Monday Night Football: Good Riddance

“Monday Night Football” ends its run on ABC tonight after 558 broadcasts.  Good.  Save Brett Farve’s 399-yard 4 TD performance in tribute to his recently departed father a couple years ago, I haven’t seen an interesting game on Monday night since the late nineties. 

In many ways it’s sad that a pioneering broadcast like “MNF” has to end, but these days the show is like a faithful but ailing dog that needs to be put out of his misery.  “MNF” is actually moving to ESPN, but it will no longer have the panache of being the primtetime network show that it’s been since its inception in 1970. 

The show has been especially bad this final couple seasons, with the introduction of redneck musicals at halftime and the pairing of jackass Al Michaels with the way-past-his-prime John Madden.  It saddens me that a show I used to really look forward to has come to this, but I suppose that nothing lasts forever.

I’ll watch one last time tonight in hopes of seeing some glimpses of the show I once loved.  But like an old girlfriend, “Monday Night Football” will eventually fade off into a distant, vaguely pleasant memory that rarely comes to mind anymore.