The New Yorker Profiled ESPN's Jon Gruden

I highly recommend reading this profile of the Monday Night Football analyst by Kelefa Sanneh. Did you know Gruden wakes up at 3:17 am every morning?

Outside of the above quote, this made me chuckle:

"Ensconced in his lair in Tampa, far from the “Monday Night Football” cameras, Gruden can sound shockingly negative. He is forever judging players who don’t or can’t excel—“slapdicks,” he calls them, or, more familiarly, “slappies.”"

I also enjoyed Ron Jaworski’s hard sell on the Chiefs leading up to and during the Patriots game.

"Later that day, as Jaworski was making a cup of coffee in the ESPN bus, he tried the line again. “Call me crazy, but I’m excited about Tyler Palko,” he said. He exhaled. “I’ve got to sell this,” he said to himself."

The author subtly drew some parallels between John Madden and Jon Gruden, which led me to believe Gruden isn’t going back to coaching anytime soon. I was mildly surprised to see no mention of Tony Kornheiser in this profile, since Gruden essentially replaced him.

Monday Night Lights: How Jon Gruden Became America’s Football Coach [New Yorker]