Game 1-Game 2
Referring to: The advantage Rams quarterback Kurt Warner might experience coming to the NFL's 160-foot wide, 100-yard long playing field from the Arena Football League's 85-foot wide, 50-yard long field:
Miller said: "I think the compacted nature of that venue must make Warner feel like he's gone from a bumper pool table to a snooker table."
The reference: Bumper pool is usually played on a 32" x 48" table, though sometimes the table is an octagon. Fixed red and white mushroom-shaped "bumpers" in the center and the ends of the small table make it much harder to make the balls go in the holes. Snooker is a British billiards game that is played with colored balls on a full-sized 4.5-by-9-foot pool table. Snooker is not to be confused with English billiards, which has only two colors of balls, red and white. The term "snooker" means that your cue ball is in a spot where you can't hit the next ball that the complicated rules require. By extension, to be "snookered" means to be hoodwinked or duped, often by complicated rules or deception.
What Miller might have meant: Playing on the smaller Arena League football field and then coming to play on the big NFL field might give Warner the psychological advantage of feeling like he has more space to work with when running plays. And that nobody really understands the rules to either Arena Football or snooker.
Referring to: Kurt Warner's strong religious beliefs:
Miller said: "His debut was so preternatural last year that one can only assume that Warner's a latter-day Joe Hardy."
The reference: "Preternatural" means extraordinary or unnatural, almost psychic. In the Broadway musical Damn Yankees, Joe Hardy is the "one good long ball hitter" for the Washington Senators baseball team that Senators super-fan Joe Boyd trades his soul to the devil to become. The 1990s revival of the production starred Jerry Lewis as Mr. Applegate, a.k.a. the devil.
What Miller might have meant: Warner seemed to come out of nowhere, or at least out of Arena Football (not to mention Iowa), and completely turn around a losing team, the Rams. But since Mr. Warner is a God-fearing Christian man, it should be assumed that if he does have preternatural powers, they come from God and not the devil, or even Jerry Lewis.
Referring to: Having swiped co-commentator Al Michaels's classic yellow MNF jacket from Michaels's closet:
Miller said: "Let's get it right back there after the game, amidst the Nehrus."
The reference: The Nehru jacket was the collarless, lapel-less, though not timeless, suit coat named after the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. The Beatles wore them, but the most fervent Nehru jacket devotee was Rat Packer Sammy Davis, Jr., who owned more than 200 of them.
What Miller might have meant: Although Joe Namath was the pro footballer who was wearing Nehrus in the 1960s--among other things such as women's nylons and full-length mink coats--Al Michaels probably has some fashion skeletons in his closet as well. Referring to: Kurt Warner's poise and accuracy in passing:
Miller said: "It's like he's throwing darts in a British pub."
The reference: Originally a form of training for English archers in the Middle Ages, the throwing of darts became popular with the king and queen crowd during the reign of the Tudors (1485-1603). The game didn't catch on with regular folk until the 19th century, and then it was usually played in pubs, rather than homes. Pubs, or public houses, came about in England when common law required that inns and taverns take in any travelers seeking (and able to pay for) food, drink, lodging, and later, darts.
What Miller might have meant: Warner's passing is very fluid and precise--until he gets a few pints of Guinness in him, and then it's best to hide the cat and have the kids leave the room.
Referring to: The early high-scoring pace of the game:
Miller said: "I get a feeling the guy working the scoreboard might end up with carpal tunnel syndrome after tonight."
The reference: Carpal tunnel syndrome is an ailment caused by the repetition of a wrist motion, such as constant typing on a computer, which puts painful pressure on the median nerve that runs from the hand through the carpal bones to the spinal cord.
What Miller might have meant: At the rate both the Rams and the Broncos were scoring, the scoreboard would have to be changed so many times that the guy pushing the scoreboard points button should get either a plastic wrist brace or one of those squishy jelly-filled pads to rest his wrist on to protect his overworked bones.
