September 23, 2021 • 45 mins
Monday Night Football: the common cure for a "case of the Mondays” since 1970! This week on the NFL explained. podcast, listen as Aditi and Mike explain the history of Monday night games, and welcome Ron Jaworski and Melissa Stark to the show to tell us about Monday Night from the inside.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
NFL Explained is a production of the NFL in partnership
with I Heart Radio. Welcome to NFL Explained, a production
of the NFL in partnership with I Heart Radio. America's
most reliable network is going ultra with Verizon five G
Ultra wide ban and more and more places with up
to ten times faster speeds. You can download a movie
(00:26):
in mere minutes. What Yes, Verizon is going ultra so
you can too. Five G Ultra wide ban available and
select areas most reliable based on rankings from the Root
Metrics US ROOT Score report dated first half, excluding c
ban and not specific to five G networks. Your results
may vary. Not an endorsement speed comparison to median Verizon
four G LTE speeds, downloads vary based on network conditions
(00:47):
and five G content optimization. Up Work is the world's
work marketplace. Empower your business and hire the world's most
in demand developers, designers, project managers and more at www.
Dot up work dot com takes the little lest favor
(01:10):
to the left. The packers planning the gol long. That's
Wilson scrambles to keep it along the game's final play.
It's a littleton lock to the ends of which is
Tys sit Titius. Who has who they to the fail?
(01:31):
Mary Yes, Packers and Seahawks. It wasn't just a great game,
it was a great Monday night game. And we'll have
more on that one and just a bit welcome. The
NFL explained it is the podcast where your love of
football meets curiosity. I'm like, yeah, she's a d D king, Kaballa, Hi,
everyone a d D Monday Night the focus. I hear
that football anthem, Are you ready for some football? That
(01:53):
is the first thing that I think of that kind
of reverberates inside of my skull when it comes to
Monday Night football. What stands out for you? I'm gonna
hung up on this. You you're not going to sing that,
You're just going to say it. Add this podcast. It's
early on. We haven't grown an audience to the point
where they hear me sing and then they will come back.
So I think this is a good thing that you
don't hear me saying, if you want to frame it
(02:14):
that way. But ultimately, ultimately, Mike, everything is bigger when
it happens on Monday Night. Look, think about Brett Farve
playing after his father passed away. The legend of Brett Farve.
It was what it was. But now you don't tell
the story of the legend of Brett Farve without mentioning
in that game, the fail Mary with Aaron Rodgers that
ended a labor strife between the NFL and the Referees Association.
(02:38):
If there's that lousy call on a Sunday afternoon, I
don't know that that labor strife ends. And then I
think about one of the greatest Monday night games that
I was ever at myself last year, Ravens Brown's in Cleveland,
when Lamar Jackson goes to the bathroom, or doesn't go
to the bathroom, whatever it was. It turned into the
biggest story in all of America. And again one o'clock
(02:59):
Sunday afternoon. Don't think that any of those stories are
quite as big, Mike. No, you're right, there's so much
juice the night energy. In fact, it's funny because you
just highlighted the fail Mary game, and I know we
heard the highlight at the top of the show. Packers
Seahawks twelve. One of the best parts about doing this
podcast is you get a text and you get to
hear from people that are listening to the show. And
(03:21):
one of my buddies actually has been listening since we
started this show, and he's Evan Moore and he actually
played for the Seahawks, and I told him, I said, hey, man, look,
we're actually doing a Monday night football episode, and I
wanted to get his take on the juice and what
it's like on a Monday night and the energy. And
he said, you know, I played in that Fail Mary game.
And he's like, one of the things that people don't
realize is back in the day of the NFL, at
(03:41):
that point in when time expired and you you had
the game winning touchdown, you actually had to go back
onto the field to kick the p a T. Evan
told me that they were in the locker room, Marshawn
had just topped out of the shower, had a towel on,
and someone said, hey, we gotta go and kick the
p a T. Marshawn dead sprint into the tunnel, was
ready to go out onto the football field a d
(04:03):
D and be a part of it in a towel.
So that would have been a major issue. And Evan
and his team and said no, no no, no, no, Marshawn
you gotta stay back in the locker room with that towel.
You know, I'm having a feeling that that probably would
have been in violation of the NFL's uniform codes, because
you know that those things are really pretty strict. There's
an inspector every game checking everybody's shoes and socks and
(04:25):
cleats and all of that. No concern about where those
socks we're laying on on on those calves. Um. But
I think the biggest question, at least for this episode
of d D is is why Monday night? Why do
we actually have football games on a Monday night. Well,
it's interesting, right because now here we are, we played
football on Thursday night, we played football on Sunday night. Heck,
I was at a game on a Wednesday afternoon last year.
(04:47):
This all really started, though, with Monday nights, and it
is the brain child or was the brain child of
the NFL Commissioner Pete Rosel. Pete Rosell obviously was around
at a time when television was exploding and Mike he
started imagining the entire country sitting around their TVs watching
(05:11):
one game together as a somewhat communal experience in the
age before Twitter. Obviously, so he toyed with it. In
the nineteen sixties, there was, you know, a game in
prime time every so often, and Pete Roselle thought about
potentially playing on a Friday night. But Friday didn't work, Mike,
because that was high school football night, and obviously you
(05:33):
can't mess around with high school football. And so it
was in nineteen sixty four that he actually said, okay,
let's try a Monday Night. There was a game between
the Packers and the Lions at Detroitz Tiger Stadium. The
game was actually not on TV, but it was a sellout.
It was a grand affair. It was tremendous, and by
the verger of the NFL and a f L in
(05:53):
nineteen seventy, the NFL and Pete Roselle had figured out, Okay,
we're going to have one night game a week. It's
going to be on Monday Night. It's going to be
shown on only one network. And it turned into this
tremendous this brand, this tremendous property. As you said, I mean,
there's a song, there are songs that go just with
Monday night football. The one fascinating wrinkle to all of
(06:15):
this we've got Netflix now, right, We got Amazon problem.
We got all of these different ways in terms of
streaming platforms to go and get your television and your entertainment.
But back then in the sixties, CBS, NBC, ABC, three
major networks. You're sitting there watching Ed Sullivan, Dar's Day,
you know, and and game shows things like that. That's
what grabbed the attention of a lot of families. And
(06:35):
it took this creative thinking you mentioned Roselle, you know,
to create sort of this Monday night package a lot
of those TV networks, though they weren't really having it
at the time, and it was really just we net
out at ABC saying okay, we'll take a flyer and
try to make this happen. And you also think about
just how big you mentioned the songs. Look, Ron Jaworski,
who was a part of that broadcast. Croom, Let's Stark
also part of that broadcast through They're gonna be joining
(06:57):
us a little bit later in this podcast to tell
us about their individual experiences around Monday night and why
the game is so special on that particular evening. But
look the first regular season game. Cleveland Brown's art model
and advertising executive. He's the type of guy that wanted
to host that first game, saw the juice in the
buzz that's there. But indeed you say to yourself, well,
(07:18):
who's that opponent going to be? It's all about the Jets,
right Broadway, Joe coming off of that Super Bowl went.
It just made sense sort of funnel in that direction. Brown's,
by the way, just in case anyone was actually wondering,
they defeated the Jets in that particular matchup. How about
this for a weird box score, a d D. The
Brown scored a passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown, returned to
(07:39):
kick off for a touchdown. And how to pick six.
I think if you're working that post game locker room
when it's over, I don't even know which direction you
want to actually lean in. Maybe avoid Joe Namath who
threw three interceptions in that particular game. But how about
just like the differences in the broadcast itself, and you
we almost take for granted Y d D when we
(08:00):
watch Monday nights now and we have kind of grown
up even as football fans. You almost take for granted
the three and announcing booth right and the fact that
you have that access. Well, it was Keith Jackson the
legendary boy. I was kind of just I wish I
could do a great Keith Jackson invitation. I can't. Uh,
Don Meredith comes to mind Howard Cosell in these iconic
moments that that crew was able to give us but
(08:21):
twice as many cameras a d D for that Monday
Night game then we normally would have for any of
the ones that were played on Sunday, which is credit
to ABC that they recognized this is something that we
could produce in a different way. But you know, you
mentioned Howard Cosell. That's probably one of the most iconic
moments on Monday Night. He was the one that announced
and formed the American public during a live Monday night
(08:43):
football broadcast that John Lennon had been killed. I gotta
go back, and you're right, those seminal moments because you
also saw Monday Night a d D. This convergence of
not only the sport of football, which is entertaining, but
sort of this Hollywood vibe, right because you would get
appearances from movie stars and musicians, instant replay. You know,
the first time you're seeing access on the field with
(09:06):
sideline reporters doing interviews with players and coaches. I mean,
that was sort of a new wrinkle into a lot
of the coverage that we were able to get over time.
It's amazing because Melissa's stark you mentioned earlier. She's a
very good friend of mine, and we've actually talked about
this at the intersection of culture that those football games,
(09:26):
those Monday night games sort of transcend the regular football slate,
and even the casual fan is watching Monday Night Football
perhaps more closely than any other game. And I bet
she's got some good stories about that. Yeah, and no
she will, because you're right, that cross section of entertainment
and sport. I think that's why Monday Night Football has
(09:49):
thrived the way that it has. I mean, you mentioned
John Lennon and the fact that that news breaks and
co sells the one that delivers that to an audience.
You know, you fast forward a few more years after that.
I mean, I don't know if anyone you would have
told Pete Roselle when they were doing that deal in
the sixties. Hey comes around seventeen seasons. It's the longest
primetime series in the history of network television. That's Monday
(10:11):
Night Football, which, oh, by the way, just continues to
happen because we still have Monday Night Football. Do you
have a favorite Monday Night football voice? John Madden, Dennis Miller,
John Gruden. So to me, Miller is the one that
stands out because of how different that experiences. But my
childhood football soundtrack is John Madden. So it's hard for
me to not think about big games. I mean even
(10:33):
now right like people will like I hear Aikman in book, like,
to me, that game sounds bigger because of that crow
as an example. But there are certain voices that resonate
more with me, and I don't know if it's because
I watched them and it's a generational type thing. It's
hard to argue with that. And I think it was
also the idea that John Madden was just this larger
than life figure that he wouldn't get on planes, that
(10:54):
he you know, just all of it. And again that
still goes back to this idea of Monday night football
being so big, and you think about the forethought of
a Pete Rosel to be able to see that the
insight of an art model to raise his hand and
say I want to be a part of that, and
that this many years later, that Monday Night football is
(11:15):
still It's obviously moved on to ESPN, and there are
two other nights a week that you do have this
individual primetime game, but there's still something about Monday Night.
