T master Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 When i first started watching the NFL one game stood out each week that was a must watch and that was MNF. Frank, Dandy Don, & Howard came on TV and commentated the game as only they could, as a young fan i soaked it in every chance that dad would allow me to watch and every night herring Don sing turn out the lights the party's over even made me want to watch even more being a country music fan too ! All that being said the biggest mistake in my life that was ever made was taking MNF off of ABC & changing it to ESPN because we didn't have cable at that time so i could no longer watch so during football season my Monday's were much less exciting . Even Al Micheal's knew he must follow the golden goose to NBC which is now MNF on Sunday . Sunday night football is now what MNF use to be for the fans, i really enjoy the commentators & the format of the show is very similar to what MNF was but i still loved it when Hank Jr. would sing "Are you ready for some football" man it was just part of the NFL experience for so long it just fit !! While doing my daily NFL reading from website to website i saw a article that mentioned the slight possibility or as stated in the article "Rumblings" of bringing MNF back to ABC also those in power at ABC trying to woo Peyton Manning into the driver seat as the main commentator for the game which i don't think Peyton needs the money but it i guess could be a possibility and i think he would be very good at it . https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/03/02/report-espn-reaches-out-to-peyton-manning/amp/#referrer=https://www.google.com&_tf=From%20%251$s?amp_js_v=a3&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE= I was just wondering what the Bills fans here might think of a MNF come back, do you think it would work now that SNF has such a good grasp on ratings & would you bring back Hank to do the opening song like he did in the glory days ? I think if nothing else it might be a ratings booster even though the TV landscape has changed everyone now has cable or some kind of modem to watch or stream games. There aren't nearly as many people to cheap (such as myself) the won't pay for cable which was a big reason why when MNF changed to ESPN i believe the ratings went down because cable wasn't as wide spread as it is now . What do you think ? Are you ready for some football ? Could i get punctuation & spell check please ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyal2dagame Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 The problem is that ESPN sucks. Too much ball washing for large market teams and not enough balanced commentating. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNY315 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 It would be great to not have to find a link every Monday night again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) Monday Night Football's lost the cachet it had as the de facto "game of the week" when there was much less NFL content to consume. Now, it's just another game, with no real reason to watch--other than a lack of other things to do... Edited March 4, 2020 by Lurker 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
May Day 10 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) For whatever monetary reasons, Monday night games seem to have been relegated from the premier game to the 4th ranked (Sunday Night - Thursday - Sunday 4PM - Monday - Sunday 1PM) Edited March 4, 2020 by May Day 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasons1992 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 20 minutes ago, loyal2dagame said: Too much ball washing for large market teams and not enough balanced commentating. I'll wash em for you! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punching Bag Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 The issue is ESPN is decline and a number of cable providers have moved ESPN to secondary tiers to try to get customers to pay more while adding multiple "reality" channels no one would pay extra for to standard tier. This has made putting game on ESPN not very cost effective. ABC should just do SNF and MNF. They could counter program other sporting events on ESPN for the non-football fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Peyton Gump on color = tunes blasting on my stereo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T master Posted March 4, 2020 Author Share Posted March 4, 2020 25 minutes ago, Seasons1992 said: I'll wash em for you! I always wondered where his nick name came from ? ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
row_33 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 It was all hype, people swooning like MNF was the greatest thing ever 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 9 minutes ago, row_33 said: It was all hype, people swooning like MNF was the greatest thing ever In the days before the web, Netflix, HBO, etc.......it pretty much was. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heitz Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Could MNF return to its glory and once again become Sunday afternoon football, please? 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 1 hour ago, Lurker said: Monday Night Football's lost the cache it had as the de facto "game of the week" when there was much less NFL content to consume. Now, it's just another game, with no real reason to watch--other than a lack of other things to do... Remember when there was Monday Night Baseball (pre-ESPN era)? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 56 minutes ago, T master said: When i first started watching the NFL one game stood out each week that was a must watch and that was MNF. Frank, Dandy Don, & Howard came on TV and commentated the game as only they could, as a young fan i soaked it in every chance that dad would allow me to watch and every night herring Don sing turn out the lights the party's over even made me want to watch even more being a country music fan too ! Howard's halftime highlights were the best. I was never allowed to stay up that late on a school night, but sometimes my father would let me stay for Howard's halftime. It mostly depended on whether his bet looked good at the half. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 1 hour ago, May Day 10 said: For whatever monetary reasons, Monday night games seem to have been relegated from the premier game to the 4th ranked (Sunday Night - Thursday - Sunday 4PM - Monday - Sunday 1PM) This is exactly right. Whether ABC or ESPN does it matters a little, but making Monday night the premier matchup of the week (like Sunday night is now) would do much more to re-elevate Monday night football than merely switching what channel the game is on. And to the OP, yes, me and all my rowdy friends are ready to enjoy MNF again. Bring back Hank! