as an on-air analyst because he was never an athlete,[28] said that his performance on MNF was "fine." Kornheiser's response was, "I just want to wring Golic's neck and hang him up over the back of a shower rod like a duck."[29]

During a Monday Night Football telecast on September 15, 2008, Kornheiser made a comment about a clip of the ESPN Deportes crew's call of a Felix Jones touchdown, saying, “I took high-school Spanish, and that either means ‘nobody is going to touch him’ or ‘could you pick up my dry cleaning in the morning.’” Later in the broadcast, Kornheiser apologized on-air for the remark.[30]

Books

  • Kornheiser, Tony (1983). The Baby Chase. New York: Atheneum. pp. 212 pages. ISBN 0-689-11354-4.
  • Kornheiser, Tony (1995). Pumping Irony: Working Out the Angst of a Lifetime. New York: Times Books. ISBN 0-812-92474-6.
  • Kornheiser, Tony (1997). Bald as I Wanna Be. New York: Villard. pp. 304 pages. ISBN 0-375-50037-5.
  • Kornheiser, Tony (2002). I’m Back for More Cash: a Tony Kornheiser collection (Because You Can’t Take Two Hundred Newspapers into the Bathroom). New York: Villard. pp. 379 pages. ISBN 0-375-50754-X.

References and notes

  1. ^ Noah Borenstein (2002-08-09). "Of fatherhood and Tiger Woods, ESPN's Tony Kornheiser says viewers dig his real-guy image". The Forward. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Neil Best (2006-06-25), Are you ready for some football?, Kornheiser will see whether his style plays well on MNF. Newsday
  3. ^ Price, Betsy (2009-03-16), Big league chatmeisters, The News Journal, retrieved 2009-05-11 {{citation}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Kornheiser's wife's name is sometimes incorrectly given as "Carol"
  5. ^ John Moredich (2006-08-16). "Kornheiser's debut ripped by his own newspaper". Tucson Citizen. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ "Tony Kornheiser bio". Washington Post Radio. Retrieved 2007-03-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Tony Kornheiser (1997). "Tony Kornheiser's bandwagon". The Washington Post. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ George Solomon (1992-01-19). "Are we there yet? Bandwagon rolls out on 1,150-mile journey". The Washington Post. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Tony Kornheiser (2001-09-30). "The long, long, long, long goodbye". The Washington Post. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "1997 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary". The Pulitzer Board. Retrieved 2007-07-19. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ Tony Kornheiser (2006-08-08). "'Monday Night Football': my good snooze spoiled". The Washington Post. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Dan Steinberg. "D.C. Sports Bog". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-03-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ MacMillan, Robert (2008-05-14), Broder, Kornheiser take Washington Post buyout, Reuters, retrieved 2008-05-15 {{citation}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ "Kornheiser Comes to Washington Post Radio". WTOP Radio. 2007-01-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ "Tony Kornheiser to Air Nationwide on XM Satellite Radio". XM Radio. 2007-02-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ "Tony Kornheiser Returns to XM Satellite Radio". CNN Money.com. 2008-01-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ See "On The DL with Dany Levy, 100th episode podcast
  18. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122901353.html
  19. ^ Neil Best (2007-01-10). "Kornheiser back on Monday Night Football". Newsday. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ Emmett Meara (2006-02-16). "Sports radio wiseguy Kornheiser may bail on XM". Bangor Daily News. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ "Gruden in, Kornheiser out on MNF". SI.com. 2009-05-18.
  22. ^ David Carr (2006-08-21). "Pigskin to Thin Skin to Skin Alive". New York Times. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ Stephen Rodrick (2005-01-25). "Unpardonable Interruptions: How television killed the newspaper sports column". Slate. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ Felix Gillette (2006-08-16). "Post's Farhi Scores Clean Tackle - on a Teammate". '"Columbia Journalism Review. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  25. ^ Paul Farhi (2006-08-15). "Kornheiser, not yet in game shape on 'MNF'". The Washington Post. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. ^ Deborah Howell (2006-08-20). "Unsportsmanlike conduct". The Washington Post. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ Toth, Mike (2008-09-19). "Canning Kornheiser". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
  28. ^ Jay Posner (2006-02-09). "Al Michaels opts out of MNF". San Diego Union-Tribune. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  29. ^ Elizabeth Newman (2006-08-17). "Pardon this interruption (cont.)". ESPN. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  30. ^ Mike Florio (2008-09-16). "KORNHEISER MAKES ON-AIR APOLOGY". Pro Football Talk. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

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