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Quiz about Monday Night Football Early Years
Quiz about Monday Night Football Early Years

Monday Night Football: Early Years Quiz


10 challenging questions about the 10 greatest years of ABC's Monday Night Football, 1970-1979.

A multiple-choice quiz by d2407. Estimated time: 7 mins.
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Author
d2407
Time
7 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
203,255
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Difficult
Avg Score
5 / 10
Plays
663
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 50 (8/10), klotzplate (10/10), Guest 172 (3/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. In the first season of Monday Night Football, during a 23-20 Philadelphia Eagles victory over the New York Giants, Howard Cosell left the game at halftime and didn't return. According to just about everyone but Cosell, what had happened that caused him to miss the second half? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Who was the first NFC team to win a Monday Night Football game? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. As the St. Louis Cardinals administered a 38-0 thrashing to the Dallas Cowboys in 1970, what did the Cowboys fans watching the game do? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. The first season of Monday Night Football used the announcing team of Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, and Keith Jackson. How did Jackson find out that he was being replaced by Frank Gifford? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Of the 26 teams in the NFL when Monday Night Football was first broadcast, which was the last team to appear in a Monday night game? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. As Monday Night Football's popularity soared, celebrities started "dropping by" the booth during games. Which politician and singer appeared together on a Monday Night Football broadcast? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. What did Don Meredith say during a 1973 broadcast from Denver, to the great discontent of the network and sponsors? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. When Don Meredith left the show after the 1973 season, who first replaced him on the broadcast team? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. What was the name of the television variety show starring Howard Cosell, that ran during the 1975-76 season? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. When an ABC camera broadcast a fan "giving the finger," what did Don Meredith say? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Nov 12 2024 : Guest 50: 8/10
Oct 31 2024 : klotzplate: 10/10
Oct 17 2024 : Guest 172: 3/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In the first season of Monday Night Football, during a 23-20 Philadelphia Eagles victory over the New York Giants, Howard Cosell left the game at halftime and didn't return. According to just about everyone but Cosell, what had happened that caused him to miss the second half?

Answer: He drank too much and got sick on Don Meredith's shoes

Cosell was slurring his words during the first half of the November 23, 1970 game and departed at halftime. Popular speculation (including opinions by those sharing the booth with him that night) was that, broadcasting from an unheated booth at Philadelphia's old Franklin Field, Cosell "fortified" himself with alcohol to ward off the chill, until getting sick on Meredith's cowboy boots.

In Cosell's version of the story, told in his autobiography, he ran laps before the game with sprinter Tommie Smith, inducing dizziness that caused him to get sick during the game. Whatever the reason, the incident cemented MNF's reputation as "must see/must hear" television.
2. Who was the first NFC team to win a Monday Night Football game?

Answer: Detroit Lions

It's fairly widely known that Cleveland beat the New York Jets 31-21 on September 21, 1970, winning the first Monday Night Football game. That contest featured an epic performance by Jets receiver George Sauer, who caught 10 passes for 172 yards, but saw his team lose as the Browns intercepted Joe Namath three times and ran the second half kickoff back for a touchdown.

In MNF's second game, the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs thumped the Baltimore Colts (who would go on to win that season's Super Bowl), 44-24, as Johnny Robinson of the Chiefs intercepted Johnny Unitas three times and also returned a Colt fumble for a touchdown.

The Detroit Lions won the third game, becoming the first NFC team to win on Monday night as they beat the Chicago Bears, 28-14.
3. As the St. Louis Cardinals administered a 38-0 thrashing to the Dallas Cowboys in 1970, what did the Cowboys fans watching the game do?

Answer: Chanted for Don Meredith to come out of the broadcast booth and help their team

"We want Meredith!", chanted the fans at the Cotton Bowl, hoping to entice their former quarterback, who had retired two seasons earlier, on to the field to avert what was the worst home loss the Cowboys had suffered to that point. "No way you're getting me back down there," said Meredith.

A good friend of singer Willie Nelson, Meredith eventually began incorporating Nelson's, "Turn Out the Lights", song into games, singing it when a contest had turned into an irreversible blowout.
4. The first season of Monday Night Football used the announcing team of Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, and Keith Jackson. How did Jackson find out that he was being replaced by Frank Gifford?

Answer: Several reporters left messages asking him about it

The book, "Monday Night Mayhem," about the early years of Monday Night Football, memorably describes the replacement of Jackson with Gifford. ABC producer Roone Arledge was a friend of Gifford and had wanted him to be on MNF, but Gifford was under contract to CBS through 1970.