When you ask players, they tell you that they know
Monday Night the entire league is watching them play. I mean,
I've had this conversation repeatedly. A lot of guys say
that Sunday Night football, Well, you might be traveling from
(11:38):
an away game, or you might be having to spend
time with your wife for you know whatever. That. Yeah, sure,
you try to watch a Sunday night game, and you
try to watch a Thursday night game, but it's not
the same as Monday night when you are definitely tuned
in and you know everybody else has tuned in. Yeah,
it's just all eyeballs on that particular product you mentioned.
And I talked about this a little bit earlier with
network television. You touched on it now moving to cable television,
(12:01):
but now it's you know, a couple of years in
a row, the most watched series on cable the last
four years is Monday Night Football a d D. You
and I both know we're passionate football fans. There's a
reason for that. The eyeballs, that juice, the energy whenever
you're talking about one of those night games, and just
how significant that is. Wow. Alright, Mike, just a few
(12:25):
little fun factoids about Monday night football. Do you know
which team has played the most on Monday Night Football? Um?
Off the top of my head. If I'm guests, and
I'll go Dallas Cowboys, America's team. Good guests, But it's
actually the Miami Dolphins. Can you guess what teams have
(12:47):
the most wins on Monday Night football? I can tell
you it's probably not the Miami Dolphins, and that would
be a good guess. Your forty Niners. Well, I mean
you live there. I know the Giants are your Giants.
But anyway, the forty Niners and the Pittsburgh Steelers are
hide for the most wins on Monday Night. Here's the
(13:08):
last one. How many stadiums have made their official debut
on Monday Night Football? Eight? That was pretty close. Actually
seven is the correct answer. But a couple of weeks ago,
when the Raiders hosted Monday Night Football at Allegiance Stadium,
(13:32):
it was sort of kind of a debut because they
weren't fans. A year ago. So even though this isn't
the first year of Allegian Stadium, it is the first
year of fans in Allegiance Stadium, And so that Raiders
Ravens game gets you kind of maybe sort of to eight. Yeah,
that's kind of if it's a tree falls in the
forest and no one's there to hear it, does the
(13:53):
treemate noise? I think it's the same. Maybe that's a
question for Ron Jaworski. What do you think. Yeah, that
that logic applies when fans are not in attendance. So
that's where I net out. We always talk about the
importance of those fans. Uh. So yes, and especially for
a Raiders fans. Are you're kidding me? Come on now
black all day? Uh? You mentioned Jaws, who really can
(14:14):
give us unique perspective on Monday Nights. In fact, the
first Monday night game that he ever watched, he was
in his dorm room. Little did he know he'd play
on Monday Nights and then be a part of the
broadcast crew. Ron Jaworski with unique perspective on the significance
of Monday night football that's still to come on, NFL
explained America's most reliable network is going Ultra with rise
(14:38):
in five G Ultra wide band in more and more places,
so you can do more without the ten times faster speeds.
You can download a movie in mirror minutes. What yes,
that's faster than your morning coffee run lights camera coffee.
And while you're at it, go on and download a
whole series in minutes, or a new song in seconds
A one A two one to Oh, it's done. Stock
(14:59):
up on all that entertainment, and sure you can download
work files faster too if you have to, so you
can quickly get back to all these great movies, shows
and songs you've just gotten your hands on. Verizon five
G Ultra wide band is now in more and more places.
Verizon is going ultra so you can to five G
Ultra wide band available in select areas. Most reliable based
on rankings from the Root Metrics US Roots Score report
(15:19):
dated first half excluding C band and not specific to
five G networks. Your results may vary. Not an endorsement
speed comparison to Media and Verizon four G LTE speeds
downloads very based on network conditions and five G content optimization.
Build the team that will build your business. With upwork,
you can find top developers, designers, project managers and more
who can start today so your business can succeed tomorrow
(15:42):
higher at home or in a hundred and eighty countries
around the world. To find the right talent for whatever
your business needs. Up Work the world's work marketplace. Learn
more at www dot up work dot com. Narratives Sucking
ten w Eagles Joe Worski on sucond rape trace, He's
(16:06):
looking Hey fires look lookball complete the quick, He's Puny
Futty park Boy, Fonty five Party Plty five HOLI like
quick touch fun by Las Prestok up a goal set
up Click Fine beyond Oh Claude goals Bloker. Oh, there's
(16:28):
one thing that maybe I don't love more than anything
else other than hearing awesome calls and the throwback calls.
And I'm sure Ron, some of the memories for you
that kind of just resonate when you hear a touchdown,
those are the good moments. But Monday Night football that
is the focus of today's episode here on NFL Explain
and a D D You and I felt like maybe
the best person to talk to on this particular subject
(16:49):
is Ron because he played in some of these games
and then he's on a short list. It's a small
fraternity of people that have been able to say that
they've been in the broadcast booth from Monday Night Football. Ron,
you're one of those. Can't thank you enough for the
time you heard the touchdown call. Do you have any idea,
like I don't know. If you're a numbers guy and
focused in on your career, do you know your Monday
Night record and some of your numbers surrounding those games?
(17:12):
I do not. I was never concerned about the numbers.
I was concerned about finding a way to win, so
the numbers were relevant except the final score. Do you
want to know the numbers when we do have a
winning record on Monday Night and you do have more
touchdowns than picks on Monday Nights, Mike, I five and four,
(17:33):
I believe with six touchdowns, six touchdowns, and we won't
mention the interceptions because in your memory, if you don't
remember them, then they never happened. Ron. That's the one
thing that that's become obvious, maybe that that's the starting point,
right like Monday Night Football. But d and I just
kind of talked about the history of the game. When
I say Monday night football. What's sort of the first
memory that comes to mind, Well, watching Monday night football.
(17:54):
You know, I watched the first Monday night game between
the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns in my
dorm room, killed call the Hall at Youngstown State University,
the first game. Obviously, I was playing ball all the
time in college, and it was just great to watch
more football, particularly on a Monday night. And at that time,
you know, it grew from that to Monday Night football
being just a king. I'm you know, everybody watched Monday
(18:17):
night football from you know, Howard Cosal keep Jacks in
Dandy Don, the whole fantastic early groups of Monday night football.
You know, I stull remember a game when I was
playing with the l A. Rams on a Monday night
game that Howard Cosell had called the game and he
made it a kind when you're playing anyone here anything
obviously playing the game, but after the game, people said, well,
you know, Howard go Sell called you a young Joe Nameth.
(18:38):
You know that is really cool. Man called me a
young Joe Nameth. So you hear things from other people
because you know, you concern about what other people are
saying until the game's over. Well, you mentioned Joe Namis
and he actually played in that very first Monday night
game that you're referencing. When you heard there was going
(18:58):
to be a game in prime time on a weeknight,
did it feel revolutionary? Did it feel like, wait a minute,
this is complete messing up the week? A little bit? Absolutely?
I mean, when you think about football back then, now
that was nineteen seventy and I came in the NFL
ninety three. You know, there was ABC, NBC, CBS that
that was it. You know, in the prime time programming,
(19:21):
that's pretty much what you had to choose from. You know,
we're all in a different world right now where there's
so many choices that you have to watch any event.
So it really was special Monday night football, you know
it was when you think, I think it was like
the ratings were through the roof, thirty million people every
Monday night watching games. So yeah, it was bigger and
probably better back then. We'll take us through that piece
of it too. When you were playing, there was no
(19:42):
Sunday night football, there was no Thursday night football. So
as a player putting on your uniform for Monday night
football in what ways, was that different than Sunday afternoon.
You knew everyone was going to be watching. All the
other games were played on Sunday. It was a Monday
night game. You know, if there were twenty eight teams
or thirty two teams, whatever the case may have been
(20:02):
back in the you know, the seventies, you knew every
one of your opponents was watching that game, and that
was your chance to show your wears. You know that, hey,
we're gonna show everyone around the league how good we are,
or individually how good you are as an individual player.
So clearly it was the focus, and not only the
fans across America, but the players and coaches as well.
Ron you made reference to the fact that there was
(20:24):
only the three networks, ABC, NBC and CBS. Was there
something specific as a viewer or something that you were
told after you played in the game that was just
different about that broadcast compared to what they were normally getting. Yeah,
no question. When in fact, you know, when when the
schedule came out, you know you wanted to be on
Monday Night Football. I mean, there is absolutely no doubt
(20:45):
about a Careers were made on Monday Night Football. And
once you saw that schedule and you said you had
a Monday night game. It was one of those you
took the pen on circle, that one that you know,
that's the one you want to have the big game on.
You want to be at your best and in the
same vein, you don't want to have a clunker either,
because that's what people will remember about that game, because
that's people are watching all the other teams. They're watching
two particular teams and a particular player. So if you're
(21:07):
that particular player, you want to be sure you put
on a strong performance. We'll take us to when you
got to call those games, when you first got tapped
for that assignment to do the color, what went through
your head? Yeah, it was absolutely crazy. I'll give you
the exact scenario. At that time, I was the owner
of the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League and
(21:29):
and we were playing a game, and uh, that's when
I got notified that I was going to be asked
to do Monday Night Football. At halftime of that game,
and I was told Norby Williamson at the time, was
the coordinating producer. He was at the sole game and
he came late because his plane was delayed, So at halftime,
he told me, you're going to get the deal for
(21:50):
Monday in football, but you can't tell anyone because you know,
Norby was very professional about as approach and Joe Thisan
was calling games with Korenheiser and Targo, and he said,
I'm gonna meet with Joe personally and let him know that,
you know, changes being made. So I totally reached. I
did the professionalism of Norby, and Joe handled very well
to this day. We still remained dear friends. But I
(22:11):
couldn't tell anybody. And my wife is sitting next to
me the game. I said, can I tell my wife?
And so I was able to tell him that was it.
So it took a couple of weeks before the word
actually had gotten out. Norby did it very professionally and said,
you know before it got out that I was gonna
call Monday at football. And you know, I could have
been more ecstatic to work with Mike di Rico, and
(22:31):
you know, it was kind of my mentor all along,
and Tony Kornheiser, who I worked with for a couple
of years, and Jon Gruden. It was five remarkable years
of my life. And Chip Dean was a great director
and you know, all the people that were involved with it.
