Tony Romo made his broadcasting debut for CBS during the Raiders vs. Titans game on Sunday. The four-time Pro Bowler has received praise for his color commentating during the broadcast. So, how did Romo prepare for his first game in the booth? Madden -- not the broadcaster himself, but the popular video game series named after the Hall of Fame coach . Sal Iacono a.k.a. "Cousin Sal" from Jimmy Kimmel Live! was on The Bill Simmons Podcast and broke down how Romo used the video game to prepare for his new gig.
"We [Jimmy Kimmel and Iacono] were over at Tony Romo's house, and he's talking about broadcasting," said Iacono. "[I told Romo] 'you wanna know what you should do, you should watch Madden and see what the play-by-play is and color commentary. Then you can see what is marketable, you can see what you want to stay away from or go with.'"
Romo took Iacano's advice, sort of. "So, he puts Madden on, and he plays. And we end up watching him play all afternoon, beating up on these 12-year-olds. He's not listening for a second to the color commentary," said Iacono. "He was changing every play at the line, because he would see what the defense is, and he'd go for 13 yards on an offensive play. It was spectacular."
Romo dominated that day, got the job, and is part of an awesome story. Fair warning: Personal experience has taught me that playing video games to prepare for an exam or job interview is not likely to yield similar results. Just sayin'.
