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- 8 years 11 months ago
- Posts: 742
Joseph Gallant was posted on Radio-Info.com:
Tonight (Decemebr 26th) will be ABC's last "Monday Night Football" telecast (New England Patriots at New York Jets). Beginning next year, Monday-night games will move to ESPN, while the Sunday-night games currently on ESPN will move to NBC.
Although there will still be NFL games on Monday nights, it's my understanding that the Sunday-night games on NBC will henceforth become the league's "prime" TV showcase, with the top match-ups of the season and flexibility during the final weeks of the regular-season which will allow for good match-ups to be moved from Sunday afternoons to Sunday nights for NBC broadcast.
Thus, "MNF" will not be the same in the future.
With "MNF"'s stint as the NFL's "prime" television showcase coming to an end, I'd like to start a thread and ask about memories you have about "MNF".
Unfortunately, the one "MNF" memory most people have is a sad one: The December 8th, 1980 game when Miami hosted New England. Late in the game, co-analyst Howard Cosell got a message in his headset, piped-in from a phone call placed by ABC News and Sports chief Roone Arledge, informing Cosell that John Lennon had been shot.
While a few years later, after Cosell left "MNF", such a situation would have led to an "MNF" announcer saying "We're going to break away for a moment to bring you an ABC News bulletin from 'Nightline's Ted Koppel in Washington..", Arledge believed Cosell could break the news of the Lennon shooting on-the-air, and so Cosell made the annoucement.
A few minutes later, Arledge made another call and again, was connected to Cosell's headset, announcing that Lennon had died. Again, were Cosell not there, the announcer would have been asked to hand-off to a news bulletin. But Cosell made the announcement, which I believe was also the first announcement of Lennon's death made by any network (I think CBS and NBC followed about a minute or two later, interrupting their regular programming).
On a more positive note (unless you live in or near Chicago), another great "MNF" memory was a December, 1985 game when the Miami Dolphins hosted the Chicago Bears. The Bears were unbeaten at the time, and were vying to become only the second NFL team ever (behind the 1972 Miami Dolphins) to have an unbeaten season. For some reason, several members of the 1972 team were there (I'm not 100% sure, but I think they were being honored in a ceremony and a few numbers were retired that night, and I also think a couple of players from the '72 team spoke to the '85 team before kick-off urging them to beat "Da Bears" and preserve Miami history). Anyway, the '85 Dolphins beat the Bears (the only loss Chicago would have all year; they finished the regular-season 15-1 and went on to win Super Bowl XX) in a game that still holds the record for the largest viewing audience ever to watch a regular-season NFL telecast.
Any other "MNF" memories?? Feel free to post them here.Are you sure you want to delete this post? Yes | No - 8 years 11 months ago
- Posts: 742
Jets ban beer sales as curtain comes
down on ABC's 'Monday Night Football'
BY LEO STANDORA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Jets fans quaffed soda and bottled water last night to toast the finale of "Monday Night Football" on ABC, as booze was banned while their snake-bitten team took on the reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
With the Jets' season devastated by injuries to key players, some fans could have used a beer to cry in as the Pats won last night's game, 31-21.
But John Speranza found a bright side.
"If you're not drinking, you remember more," the 38-year-old PSE&G electrical chief said with a sly smile.
The Meadowlands stadium became a booze-free zone for the first time in four years in an effort to curtail rowdy behavior by fans.
In the Jets' last prime-time game at home, Nov. 27 against the Saints, nine fans were arrested. One was charged with stabbing two fans in a rest room. Also, a state trooper broke a leg while trying to eject a fan who threw a beer bottle.
Jets spokesman Ron Colangelo said the alcohol ban, made in conjunction with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, is designed to "provide for the safety and comfort of our fans."
During the game, some fans walked by and looked wistfully at the shuttered beer stands, but most said the ban on booze didn't matter much to them.
However, tailgaters had mixed feelings about the ban.
"I think it's almost worse because you have to get as tanked as possible outside instead of pacing yourself," said Nat Wong, 28, a television producer and Pats fan from Massachusetts.
"But," he said with a grin, "it's a lot cheaper for us."
Reaction to the end of ABC's 35-year-run with "Monday Night Football" ranged from no big deal to downright anger.
"It's like taking down the Rockefeller Center tree," said Long Island print shop owner John Pinto, 44, who was at the game with his 7-year-old son. "It's a tradition you don't like to see go."
Others said they won't miss the ABC broadcast because the Monday night games will be on ESPN.
But Kenny Beers, a 42-year-old Queens electrician, said some fans are going to miss out.
"You take some poor schmuck who doesn't have cable and now what's he gonna watch?"
Party's over: Top 10 moments in MNF history
What we'll remember, according to Entertainment Weekly:
1. Nov. 18, 1985: Washington Redskins' quarterback Joe Theismann is hit by Giants legend Lawrence Taylor, and the audience sees Theismann's right leg snap below the knee, bone sticking out of the skin. Theisman was finished as a player, but next year, he'll be hosting Monday night NFL games on ESPN.
2. Nov. 15, 2004: A racy pregame skit outraged some viewers, who saw Terrell Owens trying to spurn the advances of "Desperate Housewives" star Nicollette Sheridan, saying he had a game to play. Sheridan turned up the heat by dropping her towel - as well as Owens' jaw.
3. Sept. 5, 1983: Howard Cosell ignited protest after calling Redskins wideout Alvin Garrett a "little monkey." Cosell, who had been outspoken on civil rights issues, insists he did not mean it as a racial insult. Garrett says he takes no offense, but Cosell quit before the next season.
4. Dec. 8, 1980: Cosell interrupts the broadcast to tell fans "An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City." John Lennon had been killed by a crazed fan outside his Central Park West apartment building.
5. Sept. 3, 1979: After being paralyzed in a 1978 preseason game, Patriots wideout Darryl Stingley returns to Schaeffer Stadium for the 1979 opener against the Steelers, where he received a standing ovation from both players and fans.
6. Dec. 2, 1985: The eventual Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears took a 12-0 record into Miami, the only franchise to ever go undefeated. Miami wins, 38-24, to keep the 1972 Dolphins in the record books.
7. Nov. 23, 1970: Cosell slurs his words during an Eagles-Giants game, then exits early. He later denies he was affected by martinis sent by the Eagles' owner, blaming his demeanor on the effects of "a virulent virus."
8. Oct. 14, 2002: Owens, then playing for San Francisco, scores a touchdown, then whips out a marker from his sock, and signs the ball for a fan.
9. Dec. 22, 2003: Packers quarterback Brett Favre suits up against the Raiders a day after his father died of a heart attack. Favre throws for four touchdowns in a 41-7 blowout.
10. July 31, 2000: Seeking a broader appeal, ABC taps comedian Dennis Miller to join the announcers' booth. The experiment lasts just two seasons.Are you sure you want to delete this post? Yes | No
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