It’s a Monday Night Milestone

No need to adjust your television set if you tune into “Monday Night Football” and think you’re caught in a time warp.

On Monday, Al Michaels and John Madden will be wearing the same yellow jackets that Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford and Don Meredith made famous in the 1970s and early ‘80s.

That’s because ABC will be commemorating its 500th regular-season Monday night game when Oakland plays at Denver.

It’s fitting that the game features the Raiders and Broncos. Those two teams have played each other on “Monday Night Football” 13 times. The Raiders hold a 6-5-1 advantage, but the Broncos have won two of the last three meetings.

Statistical guru Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau, who has been the director of information for “Monday Night Football” for 21 years, is the one who figured out this game is the 500th.

Clips of memorable moments from the 33-year history of “Monday Night Football” will be shown throughout the telecast. And at halftime ABC will announce the greatest “Monday Night Football” game of all time, as selected by fans.

Five games were nominated. One involved the Broncos -- their 31-28 loss to Joe Montana and the Kansas City Chiefs at Denver in 1994. Montana’s five-yard touchdown pass to Willie Davis with eight seconds left decided the game.

“Cosell used to talk about the ebb and flow of a game,” Michaels recalled this week. “Well, with that game there was no ebb. It was all flow -- from opening kickoff to the final gun.”

But the game most likely to be declared the greatest is Miami’s 38-24 victory over the Chicago Bears in 1985. The Bears came into the game 12-0 and were looking to become only the second team in NFL history to finish a season undefeated. The 1972 Dolphins went 17-0.

Cheapest Shot

There have been a lot of hard hits over the years on Monday night, and a few cheap shots as well. But the cheapest shot came off the field -- and was delivered by Raider owner Al Davis.

It occurred in 1997, after Michaels elected to tell it like it is on the opening of another Raider-Bronco game. Michaels said the Raiders’ commitment to excellence was “just a bunch of empty verbiage” and that the Raiders are the “most underachieving team in the league this season.”

More than a week later, Davis put out a press release that read like a junior high prank. It said, among other things that aren’t fit to print in a family newspaper, that Michaels lacked truthfulness and morality.

The amazing thing is, the NFL, which readily fines players for cheap shots, let Davis off without even a reprimand.

The whole mess left a scar on Michaels. But when asked this week if it comes into play when he announces a Raider game, Michaels said, “From my vantage point, you’re so inside your own game, working with your own team, all you care about is putting on the best show you can.”

He’s Everywhere

Bill Macdonald fills many roles for Fox Sports Net. For instance, he has replaced Paul Sunderland as the host of the “Lakers Live” pregame show. And Saturday he’ll be handling the play-by-play on UCLA-Arizona, working with commentator Mike Sherrard.

Last Saturday he was a hockey play-by-play announcer, filling in for the Kings’ Bob Miller, who was in Wisconsin for his mother-in-law’s funeral. And Macdonald did a nice job.

The last time Miller missed a game before Saturday was 12 years ago, when he took a night off to attend his son Kevin’s college graduation. Radio announcer Nick Nickson did a simulcast that time.

NBA Notes

For the first time this season, Laker fans with cable have a choice -- watch tonight’s game against Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards on Channel 9 with Sunderland and Stu Lantz or on ESPN with John Saunders and Sean Elliott.... One good thing is, because the game is live on ESPN, Channel 9 also has to show it live. Channel 9 showed the game from Cleveland Tuesday on tape-delay.

TNT has changed its schedule for next Thursday. The first game of a doubleheader now will be Utah-Washington instead of San Antonio-Philadelphia. The Clippers’ home game against Orlando is still scheduled as the second game that night.... The Clippers’ first telecast on Channel 5 last Sunday was unimpressive from a production standpoint. The graphics looked bad and the score wasn’t shown enough.

Telemundo begins its run of 15 NBA telecasts Sunday, when it televises the New Orleans Hornets and New York Knicks at 1 p.m. The game is on KVEA Channel 52 in Los Angeles. Telemundo’s studio host is Andres Cantor, known for his soccer call of goooooaaaaaalllll!!! ... Laker games can now be heard in Farsi, the official language of Iran, on KIRN (670). KIRN, which began broadcasting in Farsi in 1999, is owned by Lotus Communications Corp., which also owns KWKW (1330). “The Persian community is a great supporter of the Lakers,” said John Paley, KIRN vice president and general manager. The announcers are Nick Zahab and Nader Zehtab.

Short Waves

Fox Sports Net has chosen not to renew “Southern California Sports Report” anchor John Fricke’s contract. His last day will be Dec. 31.... Also, reporter/anchor Suzy Shuster is leaving the show Dec. 1 but will contribute national reports to Fox Sports Net from time to time. Shuster will soon be moving East to be with her fiance, ESPN anchor Rich Eisen. They have set June 7 as their wedding date.... More wedding bells: Steve Webster, former publicity director at Fox Sports Net and now a senior vice president at Universal Television Group, is engaged to Stella Sampras, Pete’s sister and the UCLA women’s tennis coach. Their wedding date is Jan. 3.

Jennifer Biehn, a two-time USC All-American golfer, makes her debut as an on-course commentator for the last two telecasts in the “Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf” series that airs Thursday and Nov. 21.... The Golf Channel and Golf Digest have teamed up on a Tiger Woods-Jack Nicklaus special, “Tiger vs. Jack,” which first airs Tuesday at 6 p.m, and will be replayed a number of times.

Disney Animation and ESPN have brought the popular comic strip, “In the Bleachers,” to life in the form of 15-second spots which began airing this week. The strip was created by Steve Moore, a former Times employee.... A new channel devoted to martial arts, Blackbelt TV, is scheduled to launch early next year.... Another new channel in the works is the Ice Channel, featuring figure skating. Please, enough is enough.

New Dodger flagship station KFWB (980) got into the swing of things Wednesday when it aired a one-hour “Ask the Dodgers” call-in show with Bob Graziano, Dan Evans and Jim Tracy. Bret Lewis was the host.... “The Gold Sheet Report,” with Bruce Marshall and former New York Giant Mark Collins, carried on KMPC (1540) Saturdays 7-8 a.m., is now being syndicated to 120 stations by Sports Byline USA.... Starting today, Bill Walton will contribute daily reports (heard at 6:28 and 9:28 a.m.) to the “Mike and Mike” show on ESPN Radio.

In Closing

ESPN began airing a new show, “Around the Horn,” this week at 2 p.m. weekdays. It features a hyperactive host, Max Kellerman, and four breathless sports columnists, who mainly just try to outshout each other. Maybe it’s just a bad idea, but the show is not off to a good start. It quickly wears you out.