Monday Night Football

[LeonardRachiele]

In the late 1960s,  the NFL experimented by nationally televising a game on CBS on Monday night.  Ratings were so fantastic that the league made it a permanent fixture  every week starting  with the merger year in 1970.    The new NFL awarded the contract to ABC with Howard Cosell as member of the broadcast team.  Humble Howard completely revolutionized sports broadcasting by injecting candor and the proper perspective to the game.  For all of his sophistication,  HC was  informal and removed some of the stiffness associated with the media, especially at the national level.

Before Howard Cosell hit the Monday night screen, the announcers tried to sell  football games like items in a super market.  Ray Scott, though quite articulate,  was probably the worst offender.  He rarely stated when a player made a mistake or  played poorly for a long period.  Scott often seemed like he was reporting the news with his deadly serious almost laconic style.  He never  showed much emotion and was almost colorless.   Others were just as bad.

Making matters worse was the overselling of the game.  Ray Scott and others could tell how important and exciting  a 30 to 0 exhibition game was.  They of course were fooling and statements like this were false and ridiculous.   When announcers made these statements:

1. They were lying;
2. The TV audience knew they were lying.
3. The announcers knew the audience knew they were lying.

Howard Cosell smashed this veneer and in his own words "told it like it was."   The audience could relate to the game better.  His style spread all over broadcasting booth and changed television for good.

[Brian wolf]

I liked Ray Scott and his professional, boring style. His job was play by play, not winging it all over the place like Howard Cosell and his cozy-or-not relationship with Roone Arledge, which allowed him to also be a critic of the game and its hypocrisy, while promoting its action and players. Ironically, Cosell is more remembered for doing MNF halftime highlights for NFL Films--based on another friendship with Ed Sabol--where you guessed it-- he was doing his best Ray Scott or Curt Gowdy impressions, calling the highlights or previously televised plays like he saw it. Calling action during ABC broadcasts as "improvised color" wasnt as remembered, but ask Packers, Vikings, Lions and Bears fans, they can recall many Ray Scott memories.

His humor and experience for the game, came out like sparks when he called the great comeback game between BYU and SMU in 1980. That game and comeback by Jimmy Mac, exhausted and turned Scott dizzy by the end of a long broadcast ...

[SixtiesFan]

I liked Ray Scott and his style of play by play. As someone who saw him countless times, Scott let the game be the show.

Howard Cosell did commentary, not play by play.

[Cali_Eagle]

I also thought that Ray Scott was fantastic. NBC tried a "no-announcer" game years ago (1982?) & it was a flop. But I have often thought that a ONE-Announcer game would be a success, if they chose the right announcer. The networks all have too many talking heads (pre-game, 1/2-time, post-game) & too much garbage (IMHO) during the game. Play by Play alone would satisfy me.
.
I heard a one announcer baseball game years ago on TV when the broadcasters had a flight delayed & the other team sent an announcer over to pick up the slack on the telecast. I thought "this is the way it ought to be all the time". The networks would save a LOT of money by paring back on all this "talent".

[RichardBak]

Loved Ray Scott. Always thought Cosell was a self-absorbed asshat. To me, the biggest difference between sports of the '60s and today (besides the money) is the need for constant noise---jabbering motor-mouths in the broadcast booth, relentless rock and rap music, explosions, etc. There's not a moment's peace. Jeezus. It's a joy to listen to some low-key guy like Scott or Curt Gowdy call a game (baseball too) from the '60s.

[JohnTurney]

Loved Ray Scott. Always thought Cosell was a self-absorbed asshat.

Cosell was polarizing for sure. My memory is he was kind of like a bad-guy wrestler, people loved to hate him. Football was
not his specialty, I think his boxing coverage was better - especially with Ali.

Cosell would get on the nerves of Giff and Meridith, it seemed like. But he also brought interest to the game
I think, kind of a showman of sorts with his delivery style.

I think more people thought negatively of him than positively if I had to guess.

[JuggernautJ]

...To me, the biggest difference between sports of the '60s and today (besides the money) is the need for constant noise---jabbering motor-mouths in the broadcast booth, relentless rock and rap music, explosions, etc. There's not a moment's peace. Jeezus...

I never thought Baseball would become like this...
There isn't a second of silence in any sporting venue (you left out the ubiquitous advertisements, sonic or otherwise).
So much for a "19th Century pastoral game..." (George Carlin)

It really (imo) reflects modern American society...
Loud, obnoxious, greedy and without a moment's self-reflection or contemplation.

[Ronfitch]

...To me, the biggest difference between sports of the '60s and today (besides the money) is the need for constant noise---jabbering motor-mouths in the broadcast booth, relentless rock and rap music, explosions, etc. There's not a moment's peace. Jeezus...

I never thought Baseball would become like this...
There isn't a second of silence in any sporting venue (you left out the ubiquitous advertisements, sonic or otherwise).
So much for a "19th Century pastoral game..." (George Carlin)

It really (imo) reflects modern American society...
Loud, obnoxious, greedy and without a moment's self-reflection or contemplation.

Again, we need a “Like” button for the forum.

[Citizen]

I'm generally not one to reflexively criticize all things modern, but I must agree on how sporting events have gotten. At Twins games, you literally cannot have a conversation with the person sitting next to you because the din between pitches/batters/innings is so oppressive and incessant. They have decided on our behalf that the game is not entertaining enough and that we need to be bombarded with sound every single second. I can't be the only one who feels deterred from buying a ticket because I don't want to be subjected to this.

[Retro Rider]

I liked Ray Scott and his style of play by play. As someone who saw him countless times, Scott let the game be the show.

I thought Ray Scott did a great job narrating the syndicated NFL Game of the Week episodes from 1972-1974. I believe he was replaced in by Harry Kalas in 1975.