One of the more interesting sports stories in the past week, in my opinion, was the movement of Monday Night Football from the broadcast TV network that originally conceived the idea to a cable network.
Last Monday, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced that MNF will be carried on ESPN and Sunday Night Football will be on NBC. The weekly Sunday night games had been on ESPN the past few years.
The whole idea of a football game in primetime was pretty far out when ABC officials thought of it and got it on the air 35 years ago. It changed the public's view of the game as ABC's emphasis on the announcers as entertainers was practically unheard of. Frank Gifford, Don Meredith and Howard Cosell often were more the subjects of the Tuesday morning discussions about the game than the game itself.
From shaky experiment to national institution, ABC managed to skim the top matchups of each weekend off the NFL schedule for its headliner.
Now, or actually, beginning in 2006, the Monday night game will be less available to the public who don't have cable or satellite TV service.
Fact is, though, that MNF is not moving as far as it may seem. Both ESPN and ABC are subsidiaries of the Disney umbrella.
The biggest change in the new arrangement may be the return of NFL football to NBC for the first time in the past eight years.
The peacock will carry a Sunday night game each week when the new contract takes effect. That part of the deal will run to $600 million over six years, about the same price ESPN has been paying.
The Monday Night plum, though will cost ESPN almost twice as much, $1.1 billion. NBC and Fox will carry the Sunday night schedule that had been on ESPN with no price hike. "Still a bargain!" at $600 million.
Directly opposite "Desperate Housewives" on ABC … ouch.
NBC hasn't had the NFL for eight years.
Don't worry, though, if the Browns are on the Monday night game (fat chance) and you can't get ESPN. The NFL will continue to let local stations in the cities whose teams are playing to carry the ESPN cablecast games.
There still is a piece of the pie left. CBS and Fox will carry the Sunday afternoon games. The NFL is thinking about creating an eight game package for Thursday and Saturday nights on cable and satellite late in the season. Those may be put on the league's own new network.
So another thing we can look forward to in 2006 is freedom from John Madden.
The weather forecasts for this weekend are none too good … pretty lousy in fact, but some outstanding high school athletes will be out there in the midst of it Saturday.
The annual Bill Krause Memorial Relays will take place at Tiffin Stadium. The event is held to honor the memory of Bill Krause, a well-liked teacher and coach at Columbian.
The competition is strong and the athletes are good. It all starts at 9:00 a.m.