Front & Center: Mike Tirico discusses his 100th game in MNF booth
(Photo by Rich Arden / ESPN Images)
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This week’s Monday Night Football game is a dandy. ESPN has Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears against Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys (8:30 p.m. ET).
In addition to featuring two of the NFC’s top teams, it’s also the 100th regular season MNF game for play-by-play voice Mike Tirico, making him just the sixth commentator in MNF’s 43-year history to reach this milestone. He joins legends Frank Gifford (411 games), Al Michaels (323), Dan Dierdorf (200), Howard Cosell (around 180) and Don Meredith (around 150) in this elite club.
In the podcast above, Tirico discusses the milestone and what it has meant to him to be part of sports television’s longest-running series. He talks about his favorite games — and even a few bizarre ones like this past Monday night’s controversial finish in Seattle. He highlights many of the unheralded MNF crew members who are also celebrating their 100th game this week, and even provides a preview of this weekend’s Ryder Cup, which he is hosting on ESPN today (8 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.) from the Medinah Country Club outside Chicago.
Note: Mike Tirico’s Monday Night Football Preview podcast (which posts later today) previews the Bears-Cowboys game with MNF analyst Jon Gruden and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Portions of this podcast were edited.
