After 33 years in late-night television, the longest run in the history of the medium, Dave Letterman will host his 4,263rd and final show on Wednesday night, and he will take a piece of television history with him. His throw-stuff-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks style changed the way late night TV is made, and one of the staples of his beloved show was the nightly Top 10 list. We like to produce our own Top 10 lists on this site, so we considered it only fitting we say goodbye to Dave in the best way we know how - with a Top 10 list of his best football moments.
10. Heisman Trophy winners read the Top 10. We'll start the top 10 with Dave's Top 10s. In recent years it became tradition for the newly-minted Heisman Trophy winner, as part of his rounds in New York City, to stop at the Ed Sullivan Theater to deliver a Top 10 list.
Cam Newton:
Robert Griffin III:
Johnny Manziel:
Jameis Winston:
Marcus Mariota:
9. Bill Belichick talks Deflategate. Dave:"I know you know exactly what happened. You know I know you know, and what it was was some kind of horseplay, am I right?"
Belichick: "No."
8. The Fake Mike Singletary. Amused by the, ahem, outgoing persona of the then-San Francisco 49ers head coach, Letterman brought the extremely fake Mike Singletary on for a bizarre interview.
7. Tom Hanks impersonates NFL coaches as step dads.
6. Urban Meyer talks tattoos. Fresh off his national championship win over Oregon, Dave advises Urban to fulfill his promise of paying off the Buckeyes' title with a tattoo by getting the block 'O' emblazoned on his scalp.
5. Andrew Luck's pre-Draft visit. Moments before officially joining Letterman's beloved Indianapolis Colts, Luck visited with Letterman.
Luck: "I think I was more nervous to come out here than to go meet Commissioner Goodell."
Dave: "Yeah, that's how we like it."
4. Ben Roethlisberger gets his beard shaved.
3. Peyton Manning's many visits. Manning first stopped by as a fresh-faced Tennessee quarterback just days before losing the Heisman Trophy to Michigan's Charles Woodson.
Later, as the quarterback of Dave's beloved Colts, he stopped by after bringing the Lombardi Trophy home to Indianapolis for the first time.
Then, after moving on to the Denver Broncos, Peyton and Dave threw footballs through New York City taxi cabs.
2. Bill Murray joins the show in full New York Giants gear and kicks field goals with Regis Philbin.
1. The annual Dave Letterman-Jay Thomas QB Challenge. It became Late Show tradition to top the Ed Sullivan Theater's Christmas tree with a pizza and a gigantic meatball. Later, it became tradition for Dave and frequent guest Jay Thomas to knock the tree's topping off with a football. It's Letterman absurdism at its best.