Tony Romo’s moment of truth has nothing to do with a broadcast booth

· Yahoo Sports

It says something about the world we now inhabit that most initial reactions to Tony Romo’s July arrest for operating a vehicle under the influence focused on his future as a broadcaster, and whether CBS would use this as a pretext for getting out from under Romo’s massive contract.

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That’s natural, of course. We always process news first for how it affects us personally; it’s why so many people use a celebrity’s death to mention the time they met the recently-deceased. Romo has been a fixture in NFL fans’ lives for the last decade as an announcer, an occasionally inspiring, often maddening, always provocative presence in the booth. He’s one of the few people who has the honor of speaking directly to tens of millions of NFL viewers every Sunday. 

And now, he needs help. Because he might have just thrown all that away on one Wisconsin roadside. 

Two new developments in Romo’s OWI case Tuesday change the trajectory of this story. First, Romo himself put out what certainly reads like a heartfelt statement on his arrest and current state of mind. Noting that he pleaded no contest to the OWI charge, he added:

“Multiple back surgeries ended my career earlier than I expected and left me with constant, debilitating pain. That pain led to a dependence on pain medication, and my efforts to get off those medications led to an over-reliance on alcohol.” 

The arrest and public humiliation, Romo noted, “required me to confront and own my mistakes fully — to the Lord, to myself, to my family, and now to the public. I am working closely with a team of doctors to address my health and make the necessary changes.”

Good on Romo for taking that responsibility, even if, like most statements, his reads like it was crafted by public relations agents. Not so good was the news that followed shortly thereafter, that Romo’s blood alcohol content at the time of his arrest was 0.15, nearly twice Wisconsin’s legal limit of 0.08. 

That figure alone is bad enough; combined with Romo’s admission of “over-reliance on alcohol,” it’s a devastating indictment of where he is now in his personal life. The public acknowledgement of guilt and responsibility is a big step, but only the first one. You only need to look at Tiger Woods to see the damage that can be done when someone who doesn’t belong behind a wheel gets back on the road again and again. 

Romo was already struggling to keep pace with the changing tides of NFL broadcasting. Unlike play-by-play callers such as Romo’s CBS partner Jim Nantz and Al Michaels, color analysts must be, well, colorful. For Romo, that initially meant analyzing formations and predicting plays before they happened; since that illustrious start, he’s devolved into a quirky caricature of himself.

Romo now slings gaffes like a rookie throwing interceptions, and CBS is surely wary of the social media blowback — and arrest video GIFs — that would surface whenever Romo gets a little too excited or throws down an ice-cold take. 

Romo signed a massive contract in 2020, a 10-year, $180 million deal that still has an astounding $72 million yet to run. That’s not his fault; blame whoever negotiated that deal at CBS. But now, perhaps sensing an opportunity to cut loose that massive deal, CBS is offering less-than-full-throated support of Romo in his current travails. 

"We have to consider the impact on our image and our brand," CBS Sports president David Berson said at last month’s “NFL on CBS” media day, when asked about Romo’s fate. He termed the Romo matter an “evolving situation” — corporate-speak for “all options are on the table” — and avoided putting a timetable on Romo’s fate. In the meantime, CBS has promoted J.J. Watt into Romo’s seat alongside Nantz. 

Like a quarterback who doesn’t pick up on a blitz until it’s too late, Romo, 46, is a victim of changing times, a prisoner of his own cliches in the booth and mistakes outside it. Here’s hoping he asks for, and gets, the help he needs. 

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