A Monday Night Football game will forever be linked to the greatest tragedy in music history.
Everyone from around the world learned about the assassination of John Lennon watching a football game.
Most anniversaries are usually great things to celebrate. However on this day, most people aren’t celebrating what happened this past Thursday 36 years ago. What happened 36 years ago, people still mourn the loss of John Lennon; a sad day to celebrate.
On, December 8, 1980, during a Monday Night Football broadcast and game between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots. With just 3 seconds to go in the 4th quarter of the ball game, the camera focuses on Patriots kicker before he walks onto the field to attempt a field goal to give the Patriots the W. As he is about to walk onto the field. You hear Frank Gifford saying to Howard Cosell, “Howard, you have got to say what we know in the booth…”
“Yes, we have to say it,” Cosell replies. “An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the west side of New York City — the most famous, perhaps, of all the Beatles — shot twice in the back. Rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that newsflash…”
Those stunning words, just seemed to have made the world freeze in time. No one in the world really seemed to comprehend this news of shock and a tragedy no one saw coming. Still to this day, a few people that I know that were around at the time and heard the shocking mews on this broadcast can’t talk about it without getting emotional.
Lennon’s murder triggered an outpouring of grief around the world on an unprecedented scale. Ono sent word to the chanting crowd outside the Dakota that their singing had kept her awake; she asked the crowd the following Sunday for ten minutes of silent prayer.On 14 December 1980, millions of people around the world responded to Ono’s request to pause for ten minutes of silence to remember Lennon. Thirty thousand gathered in Liverpool, and the largest group—over 225,000—converged on New York’s Central Park, close to the scene of the shooting. For those ten minutes, every radio ststio in New York City went off the air.
Below is a deeper look into the shocking announcement of John Lennon live on air.
RIP John Lennon. You are still missed and mourned to this day.
