ESPN OTL: John Lennon Murder, 30th Anniversary

An ESPN "Outside The Lines" report on Beatles band member John Lennon, murdered on December 8th, 1980 in New York City. His shocking death was initially announced to a nationwide American audience on ABC's Monday Night Football.
This piece gives an in depth look at the event from eyewitnesses and former sportscasters involved.
Originally Aired 12-5-2010

[@loudapplause]

An interesting side note. John Madden also had an apartment at the Dakota at that time and said he often enjoyed talking to the Englishman who lived upstairs when they came across each other in the lobby. It wasn't until he was shot that he realized that Englishman was John Lennon of the Beatles.

[@zone47]

I was driving to work that night (3rd shift) and thought, Wow! they are playing a lot of Beatles tunes ... a whole string of them. Then the DJ came on and said "In memory of John Lennon who was shot to death in NYC about an hour ago" I pulled into the parking lot and just sat there numb and crying .... it was so sad. I was such a huge Beatles fan and couldn't believe this even happened. Thanks for the video ....

[@Tyrunner0097]

Say what you want about Howard Cosell, the way he worded the story was his finest moment. He said the right words for it.

[@shenjingbing6021]

I was in tears that terrible night in college, and here I am in 2022, in tears again.

[@johnwalls7170]

I'm watching this on December 30, 2019 still my heart breaks

[@PatrickTX100]

John matured and became a much better person over the final years of his life. Watch his interviews in 1980. Not the same bitter, angry person that he was in previous years. He's positive, optimistic, and was trying to actually make up with Julian.

[@poodlenme]

Watching this nearly 39 years later brings me to tears!

[@ebonygentleman79]

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments on the video. To me, Lennon was a revolutionary. I was only a baby myself when he passed, but I respect what he did for music and what he did socially. He wanted to inspire people not to settle for the status quo. His death was senseless, and a loss for everyone. May God rest his soul.

[@straitjacket8689]

Cosell was a class act.He did it well announcing Lennons death.May they both rest in peace

[@mtthwskdmr2]

I am 12 yrs old. John Lennon was, no IS one of my favourite artists/singers/etc. that i have ever heard. Even when I hear John Lennon died on tv, it still makes me tear up. John, rest in groovy peace

[@davidjefferson8091]

I was watching the game in my mother's bedroom. She was asleep and her back was turned to the black and white tv screen. I used her rear end as a pillow when Howard Cosell made the announcement. I was 14 years old,living at 12 Underhill ave in Brooklyn. As an African American, Black Stations were playing "Woman",about a week or so in NYC, so to hear that this man from The Beatles had been shot to death in Manhattan,changed my life,forever. Since that day,I have expanded my music variety. Anyway, I woke up my mother (God Rest Her Soul) and told her the sad news. That was my "JFK" assassination experience.

[@reneperezz]

"this is going to shake up the whole world" :(

[@rumrunner1756]

I will never forget that announcement. My now deceased wife and I both cried. I miss them both so much. 😭

[@ericbarash6842]

41 years ago tonight and I still feel the pain of hearing this while watching Monday night football.

[@johnwalls7170]

Frank Gifford had that right... this is going to shake up the whole world

[@thomaslanguell7257]

I was in the Air Force basic training barracks when our drill sergeant came in and told us about John Lennon's death. Myself and several other airman shed some tears about his senseless murder.

[@chriscastillo4275]

Wow. I’ve heard the live reporting by Cosell a few times but this is the first time I’ve heard their discussion in the booth. I salute Frank Giffords “absolutely” when they Howard asks if it should trump the drama of this game. And Cosell’s delivery was masterfully done. Hard not to get choked up watching this.

[@PhilAndersonOutside]

I too remember when it happened. I was 17 and we were watching the game like everyone else, and when Howard made his statement an incredible pall fell over my family. I kept asking my dad if maybe they were wrong, maybe it wasn't true. But of course my hopes were not to be. Reflecting back, it still seems like yesterday.

[@JohnCee754]

I first learned about John's murder when I woke up the next morning -- December 9th, 1980. No celebrity death, before or since, affected me the way his did. I had just bought his new album "Double Fantasy" and I had played it the night before -- in fact I was probably listening to it as the bullets were tearing into John's flesh, which still makes me shudder. I had just read his Playboy Interview a few days earlier and was so excited that Lennon was back after a five year absence -- and then it was all over. Now here we are almost 40 years later, and it still cuts like a knife. RIP John -- you were a true giant.

[@aflsteve9139]

I'm a huge collector of live Springsteen shows and despite being a fairly poor sounding recording, the show from the Philly Spectrum the night after Lennon's murder still sends shivers down my spine. Springsteen starts the show with a spoken introduction talking about how hard it is to get up and play that night and how Twist and Shout was the first record he learned to play. Every time I hear his brokenhearted tone of voice I'm instantly transported back to how me and my friends were just sitting around with no idea how to try to sum up this incredible loss we were feeling. Despite a world that seems to be getting crazier and crazier every year, those days after the murder still stand out in my mind as one of the most tragically senseless and wasteful events I've lived through. Perhaps the greatest tribute I can think of to John Lennon is that I've only seen those same looks of loss and confusion on so many people's faces in old footage of the JFK assassination aftermath, the Challenger disaster and 9/11. The fact that the death of a rock star had a similar effect on so many people as a presidential assassination and such huge national tragedies says so much about the man and his life.