Monday Night Football is too obsessed with itself and its former glory

Deadspin

Monday Night Football was a groundbreaking sports broadcast in the 1970s, thanks to Howard Cosell. But nowadays, ESPN is too busy living in Monday Night Football's glorious past, trying to turn the franchise into an event with needless innovations and halftime concerts -- like The Chainsmokers during last week's Rams-Chiefs game. "All of those efforts to recapture MNF’s magic failed, but that hasn’t stopped ESPN from continuously trying to doctor up ways to make the game as much of an EVENT as it was back in the 1970s. This is a show imprisoned by its own history," says Drew Magary. "They still have pictures of Cosell adorning the MNF production trucks. They still use the theme. They dragged Hank out of racist mothballs to sing his stupid f*cking song from the ’80s salad days. They still use ancient clips of Cosell slurring “He could go all the way” and 'What a game this turned out to be' and all that nonsense. They refer to Monday records as if they are hallowed... None of that has stopped ESPN from still trying desperately to make Monday Night Football a thing. In the process, they’ve in fact cheapened the product."