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Cowboys enjoy spotlight, memories "MNF" provides

By Josie Karp

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - Every appearance Clay Shiver makes on "Monday Night Football" is, in part, about revenge. The prime-time spectacle is great for teen-agers and adults, lending some excitement to the beginning of the week.

For youths still in grade school, especially on the East Coast where kickoff is not until 9 p.m., it can be more frustrating than anything else.

"I always had to go to bed around halftime," Shiver recalled. "I had older brothers, and they got to stay up. But I had to go to bed."

The start time for the game can still pose a problem for some Cowboys, although Shiver, the Cowboys' starting center, is probably not going to complain.

"Once the game gets here, it's a tough game to get ready for just because you sit around all day leading up to the game," quarterback Troy Aikman said.

The excitement, though, outweighs the hassle for most.

"They're very fun games to play in because you get to watch football all day Sunday and you get to be the focal point on Monday," running back Emmitt Smith said. "You play in front of the largest crowd in the world probably."

The current crop of Cowboys players has been involved in a number of memorable Monday night games this decade. They stand out for many reasons, not all of them pleasant or directly related to the action on the field.

Smith said his favorite was probably the Monday night game Sept. 9, 1991, at Texas Stadium against the Washington Redskins. It was the Cowboys' first "Monday Night Football" appearance after a three-year hiatus.

Smith matched his third-best rushing effort to that point with 112 yards. One hundred four of those yards came within the game's first 12 minutes, including what still stands as the longest rush of his career, 75 yards for a touchdown.

But Smith got sick on the sideline after that run and was weakened by nausea for the rest of the game. Not only that, the Cowboys lost, 33-31.

The Cowboys avenged that loss a year later on Monday night, in what stands as Aikman's favorite game.

"They were world champs, and the stadium was electric that night," Aikman said. "It was unbelievable. It was Charles' (Haley's) first game with us, and he was phenomenal."

Cowboys coach Barry Switzer pointed to the Cowboys' season opening, Monday night football victory against the New York Giants at Giants Stadium in 1995 as one of his favorites. Smith ran 60 yards the first time he touched the ball and scored four times. The game set the tone for a season in which the Cowboys won their third Super Bowl in four years and Switzer won his first.

The game, however, also represented some of the disappointing and strange Cowboys "Monday Night" football landmarks.

Cornerback Kevin Smith tore his Achilles' tendon late in the first half and was lost for the season.

Then, at halftime, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made the game a mere sideshow. He announced a lucrative pact between Nike and Texas Stadium and then escorted Nike boss Phil Knight and tennis star Monica Seles on a sideline tour.

Two months later, Jones chose the late afternoon before the Cowboys played host to the Philadelphia Eagles in a "Monday Night Football" game to announce his multimillion dollar lawsuit against the NFL.

Kickoff is at 8. If you are into the thrilling, the macabre or the bizarre, don't miss it.

(c) 1997, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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