Referring to: The St. Louis Trans World Dome:
Miller said: "I'm just glad we're in the Trans World Dome. If we were in the United Dome it probably would have delayed the game an hour and a half or pushed it back to tomorrow."
The reference: United Airlines, the world's largest airline, has taken it on the chin this summer as the poster airline for the increasing problem of flight delays. In May less than 60 percent of United flights arrived on time, and the airline also cancelled the most flights of any airline.
What Miller might have meant: He hopes ABC Sports hasn't scheduled him on any United flights during the MNF season, and if he does end up on a United plane, it would probably be a good idea not to drink any liquids served to him by United employees.
Referring to: The athletic tape wrapped around Denver running back Terrell Davis's left ankle after he twisted it early in the game:
Miller said: "The artist Christo didn't use that much fabric when he enveloped the Pont Neuf."
The reference: Christo Javacheff is a sculptor famous for wrapping up big things like buildings and islands in cloth or plastic. In 1985 he and 300 workers covered Paris's Pont Neuf--the oldest standing bridge across the Seine--with more than 40,000 square meters of beige cloth and then tied the whole thing off with more than 13,000 meters (nearly 43,000 feet) of rope. The bridge remained wrapped for two weeks.
What Miller might have meant: If the Broncos' trainers ever get tired of patching up broken professional football players, they might consider careers in creating temporary environmental sculpture.
Referring to: Charlie Sheen's replacing Michael J. Fox on ABC's Spin City this fall, costarring with Heather Locklear.
Miller said: "Heather used to be married to Tommy Lee--she's used to dealing with incorrigibles."
The reference: Actress Heather Locklear, formerly of Dynasty, T.J. Hooker, and Melrose Place, was married to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee from 1986 to 1993. After that Lee went on to marry Pamela Anderson, and Locklear went on to marry Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora. Charlie Sheen dated porn star Ginger Lynn Allen and was one of the first in Los Angeles to fess up to running a tab with Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.
What Miller might have meant: Though it may lack the cinéma vérité appeal of the Lee-Anderson sex video, this season's Spin City should have a certain initial freak show quality.
Referring to: Denver offensive guard Mark Schlereth's shoulder surgery scars:
Miller said: "Schlereth has been scoped more than a redneck abducted by aliens."
The reference: One of the great mysteries of the whole UFO phenomenon, as often reiterated by stand-up comics, is why, if aliens are really visiting Earth on a regular basis, do they always appear to and/or abduct and probe folks from very rural areas. The exception to this trend would be East Coast horror author Whitley Strieber. In the late 1980s Strieber, author of Wolfen (which was made into a movie starring Albert Finney) and The Hunger (which was made into a movie starring Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon, and David Bowie), published Communion, his supposedly true account of having been repeatedly abducted and probed by aliens or some sort of otherworldly presence. Strieber insisted that he was not a kook; in the film version of Communion he was played by Christopher Walken.
What Miller might have meant: Schlereth should avoid driving his pickup truck on empty roads late at night, and future writers-cum-alien abductees who do not wish to appear kooky should not let Christopher Walken play them in the film version.
On: A flurry of delay-of-game penalty flags on the Broncos, who were unable to get a play off due to the roar of the St. Louis crowd:
Miller said: "I think the reason you're seeing so many flags is that everybody's having to communicate in semaphore."
The reference: Semaphore was a method of signaling with flags developed in France in 1794 by Claude Chappe and his brother Ignace in order to get messages to the war front during the revolutionaries' battle with royalists. Despite its land-bound origins, semaphore was later used at sea, spawning the common image of a sailor on a ship deck madly waving colored flags.
What Miller might have meant: Perhaps the referees were not really penalizing Denver for delay of game, but in fact were trying to let Paris know that Condé-sur-l'Escaut had been captured from the Austrians.
Referring to: The seemingly unstoppable Rams running game, as St. Louis wide receiver Torry Holt escorted his teammate, ballcarrier Az-Zahir Hakim, down the sidelines for a touchdown:
Miller said: "Just put that Christmas tree lighting system up on the goal post--this is the NHRA Winter Nationals and the Rams are staging!"