You know, we're just we're first class and every way
you could have met. Jay Rothman was absolutely outstanding. And
the resources that ESPN then through at Monday night football,
(22:53):
I mean, my god, we had more done people and
football teams have because they wanted to be right, and
we think we delivered a really good product. I was
very fortunately work with great people. The nerves that come
with that, though, I think all of us sort of
have that moment like you get an opportunity and it's
so big. This is like the sports world in this
country is focusing. I still remember watching you on a
(23:13):
lot of those process. I can't even imagine the chills
and the nerves that come with having to perform at
that level. Michael, you are so correct, and you know
I played in the NFL for septi years of players,
so you've kind of been through the nerves and you
learn how to control them and everything else. But I
still remember Hank Williams, you know, we are ready to
come on the air and I'm thinking, oh my god,
you know, my family, I want my high school, college's
(23:35):
gonna be watching this Monday night football game and all
sudden Hank william starts seeing I ready push some football.
So you're listening to this, you're you know, you're ready
to go, and Tariko and Corner has there next to me,
and you know you're gonna get the go and Mike's
gonna welcome the Monday night football. But as the Hank
Williams song is playing, I'm like thinking, oh my god,
like twenty million people are when that red leg goes on,
are gonna see me, you know, And I'm just worried
(23:57):
I'm gonna go, like when Mike throws me, I go.
It was probably one of the few times I can
honestly tell you I was very nervous in my life.
But once you got through that first minute, everything was
pretty smooth. Sailings, I worked with great people Roun. We
have met in many a press box and many of
the food room in fact. But you know, there was
(24:19):
Sunday Night Football or Sunday Night Football was added in
the eighties, and of course Thursday Night Football was added
in two thousand six. I've been to a Wednesday game
last year. There was a Wednesday game and Tuesday game, right,
so we have not played football all the time. What
is it about Monday night that still feels so magical
(24:40):
and it can't be diluted by all of these other
night games. I just think it's one game. It's one game.
And of course was Sunday, you could have five or
six games being played at the same time. The late games,
he had a few games going on. I think the
fact that one game you have, you have no choice
either watch that game or you don't watch football. You
watch a baseball game, and I think most people will
(25:01):
prefer to watch football games. I would think they will.
I think the fact that it's one game game and
only you get the best production. You know, And we
were and I told people, if I showed you my
calendar during the Monday night footballs that season, we were
working ninety hours a week. And you know, you're around
a lot of the guys unit and the ladies. You
(25:21):
know how it is if you're gonna be good at
your craft and you're you're getting the game that everyone's
gonna watch. We got producers, we got directors, we got statisticians,
we got replay guys. Well, I mean we've got officials.
You've got the best of the best on your troop.
So that's what made it really exciting. You knew the
game was, you know, normally gonna be a good game
because people bring their best in the prime time game.
You get the best talent covering the game. So it's
(25:44):
just great to be part of a show like that run.
As we're preparing for the show, I was we were
on an email chain and I had wrote this to
Adity and I said, Man, I'm really so excited to
talk to you, in particular because you understand that there's
a cultural relevance that comes with Monday night Football and
yet seventies eighties, I'm thirty nine, so you know, I
watched reruns of you know, Dar's Day Show with my
(26:07):
grandmother and ed Sell like, I understand it to a point,
I didn't live it, though. How do you characterize the
cultural significance of Monday night Football? Yeah, I mean you
think of you know, when John Lennon got you know,
it was announced on Monday Night Football. There's so many
iconic things that happened, you know, that were relevant to
Monday Night Football, and very few times was you know,
(26:28):
the game ever broken into her Howard Cosell breaking down
because he got that news, and you know, I mean
there's a lot of things that happened during Monday night
football actions. So I think there was also the interviews
with celebrities and superstars that came in the booth during
the game, So that added to it as well. And
it seemed like, you know, some of the stars that
(26:49):
played were either became sideline reporters or you know, even
guys like in the booth like myself, you know. So
it just added to the luster of Monday Night Football
and the iconic voices, the iconic personalities, the guests on
the show, the halftime show, pregame interviews, and the pregame
show spawned off of Monday Night Football. It used to
be a I think a half hour pregame show. Now
(27:09):
they're like, it seems like about five hours now, you know.
So it just it started a whole another culture. Okay,
I'm going to put you on the spot. That same
email chain that Michael is referring to. We all went
back and forth on our most iconic Monday Night moments, because,
as you know, it's much bigger if it happens on
Monday night than if it happens at one pm on Sunday.
So one of our producers just before you came on,
(27:31):
was insisting it was Odell Beckham Jr. Making that catch
against Dallas. I'm arguing that it was Lamar Jackson running
out of the bathroom last year in Cleveland. Tell us,
when you think of Monday Night, what is either a
play that you witnessed or a play that you called
Monday Night moment. Yeah, I swore on Monday Night football.
(27:54):
You may remember that. I didn't think I did, but
I think I did. Well, you're lucky we're not allowed
to air what you broadcast. It was slightly embarrassing, and
yet the time was very embarrassing because we went to
a break and Jay Roth, who says he gets in
my earnings jaws, I think you swore, and no, I didn't,
(28:14):
and I did say so that was it wasn't like
a band word, you know. And so now we're in
the break and Jay says, well, you gotta apologize, you know.
So when we came out of the break, the camera
was directly on me. There's this you know, when the
camera in the box, and I got Gruden and tarikco
next to me and they are like, they're like laughing,
(28:38):
and I got on and I gotta be very serious,
ob I said an inappropriate word, and I said, I
have to apologize for an inappropriate word used during my
last play call. And I apologize those people I offended.
And at the same time, I'm being dead serious and
Mike and John are just like cracking up because I
gotta make this apology. So that was probably my most
embarrassing moment. But you know, hey, I made a mistake.
(29:00):
I got excited and in the course of the game,
and I I said, it's raw motion. You know your
is in the moment. How many of you I'll take
that another step because the next morning, my daughter, who
watches the games and all, that's just Howard Stern is
talking about you on the radio. So my daughter was
more impressed with that. Okay, but let's be fair. The
(29:23):
reason you said it is you were encouraging the quarterback
to get rid of the ball a little bit more quickly, right,
I mean it was reasonable advice. That is correct, And
actually Howard Stern said some refreshing comments, said, hey, that's
how Jaws does a game. He gets excited like he's playing.
So he backed me up, which is good. How many
of your old teammates or just people around the league
(29:44):
messaged you after um when it just came to your
apology because people know you right and and all of
a sudden, you're apologizing for an S bomb during the broadcast,
just because you're excited. I would imagine that you said
Toko and Company like they're kind of giggling while you're
having to make this apology. I would imagine your close friends,
your family, former teammates are sitting there laughing too. I'm
kind of surprised I didn't say anything worse, to be
(30:04):
honest with you. You know, I'm a football guy. You know,
I'm in seven years in NFL, four years of college,
for years of high school. There's a lot of locker
room mach on this, you know, and words do come out,
and I'm probably, uh, you know, maybe not always the
most appropriate user of the proper word. But I'm glad
it was only a simple negative comment. We're with you
(30:26):
there in a big way. Ron. We can't thank you
enough for giving us some time going down memory lane,
giving us some context on the significance of Monday night football,
and even just seeing you and hearing your voice. You
can tell the joy that you have for not only
the support but the reference that you have for those
games and Monday Night football. So thank you so much
for sharing it with us. Hey, my pleasure. Good luck
to you guys, will be safe well. Thank you and
(30:48):
you too. We hope to see you soon. Thanks. Hi Mike.
I have to tell you Jaws is really truly one
of the real gentlemen in the National Football League media world.
And I say that from personal experience. My favorite Monday
Night Football sideline reporter, Melissa's Stark, comes and joins us next. Now, look,
(31:09):
Melissa has covered just about everything there is to cover.
She was on NBC MSNBC. She's the mother of four children.
She danced gamely at my wedding in every way possible,
and she is really and truly one of my favorite people.
And I am pumped that she is coming to join us.
A deity. Was she on fire literally at your wedding?
There's a story in that, not at my wedding, but
(31:31):
there is a story to that, and I'm sure you'll
get it out of her. After the break, we'll talk
to Melissa about fires and other things. This podcast is
sponsored by Kindrel. Kindrel Designs, builds, manages, and modernizes the
(31:51):
mission critical technology systems that the world depends on every day.
Working side by side with their customers, they imagine things differently.
By forging new strategic partnerships, they unlock new possibilities, creating
a world powered by healthy digital systems, alive with opportunity,
oxygen to innovation, and energy to change the world. Kindrel
(32:12):
the Heart of Progress. This podcast is sponsored by Kendrell.
Kendrell designs, builds, manages, and modernizes the mission critical technology
systems that the world depends on every day. Working side
by side with their customers, they imagine things differently by
forging new strategic partnerships, they unlock new possibilities, creating a
(32:32):
world powered by healthy digital systems, alive with opportunity, oxygen
to innovation, and energy to change the world. Kendrell the
Heart of Progress. Okay, Mike, this is like I say
it to my kids. It is treat time. Treat because
(32:53):
the fabulous, wonderful, brilliant Melissa's Stark is joining us. I
obviously talked about her a bit before the break, but
she hosted the Olympics for MSNBC from Beijing. She was
on The Today Show. She is now the most of
NFL Networks Emmy Award winning NFL three sixty. But for
a four year period two thousand to two thousand three,
she was Monday Night Football sideline reporter, and she is
(33:17):
here to tell us all about that time period. So, Melissa,
when you were doing Monday Night football, there was no
Thursday night football. Monday Night Football was basically the biggest
show in town, right, It sure was. It was. Oh gosh,
it was so long ago. My gosh, it was twenty
years ago. But yes, it was literally the highest rated
(33:38):
show on television. And um, you know, I look back
and I kind of pinched myself because I was living
at the time. But now, you know, if if we
had social media and we had all these other things
in my own little small world, you know, would have
felt bigger. But it was huge. I mean, it was
the only thing under the lights, you know. Every I
would always talk to the athletes. I remember talking to
Jerry Rice and he gave the best quote. He's like,
(33:58):
there was nothing like playing on Monday night under these
lights because we just there. There was no other night game.
So um, yeah, it was pretty unique and special. So
it seems like you at least have a sense now
the magnitude of the moment. But like you said, I mean,
you're in your mid twenties, you're doing sidelines. It's Monday
Night football in those moments, and it's kind of like
pre social media in a lot of ways. How did
(34:20):
you know it was big even in that moment. It's
funny you say that because and A D. D Can
attested this doing live shots and things like that on TV.
