Monday Night What, Who, Where, Why?

I'll date myself by saying I remember when "Monday Night Football" originally went on the air via ABC.   It was a big deal when I was a kid for a NFL game to dominate prime time television.  And the original announcing team of Keith Jackson, Don Meredith, and the toupee-wearing Howard Cosell became the in thing to tune in for.  

As I have grown further away from football fandom, I have paid almost zero attention to this show which is now on ESPN.   Plus I hear there is now "Thursday Night Football" and "Sunday Night Football" and probably "Wednesday at Midnight Football."   Who can keep track of it all?

Well, last Monday, I was dial flipping and I saw that the so-called MNF was back and I actually tuned into the fourth quarter, primarily because it featured the new-to-LA Chargers team.   My curiosity level was at a 1 and that's a large number for me and NFL Football.

What I saw and I heard astounded me.

The play-by-play announcer sounded like an old Cab Calloway 78 rpm record from the 30s.   Is this the regular voice?   I thought they were having technical problems but, frankly, the color commentator didn't sound the same way.   Hmmm.

I listened some more and got even more confused.   Is that play-by-play voice that sounds so bad a guy?  Or is it a woman?  Whoever and whatever, it came across like screeching brakes just before a 10 car pile-up on the 405 Freeway.  I grabbed my tablet and did a little research to find out just who and what I was listening to.

Okay, the color guy I learn is former coach Rex Ryan and even the most uneducated of football fans like me know who he is.   The play-by-play voice is indeed that of a woman.   Somebody named Beth Mowins and I have no clue who the hell she is.  

Now before you get your hackles up and storm this blog thinking that I believe there is no room for females in a sports press box, you are wrong.   As long as they are qualified, know their stuff, and have done their homework, I have no quibbles about this.   After all, nobody works harder than the Yankees' Suzyn Waldman all these years.  She has a place for sure.   However, ESPN's baseball dumbbell Jessica Mendoza does not.

But, to me, a play-by-play announcer needs a discernible and easy-to-listen-to voice.  Mowins, who apparently per her bio has been around the block in this business for a while, sounds shrill and difficult to hear for more than five seconds at a time.  During one busted field goal conversion, she sounded like somebody who was being mugged in an alley.  I wanted to go out to wherever Howard Cosell is buried and watch the ground move as he flipped over in his grave.

But, wait, there is more...

The third announcer on MNF is the roving field reporter and this is now somebody named Sergio Dipp.  The last name is wonderfully appropriate.  This 29 year-old boob from ESPN Desportes, the Hispanic edition of the network, was unintelligible.   Check out this mess and the subsequent apology.


Anybody??? 

The fact that this clown immediately threw in the diversity card into a broadcast where it had no place is ridiculous.   But that's where we be these days, sports fans.

Okay, I have nothing against diverse hires as long as they have done their legwork and put in the time.   This idiot, however, got the job for one reason alone and it was not talent-related.   I guess the same might be said for Beth Mowins, too.   She's likely competent but, at the same time, she is not easy on the ears.

This would all be a bigger deal for me, but I probably won't watch Monday Night Football again for another 47 years.   What's the difference?

And just a few more inches down the rabbit hole for the good, old United States.

Dinner last night:  Stir fry vegetables.