The reference: The staging lights appear in parallel, vertical rows of colored lights that signal the start of a professional drag race. A series of amber lights count down the "Christmas tree" and when the last amber light goes off, a green light flashes, starting the race. If a driver jumps the gun and leaves the line before the green, a red light will declare a foul. Hot-rod racing started in the 1930s in the desert of southern California and the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) was formed in the early 1950s.
What Miller might have meant: The Rams run really fast.
Referring to: The same play:
Miller said: "[Rams head coach Mike] Martz has assembled a Murderers' Row of haste!"
The reference: Murderers' Row was the name given to the core roster of the 1927 Yankees, which included Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel, Mark Koenig, Tony Lazzeri, Joe Dugan, Pat Collins, and Earle Combs. The members of the lineup were feared not only for their staggering number of hits and home runs, but also for their base-stealing.
What Miller might have meant: The Rams run really, really fast.
Referring to: The replay of that same run, with Holt and Hakim tearing down the field side by side: Miller said: "Romulus and Remus!"
The reference: Romulus and Remus were the legendary infants who were sent to be drowned in the Tiber River of Italy but instead were rescued by a she-wolf and a woodpecker who nursed them back to health. As they grew up, the brothers got tougher and rowdier and eventually Romulus ended up killing Remus. Romulus went on to build a city wall that would become Rome and still had time for the rape of the Sabine women, the mates of his foes.
What Miller might have meant: These particular Rams, Holt and Hakim, run so fast it's as if they were raised by wolves and woodpeckers!
On: The Rams' running backs and wide receivers (again):
Miller said: "The last time I saw speed like this was John Carlos and Tommie Smith in Mexico City!"
The reference: Carlos and Smith were the respective 1968 bronze and gold U.S. 200-meter medalists who, upon accepting their medals bowed their heads and raised their fists as a gesture of African-American pride and in protest of the plight of minorities in America.
What Miller might have meant: The guy just can't stay too far away from politically charged spontaneous references.
Referring to: The St. Louis fans' cheering for Rams wide receiver Isaac Bruce:
Miller said: "They've got that 'Bruuuuuce' thing down better than a Springsteen concert."
The reference: Longtime fans of working-class singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen are known to loudly yell "Bruuuuuce" at his rock concerts, which usually sounds like booing, but everyone knows it's not.
What Miller might have meant: Fans of both sports and music really like guys named "Bruce"--whether they're running in touchdowns or writing stirring hymns on cars, girls, and social injustice--and most people find it easy to sustain a long vowel sound.
Referring to: The number of Warner's Rams receivers:
Miller said: "They're using everybody--I'm half expecting to see Bucky Pope catch one!"
The reference: Bucky Pope was a Rams wide receiver in 1964 who had an amazing rookie year, running up the NFL's second best all-time receiving average: 31.4 yards for 25 catches. A knee injury sidelined "The Catawba Claw" in '65, ending his career.
What Miller might have meant: Warner could end up throwing a pass to just about anybody, which the quarterback proved seconds later by passing the ball to a member of the other team.
Referring to: The difference between doing preseason exhibition games and his first regular season MNF game:
Miller said: "The game is afoot, Holmes."
The reference: This was master detective Sherlock Holmes's rallying cry to his friend Dr. John Watson when they were chasing down the pieces of a mystery, in hot pursuit of the criminal(s). Actually this is a reference within a reference: Holmes was echoing Shakespeare, who used it in Henry IV, Part 1 (Act I, scene 3) and most famously in Henry V (Act III, scene 1), when King Henry, to rally his men in the taking of Harfleur, France, cries,
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. The game's afoot: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' What Miller might have meant: Unclear, since he said "Holmes" not "Watson," which was not the way it usually worked. Perhaps he meant that co-commentator Dan Fouts was to join him in a mad carriage dash to the London Docks to apprehend that elusive hirsute chap who attempted to kill Lady Hemindell with the pygmy blowgun. Or to help Miller capture Harfleur, France.
