Monday Night Football has always been about entertainment, but that never meant it needed an entertainer. Miller does perfectly fine for a time, just remarking on the craziness of the catch, but then he utters a bizarre line about blow dryers and suddenly you’re snapped into a different reality. The miraculous Antonio Freeman catch (which is still amazing, by the way) is a good example of this. When he wasn’t delivering one liners that referenced Sylvia Plath or the Camp David Accords, Miller was adding nothing to the football side of the broadcast. I thought he was funny at times, but the idea of a comedian serving as a de facto fan in the booth never really clicked. The former Redskins quarterback, who played an unfortunate role in the most famous play in MNF history, was a master of using 200 words to say nothing at all. (The reason Dierdorf is behind Esiason is because we had to endure 12 seasons of him rather than two.) 13. But he and Michaels clearly didn’t jibe together and everyone who was thrilled Dierdorf was finally off MNF games was forced to reconsider their feelings about it after listening to Boomer talk over another play. The former Bengals star is fine on CBS’s NFL Today and does quite a good job calling Monday night games on radio for Westwood One. He played favorites, clearly didn’t like certain teams, often became disinterested in the game and did I mention the loudness? Later in his career at CBS, Dierdorf became more tolerable, but only barely so. Dierdorf was basically Paul Maguire with a better gig: loud, louder and loudest. The legendary Keith Jackson once said of modern announcers,”they talk too damn much.” I imagine Dan Dierdorf was floating through his head as he said that. Said Gifford about it: “All I can say is that Alex has written one more book than he’s read.” BOOM! Score one for the Giff. After leaving the booth, Karras “wrote” a novel subtly titled Tuesday Night Football that featured an air-headed jock in the booth. But that personality sparred with Frank Gifford, as the two never got along during Karras’s three years in the booth. Karras had personality to spare during his acting career, in such films and shows as Blazing Saddles and Webster.
Both eventually pulled it off, but not after some trying years. They were both hits of the 70s trying to find a foothold in the rollicking 80s. The mid-80s for Monday Night Football were like the mid-80s for Saturday Night Live. Frank Gifford told me, ‘That was your boss,’ And that’s probably why I lost my job.” He seemed like he was in a little cranky mood at the time. In the car, the gentleman sitting there, ‘How you doing?’ I put one in my pocket, I popped the other one, and I went out front to get in the car. Whenever I got up ready to go to the airport, I was thirsty, so I got a couple of cans of beer. “One night we had a sponsor’s get together and we had an early flight in the morning. Joe Namath (color, 1985)īroadway Joe had the shortest stint of any color analyst in Monday night history, a fact that many, including Namath himself, blamed on his unprofessionalism. was better suited for commercials and Naked Gun movies. to his alma mater, USC) and so did Al Michaels (they never worked together on MNF, but Michaels was a friend stemming back to the 1984 Olympics). He was scripted, talked about himself far too much and asked coaches the sort of questions you normally hear on an ESPN3 broadcast.įrank Gifford seemed to like him (though he helped recruit O.J. Simpson (color analyst, 1983–1985)Įven before all the stuff that led to the MNF brand basically (and correctly) dissociating itself from O.J., he’d still have ranked at the bottom of our list. No sideline reporters - good news for Eric Dickerson - or announcers for secondary games - better news for Chris Berman.) We’ve ranked those 18 men here, from worst to best. Only 18 men have held the role since the show debuted in 1970.
It’s a more exclusive club than you’d think. In honor of the greatest television show in sports history hitting another birthday divisible by five, FTW ranked all the announcers who’ve ever sat in the hallowed booth for football’s biggest telecast. Window.ue_ibe = (window.Monday Night Football celebrated its 45th anniversary this week. Anthropomorphic Animal As Protagonist (2)
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