Monday Night Football intro (1973)

[@kirkindog]

Remember when i was 10, i would watch MNF just for this opening theme and, of course, the halftime hjghlights. Man, i'd give almost anything to go back to this time and era.

[@patrickramirez8433]

kirkindog Gosh. I was only 3. Don't remimber it at all.

[@steventesta6782]

It wasn't just Monday night football it was an event you couldn't wait to see as a 10 yr old back in the day. Howard, frank and dandy Don the best trio of announcers assembled of all time!!!!

[@nicklebackfan]

It's important to remember that in the 1970's, there was no NFL Network, no ESPN, no endless supply of cable and satellite channels and no games during the middle of the week. You had college football on Saturdays and NFL on Sundays and then there was MNF. That's it. MNF was special, now it's just one of several games you can watch during any given week.

[@robertparisi8016]

Thank you for a trip down memory lane. At 14 yrs old , had a black and white 12" tv with rabbit ears wrapped in tinfoil in my room, always watched mnf, always fell asleep and woke up to the star spangled banner. Had to get up and shut it off. No remotes or cable in those days. Wow

[@RayJacksonbighmw]

"turn out the lights, the party's over..... they say that all good things must end...." - "Dandy Don" Meredith RIP Frank Gifford, RIP Howard Cosell and RIP Dandy Don, there will never be another MNF crew anywhere as great as this.

[@ftsjr]

Wow! I haven't heard this in almost 40 years. Thanks for the memory jolt.

[@MAJD6373]

Great Scanimate action!

[@funkychick60]

This was the best music ever! R.I.P. Dandy Don!

[@colty7764]

synthesizers back then were not as sophisticated as they later became.. you had essentially an organ type instrusment, basic band setup (drums, bass, rhythm guitar) also a horn section. Nice theme that would well today I think.

[@makingwaves4649]

The opening shot (and the closing shot in the first two years' opening) was from Tiger Stadium in Detroit, filmed during an exhibition game in August 1970.

[@joshuafrias2415]

Too bad we don't use videotape trucks anymore but it's cool enough to see this work put in to see an intro like this on screen.

[@Jiltedin2007]

This was the best Monday Night Football Intro ever!

[@funkychick60]

wow this is awesome!!! brings back memories. Thank God for youtube!!

[@AmazingG07]

Good seeing Howard, Frank and Don again and that Right On music - thanks!

[@MultiMrfalcon]

DAMN! Bring this intro back with updated footage and you have a winner!

[@RecordSeeker]

Animation/visual effects by Dolphin Productions, New York.

[@VectraQS]

This did, however, appear on Computer Image Corporation's 1975 demo reel. Strange.

[@texsportpub]

This was when it was FUN to watch football on Monday night.

[@Jiltedin2007]

Here in Los Angeles, back then(In 1973), we had Monday Night Football at 6 P.M.

[@johnny10301968]

Howard Cossell ,Don Meredith and Frank Gifford they defined Monday Night Football.

[@auscon04]

Roone Arledge was a genius.. Him an Pete Rozzell abxolutely changed the game... Wish the game was still as simple as it was back then... Compare this MNF intro to the one NOW... it doesn't even look like the same game... and you can't get through the current MNF intro without heavy doses of "T n A"... just give me some freakin' football already! I guess I'm a purist.

[@Casey-kd3xp]

First credited weekly TV show theme for future 2x Oscar nominee & 2x Emmy winner Charles Fox. Charlie had ghost-written ABC's "Wide World of Sports" theme in 1965 for $500.

[@darrylhaynes]

back when ...FOOTBALL WAS FOOTBALL..back then when a player scored a touchdown he would hand the reff the ball...nowdays they dance like their on soul train....give me the olden days any time..

[@Markieo]

"Hey Howard, is that a new jacket or did you just have the old one repainted?" -Oscar Madison, 1975

[@gibby100]

Best MNF theme of all

[@msms2535]

I never really considered the pschychodelic hippie look of the early MNF videos.

[@stephanielaurenbounds4958]

“You MUST ALWAYS ‘TELL IT LIKE IT IS’ and you KNOW ONLY I can do that!” Howard Cosell (circa 1970)

[@Ragnar06]

Duh-duh-duh-duhhh. That's my favorite four bars of music in all the world. The greatest intro to Monday Night Football there has ever been

[@petermoran2832]

Frankly, neither the mustache nor the bow tie suited Don Meredith.

[@Quazi-Moto]

Man! Dig those crazy awesome graphics! Shit's gone high-tech up in here !

[@Soulthinker2007]

In the 74-74 season I remember the fan in the easy chair changed to a football player. P09,hope you find that one.

[@67nairb]

Neat intro.

[@evadwall1057]

"Directed by Andy Sidaris" According to wiki, " pioneered what he called the "honey shot", close-ups of cheerleaders and pretty girls in the stands at sporting events."

[@alteredstateskustom]

R.I.P. "Dandy" Don Meredith you'll be missed

[@tomservo75]

Oh yeah love the funky music!!

[@Weaponsuser]

wow, that brings back old memories,when i was young watching the game with my dad and brothers, ... i would love to see and hear the 1970 version of MNF..its alittle different..the music is the same i think ..but the players are running aganist a black background.

[@swami1]

Actually the first time that "DUH-DUH-DUH-duuhhhhh" theme was used(to my knowledge) was in ABC's intro to its live coverage of the Ali/Lyle fight on 5/16/75.

