NBC's Sunday Night Football, The "New Monday Night Football"

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SatelliteGuys Master
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Nov 2, 2006
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Believeland, Ohio
As we all know by now and some of us are still adjusting to, 2 years ago, NBC started broadcasting NFL Games on Sunday Night (formerly broadcast on ESPN). As Monday Night Football switched to a cable outlet (ESPN), Sunday Night Football has now become the "new Monday night". Here's what I mean by that:

While the ESPN broadcasts will have the MNF name and heritage, NBC (like ABC) is a broadcast network, whereas ESPN is a cable service not freely available to all Americans. For that reason, NBC gained rights to the Thursday night season opening game, the wild card doubleheader that has traditionally aired on ABC, as well as a share of the rotating rights to the Super Bowl (with CBS and FOX also in the mix). In short, NBC is now the most prestigious place to showcase the weeks NFL main event.

NBC also is the beneficiary of "Flexible Scheduling". For the final seven weeks of the season, the NFL has the flexibility in selecting games to air on Sunday night. This makes for the most compelling relevant matchups to be aired on NBC.

There are also several similarities in NBC's Sunday Night Football telecast to the old ABC Monday Night Football (now on ESPN). This further makes Sunday Night Football the "new Monday night"........

For one, NBC has the broadcasters formally on ABC in John Madden, Al Michaels and Andrea Kremer. Also, NBC has a graphic of starters introducing themselves much like ABC did in the past. NBC's SNF has the "horse trailer MVP". The idea originated on ABC's MNF. Another similarity is the rousing introduction that MNF used to be known for with Hank Williams Jr. singing the theme song. Instead of Williams Jr. though, NBC's SNF now has their own opening theme song, which is a reworking of the Joan Jett song, "I Hate Myself For Loving You" retitled, "Waiting All Day For Sunday Night".

Which brings me to my main topic of discussion: The Sunday Night Football Theme Intro! I wasn't so sure about it at first, but over the last 2 years, I've grown rather fond of it. Call it a guilty pleasure, but I love the intro by NBC. Everything from the John Williams composed instrumental theme, to the reworked Joan Jett theme song. It all works for me! In '06 it was sung by Pink. In '07 it was sung by Faith Hill. The Hank Williams Jr. theme for MNF was a piece of nostalgia from the ABC days. It pumped you up and let the crowd know that you were about to watch something really special. I now feel the same about NBC's theme. I even like that they switch up the celebrity singer every year, yet keep the song the same.

Now the ultimate question: For year 3, who does NBC select as the theme intro singer in '08?
 
I will not put NBC's football in any sort of prestigious level until they fix their HD problems. I LOVE watching football, but unless the Sunday Night game is a game I care quite a bit about, I will not watch it. After spending the day watching good HD from NFL ST & SF (which should only get better with the MPEG4 conversion,) it is almost painful to watch the NFL in NBC HD. And judging by the results of a poll I posted a while back, my gripes with SNF HD are not isolated either.

That's great you don't like the HD quality of NBC's Football coverage, but with all due respect, picture quality wasn't a part of the original topic of discussion at all. As a matter of fact, this was posted specifically in the "sports thread", so we can avoid any of the frivolous PQ bickerings and instead try to stick to the actual merits and thoughts relating to the original post.
 
Geesh. Thanks for the well thought out responses guys! :confused:

So, does anyone have an idea of who might be in the running for the intro song to Sunday Night Football on NBC?

Let's recap:

'06: Pink
'07: Faith Hill
'08: Carrie Underwood, Jessica Simpson , Beyonce? Who's it gonna be?!
 
Geesh. Thanks for the well thought out responses guys! :confused:

So, does anyone have an idea of who might be in the running for the intro song to Sunday Night Football on NBC?

Let's recap:

'06: Pink
'07: Faith Hill
'08: Carrie Underwood, Jessica Simpson , Beyonce? Who's it gonna be?!

Perhaps there's the possibility that Faith will do it for a second straight year?
 
Geesh. Thanks for the well thought out responses guys! :confused:

So, does anyone have an idea of who might be in the running for the intro song to Sunday Night Football on NBC?

Let's recap:

'06: Pink
'07: Faith Hill
'08: Carrie Underwood, Jessica Simpson , Beyonce? Who's it gonna be?!


My daughter would go bananas (in the good sense) if Carrie Underwood does the theme song.
 
It's funny, I like Faith Hill a gazillion times more than I ever liked Pink. But yet Pink's version grew on me more than Faith's.
 
It's funny, I like Faith Hill a gazillion times more than I ever liked Pink. But yet Pink's version grew on me more than Faith's.

I think it was Pinks raspy voice that did something for that song. Although like you, I prefer Faith over Pink in just about every other circumstance.
 
I think it was Pinks raspy voice that did something for that song. Although like you, I prefer Faith over Pink in just about every other circumstance.

Am I the only one who thinks that Pink's version in Year 1 was so much better than Faith Hill's bland rendition of "WADFSN" last year?

NBC is trying too hard to make Sunday Night like Monday Night. IMO, It seems like they have forgotten their roots by not trying to get back Dick Enberg, Marv Albert, Paul Maguire, OJ Simpson (Just Kidding!!) or any of their former colleagues for their crew in-studio and in-booth. Let's not forget that Bob Costas was not part of NBC's NFL crew after the 1992 season ended, except for the occasional special interview. I remember CBS tried to bring back as much of their former pre-NFC loss crew as possible when they got the AFC rights in 1998, as if they never lost football.

I love John William's theme don't get me wrong but we don't need a country intro like Monday Night, stick to a rock or pop version of the intro since the song is based off of a rock ballad.
 
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