Monday Night Football Trivia – Part 1

Monday Night Football, now on ESPN, is an American institution. Many of the greatest games in history have been featured on Monday Night Football over the years. Monday Night Football games have been popular with fans and gamers alike. Fans love it because it usually features teams that were successful during the previous season, and players like it because of the national TV exposure during prime time. Here are some great Monday Night Football trivia articles.

• Monday Night Football was the second longest-running primetime show on network television behind 60 Minutes.
• The number of Monday Night Football games shown on ABC during its 36 years: 555.
• The announcer with the longest tenure on Monday Night Football was Frank Gifford, who managed a third of the broadcast team from 1971 to 1998, a total of 28 years.
• The first MNF game was won by the Cleveland Browns over the New York Jets on September 21, 1970.
• Only once in Monday Night Football history has the game ended in a tie. In 1984, the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Giants tied 20-20 in overtime.
• The New York Jets have the distinction of losing the first Monday Night Football game broadcast on ABC (against the Cleveland Browns), as well as the last MNF game broadcast on ABC (against the New England Patriots).
• 1989 was the first year Hank Williams Jr. sang All My Rowdy Friends Are Here On Monday Night as part of the Monday Night Football intro.
• The Indianapolis Colts hold the distinction of scoring the most points in a Monday Night Football game with 55 points on October 31, 1988. Two other teams also scored 50 or more points in an MNF game: December 23, 1991 the San Francisco 49ers scored 52 points and on December 20, 1982 the San Diego Chargers scored a good round of 50 points.
• On November 26, 2007, due to unbelievably poor field conditions in Pittsburgh, Steelers vs. The Dolphins game tallied the fewest points in MNF history with a final score of Steelers 3, Dolphins 0.
• The most one-sided game in MNF history occurred on December 19, 2005 when the Baltimore Ravens defeated the Green Bay Packers by a score of 48-3 (a difference of 45 points).
• The record for most shutouts in Monday Night Football history is held by the Seattle Seahawks, having shutout their opponents five times.
• During the 2007 season, the four Spanish-language broadcasters for ESPN Deportes covering Monday Night Football games announced the games from ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, and never traveled to the actual games.

Monday Night Football on ABC was an American tradition with many people scheduling their weekends. Many say it was ABC’s treatment of MNF as more than a game, but rather an event in its own right, that elevated the NFL above Major League Baseball as the USA Game. ABC’s sister cable sports station ESPN now airs Monday Night Football, and while the channel is different, the game is still the highlight of the week in football.