You're not thinking, oh my gosh, I'm going out to
twenty million viewers or I'm going out to five so
it's just you and a camera, right, But the night
felt huge. Obviously, working with legends like Al Michaels and
John Madden was huge. But I think the fact that
(34:41):
like Saturday Night Live did a spoof on us, it
was all the other things that, like my friends kind
of came up to me and said, wow, you know
you're big now, like you know they just did they
just did a skin on you on Saturday Live. Or
the fact that I was on the Madden Game. You know,
all these younger kids knew my voice from from Madden
two thousand one or Madden two thousand too, whatever it
was at the time, So you know, you're living it
(35:02):
and I was young. I was just trying to be
one of the guy because there weren't that many women
in football at the time. And I kind of wish,
you know, now, with all my knowledge and my confidence
of being a mother and all that, like, I could
go back and do it. And I feel like I
know so much more about the world and everything, and
and maybe he could appreciate it. But at the time
it was just sort of overwhelming. And I'm here, I am,
(35:23):
you know, twenty six years old in the spotlight, but
it was incredible. Listen, you just said something about how
Monday Night Football had sort of this cultural reach, these
cultural tentacles, well beyond just a football game. You were
there when there was kind of this reset and they
brought a comedian to the broadcast booth. Well, okay, so
(35:43):
basically it was donal Meyer, who was the legendary producer
who worked at NBC and kind of started Saturday Live.
Just a genius. He came back for a year to
revamp Monday Night Football, and his old deal was, let
me bring in five different voices, right, so he's got
al of course, he brings in Dan Fouls, who's you know,
the quarterback and and uh played by the analysts. Then
(36:05):
he thinks of bringing Dennis Miller probably from you know,
Saturday at Live Days, and then Eric Dickerson. You bring
in a former player, put him down the sideline, and
then you know, the female voice and women viewership obviously
has grown through the years, but still at the time,
I mean, there were a lot of women who watched
Monday night Football just because it's more of a you know,
a lot of women watched the Super Bowl. It's it
was more of like a kind of a spectacle, you know,
(36:25):
an event because it was the one night game. So
I was, Yes, I was very much a part of that,
and I was sort of thrown in there, you know,
at a young age. I mean, I'm so appreciative looking back,
I just again, I wish i'd sort of knew more
and all of that at the time. Did you feel
pressure because you just said it, Hey, not a ton
of females in football, and I can only imagine the
(36:45):
comments that you had to hear throughout the course of
your career, but certainly in a role that is as
high profile as that. Do you feel pressure as a
twenty six year old sideline reporter Monday night Football to say,
you know what I actually know what I'm talking about, right,
you know, And I would try and downplay. I mean,
obviously I was sort of representing the female voice in
Donald Meyer's eyes, but also, you know, not sigible about football.
(37:06):
But I kind of felt like I had to be
one of the guys. Like I would I wear contacts,
but i'd wear my glasses, I'd wear jeans for the
production meetings, like when I was around all the players.
I just sort of try and downplay my femininity. But
the funny thing is, and in DD knows this. Then
I went to go work at the Today Show and
then I'm with Katie Curk who's wearing like, you know,
the highest high heels if you've ever seen. That's all
about being female and embracing your femininity. So I go
(37:28):
from one extreme to the next where you sort of
feel like, okay, I can do this, And now it's
kind of come full circle where you know it's okay
to be a female and still be respected in football
and still dressed like a female, and you know all
of that. I mean, of course, there's a line to
be drawn. So it was definitely a fine line to walk,
and I definitely had people challenged me, and it was
early on, I would say more in other sports, you know,
(37:50):
Like I was covering a golf event and Jack Nicholas
said something, you know, sort of it was with Tiger
Woods and Sergio Garcia and people who are your you know,
this generation, you kind of get it, got the women
were part of things. And then Jack said something sort
of like, well you might be nice to look at,
but you're in my line, you know, something like that,
and I'm like, oh my gosh, um, but I digressed
(38:11):
for Monday night football. My point being it wasn't always
easy to be a female, you know, when you were
so young covering this, and now it's much more accepted
and commonplace. Well, Melissa, you know what you do make
a great transition right there. You have covered the Olympics,
You've been on the sideline at Super Bowls games in London.
All of these big events tell us something about Monday
(38:32):
night football that just isn't matched anywhere else, or that
makes it simply unique. You know. I keep saying under
the lights, but like the energy at night and just
the fact when I did it, that it was the
one game at night that made it so special. Um.
I think working with legends and you mentioned the Olympics
and things like and I've worked with some incredible people,
(38:53):
but there was something about you know, John Madden and
riding in the Madden Cruiser, and and then just the
access that you have. I mean, granted we have great access,
you know working at NFL, I working in the NFL,
or if you work at the ESPN or wherever, people
have access, but like you know, I could call any
college coach and anywhere. You know, hey, it's let's start
oneing up a boom. You know. It was just sort
of the name and the brand of it all was
(39:14):
just you know, above and beyond. We we can't let
the Madden Cruiser grow. I mean you've got on road
trips on the mad and Cruiser. Oh yeah, Oh, I
mean we went everywhere on like because because if we
travel with John, that was the only way to go.
So every production meeting we go to, every time, we
went out to dinner, and and then it was really
special because every usually the Christmas Games, they'd always give
(39:34):
us a Tampa game just because you know, it's outside
at night. They didn't want to totally freeze at night,
so we'd have one there. And my family lives near
the Sarasota area, and John has a house in Sarasota,
so my whole family would get on and we'd buy
the John down there. It was amazing and he's just,
you know, this larger than life figure but just as
down to earth and genuine as could be. And we're
(39:55):
just cruising along, you know, after the game. Can you
imagine if you had your kids then four kids riding
along in the Madden Cruiser. I always say that, I mean,
you know, now, my kids, can you know kind of
come down the field or do this and that, or
get a jersey signed, or come to a super Bowl,
but like to relive all of that would have been
absolutely amazing through their eyes. I can't even imagine. Just
(40:17):
really no, I did it like maddening cruiser. Um, Melissa,
is there is there a moment that stands out? I'm
sure there's probably a ton with you know, just kind
of hanging out with John and the entire crew. But
when I say Monday Night football is their memory that
does stick out maybe above the rest. Ironically, our first
season together, that first season with all the five people
and then it changed to just Al and John Madden
(40:39):
and me, But when we had everybody together. That was
I mean Al would even tell you our ratings were
through the roof, and we like to think that it
was because of the five of us. But we had
the best games. I mean, if you go back and
look at it, we might have had five or six
overtime games. We had the longest game in Monday night
football history. It was a viny testaverty was the Jets game.
I mean, it just kept going and going and going.
(41:01):
We also had the Antonio Freeman catch, the you know,
Michael's like he did what. You know, it was pretty
cool just to be part of these um and you know,
not that I'm complaining, but a lot of times and
you guys have been there down on the sidelines, it's
not the best, you know, when you're a little raised up.
Like sometimes I'd be like, wait, what does that? When
I didn't see what happened, I got to run over
and interview this guy, you know, because you're down at
(41:21):
the ground level. But just the excitement of doing like
the postgame interviews kind of right afterwards, it's nothing that
you can really match. And then I fast forward in
this past year. I went to a few games during
COVID once they started opening a back up and no
fans and no sidelines, and you realize the difference of
the energy. I mean, and you guys understand that. I mean,
it was like night and day. So you realize how
much you appreciate those fans, how much you appreciate that atmosphere. Um, well,
(41:45):
I I do like my third game, my third game there,
so they would make me stand do my open right
near where the players weren't out of the tunnel, and
so like the pyrotechnics are going off, you know, as
they introduced the team shooting up and my sweater, the
back of my sweater caught on fire and I stepped
out of position and John's like, get back in position.
We're coming to you in three seconds. And so I
had to do my report and the thing was kind
(42:07):
of smoldering in the back for like fixing seconds. So
that was certainly pretty memorable and like, you know, one
of those treacherous things that you experienced on the job.
But it was, you know, there are a lot of
you know, just incredible, you know, Michael Vick. It's just
I'm just trying to think back to all these guys,
and it was just Tom Brady, like in the opener
the in in Gillette. I just it was just incredible
(42:27):
because you know, it's a lot of these guys who
were either retired now or you know, Tom Brady is
not retired obviously, but you know, to follow him through
his career and to start back then, you know, and
to cover Pro Bowl. We didn't we so if you
did one in a football, you did the Pro Bowl.
So you've got a Wii for two weeks at the
one of the season. Talk about incredible because you guys
are making me take walk down memory lane and like
(42:50):
how amazing it was. Yeah, you know, experience is wasted
on the young, right, Melissa totally, who wouldn't sign up
for that now? So so so appreciate. This is that
smoldering sweater in Canton. You know what, I still have it.
It's so funny. I still have it. Uhh. Yeah, I
(43:13):
gotta pack you up, but I kept it for you know,
for memory's stake. Yes, exactly. I'm so glad to talk
to you guys the best any time. Yeah, you guys
are awesome. Well, thank you, thank you so much and
we will definitely talk to you soon. Okay, good, thanks
take care guys. Fine, So Mike none of that is fake.
That is exactly how Melissa talks all the time. Super
(43:35):
high energy and st dot it with four kids, four teenagers,
can you imagine and still have that energy. But I'll
tell you this, listening to her makes me so hungry
to be back on a Monday night football sideline. Why
not just the energy that's there, You're right. Look, I mean,
I know we've spent this entire episode talking about the
history of the game, why the game actually is played
(43:56):
on a Monday night, and then of course some of
those memorable moments, and there are so many moments that
we weren't even able to touch upon. But there's one
thing that's abundantly clear. I am never going to forget
Melissa telling us that she was on fire right before
she was about to do a live hit on television,
and that she still has the sweater, that she still
has the sweater. Oh gosh, Well, you know what, Mike,
(44:18):
this one has been a lot of fun. It's been
a weird trip down memory lane. And I can't say
that I ever really wondered why football was played on
Monday night. It just felt like the thing that had
to be done. Well, I think you just like this
episode a lot because you get to catch up with
a couple of your buddies in dwarf Sky and Melissa,
so appreciate their time and hanging out with us on
this podcast. But don't forget we want to make sure
(44:40):
that your rate your review follow us. The NFL explained
wherever you get your podcasts and add That's Monday Night
Football explained The best that we could see you next
week brought to you by up work, where you can
(45:00):
build a team that will build your business. Learn more
at upwork dot com. America's most reliable network is going
ultra with Verizon five G Ultra wide ban and more
and more places with up to ten times faster speeds.