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 16 minutes ago, row_33 said: It was all hype, people swooning like MNF was the greatest thing ever Growing up in the 70s, having the lone TV on for anything was a luxury in my house. My father turned it on for a very short list of things we could watch:. NFL Harlem Globetrotters NBC Wednesday Night Mysteries (which included McMillan and Wife, Columbo, Banacek and McCloud) It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, West Side Story and Wizard of Oz, when they aired. Make no mistake. At the time for 12-year-old me, MFN was certainly one of the greatest things ever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T master Posted March 4, 2020 Author Share Posted March 4, 2020 1 minute ago, IDBillzFan said: Growing up in the 70s, having the lone TV on for anything was a luxury in my house. My father turned it on for a very short list of things we could watch:. NFL Harlem Globetrotters NBC Wednesday Night Mysteries (which included McMillan and Wife, Columbo, Banacek and McCloud) It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, West Side Story and Wizard of Oz, when they aired. Make no mistake. At the time for 12-year-old me, MFN was certainly one of the greatest things ever. Exactly the same for me, the old man wasn't much on MNF but All in the family was his primetime fave & the Road runner on the Saturday morning cartoons use to make him laugh so hard i thought he would have a heart attack !! ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
row_33 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 3 minutes ago, IDBillzFan said: Growing up in the 70s, having the lone TV on for anything was a luxury in my house. My father turned it on for a very short list of things we could watch:. NFL Harlem Globetrotters NBC Wednesday Night Mysteries (which included McMillan and Wife, Columbo, Banacek and McCloud) It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, West Side Story and Wizard of Oz, when they aired. Make no mistake. At the time for 12-year-old me, MFN was certainly one of the greatest things ever. there were 5 channels and they dominated opinion, manipulated print media, then produced self -serving documentaries on how great it all was if you feel that a football game on TV is a great thing in life.... you are free to rethink this as time grows shorter... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCbillsfan Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 MNF was awesome in the 70s. Now it's just another game. It's nothing special. At times, it's terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4_kidd_4 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Meh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H2o Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, loyal2dagame said: The problem is that ESPN sucks. Too much ball washing for large market teams and not enough balanced commentating. The ESPN broadcast does suck and they have gotten progressively worse every year with their production. The commentary is horrendous. The good ole days of Al, Frank, and Dan are loooooong gone. Edited March 4, 2020 by H2o 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 10 minutes ago, row_33 said: there were 5 channels and they dominated opinion, manipulated print media, then produced self -serving documentaries on how great it all was if you feel that a football game on TV is a great thing in life.... you are free to rethink this as time grows shorter... Watching football with my father after the death of my mother in '71 was essentially the only time he spent with me when he didn't have me working or was yelling at me or killing a bottle of Johnny Walker Red, so yea, it was a pretty great effin' thing in life at that time. But hey...thanks for the broad stroke. Try not to cover too many perceptions with it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Otreply Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Even when I was young and barely slept, drank too much, and smoked that weed stuff, it was another football game. That it was on other than 1:00pm on Sunday was mostly an inconvenience, still is. The additional hype is totally unwarranted imo, but hell, people like what they like, if that floats your boat, more power to ya, ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston's #1 Bills Fan Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 At the time, it was the ONLY nationally televised regular season game. Everything else was regional and subject to blackout. The whole country tuned in to watch. That doesn't happen these days. Too many other options. It wasn't that it was particularly awesome, but that it was the only thing available for a long time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddy KGB Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Gonna need Hank back to sing the song while Faith Hill and J-Lo dance. Also going to need to replace Booger and Tess to have a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThurmasThoman Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 My family used to go on vacation the last 2 weeks of every summer, to a cabin pretty far removed from radio and tv reception. I would pine for the 1 or 2 days a week my dad would drive into town to restock the groceries (booze, I now realize, lol) so I could ride with him and scan the USA Today on sale to see the results of Buffalo's previous preseason game. Literally waiting for days to get a boxscore of a meaningless exhibition game. But I loved it. The anticipation was divine. That specific feeling will never, ever be recreated--I can watch the game live, from my phone, from pretty much anywhere in the world now. So in short--no, Monday Night Football will never be what it was, to you, in your youth, ever again. The world has moved on, and the accessibility of the sport has grown by leaps and bounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Nobody watches ESPN much anymore. Maybe ABC could revitalize MNF? It would be worth a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corta765 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 The more interesting piece of this is ESPN and by extension ABC if they move back there has been upset with the matchups they get on MNF. Part of the reason for wanting the ability to flex games on MNF is because the matchups have not been good. From what I have read the NFL is going to try to balance the matchups more evenly between SNF which took all of the top games and MNF. Should be interesting to see where this goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fiend Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, T master said: i still loved it when Hank Jr. would sing "Are you ready for some football" man it was just part of the NFL experience for so long it just fit !! This was the original 3 minute version of Hank Williams Jr.'s song "Rowdy Friends" when it was first released for the NFL in 1989. In the video below, the Bills at Jets are shown from 0:54-0:57 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbpaxjNlGNw In a new version of William Jr.'s song from 1991, the Bills are featured more than any other team, at least 5 times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL42W2O6mXY Edited March 4, 2020 by The Fiend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CIrvine Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 3 hours ago, row_33 said: It was all hype, people swooning like MNF was the greatest thing ever But.... They were the only ones with the Reverse Angle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fiend Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) I remember one time in the early 80's when MNF was blacked out in Buffalo due to a non-sell out, but ABC (channel 7) accidentally showed like 5 seconds of the game just before kick off. Then, quickly realizing their mistake, they suddenly switched it to whatever was showing instead. My excitement level went up for a few seconds, then it crashed. Edited March 4, 2020 by The Fiend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Howard Cosell. There is no substitute. Glory days cannot be re-created. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Is Tag a Fitz? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shane nelson Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Little to know impact, the NFL is over exposed. When MNF was a big thing, there were 2 games on Sunday. No SNF, ESPN or sport channels. Heck I remember when Howard's 4 minute highlights of Sunday's were a big event. That said, ESPN announcers have been awful and unwatchable. Better announcers will help, but the heyday is gone like All in the Family, MASH and Taxi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah John Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 MNF was really big when the only alternative was the games on Sunday afternoon, usually the AFL/AFC on NBC and NFL/NFC on CBS. MNF was a chance to see another game, in a party mode, and see some highlights which we could only read about otherwise. And when the Bills were shown on the highlights, there would be cheering. Now MNF comes at the end of a gauntlet of games -- TNF, college on Saturday, three games on Sunday afternoon, and SNF. I have a few other things to do with my time, and that's too much football to watch. Granted, I record all games and watch them later, except for the Bills which I usually watch in real time. Still, there are other things in life. (Sorry if I offend.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over 29 years of fanhood Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 mhhhh Glory? Remind who was the idiot pleading with ‘America’ to not have tight ends block DEs? 6 hours ago, Seasons1992 said: yeah that’s right. Start by firing him 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfan89 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Sunday Night football getting the A-slate of games and the flex schedule helping ensure the best games late in the season made Monday Night football lose its cache years ago. I think if they put in more effort to get better games on Monday's and improve the commentary/presentation it can be better respected but I just don't see it ever returning to the event it once was. Even in the 2000's Monday Night football as a kid/teenager was always the game everyone talked about whereas the Sunday night game was usually an after thought unless something extraordinary happened or one of the local teams were playing. Now Sunday Night football has that cache and buzz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfan89 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 3 hours ago, JohnnyGold said: My family used to go on vacation the last 2 weeks of every summer, to a cabin pretty far removed from radio and tv reception. I would pine for the 1 or 2 days a week my dad would drive into town to restock the groceries (booze, I now realize, lol) so I could ride with him and scan the USA Today on sale to see the results of Buffalo's previous preseason game. Literally waiting for days to get a boxscore of a meaningless exhibition game. But I loved it. The anticipation was divine. That specific feeling will never, ever be recreated--I can watch the game live, from my phone, from pretty much anywhere in the world now. So in short--no, Monday Night Football will never be what it was, to you, in your youth, ever again. The world has moved on, and the accessibility of the sport has grown by leaps and bounds. Setting aside the general nihilistic nature of getting older and everything being better when you are younger. In terms of general relevance Monday Night football can be the top relevant game or at least something that has a special nature to it. If they improved the presentation and got better games you would see more buzz about it. But Sunday Night getting the A-Slate and great presentation by NBC (Al Michaels one of the best announcers ever and overall great presentation) and the flex schedule really just put Monday Night football in the dustbin. I also think Thursday Night games have also had an impact as Monday Night used to be the last chance for action until the weekend. Now 3 days later you get a Thursday game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJS Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 6 hours ago, row_33 said: there were 5 channels and they dominated opinion, manipulated print media, then produced self -serving documentaries on how great it all was if you feel that a football game on TV is a great thing in life.... you are free to rethink this as time grows shorter... What are you doing wasting your time on a football forum? Get out there and stand on your soap box! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 4 hours ago, shane nelson said: Little to know impact, the NFL is over exposed. When MNF was a big thing, there were 2 games on Sunday. No SNF, ESPN or sport channels. Heck I remember when Howard's 4 minute highlights of Sunday's were a big event. That said, ESPN announcers have been awful and unwatchable. Better announcers will help, but the heyday is gone like All in the Family, MASH and Taxi. Way back then there were 4 games on Sunday, NFC and AFC doubleheaders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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