I enjoy it for several reasons:

1. It breaks up the Super Bowl hype. Ya know, in those years when there's a Super Bowl matchup worth hyping. Hey, did y'all know Jerome Bettis is from Detroit? When that's the biggest storyline, you know we're in trouble. We've got three cities involved here: Seattle, Pittsburgh and Detroit, best known for rain, steel mills and crime. Columnists are giving kids Seahawks jerseys to wear in Pennsylvania schools and just praying one of 'em gets another smackdown. Not that this can't be a close game, but it's not exactly when Marino and Montana shared the SI cover before Super Bowl XIX.

2. Dr. Z.'s lunacy is part hilarity. I love his stuff, but he's to football-viewing what Jack Byrnes was to Meet the Fockers. You have to worry about a guy who charts every play with different-colored pens, and keeps his own stats, because he doesn't trust the league offices. The man has issues.

3. I can skip right to the bottom to find my favorite broadcasting trio: ESPN's Mike Patrick, Joe Thiesmann and Paul Maguire, whom Dr. Z mockingly refers to as the Three Stooges. While "awarding" them zero stars (again), Dr. Z holds to his promise of not flogging them (his words, not mine) any further, save relaying this Theismann gem from the 'Skins-Bucs game officiated by Mike Carey: "This game has the potential to get out of hand, and I'm sure Mike Carey's gonna keep it that way."

Highlights From Dr. Z's Latest:

• "[Solomon] Wilcots is the best in the business at telling you what's going on in the secondary..." Eh, I don't know. I have Wilcots No. 3 on breaking down coverages, behind Bill Maas and Phil Simms, but tops in identifying double-tight-end packages and No. 2, behind Brian Baldinger, at explaining offensive line slide-protection schemes. Or, um, whatever you say, Z.!

• "[Dick Stockton is] the best flag man ... because he's on any penalty like a shot." Again, Z., get some sunlight, bro. Put down those charts, go for a walk and smell that New Jersey air. (Then again, that ain't the best advice I've ever given someone.)

• On ESPN's Sterling Sharpe, an absolutely abysmal analyst, in my opinion: "First we got the lesson in some flaky kind of orthopedics for receivers, getting their shoulders over their feet, or something. I tried it later , in the bathtub, and wound up falling on my face." Ha-ha. See, Z.'s still a sharp writer.

Looking Back:
Dr. Z.'s Seventh Annual TV Commentator Awards | Sixth | Fifth | Fourth | Third | Second | First

More People Who Hate the ESPN Sunday Night Football Crew:

• The Troika Tracker — ColdHardFootballFacts.com kept tabs on the Three Stooges' lowlights this season.

• ESPN Sunday Night Football Announcers: You're Idiots — Forty-five comments from haters below blogger Tom Sherman's post.