ESPN Names Crew for Monday Night Football

Wednesday, February 8th 2006, 10:01 am

By: News On 6

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) _ Former quarterback Joe Theismann, Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser and Mike Tirico will be the broadcast crew for ``Monday Night Football'' next season as the long-running show shifts to ESPN from ABC.

The moves leave Al Michaels free to switch to NBC, which takes over Sunday night games next season from ESPN. John Madden, Michaels' broadcast partner for the last four seasons, agreed in June to a six-year contract with NBC.

At a news conference in July, Michaels said he would remain with ``Monday Night Football'' when it switched to ESPN. He was to be paired with Theismann, who had broadcast Sunday night games on ESPN with Mike Patrick and Paul Maguire.

Mike Breen will replace Michaels as the lead NBA play-by-play announcer on ABC/ESPN. He will be joined by former NBA coach Hubie Brown, hired in December 2004 as the analyst.

Theismann was an NFL quarterback for 12 seasons and had worked on ESPN's Sunday night games since 1988. In addition to working for the Post, Kornheiser has co-hosted ``Pardon the Interruption'' on ESPN since September 2001 with Michael Wilbon, another Post writer.

Tirico has been a ``SportsCenter'' host for ESPN and handled play-by-play of the last Orange Bowl. He has worked for ESPN and ABC since 1991.

Michele Tafoya returns for her third season as a ``Monday Night Football'' sideline reporter, and Suzy Kolber replaces Sam Ryan.