You can download a movie in mere minutes. What Yes,
Verizon is going ultra so you can to five G
ultrawide ban available in select areas. Most reliable based on
(45:21):
rankings from the Root Metrics US ROOTS Score report dated
first half one, excluding c ban and not specific to
five G networks. Your results may vary. Not an endorsement
speed comparison to median Verizon four G LTE speeds downloads
vary based on network conditions and five G content optimization
NFL Explained is a production of the NFL in partnership
with I Heart Radio. Welcome to NFL Explained, a production
of the NFL in partnership with I Heart Radio. America's
most reliable network is going ultra with Verizon five G
Ultra wide ban and more and more places with up
to ten times faster speeds. You can download a movie
(00:26):
in mere minutes. What Yes, Verizon is going ultra so
you can too. Five G Ultra wide ban available and
select areas most reliable based on rankings from the Root
Metrics US ROOT Score report dated first half, excluding c
ban and not specific to five G networks. Your results
may vary. Not an endorsement speed comparison to median Verizon
four G LTE speeds, downloads vary based on network conditions
(00:47):
and five G content optimization. Up Work is the world's
work marketplace. Empower your business and hire the world's most
in demand developers, designers, project managers and more at www.
Dot up work dot com takes the little lest favor
(01:10):
to the left. The packers planning the gol long. That's
Wilson scrambles to keep it along the game's final play.
It's a littleton lock to the ends of which is
Tys sit Titius. Who has who they to the fail?
(01:31):
Mary Yes, Packers and Seahawks. It wasn't just a great game,
it was a great Monday night game. And we'll have
more on that one and just a bit welcome. The
NFL explained it is the podcast where your love of
football meets curiosity. I'm like, yeah, she's a d D king, Kaballa, Hi,
everyone a d D Monday Night the focus. I hear
that football anthem, Are you ready for some football? That
(01:53):
is the first thing that I think of that kind
of reverberates inside of my skull when it comes to
Monday Night football. What stands out for you? I'm gonna
hung up on this. You you're not going to sing that,
You're just going to say it. Add this podcast. It's
early on. We haven't grown an audience to the point
where they hear me sing and then they will come back.
So I think this is a good thing that you
don't hear me saying, if you want to frame it
(02:14):
that way. But ultimately, ultimately, Mike, everything is bigger when
it happens on Monday Night. Look, think about Brett Farve
playing after his father passed away. The legend of Brett Farve.
It was what it was. But now you don't tell
the story of the legend of Brett Farve without mentioning
in that game, the fail Mary with Aaron Rodgers that
ended a labor strife between the NFL and the Referees Association.
(02:38):
If there's that lousy call on a Sunday afternoon, I
don't know that that labor strife ends. And then I
think about one of the greatest Monday night games that
I was ever at myself last year, Ravens Brown's in Cleveland,
when Lamar Jackson goes to the bathroom, or doesn't go
to the bathroom, whatever it was. It turned into the
biggest story in all of America. And again one o'clock
(02:59):
Sunday afternoon. Don't think that any of those stories are
quite as big, Mike. No, you're right, there's so much
juice the night energy. In fact, it's funny because you
just highlighted the fail Mary game, and I know we
heard the highlight at the top of the show. Packers
Seahawks twelve. One of the best parts about doing this
podcast is you get a text and you get to
hear from people that are listening to the show. And
(03:21):
one of my buddies actually has been listening since we
started this show, and he's Evan Moore and he actually
played for the Seahawks, and I told him, I said, hey, man, look,
we're actually doing a Monday night football episode, and I
wanted to get his take on the juice and what
it's like on a Monday night and the energy. And
he said, you know, I played in that Fail Mary game.
And he's like, one of the things that people don't
realize is back in the day of the NFL, at
(03:41):
that point in when time expired and you you had
the game winning touchdown, you actually had to go back
onto the field to kick the p a T. Evan
told me that they were in the locker room, Marshawn
had just topped out of the shower, had a towel on,
and someone said, hey, we gotta go and kick the
p a T. Marshawn dead sprint into the tunnel, was
ready to go out onto the football field a d
(04:03):
D and be a part of it in a towel.
So that would have been a major issue. And Evan
and his team and said no, no no, no, no, Marshawn
you gotta stay back in the locker room with that towel.
You know, I'm having a feeling that that probably would
have been in violation of the NFL's uniform codes, because
you know that those things are really pretty strict. There's
an inspector every game checking everybody's shoes and socks and
(04:25):
cleats and all of that. No concern about where those
socks we're laying on on on those calves. Um. But
I think the biggest question, at least for this episode
of d D is is why Monday night? Why do
we actually have football games on a Monday night. Well,
it's interesting, right because now here we are, we played
football on Thursday night, we played football on Sunday night. Heck,
I was at a game on a Wednesday afternoon last year.
(04:47):
This all really started, though, with Monday nights, and it
is the brain child or was the brain child of
the NFL Commissioner Pete Rosel. Pete Rosell obviously was around
at a time when television was exploding and Mike he
started imagining the entire country sitting around their TVs watching
(05:11):
one game together as a somewhat communal experience in the
age before Twitter. Obviously, so he toyed with it. In
the nineteen sixties, there was, you know, a game in
prime time every so often, and Pete Roselle thought about
potentially playing on a Friday night. But Friday didn't work, Mike,
because that was high school football night, and obviously you
(05:33):
can't mess around with high school football. And so it
was in nineteen sixty four that he actually said, okay,
let's try a Monday Night. There was a game between
the Packers and the Lions at Detroitz Tiger Stadium. The
game was actually not on TV, but it was a sellout.
It was a grand affair. It was tremendous, and by
the verger of the NFL and a f L in
(05:53):
nineteen seventy, the NFL and Pete Roselle had figured out, Okay,
we're going to have one night game a week. It's
going to be on Monday Night. It's going to be
shown on only one network. And it turned into this
tremendous this brand, this tremendous property. As you said, I mean,
there's a song, there are songs that go just with
Monday night football. The one fascinating wrinkle to all of
(06:15):
this we've got Netflix now, right, We got Amazon problem.
We got all of these different ways in terms of
streaming platforms to go and get your television and your entertainment.
But back then in the sixties, CBS, NBC, ABC, three
major networks. You're sitting there watching Ed Sullivan, Dar's Day,
you know, and and game shows things like that. That's
what grabbed the attention of a lot of families. And
(06:35):
it took this creative thinking you mentioned Roselle, you know,
to create sort of this Monday night package a lot
of those TV networks, though they weren't really having it
at the time, and it was really just we net
out at ABC saying okay, we'll take a flyer and
try to make this happen. And you also think about
just how big you mentioned the songs. Look, Ron Jaworski,
who was a part of that broadcast. Croom, Let's Stark
also part of that broadcast through They're gonna be joining
(06:57):
us a little bit later in this podcast to tell
us about their individual experiences around Monday night and why
the game is so special on that particular evening. But
look the first regular season game. Cleveland Brown's art model
and advertising executive. He's the type of guy that wanted
to host that first game, saw the juice in the
buzz that's there. But indeed you say to yourself, well,
(07:18):
who's that opponent going to be? It's all about the Jets,
right Broadway, Joe coming off of that Super Bowl went.
It just made sense sort of funnel in that direction. Brown's,
by the way, just in case anyone was actually wondering,
they defeated the Jets in that particular matchup. How about
this for a weird box score, a d D. The
Brown scored a passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown, returned to
(07:39):
kick off for a touchdown. And how to pick six.
I think if you're working that post game locker room
when it's over, I don't even know which direction you
want to actually lean in. Maybe avoid Joe Namath who
threw three interceptions in that particular game. But how about
just like the differences in the broadcast itself, and you
we almost take for granted Y d D when we
(08:00):
watch Monday nights now and we have kind of grown
up even as football fans. You almost take for granted
the three and announcing booth right and the fact that
you have that access. Well, it was Keith Jackson the
legendary boy. I was kind of just I wish I
could do a great Keith Jackson invitation. I can't. Uh,
Don Meredith comes to mind Howard Cosell in these iconic
moments that that crew was able to give us but
(08:21):
twice as many cameras a d D for that Monday
Night game then we normally would have for any of
the ones that were played on Sunday, which is credit
to ABC that they recognized this is something that we
could produce in a different way. But you know, you
mentioned Howard Cosell. That's probably one of the most iconic
moments on Monday Night. He was the one that announced
and formed the American public during a live Monday night
(08:43):
football broadcast that John Lennon had been killed. I gotta
go back, and you're right, those seminal moments because you
also saw Monday Night a d D. This convergence of
not only the sport of football, which is entertaining, but
sort of this Hollywood vibe, right because you would get
appearances from movie stars and musicians, instant replay. You know,
the first time you're seeing access on the field with
(09:06):
sideline reporters doing interviews with players and coaches. I mean,
that was sort of a new wrinkle into a lot
of the coverage that we were able to get over time.
It's amazing because Melissa's stark you mentioned earlier. She's a
very good friend of mine, and we've actually talked about
this at the intersection of culture that those football games,
(09:26):
those Monday night games sort of transcend the regular football slate,
and even the casual fan is watching Monday Night Football
perhaps more closely than any other game. And I bet
she's got some good stories about that. Yeah, and no
she will, because you're right, that cross section of entertainment
and sport. I think that's why Monday Night Football has
(09:49):
thrived the way that it has. I mean, you mentioned
John Lennon and the fact that that news breaks and
co sells the one that delivers that to an audience.
You know, you fast forward a few more years after that.
I mean, I don't know if anyone you would have
told Pete Roselle when they were doing that deal in
the sixties. Hey comes around seventeen seasons. It's the longest
primetime series in the history of network television. That's Monday
(10:11):
Night Football, which, oh, by the way, just continues to
happen because we still have Monday Night Football. Do you
have a favorite Monday Night football voice? John Madden, Dennis Miller,
John Gruden. So to me, Miller is the one that
stands out because of how different that experiences. But my
childhood football soundtrack is John Madden. So it's hard for
me to not think about big games. I mean even
(10:33):
now right like people will like I hear Aikman in book, like,
to me, that game sounds bigger because of that crow
as an example. But there are certain voices that resonate
more with me, and I don't know if it's because
I watched them and it's a generational type thing. It's
hard to argue with that. And I think it was
also the idea that John Madden was just this larger
than life figure that he wouldn't get on planes, that
(10:54):
he you know, just all of it. And again that
still goes back to this idea of Monday night football
being so big, and you think about the forethought of
a Pete Rosel to be able to see that the
insight of an art model to raise his hand and
say I want to be a part of that, and
that this many years later, that Monday Night football is
(11:15):
still It's obviously moved on to ESPN, and there are
two other nights a week that you do have this
individual primetime game, but there's still something about Monday Night.