[@landrykkb]

@texsportpub This was the year I was born,but I most definitely remember MNF in later years,long before there was ESPN or TSN.The games had therefore meant 10 times more because of it.

[@melanatedsoulja7067]

Best MNF intro..0:41 is the best part

[@altfactor]

Possibly the first use of computer animation in a TV sports open.

[@Bdiig]

Intro was actually good.. Surprised I liked it, I did not think I would

[@Jiltedin2007]

I know! It's because "6 P.M." here in Los Angeles, was 9 P.M. in the East Coast. And if I'm not mistaken, these games were always live. Were they not?

[@JAISE1994]

Trippy man

[@tvpirate05]

RIP Dandy Don

[@micheley2140]

They should do a modern day version for a throw back🎉

[@efrem1]

RIP Don :-(

[@classiccops]

Who’s here celebrating 50 seasons of mnf

[@rosskstar]

WOW, i was 7 then

[@DavisM6512]

Where is Ron Burgundy? I was waiting for him to pop up somewhere

[@Poltr1]

This brings back good memories. Look closely -- Dandy Don is wearing a bow tie!

[@ebf1957]

I'm surprised that when MNF had their 40th anniversary ESPN (who owns ABC) didn't use this for their opening.

[@keithandrewbounds967]

Hello FRANK GIFFORD, I'M EVERYONE!!!!

[@headley62]

Dandy Don Jeff and Hazels baby boy looks like he's gift wrapped.

[@patchadams1473]

"very groovy"

[@dondajulah4168]

outtasight

[@MrLehnerd]

Jets vs cleveland was First of Monday Night Football first use keith jackson in booth first in there first ever one in 1970....

[@MichaelValHietter]

Check out that GROOVY "Monday Might" font they used! :-)

[@DanZero77]

That my friends, is classic Scanimate, aka CGI for the 1970s!

[@RaiderChampion34]

sounds like someone snoring in the background

[@pmfernandez]

groovy

[@laurenhutton596]

Hello Frank Gifford!!! I’m EVERYONE!!!

[@Jiltedin2007]

O.K., I never knew this.

[@ScorpioBornIn69]

I remember some of these Monday Night Football intros, very retro in the '70s up to the '80s.

[@inventorr77]

The huge TV contracts generated huge profits from the advertisers, players salaries escalated, as did profits for the team owners, as well as for the cites they hosted teams in. He may be up for a Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award in 2012. Contact the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and let them know it's time for Howard Cosell to get a Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award in 2012. Pro Football Hall of Fame 2121 George Halas Dr. NW. Canton, OH 44708 Phone: [phone]

[@HippieBuddah]

You could become cooler by just WATCHING this. lol

[@CHUCKLOVES1969]

@ebf1957 who told you..ESPN...owned ABC.??? the Walt Disney Co. owns ABC...and they have more commercials during every hour, than any other channel.

[@sherryhannah498]

I hope y'all will reply to this didn't Don Ohlmeyer go to NBC Sports???????

[@rickbeck586]

Loved monday night football back in the seventies. Today on ESPN it sucks but the NFL pretty much sucks

[@michaelj.richard8353]

From (1973)

[@headley62]

Don Meredith looked like he was gift wrapped.

[@Zoomer30]

Yep, to people on LSD the colors looked normal XD

[@tomservo75]

@comfortablynumb1975x Me too, and they don't do themes like this nowadays.

[@ccie12933]

For some reason I see Cheech and Chong walking down the street when I listen to this. : ) I get the munchies just listening to it.

[@schmoop14]

@BillyT92679 When I first saw Sidaris' name, I thought, "Wait is that the same one...?" Talk about a guy belonging in the Guy Hall of Fame: director of Monday Night Football when it was truly the shit, then directing soft core porn.

[@detmikeq]

Awesome! (Showing my age!)

[@mariangildaknight9332]

lol, there was no espn back then. you had to read about everything. halftime highlights was the practically the only time you saw film of other teams. 'in for the score' kids don't realize berman is imitating cosell.

[@Clark1967]

Nothing will ever beat NHL Hockey Night in Canada theme song. This piece of trash doesn't even hold a candle up to it

[@RhinoXpress]

See drugs do have a positive influence at least with creating this video.

[@TheTroubleBoys]

Andy Sidaris has come a long way; from pigskin to plain old skin.

[@hmbpnz]

@Rickat1964 A-men.

[@ChadMediaFlix]

Better than the Hank Williams song and that horrid Faith Hill SNF intro put together!

[@lsmftymf]

Detroit's Tiger Stadium. Hmmmmm...!

[@Urvy1A]

Sounds too much like the Wonder Woman TV theme

[@feather031]

Looks like something conceived by Sid and Marty Kroft...and that's not a compliment 😝😝😝

[@badabing42196]

im sure glad i wasnt alive in the 1970s lol

[@StFidjnr]

@ 0:15 take tape.

[@erinserb]

No sports event comes close to this classic opening; it was when MNF was THE sports event of the week - bar none! RIP Dandy Don

[@inventorr77]

HOWARD COSELL MISSING FROM THE PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME??? Cosell needs no explanation of why he belongs in Canton. As the lead of the ABC Monday Night Football trio of the 1970s and early '80s, Monday Night Football made the NFL the dominant professional sports league in America. Everyone else associated with that team in the broadcast booth Frank Gifford, Don Meredith, Dan Dierdorf, and producer Roone Arledge, have won the Pete Rozelle Radio-TV Award for broadcasting. What about Cosell?

[@Rickat1964]

I'm sick of the Hank Williams crap too. I never liked it to begin with.