It was Monday night. The Seahawks were playing the Raiders, and I had to go class. ":( I dont wanna go to class, I just wanna watch football :(" I text messaged a friend. Reluctantly I got off the couch, tied my shoes, and headed to class disappointed.

I was missing Monday Night Football: the show, the excitement, the must-see that MNF has become.

This week's game was a non-conference match-up between the horrendous Oakland Raiders and the injured Seattle Seahawks. On Sunday, I would have switch to the other network to watch a better game. On Monday, the quality of the game doesn't matter.

The Raiders entered the game with a 2-5 record. They beat the Pittsburgh Steelers last week despite mustering only 98 yards of total offense. Last night was no different; the Raiders were shutout. It marked the fifth time in eight games this season that their offense failed to produce a touchdown.

The Seattle Seahawks are the defending NFC Champions. Last night though, they were without Pro Bowlers Matt Hasslebeck and Shaun Alexander to lead their offense.

Twenty-four hours earlier Peyton Manning beat Tom Brady to take another round of the fabled showdown between the league's top two quarterbacks. Monday, it was Seneca Wallace versus Andrew Walter. This game was not billed for its potential on-field excitement, nor did the 16-0 final provide the excitement. However, people still tuned in for this game.

They did not tune in for the superb commentary. The three-man booth of Mike Tirico, Tony Cornheiser, and Joe Theissman has been less than impressive. Nor are their comments so ridiculous, like John Madden's in the past, that viewers tune in just for the entertainment of hearing them speak.

Despite the uninspiring game and uninspiring commentary, there was no place I'd rather have been last night than on my couch for the game.

ESPN has made Monday Night Football fun again.

ESPN has built its entire marketing campaign around making the Monday Night game the premier game of the week. There is an advertisement specifically designed for each day of the week counting down to the next Monday Night showdown.

On Tuesdays, the ad emphasizes the game that is nearly a week away. "Tuesday: it's all about last night's game. The water cooler talk: that call, that play, that guy that came over and ate all your chips. But most importantly, Tuesday is all about six more days. The NFC South matchup between the Buccaneers and the Panthers. So, while we fully support the memory of last night's game, don't forget what there is to look forward to."

The endless promotion will not let people forget what there is to look forward to. Even on Sunday, when thirty other teams are playing football, ESPN overlooks them for their Monday Night matchup.

ABC's moving MNF to ESPN was an ingenious business move. ESPN is the perfect station to cover MNF.

To hardcore NFL fans, MNF is like the extra piece of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving; it's the bonus round in Super Mario. Unless, your team loses on Monday, there are no negatives to MNF. To casual sports fans though, MNF is on Mondays. Not Saturday, when a good college football game is on. Not Sunday, when most people will watch "their" team play. This is on Monday, after a long day of work, and before four more grueling days of work. It's easy to get some viewers for MNF, but it's hard to get the audience that ESPN has drawn.

The renewed popularity of MNF again results from ESPN's ability to promote the game. Sports fans turn on ESPN throughout the week. Whether it's for news on "Sports Center," commentary on "Around the Horn" or "Pardon the Interruption," or to watch an event, such as the NBA, sports fans watch ESPN all week long. ESPN knows that when they put on ads, they will have an interested audience. This is not the case for ABC or any of the other networks, who cover sports sparingly during the week.

Cornheiser's appearance also increases the interest in MNF. His dual-performance on PTI and MNF further the notion of not forgetting the presence of MNF. Mondays on PTI have Tony doing the show from the stadium, which promotes the upcoming game. Tuesdays tend have Tony still in the city of the Monday night game, which says: "Hey! I was there. Were you?" Cornheiser has admittedly not done an excellent job with his commentary. This, however, does not quell the interest of seeing Cornheiser in a different light than his normal role on PTI.

On October 23, the MNF game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants reportedly drew over 16 million viewers. This was the largest known cable television audience in history. The 12.8 rating for that game is noticeably higher than NBC's 11.2 rating for the Colts-Patriots game on Sunday.

Thanks to ESPN, Monday Night Football is popular again. "Monday's don't recognize working overtime," the ads say. Millions of Americans are going home to watch Monday Night Football. Even for those of us who have class, Monday is about rushing home as soon as the professor says: "See you next Monday!"

Last night, I managed to catch the last twenty minutes of the game. In that time, the Seahawks hit a lone field-goal and sacked the Raiders a couple more times to add to the game total of nine. The game was boring, but I'm not disappointed. After all, it's only six more days until the next Monday Night Football game.

NOTE: This blog was written as an assignment for the Journalism 499: Sports Commentary class at the University of Southern California, taught by Joshua Adande.

This blog was back-dated to the day it was completed: November 7, although it was posted on November 10.