ESPN takes on AFL coverage differently

FORT WORTH, Texas – ESPN is taking seriously its new contract to telecast Arena Football League games through 2011.

So why the light-hearted approach?

The 24/7, all-sports network conglomerate has picked Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, of the popular Mike & Mike in the Morning ESPN radio show and ESPN2 simulcast, to be its No. 1 broadcast team of AFL games this season.

“Generally, I’ve been carrying a 320-pound man for four hours a day, everyday for eight years,” Greenberg said of Golic. “My shoulders are tired.”

If Greenberg can handle the task of play-by-play (which he has never done,), this thing should fly.

Sports radio’s “Odd Couple” in the TV booth for the top AFL game of week is “Brilliant!” – except that ad campaign has been taken.

Greeny and Golic are notorious needlers of each other’s opinions and quirks, of which they have plenty.

ESPN’s No. 2 AFL broadcast team – Ron Jaworski and Merril Hoge – have no previous play-by-play experience, either. But like Jaws, Greenberg considers “learning the mechanics on the run” just a professional challenge.

“If I don’t feel good about it,” Greeny said, “I’ll rip myself in the second half.”

The Arena League has famous owners – Jon Bon Jovi, John Elway, Tim McGraw and Mike Ditka among them – and a board-banging, high-scoring, 21-year-old brand of football it sells as unique.

The AFL hasn’t tried to be the NFL. Smart move.

Likewise, Greenberg and Golic won’t try to be Buck and Aikman, Nantz and Simms, or even Michaels and Madden (although Golic can be Madden-esque with his soap-box style rants).

Here’s a sampling:

Greeny: “There are definitely players in the NFL that could not play in the Arena Football League.”

Golic: “Players go both ways. Obviously, players stop doing that in high school.”

Greeny: “We live in a video-game generation. This really looks like a video game. … The pace of the action, the size of the field … and the collisions are unbelievable.”

Golic: “We live in a microwave society. We want our action and we want it now. Arena football gives ‘em that. Fans will learn they can’t go to the fridge a lot.”

It starts Sunday with the Dallas Desperados at New York Dragons, 9:30 a.m. kickoff, ESPN on ABC.

Said senior executive Jay Rothman: “Mike and Mike have unbelievable chemistry. They’re a fun listen. We weren’t looking for the traditional play-by-play/analyst (booth).”

So far, mission accomplished.