Brian Billick on Match Game
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 5:53 pm
Not sure how well known this is among regulars on this board, but right around the time current game analyst for Fox and former Baltimore Ravens head coach (1999-2007) Brian Billick gave up on his dream of playing in the NFL to embark on his coaching career (circa 1977), he concurrently appeared as a contestant on the game show Match Game hosted by Gene Rayburn.
Of course I wouldn't have bothered posting this without some video so here it is:
[video][/video]
It's interesting that in response to the second question — which really had nothing to do with football — so many of the celebrity panellists answered with then-MNF commentator Howard Cosell. I was too young at the time to have a good enough memory of this era so I'm not sure why this happened. Perhaps it was due to some sort of psychological priming upon hearing Billick discuss his football career, or maybe Cosell himself was simply such a larger-than-life personality at the time that his fame transcended mere sports fandom and penetrated into the greater, more general public consciousness. It might have been a combination of these or even some other reason. At any rate I don't think his name would come up as much as it did here if the question were posed today in 2013.
Of course I wouldn't have bothered posting this without some video so here it is:
[video][/video]
It's interesting that in response to the second question — which really had nothing to do with football — so many of the celebrity panellists answered with then-MNF commentator Howard Cosell. I was too young at the time to have a good enough memory of this era so I'm not sure why this happened. Perhaps it was due to some sort of psychological priming upon hearing Billick discuss his football career, or maybe Cosell himself was simply such a larger-than-life personality at the time that his fame transcended mere sports fandom and penetrated into the greater, more general public consciousness. It might have been a combination of these or even some other reason. At any rate I don't think his name would come up as much as it did here if the question were posed today in 2013.