When you ask players, they tell you that they know
Monday Night the entire league is watching them play. I mean,
I've had this conversation repeatedly. A lot of guys say
that Sunday Night football, Well, you might be traveling from
(11:38):
an away game, or you might be having to spend
time with your wife for you know whatever. That. Yeah, sure,
you try to watch a Sunday night game, and you
try to watch a Thursday night game, but it's not
the same as Monday night when you are definitely tuned
in and you know everybody else has tuned in. Yeah,
it's just all eyeballs on that particular product you mentioned.
And I talked about this a little bit earlier with
network television. You touched on it now moving to cable television,
(12:01):
but now it's you know, a couple of years in
a row, the most watched series on cable the last
four years is Monday Night Football a d D. You
and I both know we're passionate football fans. There's a
reason for that. The eyeballs, that juice, the energy whenever
you're talking about one of those night games, and just
how significant that is. Wow. Alright, Mike, just a few
(12:25):
little fun factoids about Monday night football. Do you know
which team has played the most on Monday Night Football? Um?
Off the top of my head. If I'm guests, and
I'll go Dallas Cowboys, America's team. Good guests, But it's
actually the Miami Dolphins. Can you guess what teams have
(12:47):
the most wins on Monday Night football? I can tell
you it's probably not the Miami Dolphins, and that would
be a good guess. Your forty Niners. Well, I mean
you live there. I know the Giants are your Giants.
But anyway, the forty Niners and the Pittsburgh Steelers are
hide for the most wins on Monday Night. Here's the
(13:08):
last one. How many stadiums have made their official debut
on Monday Night Football? Eight? That was pretty close. Actually
seven is the correct answer. But a couple of weeks ago,
when the Raiders hosted Monday Night Football at Allegiance Stadium,
(13:32):
it was sort of kind of a debut because they
weren't fans. A year ago. So even though this isn't
the first year of Allegian Stadium, it is the first
year of fans in Allegiance Stadium, And so that Raiders
Ravens game gets you kind of maybe sort of to eight. Yeah,
that's kind of if it's a tree falls in the
forest and no one's there to hear it, does the
(13:53):
treemate noise? I think it's the same. Maybe that's a
question for Ron Jaworski. What do you think. Yeah, that
that logic applies when fans are not in attendance. So
that's where I net out. We always talk about the
importance of those fans. Uh. So yes, and especially for
a Raiders fans. Are you're kidding me? Come on now
black all day? Uh? You mentioned Jaws, who really can
(14:14):
give us unique perspective on Monday Nights. In fact, the
first Monday night game that he ever watched, he was
in his dorm room. Little did he know he'd play
on Monday Nights and then be a part of the
broadcast crew. Ron Jaworski with unique perspective on the significance
of Monday night football that's still to come on, NFL
explained America's most reliable network is going Ultra with rise
(14:38):
in five G Ultra wide band in more and more places,
so you can do more without the ten times faster speeds.
You can download a movie in mirror minutes. What yes,
that's faster than your morning coffee run lights camera coffee.
And while you're at it, go on and download a
whole series in minutes, or a new song in seconds
A one A two one to Oh, it's done. Stock
(14:59):
up on all that entertainment, and sure you can download
work files faster too if you have to, so you
can quickly get back to all these great movies, shows
and songs you've just gotten your hands on. Verizon five
G Ultra wide band is now in more and more places.
Verizon is going ultra so you can to five G
Ultra wide band available in select areas. Most reliable based
on rankings from the Root Metrics US Roots Score report
(15:19):
dated first half excluding C band and not specific to
five G networks. Your results may vary. Not an endorsement
speed comparison to Media and Verizon four G LTE speeds
downloads very based on network conditions and five G content optimization.
Build the team that will build your business. With upwork,
you can find top developers, designers, project managers and more
who can start today so your business can succeed tomorrow
(15:42):
higher at home or in a hundred and eighty countries
around the world. To find the right talent for whatever
your business needs. Up Work the world's work marketplace. Learn
more at www dot up work dot com. Narratives Sucking
ten w Eagles Joe Worski on sucond rape trace, He's
(16:06):
looking Hey fires look lookball complete the quick, He's Puny
Futty park Boy, Fonty five Party Plty five HOLI like
quick touch fun by Las Prestok up a goal set
up Click Fine beyond Oh Claude goals Bloker. Oh, there's
(16:28):
one thing that maybe I don't love more than anything
else other than hearing awesome calls and the throwback calls.
And I'm sure Ron, some of the memories for you
that kind of just resonate when you hear a touchdown,
those are the good moments. But Monday Night football that
is the focus of today's episode here on NFL Explain
and a D D You and I felt like maybe
the best person to talk to on this particular subject
(16:49):
is Ron because he played in some of these games
and then he's on a short list. It's a small
fraternity of people that have been able to say that
they've been in the broadcast booth from Monday Night Football. Ron,
you're one of those. Can't thank you enough for the
time you heard the touchdown call. Do you have any idea,
like I don't know. If you're a numbers guy and
focused in on your career, do you know your Monday
Night record and some of your numbers surrounding those games?
(17:12):
I do not. I was never concerned about the numbers.
I was concerned about finding a way to win, so
the numbers were relevant except the final score. Do you
want to know the numbers when we do have a
winning record on Monday Night and you do have more
touchdowns than picks on Monday Nights, Mike, I five and four,
(17:33):
I believe with six touchdowns, six touchdowns, and we won't
mention the interceptions because in your memory, if you don't
remember them, then they never happened. Ron. That's the one
thing that that's become obvious, maybe that that's the starting point,
right like Monday Night Football. But d and I just
kind of talked about the history of the game. When
I say Monday night football. What's sort of the first
memory that comes to mind, Well, watching Monday night football.
(17:54):
You know, I watched the first Monday night game between
the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns in my
dorm room, killed call the Hall at Youngstown State University,
the first game. Obviously, I was playing ball all the
time in college, and it was just great to watch
more football, particularly on a Monday night. And at that time,
you know, it grew from that to Monday Night football
being just a king. I'm you know, everybody watched Monday
(18:17):
night football from you know, Howard Cosal keep Jacks in
Dandy Don, the whole fantastic early groups of Monday night football.
You know, I stull remember a game when I was
playing with the l A. Rams on a Monday night
game that Howard Cosell had called the game and he
made it a kind when you're playing anyone here anything
obviously playing the game, but after the game, people said, well,
you know, Howard go Sell called you a young Joe Nameth.
(18:38):
You know that is really cool. Man called me a
young Joe Nameth. So you hear things from other people
because you know, you concern about what other people are
saying until the game's over. Well, you mentioned Joe Namis
and he actually played in that very first Monday night
game that you're referencing. When you heard there was going
(18:58):
to be a game in prime time on a weeknight,
did it feel revolutionary? Did it feel like, wait a minute,
this is complete messing up the week? A little bit? Absolutely?
I mean, when you think about football back then, now
that was nineteen seventy and I came in the NFL
ninety three. You know, there was ABC, NBC, CBS that
that was it. You know, in the prime time programming,
(19:21):
that's pretty much what you had to choose from. You know,
we're all in a different world right now where there's
so many choices that you have to watch any event.
So it really was special Monday night football, you know
it was when you think, I think it was like
the ratings were through the roof, thirty million people every
Monday night watching games. So yeah, it was bigger and
probably better back then. We'll take us through that piece
of it too. When you were playing, there was no
(19:42):
Sunday night football, there was no Thursday night football. So
as a player putting on your uniform for Monday night
football in what ways, was that different than Sunday afternoon.
You knew everyone was going to be watching. All the
other games were played on Sunday. It was a Monday
night game. You know, if there were twenty eight teams
or thirty two teams, whatever the case may have been
(20:02):
back in the you know, the seventies, you knew every
one of your opponents was watching that game, and that
was your chance to show your wears. You know that, hey,
we're gonna show everyone around the league how good we are,
or individually how good you are as an individual player.
So clearly it was the focus, and not only the
fans across America, but the players and coaches as well.
Ron you made reference to the fact that there was
(20:24):
only the three networks, ABC, NBC and CBS. Was there
something specific as a viewer or something that you were
told after you played in the game that was just
different about that broadcast compared to what they were normally getting. Yeah,
no question. When in fact, you know, when when the
schedule came out, you know you wanted to be on
Monday Night Football. I mean, there is absolutely no doubt
(20:45):
about a Careers were made on Monday Night Football. And
once you saw that schedule and you said you had
a Monday night game. It was one of those you
took the pen on circle, that one that you know,
that's the one you want to have the big game on.
You want to be at your best and in the
same vein, you don't want to have a clunker either,
because that's what people will remember about that game, because
that's people are watching all the other teams. They're watching
two particular teams and a particular player. So if you're
(21:07):
that particular player, you want to be sure you put
on a strong performance. We'll take us to when you
got to call those games, when you first got tapped
for that assignment to do the color, what went through
your head? Yeah, it was absolutely crazy. I'll give you
the exact scenario. At that time, I was the owner
of the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League and
(21:29):
and we were playing a game, and uh, that's when
I got notified that I was going to be asked
to do Monday Night Football. At halftime of that game,
and I was told Norby Williamson at the time, was
the coordinating producer. He was at the sole game and
he came late because his plane was delayed, So at halftime,
he told me, you're going to get the deal for
(21:50):
Monday in football, but you can't tell anyone because you know,
Norby was very professional about as approach and Joe Thisan
was calling games with Korenheiser and Targo, and he said,
I'm gonna meet with Joe personally and let him know that,
you know, changes being made. So I totally reached. I
did the professionalism of Norby, and Joe handled very well
to this day. We still remained dear friends. But I
(22:11):
couldn't tell anybody. And my wife is sitting next to
me the game. I said, can I tell my wife?
And so I was able to tell him that was it.
So it took a couple of weeks before the word
actually had gotten out. Norby did it very professionally and said,
you know before it got out that I was gonna
call Monday at football. And you know, I could have
been more ecstatic to work with Mike di Rico, and
(22:31):
you know, it was kind of my mentor all along,
and Tony Kornheiser, who I worked with for a couple
of years, and Jon Gruden. It was five remarkable years
of my life. And Chip Dean was a great director
and you know, all the people that were involved with it.