Referring to: An ABC Sports cameraman dashing down the sidelines, trying to keep up with Rams running back Marshall Faulk as Faulk almost ran in a touchdown:
Miller said: "Who's carrying the Steadicam? 'Bullet' Bob Hayes?"
The reference: A Steadicam is a mobile camera that employs a system of weights to maintain a smooth shot no matter how much it may be jarred by the operator. "Bullet" Bob Hayes was a 1964 multiple Olympic track and field gold medalist at Tokyo who went on to play for the 1971 Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys.
What Miller might have meant: That the cameraman was running really fast with that Steadicam.
Referring to: Al Michaels welcoming him to the MNF fraternity toward the end of the game, when Michaels asked Miller, "Can I call you 'baby'?"
Miller said: "Al, I insist on that Rat Pack treatment."
The reference: The core members of the infamous Rat Pack--Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr.--not only made an art of living the Vegas high life in the early 1960s, they also became the posthumous patron saints of the late 1990s "swingers" trend, which revived the Rat Packers's habit of affectionately referring to each other as "baby" and "cat."
What Miller might have meant: Facetiously implying that he was on a par with Frank or Dino, Miller only highlighted the fact that he, Michaels, and Fouts are really more likely to invoke the aura of second-tier Vegas swingers Peter Lawford, Norman Fell, and Joey Bishop.
Referring to: The rivalry between the Boston-based Patriots and the New York Jets:
Miller said: "The relationship between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets is about as volatile as Eminem's marriage."
The reference: Despite his recent success on the charts and at the MTV Music Video Awards, Detroit rapper Eminem, aka Slim Shady, aka Marshall Mathers, has had a rough go of it this summer domestically. In June Eminem allegedly pistol-whipped a guy he saw leaving a club with the rapper's estranged wife Kim Mathers. The incident earned him charges of assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a concealed weapon. In August the fairy-tale romance ended, with Mr. Mathers filing for divorce from Ms. Mathers, granting her custody of their five-year-old daughter and settling the $10 million lawsuit she'd brought against him for his song "Kim," in which he raps about killing her, throwing her body in a car trunk, and driving the vehicle into a lake.
What Miller might have meant: The New England Patriots had better be careful so the New York Jets don't ever catch them leaving a nightclub arm in arm with the New York Giants.
Referring to: The fact that several Jets and Pats players have played for each other's respective teams in the past, including Pats head coach Bill Belichick, who until last year was the Jets defensive coordinator:
Miller said: "I haven't seen murkier bloodlines than this since the house of Plantagenet."
The reference: To the English line of royal descent that in the 12th century sprung from Count Geoffrey of Anjou and Henry I's daughter Matilda. The surname may have been a nickname for Geoffrey, who often wore a bit of broom (a type of pea shrub, Latin name genista) in his hat. From these jaunty origins began one of England's most famous civil wars. The Plantagenets took the throne in the 14th century with a run of Edwards (I, II, and III). Edward III was followed by his grandson Richard II, and that's where the trouble (and Shakespeare's historical play series) began. Richard's throne was usurped by Henry of Lancaster (Henry IV) in 1399, and Richard died in prison, childless. Henry IV thus brought the Lancaster line to the throne (which included Henrys V and VI), while Richard's great uncle Edmund of Langley began the house of York, and proceeded to bring the right of succession back into the York line by marrying off the right cousins to each other. The existence of two family claims to the crown led to the War of the Roses (1455-85), during which the house of York regained the kingdom with Edward IV in 1461 and continued through Edward V and Richard III. The War of the Roses finally ended with the 1485 defeat of Richard by Henry Tudor, who became Henry VII and founded the house of Tudor.
