Farewell Dandy Don

The pro football world lost someone who played a big part in what it has become today.  Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and Monday Night Football color commentator Don Meredith passed away last month, leaving behind him a legacy of greatness in the broadcast booth.

Before the MNF trio of Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell, and Don Meredith hit the air in 1970, football broadcasts could be described as being very plain and matter of fact.  Announcers called what they saw on the field and added very little else in the way of color or insight.  Jackson, Cosell, and Meredith changed all of this.  Meredith, in particular, became a household name.  This is because 'Dandy Don' put the game in terms where fans could get a feel for what to look for in the game.  He connected the game of football to the fans who loved it.  And the fans loved him for it.  Meredith also incorporated humor into the broadcasts.  His back and forth dialogues with Cosell were both funny and entertaining.  Football was no longer just a game.  IT WAS ENTERTAINMENT.

Don Meredith spent 9 years (1970-1973, and 1977-1984) on MNF and was in the booth for a couple of Super Bowls.  This only tells a small part of the story though. Meredith's effects on the broadcasting of pro football have lasted far longer than did his years in the booth.  Sure we still see the 3 man colorful group of Monday Night Football announcers(currently Tirico, Jaworski, and Gruden) much like we did with Jackson, Cosell, and Meredith; but Meredith carved out an entire niche for the broadcasting structure that we see today.  NFL TV and radio broadcast teams are almost sure to have an ex NFL player amongst them.  The likes of Aikman, Jaworski, Simms, Millen, Johnston, and Collinsworth grace the booths every time we turn on our televisions to watch an NFL game.  Just like we did with Meredith, we have these colorful ex NFL players connecting the games on the field to us fans sitting in our living rooms.

Pictured here with Cosell and Jackson, Don Meredith became a household name

This practice has become so commonplace in NFL broadcasts that Meredith received the Pete Rozelle Award, given every year to someone who has contributed greatly to the game of pro football, in 2007.  When we turn on our TVs this afternoon for the conference championship games or for the Super Bowl in two weeks, we can still look to Meredith for the way that those games will be brought to us. Dandy Don blazed the trail for what we will be watching, and what we will almost certainly find to be entertaining.