When does a professional football game become a sidelight to a Night at the Circus?
Tonight.
“Monday Night Football,” which in 36 years has gone from just another football game to a three-ring circus of celebrities, comely sideline reporters and mismatched announcers, launches its season in high definition tonight with a doubleheader pairing Minnesota and Washington (5 p.m.) and San Diego and Oakland (8:15 p.m.).
ESPN, taking over “MNF” from its Disney corporate sibling ABC, has unleashed its public-relations juggernaut. There’s a “SportsCenter” special, “Monday Night Countdown,” “NFL Primetime” and a half-dozen other shows pitched to “MNF.”
Football on TV is expensive. Chris Isidore, a writer for CNN
Money.com, noted recently that ESPN paid the NFL $1.1 billion for one year of “MNF” and that the network “is almost certain to lose money.”
Alumni of the “MNF” booth include such luminaries as Eric Dickerson, Alex Karras, Don Meredith, O.J. Simpson, Fran Tarkenton, Fred Williamson and, of course, the immortal Howard Cosell, who made it all possible.
This year’s on-camera crew features Mike Tirico, Joe Theismann and Tony Kornheiser (think Dennis Miller with a chip on his shoulder), who has yet to prove he’s not just another pretty face in the booth. Sideline eye candy provided by Michele Tafoya and Suzy Kolber.
Covering the game is a monumental task, ESPN is happy to tell us. Try these stats on your beer buddies: It takes 400 ESPN personnel, seven trucks, a 53-foot HD production unit, 20,000 feet of cable and 45 cameras to fill our Monday nights.
Even the familiar “MNF” theme song has been revamped. Hank Williams Jr. will be joined by Clarence Clemons, Charlie Daniels, Joe Perry, Little Richard and Little Steven Van Zandt in a raucous rendition of “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Monday Night.”
In the end, it’s just football.
Around the dial
Remembering 9/11: Steffan Tubbs and April Zesbaugh, his-and-her anchors on KOA 850-AM’s “Colorado’s Morning News,” do their show live from ground zero in NYC from 5 to 9 a.m. today. And, Kelly, Jonathan and Mudflap from KYGO 98.5-FM get together with firefighters at the South Metro station, 5945 S. Quebec St., for a moment of silence at 6:45 a.m. … American Humane has fired off a letter to the National Geographic Channel, asking the network to drop its “Dog Whisperer” program, citing “numerous inhumane training techniques” by host Cesar Millan … KCNC-
Channel 4 arts critic Greg Moody emcees the fifth annual “Improv Tonite” at Impulse Theater on Tuesday. Reservations, 303-597-5000 … Quotable: “The only yardstick for success our society has is being a champion. No one remembers anything else.” John Madden.
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
