NationStates Jolt Archive


Death of American Icon

IDF
13-12-2005, 00:01
One of the greatest pop culture events in AMerican history will be dead in 3 weeks. That is when Monday Night Football will end its 35 year run on ABC. MNF is ending on a sad note as it had been in decline ever since Howard Cosell left in 1983. The show fell further when "Dandy" Don Meredith left the following year.

Roone Arledge was a genius when he introduced the 3 men in a booth concept for MNF.

I never saw the Cosell games live, but I've seen recordings of them. When Cosell, Meredith, and Gifford were in the booth together, anything could happen. They didn't get along well, but they clashed so well it made blowout games extremely entertaining.

One of my favorite moments was when Cosell said this "Frank, given how your Giants performed on Sunday and how Don's Cowboys are playing tonight. I must say I have seen very little from your respective teams."

Then Don repondes. "Well Howard, at least we have respective teams!"

It was moments like that that made Monday Night Football a cultural icon.

http://www.maxoncomputer.com/images/gallery/h_mnf.jpg
http://www.sportshollywood.com/images/monday/crew1.jpg
Not the real Cosell, Meredith, and Gifford. These men are the actors who portrayed them in the movie "Monday Night Madness."
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/mnf.gif
Here is the real crew. Alex Karras is on the left as this is during the period when Dandy Don left to work for NBC. He eventually came back to reclaim his spot on MNF.

John Madden and AL Michaels aren't even close to as good as those 3 men were.
Nurgaci
13-12-2005, 00:09
Dude, Richard Pryor is a cultural icon. This MNF guy is just some sports nut. Honestly in the long run do you think people will really remember him? There are fifty thousand other people just like him willing to do the same freaking job. :rolleyes:
H N Fiddlebottoms VIII
13-12-2005, 00:11
Dude, Richard Pryor is a cultural icon. This MNF guy is just some sports nut. Honestly in the long run do you think people will really remember him? There are fifty thousand other people just like him willing to do the same freaking job. :rolleyes:
There is no MNF guy. You obviously have trouble with basic reading comprehension, so I'll use simple sentences that you can understand.
MNF is a TV show. It is lame. It is being cancelled. You are a fool. Have a nice day.
IDF
13-12-2005, 00:12
Dude, Richard Pryor is a cultural icon. This MNF guy is just some sports nut. Honestly in the long run do you think people will really remember him? There are fifty thousand other people just like him willing to do the same freaking job. :rolleyes:
MNF is no longer a Cultural Icon, but in the Cosell era from 1970-1983, you could not get by without knowing Howard Cosell. The biggest watercooler topic would be what Cosell and Meredith had fought about the night before. They were as Howard famously put it "bigger than the game." Baseball was America's sport until MNF came and made football the national sport. Today no one watches MNF unless they are die hard football fans or their team is playing. When the trio of Cosell, Meredith, and Gifford was around it was muc bigger than that.
IDF
13-12-2005, 00:13
There is no MNF guy. You obviously have trouble with basic reading comprehension, so I'll use simple sentences that you can understand.
MNF is a TV show. It is lame. It is being cancelled. You are a fool. Have a nice day.
Fuck off troll. You've probably only seen games with Al Michaels and John Madden who both suck. No one watches MNF anymore because there is no conflict there. MNF was an event because everyone tuned in to see what Howard Cosell and Meredith would argue about.
Heron-Marked Warriors
13-12-2005, 00:14
MNF is no longer a Cultural Icon, but in the Cosell era from 1970-1983, you could not get by without knowing Howard Cosell.

Doesn't that presuppose that everyone is American, and an American football fan.
Heron-Marked Warriors
13-12-2005, 00:14
Fuck off.

Well argued. You lose.
IDF
13-12-2005, 00:16
Doesn't that presuppose that everyone is American, and an American football fan.
If you aren't American you don't need to post here. Not everyone is a football fan today, but in the 1970s, the majority of Americans stayed up to watch MNF.
Celtlund
13-12-2005, 00:17
One of the greatest pop culture events in AMerican history will be dead in 3 weeks. That is when Monday Night Football will end its 35 year run on ABC.

YEA! Time to celebrate. No more Monday night football. Now if we can just do away with Saturday and Sunday football, baseball, basketball, golf, NASCAR, tennis, wresteling, boxing and all other so called sports it would be a great day.
Heron-Marked Warriors
13-12-2005, 00:17
If you aren't American you don't need to post here. Not everyone is a football fan today, but in the 1970s, the majority of Americans stayed up to watch MNF.

