Patriots Nostalgia: The Game the Patriots Were Banned from MNF
by jcru on Dec 28, 2010 1:47 PM EST
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PrintI was just discussing this topic with some friends on the K.C. Chiefs SB Nation site, ArrowHeadPride.com. I believe I have just found a link to a clip for the beginning of the game where the Patriots were banned from MNF for almost two decades.
I am 99% positive this is the game, because it meets all of the criteria I can recall: MNF game, between the Patriots and Jets, in Foxboro, mid 70's, and Joe Namath was still the QB of the Jets. This game was at the old Schaefer/Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium, obviously. Here is the link:
MNF: Jets @ Patriots, October 18, 1976
The story after the jump...
I like most of you, have been a Pats fan from birth, for the nearly 38 years I've been alive. Was born into it, whether fortunately or unfortunately, I suppose that depends on the particular era you're referring to (i.e Rod Rust/Dick MacPherson or Bill Parcells/Bill Belickick, for instance).
I've always lived about a half hour away from Foxboro. We never had season tickets, but my father, a salesman and sales broker in the Chestnut Hill area, always managed to get us tickets for some memorable games throughout the years. One such game I attended was the Mark Henderson Snow Plow Game in 1982. I was 9 years old at the time. I remember we had front row seats in the corner of the endzone closest to where the snow plow incident happened. Before the game, I remember being two feet away from the back of Steve Grogan, as they were doing pregame warmups, screaming at the back of his helmet, "GROGAN!!!" You know, little kids can scream loud, lol. He never turned around though.
Anyway, another such game, that I was too young to attend, was this game in 1976. I was 3 years old at the time. My father, my uncle, and a bunch of his work buddies went to this one that appeared on MNF.
I believe the Pats played an away game on MNF in 1986, the season after the Superbowl appearance vs. the Bears. However, they didn't play another MNF game, another away game, until Bill Parcells took over as head coach. He took over as head coach in 1993, and it wasn't until his second season as coach that they went to the playoffs. So, that second away game wouldn't have been until at least 1995.
The producers at MNF used the excuse that they wouldn't air a game in Foxboro because the Patriots played "in a high school stadium". And, for those who don't remember, not to mention most of the nation, that was a reasonable enough reason. However, there was at least one more MNF game in the old stadium, prior to the new one being built, perhaps after the 4th and final Parcells season, when the Patriots lost to the Packers in their second SB appearance.
Anyway, to the game...
The crowd at the 1976 MNF game hosting the NY Jets, was so drunk and disorderly, that several things happened. At one point in the game, when the Jets were starting at their own 20, the game had gone to a tv timeout, and a fan jumped out of the endzone bleechers, and took the field. He ran into the Jets hundle, and shook Joe Namath's hand. He then proceeded to pick up the football that the umpire had placed at the line of scrimmage, and started running the length of the field.
The crowd at this point, who had been watching the whole thing, started getting into it. They started cheering wildly as the guy was running down the field with the football, like he was a real player. At about midfield, the police were running down the field after him. The fans started cheering even louder. When he reached the endzone, he spiked the ball, and started doing a crazyleggs endzone celebration dance. The police caught up to him and in one swift move scooped him up and carried him off the field, into the endzone tunnel, and out of the stadium.
Also, at least one or more (drunken) fans, fell off the back concrete wall of the stadium, and died. People were getting hauled out of the stadium for fighting throughout the game at such frequency that the annoucers started commentating about a few of them.
Finally, at the end of the game, Howard Cosell was left screaming:
"These New England fans are ANIMALS!! They are ANIMALS!!!"
And that's how the Patriots lost MNF in Foxboro for almost two decades.
If you took the time to read this, I thank you.
The views expressed in these FanPosts are not necessarily those of the writers or SBNation.
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did not know that
Non Sibi Sed Patriae &I love my ZX-6r Kawasaki.
I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life
Toy Story wears no. 39 100x better than D.D.R
Pat McAfee -Colts punter-"@StampedeBlue I hope your website gets exposed for a complete joke. There’s no reason for you to do that, and its completely ridiculous."
