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