You know, we're just we're first class and every way
you could have met. Jay Rothman was absolutely outstanding. And
the resources that ESPN then through at Monday night football,
(22:53):
I mean, my god, we had more done people and
football teams have because they wanted to be right, and
we think we delivered a really good product. I was
very fortunately work with great people. The nerves that come
with that, though, I think all of us sort of
have that moment like you get an opportunity and it's
so big. This is like the sports world in this
country is focusing. I still remember watching you on a
(23:13):
lot of those process. I can't even imagine the chills
and the nerves that come with having to perform at
that level. Michael, you are so correct, and you know
I played in the NFL for septi years of players,
so you've kind of been through the nerves and you
learn how to control them and everything else. But I
still remember Hank Williams, you know, we are ready to
come on the air and I'm thinking, oh my god,
you know, my family, I want my high school, college's
(23:35):
gonna be watching this Monday night football game and all
sudden Hank william starts seeing I ready push some football.
So you're listening to this, you're you know, you're ready
to go, and Tariko and Corner has there next to me,
and you know you're gonna get the go and Mike's
gonna welcome the Monday night football. But as the Hank
Williams song is playing, I'm like thinking, oh my god,
like twenty million people are when that red leg goes on,
are gonna see me, you know, And I'm just worried
(23:57):
I'm gonna go, like when Mike throws me, I go.
It was probably one of the few times I can
honestly tell you I was very nervous in my life.
But once you got through that first minute, everything was
pretty smooth. Sailings, I worked with great people Roun. We
have met in many a press box and many of
the food room in fact. But you know, there was
(24:19):
Sunday Night Football or Sunday Night Football was added in
the eighties, and of course Thursday Night Football was added
in two thousand six. I've been to a Wednesday game
last year. There was a Wednesday game and Tuesday game, right,
so we have not played football all the time. What
is it about Monday night that still feels so magical
(24:40):
and it can't be diluted by all of these other
night games. I just think it's one game. It's one game.
And of course was Sunday, you could have five or
six games being played at the same time. The late games,
he had a few games going on. I think the
fact that one game you have, you have no choice
either watch that game or you don't watch football. You
watch a baseball game, and I think most people will
(25:01):
prefer to watch football games. I would think they will.
I think the fact that it's one game game and
only you get the best production. You know, And we
were and I told people, if I showed you my
calendar during the Monday night footballs that season, we were
working ninety hours a week. And you know, you're around
a lot of the guys unit and the ladies. You
(25:21):
know how it is if you're gonna be good at
your craft and you're you're getting the game that everyone's
gonna watch. We got producers, we got directors, we got statisticians,
we got replay guys. Well, I mean we've got officials.
You've got the best of the best on your troop.
So that's what made it really exciting. You knew the
game was, you know, normally gonna be a good game
because people bring their best in the prime time game.
You get the best talent covering the game. So it's
(25:44):
just great to be part of a show like that run.
As we're preparing for the show, I was we were
on an email chain and I had wrote this to
Adity and I said, Man, I'm really so excited to
talk to you, in particular because you understand that there's
a cultural relevance that comes with Monday night Football and
yet seventies eighties, I'm thirty nine, so you know, I
watched reruns of you know, Dar's Day Show with my
(26:07):
grandmother and ed Sell like, I understand it to a point,
I didn't live it, though. How do you characterize the
cultural significance of Monday night Football? Yeah, I mean you
think of you know, when John Lennon got you know,
it was announced on Monday Night Football. There's so many
iconic things that happened, you know, that were relevant to
Monday Night Football, and very few times was you know,
(26:28):
the game ever broken into her Howard Cosell breaking down
because he got that news, and you know, I mean
there's a lot of things that happened during Monday night
football actions. So I think there was also the interviews
with celebrities and superstars that came in the booth during
the game, So that added to it as well. And
it seemed like, you know, some of the stars that
(26:49):
played were either became sideline reporters or you know, even
guys like in the booth like myself, you know. So
it just added to the luster of Monday Night Football
and the iconic voices, the iconic personalities, the guests on
the show, the halftime show, pregame interviews, and the pregame
show spawned off of Monday Night Football. It used to
be a I think a half hour pregame show. Now
(27:09):
they're like, it seems like about five hours now, you know.
So it just it started a whole another culture. Okay,
I'm going to put you on the spot. That same
email chain that Michael is referring to. We all went
back and forth on our most iconic Monday Night moments, because,
as you know, it's much bigger if it happens on
Monday night than if it happens at one pm on Sunday.
So one of our producers just before you came on,
(27:31):
was insisting it was Odell Beckham Jr. Making that catch
against Dallas. I'm arguing that it was Lamar Jackson running
out of the bathroom last year in Cleveland. Tell us,
when you think of Monday Night, what is either a
play that you witnessed or a play that you called
Monday Night moment. Yeah, I swore on Monday Night football.
(27:54):
You may remember that. I didn't think I did, but
I think I did. Well, you're lucky we're not allowed
to air what you broadcast. It was slightly embarrassing, and
yet the time was very embarrassing because we went to
a break and Jay Roth, who says he gets in
my earnings jaws, I think you swore, and no, I didn't,
(28:14):
and I did say so that was it wasn't like
a band word, you know. And so now we're in
the break and Jay says, well, you gotta apologize, you know.
So when we came out of the break, the camera
was directly on me. There's this you know, when the
camera in the box, and I got Gruden and tarikco
next to me and they are like, they're like laughing,
(28:38):
and I got on and I gotta be very serious,
ob I said an inappropriate word, and I said, I
have to apologize for an inappropriate word used during my
last play call. And I apologize those people I offended.
And at the same time, I'm being dead serious and
Mike and John are just like cracking up because I
gotta make this apology. So that was probably my most
embarrassing moment. But you know, hey, I made a mistake.
(29:00):
I got excited and in the course of the game,
and I I said, it's raw motion. You know your
is in the moment. How many of you I'll take
that another step because the next morning, my daughter, who
watches the games and all, that's just Howard Stern is
talking about you on the radio. So my daughter was
more impressed with that. Okay, but let's be fair. The
(29:23):
reason you said it is you were encouraging the quarterback
to get rid of the ball a little bit more quickly, right,
I mean it was reasonable advice. That is correct, And
actually Howard Stern said some refreshing comments, said, hey, that's
how Jaws does a game. He gets excited like he's playing.
So he backed me up, which is good. How many
of your old teammates or just people around the league
(29:44):
messaged you after um when it just came to your
apology because people know you right and and all of
a sudden, you're apologizing for an S bomb during the broadcast,
just because you're excited. I would imagine that you said
Toko and Company like they're kind of giggling while you're
having to make this apology. I would imagine your close friends,
your family, former teammates are sitting there laughing too. I'm
kind of surprised I didn't say anything worse, to be
(30:04):
honest with you. You know, I'm a football guy. You know,
I'm in seven years in NFL, four years of college,
for years of high school. There's a lot of locker
room mach on this, you know, and words do come out,
and I'm probably, uh, you know, maybe not always the
most appropriate user of the proper word. But I'm glad
it was only a simple negative comment. We're with you
(30:26):
there in a big way. Ron. We can't thank you
enough for giving us some time going down memory lane,
giving us some context on the significance of Monday night football,
and even just seeing you and hearing your voice. You
can tell the joy that you have for not only
the support but the reference that you have for those
games and Monday Night football. So thank you so much
for sharing it with us. Hey, my pleasure. Good luck
to you guys, will be safe well. Thank you and
(30:48):
you too. We hope to see you soon. Thanks. Hi Mike.
I have to tell you Jaws is really truly one
of the real gentlemen in the National Football League media world.
And I say that from personal experience. My favorite Monday
Night Football sideline reporter, Melissa's Stark, comes and joins us next. Now, look,
(31:09):
Melissa has covered just about everything there is to cover.
She was on NBC MSNBC. She's the mother of four children.
She danced gamely at my wedding in every way possible,
and she is really and truly one of my favorite people.
And I am pumped that she is coming to join us.
A deity. Was she on fire literally at your wedding?
There's a story in that, not at my wedding, but
(31:31):
there is a story to that, and I'm sure you'll
get it out of her. After the break, we'll talk
to Melissa about fires and other things. This podcast is
sponsored by Kindrel. Kindrel Designs, builds, manages, and modernizes the
(31:51):
mission critical technology systems that the world depends on every day.
Working side by side with their customers, they imagine things differently.
By forging new strategic partnerships, they unlock new possibilities, creating
a world powered by healthy digital systems, alive with opportunity,
oxygen to innovation, and energy to change the world. Kindrel
(32:12):
the Heart of Progress. This podcast is sponsored by Kendrell.
Kendrell designs, builds, manages, and modernizes the mission critical technology
systems that the world depends on every day. Working side
by side with their customers, they imagine things differently by
forging new strategic partnerships, they unlock new possibilities, creating a
(32:32):
world powered by healthy digital systems, alive with opportunity, oxygen
to innovation, and energy to change the world. Kendrell the
Heart of Progress. Okay, Mike, this is like I say
it to my kids. It is treat time. Treat because
(32:53):
the fabulous, wonderful, brilliant Melissa's Stark is joining us. I
obviously talked about her a bit before the break, but
she hosted the Olympics for MSNBC from Beijing. She was
on The Today Show. She is now the most of
NFL Networks Emmy Award winning NFL three sixty. But for
a four year period two thousand to two thousand three,
she was Monday Night Football sideline reporter, and she is
(33:17):
here to tell us all about that time period. So, Melissa,
when you were doing Monday Night football, there was no
Thursday night football. Monday Night Football was basically the biggest
show in town, right, It sure was. It was. Oh gosh,
it was so long ago. My gosh, it was twenty
years ago. But yes, it was literally the highest rated
(33:38):
show on television. And um, you know, I look back
and I kind of pinched myself because I was living
at the time. But now, you know, if if we
had social media and we had all these other things
in my own little small world, you know, would have
felt bigger. But it was huge. I mean, it was
the only thing under the lights, you know. Every I
would always talk to the athletes. I remember talking to
Jerry Rice and he gave the best quote. He's like,
(33:58):
there was nothing like playing on Monday night under these
lights because we just there. There was no other night game.
So um, yeah, it was pretty unique and special. So
it seems like you at least have a sense now
the magnitude of the moment. But like you said, I mean,
you're in your mid twenties, you're doing sidelines. It's Monday
Night football in those moments, and it's kind of like
pre social media in a lot of ways. How did
(34:20):
you know it was big even in that moment. It's
funny you say that because and A D. D Can
attested this doing live shots and things like that on TV.
