Tony Kornheiser

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Tony Kornheiser
Occupation(s)Sports Columnist
Radio host
Television host
SpouseKarril
ChildrenElizabeth and Michael
Parent(s)Ira and Estelle

Anthony Irwin Kornheiser (born July 13, 1948) is an American sportswriter and 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; and served as an analyst for ESPN's Monday Night Football since 2006. He is well known for his savage wit and sarcastic humor in print, on radio and TV.

Personal

Kornheiser was born and raised in Lynbrook, New York, on Long Island where he attended 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 Pennslyvania also attended by famous basketball coach Larry Brown.

Kornheiser is the only child of Ira and Estelle Kornheiser, both now deceased.[2] Kornheiser grew up in a Jewish household, and celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at a conservative temple. Kornheiser currently resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife Karril. They have two children: Elizabeth and Michael.

Print career

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.[3] 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 are 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[4] columns to describe the Washington Redskins' incredible Super Bowl run that year. He started the idea when the Washington Redskins trounced the Detroit Lions 45-0. He officially unveiled the first Bandwagon column when the Redskins 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 33-foot recreational vehicle decorated as the Bandwagon for a 1,200-mile journey to Minneapolis, MN.[5]

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.[6] 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.

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 appear on the 2nd page of the Post's Sports section and are much shorter than the full-length columns Kornheiser used to write for the paper. This is the first time The Washington Post posts a columnist's photo beside his column. He calls these short columns "columnettes". He usually writes three "columnettes" per week unless he has 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,[7] he writes columns called Monday Night Diary to describe his adventures on Monday Night Football. However, he has not written a column since October 5, 2006[8] because of his various TV and radio duties. His short-column space was later replaced by Dan Steinberg's D.C. Sports Bog.[9]

Kornheiser was a finalist for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

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.[10] 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.[11] Because of Kornheiser's Monday Night Football duties, the show went on hiatus after the June 28, 2007 broadcast. Until he returns after the Super Bowl, it is being hosted by David Burd with the same supporting cast and called "The Tony Kornheiser Show Starring David Burd." The show will resume after the 2007 season is completed.

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 from the bar of a restaurant in Vienna, VA owned by Pete Wysocki, a popular former Redskins LB and local hero.

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

He is also a panelist on Full Court Press hosted by George Michael on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. during the NFL off-season. He sometimes guest-hosts Redskins Report on WRC when Michael is away.

He has appeared on numerous other ESPN productions, including Sportscenter, "Whos Number One?", and multiple player's/sportsman's profiles entitled "Sportcentury".

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 travelled 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 travelling to mainly western MNF sites, doing PTI via satellite.

His first broadcast as an analyst was the preseason game between the Oakland Raiders and the Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome in Minneapolis on August 14, 2006. Towards the end of that game, Kornheiser complained that it was "way past his bedtime" and praised Vikings coach Brad Childress for electing not to go for a game-tying field goal so he could get home faster (and because no Vikings players would get hurt that way.)

After that broadcast, Paul Farhi of The Washington Post wrote a harsh review on Kornheiser the next day.[12] The review prompted Kornheiser to say that Farhi was a "two-bit weasel slug" and his own newspaper had back-stabbed him during an interview on The Dan Patrick Show on August 15, 2006. His response generated more criticism from The Washington Post[13] and other media outlets.

The New York Times's David Carr detailed a litany of Kornheiser "kiss up/kick down" machinations In Washington.[14]

In the same interview with Dan Patrick, Kornheiser lashed out against Mike and Mike in the Morning's Mike Golic. He took offense at Golic's saying that Kornheiser's appearance on Monday Night Football was "fine". Kornheiser said, "I just want to wring Golic's neck and hang him up over the back of a shower rod like a duck."[14]

Kornheiser has been invited back 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."[15]

His first regular season broadcast was the game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Washington Redskins at FedExField in Landover, Maryland on September 11, 2006.

Kornheiser reportedly earns $1.8 million for being a Monday Night Football announcer and $900,000 for co-hosting PTI.[16]. He also said on a recent episode of PTI that he wants Co-Host Michael Wilbon "to be up in the booth" with him.

Entertainment

The 2004-2005 sitcom Listen Up, which aired on CBS, was based on Kornheiser's life. It featured Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) 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.

Miscellaneous

On August 15, 2006 Kornheiser revealed on The Dan Patrick Show that he had skin cancer and had received treatment. [17]

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

Kornheiser and his wife have two children. Elizabeth graduated from Cornell University and Michael attends the University of Pennsylvania and plays on the golf team.

In April 2007, Peter Yarrow (The "Peter" of "Peter, Paul, and Mary" fame) appeared on Kornheiser's Washington radio show to apologize for accidentally breaking-in to Kornheiser's house in March 2007. Yarrow indicated he was tired after an engagement in, and long flight from, Israel. After flying-in to Washington, he found himself at the right house number, but wrong street. He entered the front door of Kornheiser's house and encountered Karril Kornheiser, who was startled. He tried to mollify her by saying, "Don't be frightened! I'm Peter Yarrow, the Peter of Peter, Paul, and Mary -- you know, 'Puff the Magic Dragon'!"

Kornheiser has mentioned several times that he doesn't frequently make use of the Internet or computers, and that he has never viewed his own Wikipedia entry.

Bibliography

  • 1983 - "The Baby Chase". Macmillan. 212 Pages. ISBN 0-689-11354-4
  • 1995 - Pumping Irony: Working Out the Angst of a Lifetime. DIANE Publishing Company. ISBN 0-7881-6773-1.
  • 1997 - Bald as I Wanna Be. Villard. 304 pages. ISBN 0-375-50037-5.
  • 2003 - I’m Back for More Cash: a Tony Kornheiser collection (Because You Can’t Take Two Hundred Newspapers into the Bathroom). Villard. 400 pages. ISBN 0-8129-6853-0.

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. ^ "Tony Kornheiser bio". Washington Post Radio. Retrieved 2007-03-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Tony Kornheiser (1997). "Tony Kornheiser's bandwagon". The Washington Post. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ George Solomon (1992-01-19). "Are we there yet? Bandwagon rolls out on 1,150-mile journey". The Washington Post. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ 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)
  7. ^ 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)
  8. ^ Tony Kornheiser (2006-10-05). "He hits the five-hole, and a hole-in-one". The Washington Post. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Dan Steinberg. "D.C. Sports Bog". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-03-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "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)
  11. ^ "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)
  12. ^ 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)
  13. ^ 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)
  14. ^ a b David Carr (2006-08-21), Pig skin To thin skin to skin alive, The New York Times.
  15. ^ 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)
  16. ^ 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)
  17. ^ John Moredich (2006-08-16). "Kornheiser's debut ripped by his own newspaper". Tucson Citizen. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

External links

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