The Chargers are playing the Bears on ESPN’s Monday Night Football as I write. Why? Cos there is very little on television that interests me and watching Monday Night Football is what I do.
The best thing about MNF to me these days is the show’s opening. At the beginning of the broadcast there is a montage of ABC’s Monday Night Football highlights from the past. I can relive the night in 1978 that my Dad let me stay up to watch the Oilers, led by rookie sensation Earl Campbell, beat the Dolphins. There are other great moments that are on display and I enjoy them. That is the best part of the broadcast for me. Monday Night games don’t hold the star power they once did. MNF was, once upon a time, the most coveted piece of real estate in prime time television. I don’t doubt that it still does well with its ratings. I just know it used to win the ratings game.
The biggest problem is Sunday Night Football on NBC. For whatever reason, that time and place has turned into the must-see NFL game of the week. I think it may be an attention span issue. That is a problem these days…attention span. You can’t count on the masses hanging with you past Sunday. Oh well. I sound old. I’m not. I am a realist.
Many posts ago I railed about how I sang the national anthem at Banker’s Life Field-house in Indianapolis before a high school game there. My rendition went over well and I was asked to come back to the place and sing the song again. I was honored. Then, a few days later, I was told I would be expected (as part of the deal) to sell tickets at a discount price in exchange for my pipes singing the song. I was not happy. I told them where they could stick their idea.
I wanted to do that again tonight…and every night I watch Monday Night Football. With Veterans Day coming on Wednesday, I was even a little more miffed to hear the ESPN announcer say, after the singing of the National Anthem by a young lady in the military, that ESPN’s presentation of the National Anthem was brought to all of us by an insurance company. Translation: If someone was not paying ESPN to show the singing of the Star Spangled Banner on television, the network would be showing a beer commercial instead. That is pretty lousy. Maybe that is one reason I have lost some of my interest in Monday Night Football. In fact, the only time this season I have watched an entire game was the last time the New York Giants were on…and it was a nasty game for G-men.
I sure felt badly for Peyton Manning yesterday. He brought his Denver Broncos to the stadium he built and proceeded to play in a game that resulted in the first defeat of the season for his team and the most unlikely of victories for the team that used to be his team. Even when he was wearing the Horseshoe, he suffered some improbable and disappointing defeats. Some things never change.
This morning I went out to get the paper and there was a great deal of frost on my car. I usually go out to grab the paper at about 5:20 in the morning. I thought I was gonna freeze this morning…but man was the sky ever so clear and the stars lit the place up like they are supposed to. Later in the day clouds took over. The rain came. Later today I learned that today was the coldest day, as far as high temperature goes, since last March.
Stay warm and…speak the rights.
Danny Johnson