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Obit: Don Meredith ('Monday Night Football'), at 72

This one slipped between the cracks on this board and that's not really fair. Cosell, Meredith and Gifford had a style which forever changed the way that the NFL was presented. MNF became more than just a game; it was an event. In it's heyday, MNF was unbeatable and Howard, Dandy Don and Giff were like rock stars. As often as not, people tuned in to MNF and were more entertained by the guys in the booth than the game itself. It was an amazing phenomenon to behold in those days of 3 networks - a shared national event on a weekly basis.

More than just a great quarterback, Don Meredith became an indelible piece of television history. RIP Don, we'll miss your style, wit and charm.
 
As good as Al Michaels is, "MNF" was never the same once
he and Dan Dierdorf (and a few others, like Dennis Miller, or
should I mention him?) took over the announcing duties. There
was only one team: Gifford, Meredith, and Cosell, and whoever
said they had a knack for holding the audience's attention when
a game was a blowout was right on target.
 
Cosell/Meredith/Gifford may have been the first football broadcasters to really dare to talk about something besides the game they were broadcasting, or at least something related to that game. Besides MNF, Meredith dabbled in acting a bit; He made a few appearances on "Police Story" in the 70's.
 
The main reason I watch MNF was Meredith.

The main reason I didn't watch MNF was Cosell.

The announcing, and the game, was much better than the boring pablum being broadcast now.
 
Well, Cosell was one of those "love to hate him" type personalities, for sure. But he didn't hurt the ratings. I will echo the thoughts on Meredith. He was often the glue that kept the team entertaining, as he would never hesitate to call Howard on his BS. Interestingly, it wasn't Frank Gifford on PBP the first year of Monday Night Football...Keith Jackson was the original PBP man on MNF.
 
Gifford was ABC's first choice to do play-by-play but
was still under contract to CBS; when he became available
and Roone Arledge hired him, Cosell told Arledge, "You have to
make this up to Keith." Jackson got the NCAA games and
became, arguably, the voice of college football for
more than two decades.

Back to Meredith, I have two favorite stories about him.
One I mentioned not long ago, and probably all of you
read it in Meredith's obituary: one night in 1972 the Raiders
were blowing out the Houston Oilers; the camera panned the
half-empty Astrodome and one disgruntled spectator gave the
camera "the finger". Meredith came right back: "He's saying the
Oilers are number one."

The other was the night the Giants (Gifford's team) and the
Cowboys (Meredith's) were playing what looked like a game between
two schools for the inept. Cosell, who "never played the game," remarked,
"Gentlemen, neither of your respective teams is showing me much tonight."
Meredith's comeback: "Howard, at least we have respective teams."
 
Meredith's comeback: "Howard, at least we have respective teams."

And probably no one enjoyed that remark more than Howard.
 
As an early fan of MNF I think Cosell loved to toss one out there for Frank and Don to address. And I don't remember either one ever being stuck for a comeback.
 
"Dandy" Don Meredith was also a respectable actor, and did a lot of episodic TV in the 70s - generally playing cops on shows like Police Story.
 
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