When Arledge signed Gifford in April of 1971, Jackson was traveling for ABC. As he checked into his hotel, he was presented with a thick stack of messages from reporters seeking his reaction to being replaced. Jackson saved the messages and later, when Arledge told him, "I tried calling you," Jackson threw the message slips on Arledge's desk and said, "Show me the message!" Jackson went on to become a popular college football announcer on ABC.
5. Of the 26 teams in the NFL when Monday Night Football was first broadcast, which was the last team to appear in a Monday night game?

Answer: Buffalo Bills

Monday Night Football managed to include 21 of the 26 NFL teams in its first season of broadcasts, excluding only the San Francisco 49ers, Boston Patriots, New Orleans Saints, Denver Broncos, and Buffalo Bills. The 49ers (the only excluded team to have a winning record in 1970) played their first MNF game in 1971, then the Patriots played a 1972 game. ABC made good with the remaining teams in 1973, as the Patriots lost to the Cowboys on September 24, then the Broncos tied the Raiders on October 22.

The following week, the Bills beat the Chiefs, 23-14, winning in style as the last 1970 NFL team to appear on MNF.
6. As Monday Night Football's popularity soared, celebrities started "dropping by" the booth during games. Which politician and singer appeared together on a Monday Night Football broadcast?

Answer: Ronald Reagan & John Lennon

Reagan and Lennon appeared together at halftime on December 9, 1974, between the Washington Redskins and Los Angeles Rams. That they were together in the same room was amazing, as Reagan, California governor at the time, was viewed as a staunch traditionalist with little use for long hair or radical ideas, and Lennon was fighting a US order to deport him, stemming from an earlier drug conviction.

The two got along well, with Reagan explaining American football to Lennon, who was attending his first NFL game. Sadly, six years later and almost to the day, Lennon was killed, and Cosell announced the news during a broadcast of a game between the Patriots and the Dolphins.
7. What did Don Meredith say during a 1973 broadcast from Denver, to the great discontent of the network and sponsors?

Answer: "Welcome to the Mile High City, and I really am!"

This was at the start of Denver's first appearance on MNF. Meredith had apparantly greatly enjoyed himself at a pre-game cocktail party, and led the broadcast off with that bit of cheer, undoubtedly causing millions of young fans across the US to ask their parents what exactly Dandy Don had meant.
8. When Don Meredith left the show after the 1973 season, who first replaced him on the broadcast team?

Answer: Fred Williamson

Meredith, the most popular member of the MNF crew, left ABC in 1974 to work at NBC under a contract in which he would both cover football and act on NBC television shows. ABC happily hired actor and former AFL player, Fred "the Hammer" Williamson. With his reputation for saying outrageous things, and with his stardom in "blaxploitation" films of the early 1970s, expected to widen the program's fan base.

The network thought they had the recipe for a huge success. Instead, Williamson didn't seem to have much to say, he had no chemistry with the team (the edgy sparring between Cosell and Meredith had been a centerpiece of the first four seasons), and he spurned the conservative announcer wardrobe of the network for open-collared shirts and obscene jewelry.

After a few lackluster preseason games, ABC bought out Williamson's contract and replaced him with former Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras. Meredith rejoined the team in 1977.
9. What was the name of the television variety show starring Howard Cosell, that ran during the 1975-76 season?

Answer: Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell

It seems unthinkable, or maybe just a bad joke, but Cosell had become such a big star by 1975 that he persuaded ABC to let him host a Saturday evening variety show. The act of titling itself, "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell", forced NBC to title its own live show, also debuting that season, simply "NBC's Saturday Night" to avoid confusion.

The first Cosell show featured tennis star Jimmy Connors singing. The second featured the American debut of the Bay City Rollers, modestly hyped by Cosell as the next Beatles.

The show actually did have some bright spots. Billy Crystal made his national television debut on the show, and its repertory company, the "Prime Time Players", featured Bill Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray, both of whom would eventually be regulars on Saturday Night Live (or "NBC's Saturday Night").

The Cosell variety show failed to take off, and was cancelled in January 1976. The NBC show renamed itself, "Saturday Night Live", and was still going strong at the turn of the century.
10. When an ABC camera broadcast a fan "giving the finger," what did Don Meredith say?

Answer: "He thinks they're number one in the nation!"

On October 9, 1972, the Oakland Raiders were headed for a 34-0 thumping of the Houston Oilers (Oakland's third win in as many MNF appearances, scoring 34 points each time). As the fans emptied from the Astrodome stands during the final quarter, the cameras found a wonderful shot: a fan, seemingly alone in his section, was sleeping. "A vivid picturization of the excitement attendant upon this game", was what Howard Cosell called the image of the sleeping man.

Then, unfortunately, the man woke up, and less fortunately, "flipped off" the camera. Without missing a beat, Meredith commented, "He thinks they're number one in the nation!" It was another four seasons before the Oilers appeared again on MNF, and two more years after that before Houston hosted another Monday night game.
Source: Author d2407

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