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If you were alive in the 90s, you were watching shows (wait for it)... on your TV. One of those shows for me was the sitcom "Coach" - the show fascinated me because before the days of Longhorn Network or Hard Knocks, it was my first "inside look" at what it must've been like to be a head coach at a vaunted program like the Minnesota State Screaming Eagles. Oddly enough, the life of a head coach at a D1 program was full of more-or-less hilarious foibles that were resolved in half an hour - not say, your top receiver getting arrested in the middle of the night or spending week after week on the road recruiting or buttering up an important booster at an alumni function. Now that I've pierced the veil of an actual coach's life somewhat - I realized how different it was from the lives of Coach Fox and his assistants Luther Van Dam and Dauber. Ultimately it wasn't X's and O's that made the show compelling, it was the personal relationships between the three - who very much constituted a family - that entertained me. If the show was inaccurate from a football perspective it's this - the offensive and defensive coordinators are usually not that close - like Dauber and Van Dam seemed to be on the show.
(90s sitcom "Wings" on the other hand remains the most accurate version of events of life at a regional airport based on Martha's Vineyard - it's basically a documentary.)
Anyway, here are some behind the scenes photos from my first game with Monday Night Football:

I've been in TV for a long time and I continue to be impressed with how much equipment is needed for a game broadcast - miles of cable, tons of equipment, control rooms, satellite trucks, a mobile studio, a bus and of course, people to run it all. It's hard to do TV well but at this point it's a well oiled machine.

There are 4 big semis representing every decade of Monday Night Football -- the 70s, 80s, 90s and 21st Century. Jon Gruden, Lisa Salters and Sean McDonough are my colleagues that drive the broadcast so it's only fitting they are on the side of this massive truck.

Skol! The new stadium is impressive outside too -- mark your calendars for Dec 2 and this sweet monster truck rally.

Life/pass rush comes at you fast. It's remarkable when you think a year ago, Sam Bradford was traded to the Vikings a week before the start of the season - and took them to the playoffs. Now he's the certifiable starter... and looked like Tom friggin' Brady last night. Bradford told me after the game this was a big win for them - they've been talking all season about finishing games and that's what they did last night. Vikings look impressive on both sides of the ball - I don't want to get ahead of myself but the Vikings are going to win the Super Bowl guys.

Randy Moss giving the people what they want on Randy Moss Night - inducted into the ring of honor.

Pregame and postgame- Vikings fans love Adrian Peterson.

A great flattering picture of me doing social hits before the game.

Vikings mascot asking me for money to pay Bradford this year.

Well done, Vikings staff. Sports has the power to unify unlike anything else - it is a public good. The best sports owners run their teams knowing it's a public trust.