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‘Monday Night Football’ debut 50 years ago began a TV revolution
NY Post ^ | 09/21/2020 | Mike Vaccaro VIEW AUTHOR ARCHIVE EMAIL THE AUTHOR FOLLOW ON TWITTER GET AUTHOR RSS FEED September 2

Posted on 09/21/2020 9:55:17 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen

---SNIP--- It isn’t just that it’s hard to conjure a similarly impactful moment 50 years later; it’s actually all but impossible to remember a time when the idea of a prime-time football game could cause such a stir. In 1970, ESPN was nine years from birth. Charles Dolan would not found the operation that would become HBO for four more months.

Pro football had dabbled in games outside its Sunday comfort zone a little; the AFL would play games on Fridays and Saturdays. Mostly, though, if you were an NFL fan before Sept. 21, 1970, you got two games on Sundays

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: whocares
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To: Kid Shelleen

Only mistake was starting it at 9pm est, should have been 8pm.


41 posted on 09/21/2020 11:51:54 AM PDT by 1Old Pro (evience)
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To: Kid Shelleen

I will continue to post this until I see it reported in the NY Times, WaPo, and on NBC, and CNN
Please share the letter on any other media sites that you use.
(Please disregard if you have already seen it)

Letter to the NFL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kcFR_uQwiw&feature=emb_logo


42 posted on 09/21/2020 11:52:54 AM PDT by HippyLoggerBiker (Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake.)
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To: boop

My Favorite Cosell bit with Ali: Cosell, (after a negative comment of some sort by Ali), “You are being extremely truculent. Ali, immediately right back, “Whatever truculent mean, if it good, I’m that!”


43 posted on 09/21/2020 11:59:59 AM PDT by bobby.223 (Retired up in the snowy Mountains of the American Redoubt and it's a great life!)
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To: dfwgator
Apparently the announcers used to get tipsy in the booth (especially Howard) if the tell-all books are to be believed.

But it was a different time and drinking on the job, especially if it was Monday night, was not as shocking as it seems today. Hell, when I started in the workplace back in the 1980s, liquid lunches were still a thing and having drinks after work was almost a job requirement. But those days were rapidly drawing to an end.

I miss Howard Cosell. I remember people used to hate on him back in the 1970s but I always admired him for his extensive vocabulary and his way with words. He really put the "color" into color commentary. If he was on the broadcast team, it would make me want to watch that event even more.

Also, he did it all back in the day. Not just football. He did baseball, boxing, skiing, racing, you name it.

He was the one that told us that the "Bronx is Burning" and he was the one that told us of John Lennon's assassination in prime time (during a Monday Night Patriots/Dolphins game).

44 posted on 09/21/2020 12:00:15 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (Orange Man GOOD!)
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To: SamAdams76

My favorite Cosell appearance....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1QVthvDhPo


45 posted on 09/21/2020 12:05:42 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Kid Shelleen

NFL is dead. The diagnosis? Suicide.


46 posted on 09/21/2020 12:43:17 PM PDT by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Tuxedo

Indeed after Pat passed and madden retire lost interest Nascar without DW is just about history for me


47 posted on 09/21/2020 1:08:19 PM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom Hi Dad)
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To: boop
As I recall he lived next door to Jackie Robinson and they played cards every week. Cosell was his attorney and was talked into doing some local announcing for youth sports.... he was also, I believe, the attorney for the Boy Scouts at one time.

I'm not sure who talked him into doing more announcing but he got his start at rec games.

48 posted on 09/21/2020 1:08:22 PM PDT by Lagmeister
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To: SamAdams76
Let us not forget.... "Down goes Frazier.... Down goes Frazier."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZEIMQ42-oU

49 posted on 09/21/2020 1:12:58 PM PDT by Lagmeister
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To: dfwgator
His plan was to introduce the “New Beatles”, that band was “The Bay City Rollers”.

It looked that way during a brief time in the mid 1970s.

I think it was August 1976 and the Bay City Rollers were coming into Boston for a concert. Local station WRKO would give out the flight information of the plane the band was coming in on. There were 5,000 screaming girls when the plane landed and my sister was one of them. The reception was definitely Beatle-like.

By 1978, the Bay City Rollers were mostly forgotten. But they had quite a ride for a while there.

50 posted on 09/21/2020 1:14:32 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (Orange Man GOOD!)
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To: SkyDancer

I actually did watch it. I was in Freshman in high school at the time.


51 posted on 09/21/2020 2:01:30 PM PDT by Kingwood Kid III (Kingwood Kid III)
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To: SamAdams76
Cosell famously vomited on Don Meredith's cowboy boots at a MNF game at Franklin Field, Philadelphia.
This is just prior to the incident; Cosell was pulled and never made it to the second half..

Cosell Drunk - Eagles Giants MNF 11/23/1970
52 posted on 09/21/2020 2:16:23 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen (Beat your plowshares into swords. Let the weak say I am strong)
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To: Kid Shelleen

Howard was just showin’ ole Dandy Don that the party was over.... before Donny had a chance to sing, “The party’s over.”


53 posted on 09/21/2020 2:51:55 PM PDT by Lagmeister
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To: Kid Shelleen

Dandy Don Meredith, Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell...they were a fun crew.


54 posted on 09/21/2020 2:59:33 PM PDT by JimRed (TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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