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Earlier this week in New York, at an ESPN promotional event, ESPN President John Skipper was interviewed by a few reporters, including Richard Deitsch of SI.com.

Skipper was asked why the network decided to go with a two-man booth for "Monday Night Football."

"Jaws (Ron Jaworski) is great," Skipper said. "What we are mostly trying to do is we want to ride (Jon)Gruden. Gruden is a star. You have seen his QB show. He has a lot of personality. He has a lot to say. There was some concern that he and Jaws sounded a little bit the same in the booth. We just thought it would help viewers sort of understand who was there. Our sense is we ride Mr. Gruden a little bit. I think he can be a big star.

"Mike is as good as it gets on play-by-play and we think with Mike and Jon we have a fabulous two-person booth," Skipper said. "We added Lisa Salters this year, who I think has done a great job on the NBA sidelines. We like to change things up but look, we love Jaws, and I don't think anyone doubts that. He is still going to be important to us. We signed him to do a new deal so he will be around ESPN for a long time and there is nobody better at the sort of Xs and Os, NFL matchups. He'll be busy."