What Miller might have meant: If Shakespeare were alive today, he'd be writing news copy for ESPN's SportsCenter. Referring to: Co-commentator Dan Fouts's observation that former Patriot, Jets wide receiver Vincent Brisby, was being guarded by an ex-Jet and now Patriot defensive back Otis Smith:
Miller said: "That kinda points out the whole Hatfields and McCoys theme of the evening."
The reference: To the Appalachian mountain families whose feud, which was rumored to have begun over a stolen hog, only really lasted from 1882 until 1888, but drew the attention of the nation and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court. The McCoys lived in Pike county, Kentucky, across a stream from the Hatfields in Logan county, West Virginia. Their woodland warfare and ambushes involved numerous kin and neighbors and claimed a number of lives on both sides. Recent research has shown that the conflict between "Devil" Anse Hatfield and the McCoys was largely the result of economic stresses caused by the opening up of the once-remote Tug Valley for logging and coal mining and that Devil Anse was actually a shrewd businessman who spent more time in the courtroom than lying in ambush.
What Miller might have meant: Miller's reference was obviously playing off the stereotype of the "hillbilly," a caricature originally invented to amuse an urban audience but here used to imply a volatile mix of divided loyalties, violent tendencies, and suspected inbreeding--in other words Smith had better keep his hands off Brisby's hog.
Referring to: A double reverse by Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde to wide receiver Dedric Ward to wide receiver Windrell Hayes:
Miller said: "I had my skull on a Linda Blair pivot there."
The reference: To the famous scene in the movie The Exorcist (1973) in which the demon-possessed body of young Regan MacNeil, played by Linda Blair, turns its head around 360 degrees. As this was well before today's commonplace computer graphics, the effect was created by master makeup artist Dick Smith, using a life-size doll of Blair. Smith and director William Friedkin also used a hidden tube to spew pea soup "vomit" from the child and filmed some of the bedroom scenes in a large freezer, lowering the temperature of the set to below freezing so that the actors' breath would show.
What Miller might have meant: To follow the tricky Jets play he'd need Dick Smith to build a life-size Dennis Miller doll and spin its head around.
Referring to: Pats' quarterback Drew Bledsoe getting sacked so much during the previous game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
Miller said: "Last week he was on his back more than Dick Fosbury."
The reference: To the American high jumper who amazed and amused the world at the 1968 Mexico Olympics with his backward style of jumping and landing on his back: the "Fosbury flop." Despite the jeers of skeptics, Fosbury jumped 2.24 meters (7 feet 4 1/4 inches) at the Games to break the world record and win the gold medal. His unique method eventually revolutionized the sport and became the norm.
What Miller might have meant: Get your mind out of the gutter. Miller just meant that Bledsoe got forcibly "flopped" a lot by the Bucs' defense.
Referring to: The Pats' Bledsoe being flushed out of the quarterback's pocket by Jets' linebacker Marvin Jones:
Miller said: "You know when they play an exhibition game in Australia and the quarterback gets flushed out, he goes the other way. It's a physics thing."
The reference: To the ocean currents and how water in the Northern Hemisphere oceans, and in flushing toilets, moves clockwise, while water in the Southern Hemisphere oceans moves counterclockwise. The difference is caused by Coriolis force, inertia caused by the Earth's rotation.
What Miller might have meant: He hopes they actually do play some NFL exhibition games in Australia so that he can score a free trip down under. **************
Referring to: Pats wide receiver Chris Calloway taking a hard tackle from Jets defensive back Victor Green following a catch:
Miller said: "You know Calloway's nickname is 'Cab' and Vic Green just hailed him."
The reference: While technically referring to the act of "hailing" or calling from the curb for a "cab," or taxi, the joke is a play on Calloway's nickname. Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (1907-94) was a beloved bandleader, best known for his composition and performance of "Minnie the Moocher," with its "hi-de-hi-de-ho" refrain. The slang term "cab" for a taxi derives from the 18th-century French cabriolet, a horse-drawn carriage with only two wheels.