I don't need to post on NS at all. I do so because I love interacting with arrogant Americans.
IDF
13-12-2005, 00:17
Dude, Richard Pryor is a cultural icon. This MNF guy is just some sports nut. Honestly in the long run do you think people will really remember him? There are fifty thousand other people just like him willing to do the same freaking job. :rolleyes:
Everyone who saw Howard Cosell will remember him. He is without a doubt the greatest sportscaster who ever lived. Not everyone remembers him fondly though as he loved to stir contraversey. The NY Times called him "the most loved and hated sportscaster ever" in his obituary.

Go do something for me. Ask your dad what he thinks of Howard Cosell and see what he says. I guarantee you will get an interesting response.
IDF
13-12-2005, 00:19
I don't need to post on NS at all. I do so because I love interacting with arrogant Americans.
I'm not saying you don't have to post on NS. I'm saying you don't have to post in a thread meant for Americans. Go troll elsewhere.
H N Fiddlebottoms VIII
13-12-2005, 00:20
Fuck off troll. You've probably only seen games with Al Michaels and John Madden who both suck. No one watches MNF anymore because there is no conflict there. MNF was an event because everyone tuned in to see what Howard Cosell and Meredith would argue about.
You admitted that MNF is lame when you said there is no conflict. It is a matter of tenses, I said "is" to imply that it "is" currently occupying a state, the state of "lame." If I had said "was" I would be indicating that in the past it was occupying the aforementioned state of "lame." Finally, if I had said "will" I would be indicating that, at some point in the future, the object of discussion will be entering the state of "lame." Savvy?
And my point still stands. MNF, as it is a TV show, is not a person. Much like my toaster, as it is an inanimate object, is not a person.
Heron-Marked Warriors
13-12-2005, 00:20
I'm not saying you don't have to post on NS. I'm saying you don't have to post in a thread meant for Americans. Go troll elsewhere.

I'm not trolling. I'm pointing out the fallacies in your arrogant statements. There's a difference
IDF
13-12-2005, 00:23
You admitted that MNF is lame when you said there is no conflict. It is a matter of tenses, I said "is" to imply that it "is" currently occupying a state, the state of "lame." If I had said "was" I would be indicating that in the past it was occupying the aforementioned state of "lame." Finally, if I had said "will" I would be indicating that, at some point in the future, the object of discussion will be entering the state of "lame." Savvy?

Yes today MNF is lame. I agree. John Madden is just a man who is severely obese and an idiot.

But, MNF used to be the biggest weekly event in America. Everyone used to talk about it when it was good. Howard Cosell was a genius and I bet Roone Arledge regrets pushing him to the side like he did. MNF's ratings were instantly cut in half the season after Cosell left. It declined each year after that and never even came close to recovering.
IDF
13-12-2005, 00:24
I'm not trolling. I'm pointing out the fallacies in your arrogant statements. There's a difference
If you have nothing to contribute about MNF, then please get out of this thread. I guess that those fumes from the refinery you have been inhaling must've been affecting your brain waves.
Kuhnstonia
13-12-2005, 00:29
richard pryor was/is an american icon, MNF is not, its just a football show that is being cancelled that didnt make good racist jokes like Pryor
RIP Richard Pryor 1940-2005
Sdaeriji
13-12-2005, 00:32
MNF is not, and was never, an American icon. Howard Cossell was an American icon. There is a difference, and you can see the difference, like you said, in the years after Cossell left the show.
Heron-Marked Warriors
13-12-2005, 00:33
richard pryor was/is an american icon, MNF is not, its just a football show that is being cancelled that didnt make good racist jokes like Pryor
RIP Richard Pryor 1940-2005

LMAO, probably. I can't decide if you're being properly racist. But if you are...
Heron-Marked Warriors
13-12-2005, 00:34
If you have nothing to contribute about MNF, then please get out of this thread. I guess that those fumes from the refinery you have been inhaling must've been affecting your brain waves.

You had the moral high ground up to there. You suck, just like American football, and, by extension, MNF.
Minoriteeburg
13-12-2005, 00:42
RIP Monday Night Football

(at least it didn't go out with Dennis Miller still on the crew)
IDF
13-12-2005, 00:55
RIP Monday Night Football

(at least it didn't go out with Dennis Miller still on the crew)
Thank God for that. I guess I'm glad Cosell didn't have to see the mess it became. The show was on the decline for 2 decades, but its death was insured when they went to 2 men in a booth.