Monday Night Football USED To Be Special

I suppose that “millions” of people will tune into ESPN tonight to watch the Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts tangle on Monday Night Football.

I won’t be one of them.

Hey, the match-up is OK, but the thrill is gone. Monday Night Football USED to be a big deal, but now, it’s just another football game.

The original Monday Night Football debuted 39 years ago today-the Jets versus the Browns—but it was the SHOW that captivated everyone’s imagination.

First, there was Howard.

The bombastic egomaniac encased in Howard Cosell’s body came out every Monday night to annoy tens of millions of football fans nationwide. His unmistakable delivery and cadence made him a favorite for impressionists to mimic—and nearly everyone could do a decent Howard Cosell.

“Dandy” Don Meredith was a whack-job, pure and simple. His former career as a player was the only thing keeping him on the air. No matter how many times we heard him sing, ”Turn off the lights, the party’s OVER” at the end of one team’s hopes of winning the game, we would laugh and wince simultaneously.

Frank Gifford-also a former player—made for an exciting intro to each week’s game, but that’s about where it ended. His factual gaffes throughout the telecast were legendary.

Yet…despite all of this…those three SOMEHOW managed to crawl into the nation’s psyche and plant themselves as indispensable—the backdrop to some of the game’s greatest moments.

ABC’s Roone Arledge created the idea of a prime-time football game since nothing else seemed to be working—the network was struggling, so it was time to throw out the playbook (sorry for the gratuitous sports metaphor) and try something completely different. Critics mostly hated the telecast, the announcers and the whole idea, but Americans had a different response.

Technological innovations such as slow-motion replay and interactive graphics (things we take for granted today) made THIS football game a SHOW.

Never packaged in this manner before, we were front-row witnesses to the evolution of Sports-As-Entertainment.

Some interesting stats:
Most points-55 by Indianapolis in October of1988
Most One-side Game-45 points-Baltimore 48, Green Bay 3—December of 2005
Highest Scoring Game- 95 points- Green Bay 48, Washington 47—October of 1983
Lowest Scoring Game-3 points—Pittsburgh 3, Miami 0---November of 2007
First Sponsor of MNF—Marlboro Cigarettes, before tobacco TV/radio ad were banned by FCC

Nothing against Al Michaels, who is my favorite TV Sports anchor-and MNF Play-by-play announcer since 1986, but his supporting cast has been a revolving door. I liked Dan Dierdorf, thought Dennis Miller a horrible choice (even though I think he is brilliant in his chosen field, which is NOT sports)-and Tony Kornheiser, who is likewise brilliant, hilarious and knowledgeable. It's just that no one JELLED the way the original trio did.

Here is a clip from that very first Monday Football game-notice how much has changed, from the telecast itself to the equipment!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwwtl79uxig


After experimenting with different start times, it was clear that Monday Night Football was doomed to exit network TV in prime time.

I’m hoping that it makes a return-even though it seems that every bar in America has cable and ESPN—it’s more the idea that MNF was somehow part of the cultural fabric of the nation for so long. After all, it is where most Americans learned of the assassination of Beatle John Lennon. Hearing the news from Howard Cosell was not exactly comforting, but Monday Night Football was such a part of our common experience on Monday nights, in some weird way it was appropriate that we learned the news from Howard.

It’s true that you can’t go back—and to think that magic could be recreated is folly…..but then again…who knows?

“Are you ready for some football?”

If you’d like my blog in your box, just let me know! Tim.moore@citcomm.com