Half way into the football season and I just found out that ABC changed the Monday Night Football announcers. Al Michaels is still there, but instead of Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf, we have Boomer Esiason. It's just weird because the Michaels, Gifford, Dierdorf trio had been the longest running MNF announcing team in MNF history.

The trio started right after I started watching football in the fall of '86 (or maybe a year later). Al Michaels had already been there, and I think he's been an MNF announcer for years and years. He's that good, and he anchors the show. Frank Gifford never made much of an impression on me, although I think he and Michaels had been working together for at least a year before Dierdorf joined the team.

In a two-person announcing team, one announcer is the play-by-play guy and the other is the color commentator/analyst. The classic two-man team is Pat Summerall and John Madden. Summerall does the play-by-play, leaving Madden freedom to analyse the plays and comment on strategy and NFL history. This is the best announcing team in the business, mostly due to Madden. Summerall does a good job staying out of Madden's way. Madden is fun to listen to, as he is knowledgeable, enthusiastic, opinionated, and has a vast store- house of football stories and anecdotes.

Anyway, in Monday Night Football, Al Michaels does the play-by-play while Gifford and Dierdorf do the color commentary. They all do analysis, trying to get a banter going. With three people it's easier to get a conversation, as you don't have to depend on two people to be "on" all the time. Michaels, having the most experience, usually has the best things to say while Gifford and Dierdorf at times struggle to match him.

Dierdorf was awful that first year. There were a lot of times when he didn't say anything for minutes, and other times when he said the wrong things. It took him a couple of years to get his rhythm, and he became a great commentator. After a few years it was Al and Dan with Frank pitching in occassionally. This was a good team who really made the game enjoyable, especially the one year when MNF seemed to have boring game after boring game. Lots of blowouts or low scoring struggles, with the only highlight being the analysis and commentary.

It's a sad indication when I only noticed that the change after reading an article that mentioned Dan Dierdorf working for CBS. I haven't been watching much football this year, and practically no Monday Night Football. MNF is usually over by the time I get back from work, but Sundays have been rather depressing with the 49ers losing so much. Not even my fantasy football league has sparked my interest this season. Chalk it up to an off year.

I don't have as much time to really watch sports this year. That extra hour and a half work commute cuts down on my weekday free time. Which means I get less done and have to bleed into my week- end time to do all my random junk, including watching my taped shows. That takes television time which means I can't watch sports while I'm catching up on my shows. I don't particularly mind too much, but sometimes I do miss watching football while I do my things on the computer.