"Stampede Blue-North Korea of SBN"-Colt's fan
I always wondered why we never seemd to be on MNF
I thought it was mostly because we stunk alot. I had the impression that they would always put on the teams that were playoff teams from the previous year, or the ratings teams such as Oakland, Dallas, New York, etc.
I would wager, however, that you could probably find some similar stories of out of control crowd behavior at many venues throughout the crazy 70’s.
Well, a couple of things
First, there was apparently, plenty of coverage the following day, in the local and national media, with Howard Cosell, specifically, but also MNF/ABC producers and NFL officials saying that they would never hold another game in Foxboro. You can picture Howard Cosell here, “that was the most dispicable display I’ve ever seen” blah blah. Not to mention comments about how their behavior, didn’t deserve it, etc.
But, like all sports stories, after a few years that blew over. People have notoriously short memories in sports, and as you mentioned, that was probably one of the worst, like a perfect storm, but there were probably other such events that took place in the 70’s elsewhere.
The thing that hurt the Patriots, all the way up until the Parcells era, is that the refusal to put the Pats on the air (a SB appearance doesn’t merit a home game on MNF?), was in my opinion hurting their chances to rebuild, even if you could argue that they had poor management. They didn’t suck for entire decades at a time. The MNF and NFL decision to banish them from MNF most likely hurt the overall team in subtle and less than subtle ways, especially in a league where exposure is everything.
thanks for writing the post
recd
Non Sibi Sed Patriae &I love my ZX-6r Kawasaki.
I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life
Toy Story wears no. 39 100x better than D.D.R
Pat McAfee -Colts punter-"@StampedeBlue I hope your website gets exposed for a complete joke. There’s no reason for you to do that, and its completely ridiculous."
"Stampede Blue-North Korea of SBN"-Colt's fan
thanks, man
glad you liked it. The history, helps keep everything in perspective.
Learn something every day.
Rec’d, good sir.
Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
Contributing Writer at PatsPulpit
This is amazing
And after the 2 butt whuppings the Pats have administered on MNF this year…they might just have to ban ’em again. (You know, so they can air better games like SF @ARZ ;-)
I don't think so. Homey don't play dat.
Sooo many similarities!
I’ve lived no more than 1 hour from Foxboro all of my life and my Dad sold Budweiser for 33 years. Like your dad, mine got us tickets to some amazing games. You pushed the nostalgia button. Rec’d, kind sir.
Reality is a matter of opinion.
One of the great old stories.
Thanks for bringing it to the site.
I remember hearing about it — you and I are similar vintage. Always was one of the fan-lore things that made 2001 so special to me. We really were like the Raiders there for a while (though this isn’t one of the stories I put in that post about our teams), a cross between an outcast and a laughing-stock. Add to the that the stigma of being one of the original AFL teams and we really were the Lynne of the NFL for a while (no offense to Lynne — really).
2001 was really about redeeming a franchise and a fan-base, and sticking a thumb in the eye of the old NFL. I bet if you got Bobby Kraft at home in his socks with a couple of scotch-and-waters in him, he’d admit that, too. Now, he’s the establishment. Doesn’t take long and memories are short, as you say.
As Mr. Sloan always says, there is no "I" in team, but there is an "I" in pie. And there's an "I" in meat pie. Anagram of meat is team... I don't know what he's talking about. --Shaun of the Dead
by JohnHannahRules on Dec 29, 2010 11:47 AM EST reply actions
How many black/midnight suits, with blue-striped, white-collared shirts and red ties do you think he has?
I think that in his wardrobe is just these seemingly endless rows of new suits in those dry-cleaning bags. Every day, the rack shifts one suit over, and he just pulls it off the coat-hanger and slips it on t-shirt style. The previous suit is recycled.
"Perhaps it was the Noid who should have avoided me." Mayor Adam West
by insertscreenname on Dec 29, 2010 12:13 PM EST up reply actions
He's got one less Super Bowl Ring...
Vlad Putin stole it.
Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
Contributing Writer at PatsPulpit
by Comedic.Sans on Dec 29, 2010 6:33 PM EST up reply actions
"The previous suit is recycled."
