Watching the announcing teams for Monday Night Football has been a little like watching a train wreck. I cannot look. Yet I cannot look away. That's why I was pleasantly surprised that the team from last night's first preseason broadcast did so well.

Like most people, I assumed that Tony Kornheiser would be the guy to watch. And to some extent he was. Kornheiser got involved in the broadcast in what I thought was an interesting way. He became the official in charge of stirring up trouble. In other words, he started little debates here and there in the broadcast making in effect short little Pardon the Interruption segments. It was entertaining. But something else even more interesting emerged as I watched. You can't do a PTI segment unless you have someone to debate with. This job fell to Joe Theismann. The problem is that Theismann already has a job.

Unlike many people, I like Theismann. He gives straight forward, occasionally insightful color commentary on the game. He's a fairly serious, no nonsense observer and I like that. The problem for him is that he's being asked to do more than that. Not only does he have to watch the game carefully and speak with authority on the issues surrounding the play on the field, he's now being asked to, at the drop of a hat, turn into a witty PTI foil for Kornheiser. Then he's being asked to switch back immediately to the game, then back to Kornheiser and so on. That kind of mental shifting of gears has got to be extremely difficult. Not only that, but the two jobs may to some extent conflict, as Theismann is asked to clown around with Kornheiser while simultaneously being taken seriously as an analyst.

The MNF game within the game this season might be more interesting than usual. But in contrast to expectations, it will be the performance of Joe Theismann, not Tony Kornheiser, that will make or break the broadcast. Here''s hoping it works. Given the overall quality of the games, themselves, in recent years, there won't be muich else keeping me awake on Monday nights if it doesn't.

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