Jacked Up! was a segment of the half-time show of Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...

on ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

. Hosted by Tom Jackson

Tom Jackson (American football)

Thomas Louie "Tom" Jackson, also referred to as "TJ" or "Tommy", is an NFL analyst for ESPN and a former Pro Bowl linebacker for the Denver Broncos.-College:...

, the feature aired from 2003 to 2006. Every Monday night, the show would highlight the five hardest hits of the prior week in the NFL

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. The commentators would recap which players were involved and comment on how "jacked up" they got.

History

Beginning in 2003, the show was a specific feature of Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...

and was unique to ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

's takeover of the broadcast earlier that year. Eventually, the show morphed into a newer segment called "Hard Hits". The original concept for the feature's title, derived from the nickname, "Jack", of the co-host, Tom Jackson

Tom Jackson (American football)

Thomas Louie "Tom" Jackson, also referred to as "TJ" or "Tommy", is an NFL analyst for ESPN and a former Pro Bowl linebacker for the Denver Broncos.-College:...

, the former Denver Broncos

Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 linebacker

Linebacker

A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

.

Jacked Up has now been replaced with a feature called "C'mon man!"

Controversy

During the airing of the show, ESPN maintained that none of the hits featured caused injury or penalty. ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 Senior Vice President and Director of News Vince Doria stated that "we make it a point to show clean hits, involving no serious injuries. We're spotlighting hard hitting - which is a prominent part of the game. It is video entertainment, and we're in the entertainment business. I don't see it glorifying violence."

Critics of the show argued that it did glorify the violent aspects of football and celebrated cheap shots or injuries.

Guest Commentators & Featured Players

The show regularly featured other guest sportscasters including Michael Irvin

Michael Irvin

Michael Jerome Irvin is a former American football player for the Dallas Cowboys, and actor. He is also a former broadcaster for ESPN's NFL Countdown and currently an analyst for NFL Network. Irvin was self-nicknamed "The Playmaker" due to his penchant for making big plays in big games during his...

 and Ron Jaworski

Ron Jaworski

Ronald Vincent "Ron" Jaworski is a former American football quarterback and currently an NFL analyst on ESPN. He is also CEO of Ron Jaworski Golf Management, Inc., based out of Blackwood, New Jersey, and manages golf courses in southern New Jersey, northeast Pennsylvania, and West Virginia...

.
Some of the regularly featured players were Brian Dawkins

Brian Dawkins

Brian Patrick Dawkins is an American football safety for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 1996 NFL Draft...

, Joey Porter

Joey Porter

Joseph "Joey" Eugene Porter is an American football linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 1999 NFL Draft. He played college football at Colorado State.A four-time Pro Bowl selection, Porter earned a...

, Roy Williams

Roy Williams (safety)

Roy Lee Williams is a retired American football safety. He played college football at Oklahoma before he was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys eighth overall in the 2002 NFL Draft. He spent seven seasons with the Cowboys and earned five straight Pro Bowl selections from 2003–2007...

 Mike Brown, and Sean Taylor

Sean Taylor

Sean Michael Maurice Taylor was an American football free safety who played for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. Taylor was drafted in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft by the Redskins...

.