"I have loved football as an almost mythic game since I was in the fourth grade. To me, the game wasn't even grounded in reality. The uniform turned you into a warrior. Being on a team, the mythology of physical combat, the struggle against the elements, the narrative of the game..." ~ Steve Sabol (NFL Films)

When Howard Ruled Monday Night...

When I was a kid, Monday nights in the fall were truly an event of epic proportions for any preteen football nut like myself. For you see in the l970s Monday Night Football on ABC was the gold standard of football play by play, long before John Madden and Pat Summerall ever connected. Back in the day it was the game and the men who played it that mattered. Yet, what made MNF stand apart from all sports broadcasts was the magic of one man- Howard Cosell. Without Howard it would have been just a forgettable game, like it is now. John Gruden will never compare. With Howard it was an event, and even when the game was a blowout he still made it interesting. If only we could have Billy Crystal call the games now and take us all back in time, just for one one quarter even... Sigh :-(
 


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