I imagine it’s shredded in made into fine socks of spun marino wool, worn for one ski outing and then discarded.
Don’t forget the pink ties — he really seems to favor pink for his accessories.
As Mr. Sloan always says, there is no "I" in team, but there is an "I" in pie. And there's an "I" in meat pie. Anagram of meat is team... I don't know what he's talking about. --Shaun of the Dead
by JohnHannahRules on Dec 30, 2010 12:39 PM EST up reply actions
Better be careful not to jack this thread...
"Perhaps it was the Noid who should have avoided me." Mayor Adam West
by insertscreenname on Dec 30, 2010 12:47 PM EST up reply actions
Well, I noticed that you couldn't find any account of this online
anywhere. Not wikipedia, not the nfl.com, etc. So, I figured someone had to remedy that. lol
This is a great story, it shouldn’t be allowed to die. There are people, both local fans who attended the game, people who watched it from home like my mom, and people throughout the NFL and broadcasting ranks, like I’m sure Frank Gifford who was there, who would remember this story.
Perhaps they would rather not remember this story. But it is a part of history. If nothing else, it shows how far these Pats have come.
It’s hard not so share stories like this one, and not feel a little bit like family. You guys take care.
good read and
those whom dont know the past are doomed to repeat it in the future. Lets hope to not get back there. In Bill We Trust
Jeffrey M Melhorn
Great article, thanks for the look back
The last Monday Night Football game to be played in Foxboro (Schafer Stadium) before the ban by town selectmen was September 21, 1981: Dallas 35, New England 21.
The first Monday night game to be allowed after the ban was lifted was on October 23, 1995 (Foxboro Stadium): New England 27, Buffalo 14.
Christopher Price, in his book, The Blueprint recounts a description from Paul Perillo from the second to last MNF game played before the ban on September 29, 1980: New England 23, Denver 14:
"All the stories you hear about Foxboro Stadium and the rowdiness," Perillo said, "are all one thousand percent true.
"I went to the game with my father, my grandfather, and my uncle, and I remember them truly being concerned walking back to the car through the parking lot at the end of the game," he said. "At the old stadium, they had a chain-link fence around the outside, and there had to be fifteen or twenty guys handcuffed to the fence—one arm handcuffed to the fence. There were guys getting arrested left and right. I didn’t know what was going on, but I saw all these guys handcuffed, but I can kind of remember my family being somewhat concerned: ‘What the hell are we doing taking an eight-year-old kid to a Monday night game in Foxborough?’"
But on September 29, 1980, a Monday Night Football game was the unquestioned low point. After spending most of the afternoon drinking in the dirt parking lots around the stadium, almost 100 fans were arrested for a variety of offenses, ranging from drunk and disorderly conduct to assaulting a police officer. (Foxborough selectmen later proposed a ban on Monday Night games, a ban that lasted nearly fifteen years.)
Keep the faith!
I remember that
The chain link fence, with the men with their backs to the fence, their arms handcuffed to it. Just a row of them. As you were walking past, the amount of time it took, you’d actually see a couple of cops hauling a new one to the fence. That happened almost every game back then.
That really jogged a memory for me. I thank you.
Thanks for the article.
Growing up in Illinois, I hardly ever saw a Patriots game on TV. Once Tony Eason (my college QB) went to the Patriots, it was tough trying to follow him on TV. Now I know why.
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
Official Fire-Puncher for Pats Pulpit an SB Nation Blog
by SlotMachinePlayer on Dec 30, 2010 10:57 AM EST up reply actions
That was a late late night
I was at that game, i was 22 yrs old. The old parking lot had one entrance/exit and we got there early and got in on time. However after the game we were well into the lot, and we waited almost three hours to get back out. It was the rowdiest crowd at any event I have ever seen.
Thanks for the story, I had no idea we'd been banned from MNF
When I first became aware of football and the Patriots I was like 8 or 9 and it was the Drew Bledsoe/Bill Parcells era, like 1995-96ish. I guess that’s considered kind of the “modern era”, even though we didn’t have Brady yet and Belichick wasn’t HC of the NEP.
Deep in enemy territory
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