What Miller might have meant: Perhaps Vic Green only wanted to take Calloway aside for a rousing sideline rendition of "Minnie the Moocher," but his enthusiasm got the better of him. **************
Referring to: The rough surface of the new grass at Giants Stadium, after Jets offensive tackle Greg Robinson-Randall limped off the field:
Miller said: "Well, it's not that bad a surface--I tripped over Hoffa down in that far end zone."
The reference: To former Teamsters Union president James "Jimmy" Hoffa, who vanished July 30, 1975, in Detroit, Mich. Given Hoffa's associations with known mobsters, it was presumed that he was murdered by the mafia, and for years Hoffa's mysterious whereabouts were a running joke. In the late 1980s a rumor persisted that the body of the union boss had been buried in the end zone of Giants Stadium during its construction in the mid-70s.
What Miller might have meant: Most urban zoning laws do not allow the burial of human remains, no matter how formidable a labor organizer they might have belonged to, on the grounds of major sports arenas. **************
Referring to: A fan holding up a sign reading "Dennis Miller is my hero": Miller first sang (quite badly): "We can be heroes, just for one day!" Then said: I broke bread with the Thin White Duke, little party here in New York last night..."
The reference: To the 1977 song "Heroes," by David Bowie (later covered by the Wallflowers on the soundtrack of the 1998 movie Godzilla and used in various computer and telecommunication commercials). In 1976, touring in support of his album Station to Station, Bowie took on the persona of a cold, aloof Euro-aristocrat who became known as "the Thin White Duke." During this period Bowie also sank deeper into cocaine-fueled paranoia, becoming obsessed with the occult. In fact, the song "Heroes" came out of Bowie's subsequent self-imposed exile to Berlin in the late '70s in order to clean out his mind, body, and soul. With a rich, romantic tone of tragic optimism, the song tells the story of two young lovers on opposite sides of the Berlin Wall--a modern-day Pyramus and Thisbe.
What Miller might have meant: Perhaps Al Michaels is the metaphorical Berlin Wall that keeps Miller and Fouts from ever really reaching out to one another.
Referring to: The seemingly random numbering system for referees:
Miller said: "We got a '25,' a '123;' the back judge is 'pi.'"
The reference: To the symbol that signifies the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Since pi, which equals approximately 3.14159265, is an irrational number, its decimals are infinite.
What Miller might have meant: Maybe the back judge was one of those math geeks in high school who thought that reciting the value of pi to more than 300 decimal places would get him chicks. Upon that approach's failure, he went to plan B: becoming an NFL referee. **************
Referring to: Drew Carey, star of ABC's Drew Carey Show:
Miller said: "He's like Aldo Ray with the horn rims."
The reference: To onetime beefcake actor Aldo Ray, who appeared in almost 80 films during his 40-year career. Most of his work after 1970 was in B-movies such as The Centerfold Girls (1974), Hollywood Cop (1988), and Prison Ship (1984).
What Miller might have meant: Those film titles seem to pretty accurately describe Drew Carey's social life. **************
Referring to: New Jets coach Al Groh's coaching style, now that his former boss, Bill Belichick, has moved on to the Pats:
Miller said: "You know, Sigmund Freud said, Al, that to move on one must, figuratively speaking, kill the father.... By the way, does anyone know what Freud scored on the Wonderlic test? [Fouts responded that Freud would probably have completed the famous basic skills and personality test very quickly.] I can tell you why he was fast, my friend: seven-percent solution."
The reference: To the Austrian neurologist and father of modern psychoanalysis. In Interpretation of Dreams (1899) Freud introduced the Oedipus complex, wherein one's subconcious lust for one's parent leads to a rivalry with the other parent. Oedipus was the Greek tragic hero of Thebes who blindly killed his father and married his mother. When he found out what he'd done, he literally blinded himself in self-punishment. In Nicholas Meyer's 1974 Sherlock Holmes novel, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Meyer spins off on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characterization of Holmes as a sometime-cocaine user and pairs the famous Victorian detective with Freud, also a devotee of the "seven-percent solution" mixture of cocaine and water.