You're not thinking, oh my gosh, I'm going out to
twenty million viewers or I'm going out to five so
it's just you and a camera, right, But the night
felt huge. Obviously, working with legends like Al Michaels and
John Madden was huge. But I think the fact that
(34:41):
like Saturday Night Live did a spoof on us, it
was all the other things that, like my friends kind
of came up to me and said, wow, you know
you're big now, like you know they just did they
just did a skin on you on Saturday Live. Or
the fact that I was on the Madden Game. You know,
all these younger kids knew my voice from from Madden
two thousand one or Madden two thousand too, whatever it
was at the time, So you know, you're living it
(35:02):
and I was young. I was just trying to be
one of the guy because there weren't that many women
in football at the time. And I kind of wish,
you know, now, with all my knowledge and my confidence
of being a mother and all that, like, I could
go back and do it. And I feel like I
know so much more about the world and everything, and
and maybe he could appreciate it. But at the time
it was just sort of overwhelming. And I'm here, I am,
(35:23):
you know, twenty six years old in the spotlight, but
it was incredible. Listen, you just said something about how
Monday Night Football had sort of this cultural reach, these
cultural tentacles, well beyond just a football game. You were
there when there was kind of this reset and they
brought a comedian to the broadcast booth. Well, okay, so
(35:43):
basically it was donal Meyer, who was the legendary producer
who worked at NBC and kind of started Saturday Live.
Just a genius. He came back for a year to
revamp Monday Night Football, and his old deal was, let
me bring in five different voices, right, so he's got
al of course, he brings in Dan Fouls, who's you know,
the quarterback and and uh played by the analysts. Then
(36:05):
he thinks of bringing Dennis Miller probably from you know,
Saturday at Live Days, and then Eric Dickerson. You bring
in a former player, put him down the sideline, and
then you know, the female voice and women viewership obviously
has grown through the years, but still at the time,
I mean, there were a lot of women who watched
Monday night Football just because it's more of a you know,
a lot of women watched the Super Bowl. It's it
was more of like a kind of a spectacle, you know,
(36:25):
an event because it was the one night game. So
I was, Yes, I was very much a part of that,
and I was sort of thrown in there, you know,
at a young age. I mean, I'm so appreciative looking back,
I just again, I wish i'd sort of knew more
and all of that at the time. Did you feel
pressure because you just said it, Hey, not a ton
of females in football, and I can only imagine the
(36:45):
comments that you had to hear throughout the course of
your career, but certainly in a role that is as
high profile as that. Do you feel pressure as a
twenty six year old sideline reporter Monday night Football to say,
you know what I actually know what I'm talking about, right,
you know, And I would try and downplay. I mean,
obviously I was sort of representing the female voice in
Donald Meyer's eyes, but also, you know, not sigible about football.
(37:06):
But I kind of felt like I had to be
one of the guys. Like I would I wear contacts,
but i'd wear my glasses, I'd wear jeans for the
production meetings, like when I was around all the players.
I just sort of try and downplay my femininity. But
the funny thing is, and in DD knows this. Then
I went to go work at the Today Show and
then I'm with Katie Curk who's wearing like, you know,
the highest high heels if you've ever seen. That's all
about being female and embracing your femininity. So I go
(37:28):
from one extreme to the next where you sort of
feel like, okay, I can do this, And now it's
kind of come full circle where you know it's okay
to be a female and still be respected in football
and still dressed like a female, and you know all
of that. I mean, of course, there's a line to
be drawn. So it was definitely a fine line to walk,
and I definitely had people challenged me, and it was
early on, I would say more in other sports, you know,
(37:50):
Like I was covering a golf event and Jack Nicholas
said something, you know, sort of it was with Tiger
Woods and Sergio Garcia and people who are your you know,
this generation, you kind of get it, got the women
were part of things. And then Jack said something sort
of like, well you might be nice to look at,
but you're in my line, you know, something like that,
and I'm like, oh my gosh, um, but I digressed
(38:11):
for Monday night football. My point being it wasn't always
easy to be a female, you know, when you were
so young covering this, and now it's much more accepted
and commonplace. Well, Melissa, you know what you do make
a great transition right there. You have covered the Olympics,
You've been on the sideline at Super Bowls games in London.
All of these big events tell us something about Monday
(38:32):
night football that just isn't matched anywhere else, or that
makes it simply unique. You know. I keep saying under
the lights, but like the energy at night and just
the fact when I did it, that it was the
one game at night that made it so special. Um.
I think working with legends and you mentioned the Olympics
and things like and I've worked with some incredible people,
(38:53):
but there was something about you know, John Madden and
riding in the Madden Cruiser, and and then just the
access that you have. I mean, granted we have great access,
you know working at NFL, I working in the NFL,
or if you work at the ESPN or wherever, people
have access, but like you know, I could call any
college coach and anywhere. You know, hey, it's let's start
oneing up a boom. You know. It was just sort
of the name and the brand of it all was
(39:14):
just you know, above and beyond. We we can't let
the Madden Cruiser grow. I mean you've got on road
trips on the mad and Cruiser. Oh yeah, Oh, I
mean we went everywhere on like because because if we
travel with John, that was the only way to go.
So every production meeting we go to, every time, we
went out to dinner, and and then it was really
special because every usually the Christmas Games, they'd always give
(39:34):
us a Tampa game just because you know, it's outside
at night. They didn't want to totally freeze at night,
so we'd have one there. And my family lives near
the Sarasota area, and John has a house in Sarasota,
so my whole family would get on and we'd buy
the John down there. It was amazing and he's just,
you know, this larger than life figure but just as
down to earth and genuine as could be. And we're
(39:55):
just cruising along, you know, after the game. Can you
imagine if you had your kids then four kids riding
along in the Madden Cruiser. I always say that, I mean,
you know, now, my kids, can you know kind of
come down the field or do this and that, or
get a jersey signed, or come to a super Bowl,
but like to relive all of that would have been
absolutely amazing through their eyes. I can't even imagine. Just
(40:17):
really no, I did it like maddening cruiser. Um, Melissa,
is there is there a moment that stands out? I'm
sure there's probably a ton with you know, just kind
of hanging out with John and the entire crew. But
when I say Monday Night football is their memory that
does stick out maybe above the rest. Ironically, our first
season together, that first season with all the five people
and then it changed to just Al and John Madden
(40:39):
and me, But when we had everybody together. That was
I mean Al would even tell you our ratings were
through the roof, and we like to think that it
was because of the five of us. But we had
the best games. I mean, if you go back and
look at it, we might have had five or six
overtime games. We had the longest game in Monday night
football history. It was a viny testaverty was the Jets game.
I mean, it just kept going and going and going.
(41:01):
We also had the Antonio Freeman catch, the you know,
Michael's like he did what. You know, it was pretty
cool just to be part of these um and you know,
not that I'm complaining, but a lot of times and
you guys have been there down on the sidelines, it's
not the best, you know, when you're a little raised up.
Like sometimes I'd be like, wait, what does that? When
I didn't see what happened, I got to run over
and interview this guy, you know, because you're down at
(41:21):
the ground level. But just the excitement of doing like
the postgame interviews kind of right afterwards, it's nothing that
you can really match. And then I fast forward in
this past year. I went to a few games during
COVID once they started opening a back up and no
fans and no sidelines, and you realize the difference of
the energy. I mean, and you guys understand that. I mean,
it was like night and day. So you realize how
much you appreciate those fans, how much you appreciate that atmosphere. Um, well,
(41:45):
I I do like my third game, my third game there,
so they would make me stand do my open right
near where the players weren't out of the tunnel, and
so like the pyrotechnics are going off, you know, as
they introduced the team shooting up and my sweater, the
back of my sweater caught on fire and I stepped
out of position and John's like, get back in position.
We're coming to you in three seconds. And so I
had to do my report and the thing was kind
(42:07):
of smoldering in the back for like fixing seconds. So
that was certainly pretty memorable and like, you know, one
of those treacherous things that you experienced on the job.
But it was, you know, there are a lot of
you know, just incredible, you know, Michael Vick. It's just
I'm just trying to think back to all these guys,
and it was just Tom Brady, like in the opener
the in in Gillette. I just it was just incredible
(42:27):
because you know, it's a lot of these guys who
were either retired now or you know, Tom Brady is
not retired obviously, but you know, to follow him through
his career and to start back then, you know, and
to cover Pro Bowl. We didn't we so if you
did one in a football, you did the Pro Bowl.
So you've got a Wii for two weeks at the
one of the season. Talk about incredible because you guys
are making me take walk down memory lane and like
(42:50):
how amazing it was. Yeah, you know, experience is wasted
on the young, right, Melissa totally, who wouldn't sign up
for that now? So so so appreciate. This is that
smoldering sweater in Canton. You know what, I still have it.
It's so funny. I still have it. Uhh. Yeah, I
(43:13):
gotta pack you up, but I kept it for you know,
for memory's stake. Yes, exactly. I'm so glad to talk
to you guys the best any time. Yeah, you guys
are awesome. Well, thank you, thank you so much and
we will definitely talk to you soon. Okay, good, thanks
take care guys. Fine, So Mike none of that is fake.
That is exactly how Melissa talks all the time. Super
(43:35):
high energy and st dot it with four kids, four teenagers,
can you imagine and still have that energy. But I'll
tell you this, listening to her makes me so hungry
to be back on a Monday night football sideline. Why
not just the energy that's there, You're right. Look, I mean,
I know we've spent this entire episode talking about the
history of the game, why the game actually is played
(43:56):
on a Monday night, and then of course some of
those memorable moments, and there are so many moments that
we weren't even able to touch upon. But there's one
thing that's abundantly clear. I am never going to forget
Melissa telling us that she was on fire right before
she was about to do a live hit on television,
and that she still has the sweater, that she still
has the sweater. Oh gosh, Well, you know what, Mike,
(44:18):
this one has been a lot of fun. It's been
a weird trip down memory lane. And I can't say
that I ever really wondered why football was played on
Monday night. It just felt like the thing that had
to be done. Well, I think you just like this
episode a lot because you get to catch up with
a couple of your buddies in dwarf Sky and Melissa,
so appreciate their time and hanging out with us on
this podcast. But don't forget we want to make sure
(44:40):
that your rate your review follow us. The NFL explained
wherever you get your podcasts and add That's Monday Night
Football explained The best that we could see you next
week brought to you by up work, where you can
(45:00):
build a team that will build your business. Learn more
at upwork dot com. America's most reliable network is going
ultra with Verizon five G Ultra wide ban and more
and more places with up to ten times faster speeds.
You can download a movie in mere minutes. What Yes,
Verizon is going ultra so you can to five G
ultrawide ban available in select areas. Most reliable based on
(45:21):
rankings from the Root Metrics US ROOTS Score report dated
first half one, excluding c ban and not specific to
five G networks. Your results may vary. Not an endorsement
speed comparison to median Verizon four G LTE speeds downloads
vary based on network conditions and five G content optimization
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.