What Miller might have meant: Coach Groh may have some things to sort out regarding his relationship with Coach Belichick. Miller certainly wasn't implying that anyone in either professional sports or the entertainment industry, or even the medical world, would ever use any sort of cocaine-based products, which, while more accepted 100 years ago, today are considered very, very bad for you. **************
Referring to: Bledsoe's growing performance problems in recent seasons:
Miller said: "You know Bledsoe's whole world is in flux--he's getting sacked when he didn't used to get sacked, he's seeing his tight end drop passes...it's koyaanisqatsi, Hopi Indian word for 'life out of balance.'"
The reference: The Hopi word made its way into the public consciousness in 1983 with Godfrey Reggio's postmodern, pseudo-psychedelic film Koyaanisqatsi, which used dialogueless time-lapse photography of modern cities, set to Philip Glass's minimalist score, to underscore the environmental theme of modern existence being pushed out of balance with nature. Reggio followed it in 1988 with Powaqqatsi (life in transformation) and plans to release Naqoyqatsi (life at war) in 2002.
at Miller might have meant: Maybe Bledsoe is a big fan of conceptual cinema and minimalist opera. (Yeah, Miller can pronouce "koyaanisqatsi," but how about "naqoyqatsi"?)
referring to: Fouts's description of Pats defensive end Willie McGinest's multiple skills:
Miller said: "He's got the 'rover' assignation this year--that's like being a double-O agent on the British Secret Service. You can do what you want: It's a Bond thing."
The reference: Ian Fleming's famous fictional Cold War spy James Bond was made a "Double-O" agent for the British Secret Service in 1950, giving him the license to kill at his own discretion. No such designation exists in the real British Secret Service, MI-6 (Military Intelligence 6), which was previously known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). The SIS leader was not, however, known as "M," as in the Bond novels, but as "C," after Captain Mansfield Cumming, the founder of the service. During World War II Fleming himself was a British naval intelligence officer. James Bond was born Nov. 11, 1920, and so would be almost 80 years old today.
What Miller might have meant: Being a pro football defensive "rover" is a lot like being a steel-eyed, cool, calm British secret agent: the vodka martinis, the finely tailored tuxes, the nights at the baccarat tables in Monte Carlo... **************
Referring to: On Miller stating he'd broken the world record for number of times saying "step up" in one night, Al Michaels asked who had the record before, to which Miller replied:
Miller said: "Michael Dunn, who played Professor Miguelito Loveless on The Wild Wild West."
The reference: Dunn was a concert pianist until he was 15, when he began to suffer from chrondrodystrophy, which affected his elbows and stunted his growth at 3' 11". The Oklahoma native, who had an IQ of 178, turned to acting and took on the role of the diminutive mad genius who bedeviled Jim West (Robert Conrad) and Artimus Gordon (Ross Martin) in the brilliant mid-1960s television series The Wild Wild West. In the not-so-brilliant 1999 feature film remake, the role of Loveless was played by Irish-English actor Kenneth Branagh, who is slightly taller than 3' 11".
What Miller might have meant: Loveless has been one of Miller's favorite go-to references over the years, used whenever a joke involves elevation, verticality, height, or stubby fingers.
Referring to: The Jets defense's repeated sacks of Bledsoe as the Pats attempted a futile last-minute scoring drive:
Miller said: "Bedlam!"
The reference: To Bethlem Royal Hospital, originally founded just outside London in 1247. First known as the Priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem, in 1547 the hospital was turned over to the city by Henry VIII for the confinement of the insane. Treatment was less than compassionate and for several centuries the hospital, by then commonly known as Bedlam, let spectators pay a fee to watch the inmates. The name became synonymous first with insane asylums and eventually with general mayhem.
What Miller might have meant: Sometimes people in Western society, bored by their wealthy but empty lives, will pay lots of money to watch madmen rant, rave, and attack each other.
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