Josh Mankiewicz Correspondent • Profile

Every Sunday in America, from the heat of August to February’s chill, millions of innocent wives are caught in a kind of love triangle, battling for their husbands’ attention... with the players of the NFL.

But tonight, the wives are fighting back. All season, women around the country let Dateline NBC place hidden cameras right in their own homes to catch their unknowing husbands on videotape.

And they can’t wait for America to see what they put up with on any given Sunday.

We’ll test what happens when the women try to pull their husbands away from the TV to do a simple household chore—or when they pick up the remote and change the channel.

We’ll find out if there’s anything they can do to get their husbands’ minds off the game.

Josh Mankiewicz, Dateline correspondent: Football or sex?

Crissy Borg: Sex.

Stefanie Borg: Hopefully.

Let’s take a minute to go over the game plan. We isolated some of the most rabid football fans in the country, and contacted their wives. The wives helped us place hidden cameras and microphones in their homes and worked with us to devise a series of trick plays to distract their husbands as they watched the games. Only after the taping was done did we tell the husbands what we’d been doing—and ask them to allow us to show finished product you. But first, let’s check the starting lineups.

From Dallas Texas, Emily Bragalone, married to a diehard Cowboys fan.

From Parsippany, New Jersey, Sue Vecchia, whose husband lives for the New York Giants.

Out of Phoenix Arizona, Crissy Borg and Stephanie Borg, married to brothers obsessed with the Minnesota Vikings.

And starting us off, from the frozen tundra of Western Colorado, Heidi Rice, wife of a lifelong Greenbay Packers fan.

Heidi is married to Paul. Paul is married to Brett Favre—and about 40 other guys. When he’s not watching football, Paul designs kitchen and bathroom layouts. Heidi is a reporter for her local paper. They live in the Rockies, but Paul grew up in Wisconsin, home of the Packers. And he watches all the other teams too.

Mankiewicz: How many hours of football does he watch every week?

Heidi Rice: If it’s on, he’ll watch it.

Mankiewicz: I’m guessing there might be times when Thanksgiving dinner didn’t happen exactly at the right time.

Heidi Rice: Oh that’s in front of the TV.

Mankiewicz: So the idea of sitting down with the family...

Heidi Rice: No.

Mankiewicz: Oh really?

Heidi Rice: That doesn’t happen.

But even after 12 years of having the NFL as the background sound in her marriage, Heidi hasn’t picked up much about the game.

Mankiewicz: How many downs do they get?

Heidi Rice: Ummm... 10?

Mankiewicz: 10? Good answer.

Heidi Rice: Is that right?

Mankiewicz: No.

Mankiewicz: What’s offensive holding?

Heidi Rice: I don’t know.

In her humor column, “Fried Rice,” Heidi has described Paul as “an 8-year-old football addict trapped in a man’s body.” Still, she told us she’s deeply in love with the man known to her readers as “husband head.”

Heidi Rice: Oh he’s the sweetest, nicest guy ever. Kind, thoughtful very, very funny.

Mankiewicz: Respectful of you?

Heidi Rice: Very much.

Mankiewicz: Unless there’s a game on.

Heidi Rice: (laughs) unless there’s a game on.

Heidi seems pretty eager to have us place hidden cameras in her living room, to videotape her husband during a Packers game.

Heidi Rice:  Wait 'til you see him.

We ask her to come up with some tasks to try to divert Paul’s attention during the game. She says she’ll try to get him to fix their walkie-talkies to leave the TV to get his dinner in the kitchen and to take out the trash.

On October 2^nd, “husband head” plants himself on the couch to watch his team take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night football.

Paul doesn’t know there are two hidden cameras inside this little canoe beside the TV, and another camera and microphones hidden in a plastic wreath just over his shoulder.

As Heidi told us, Paul gets deeply involved in the game. He’s also very interested in the commercials. In fact, he’s interested in anything except his wife.

When she makes a comment or asks a simple question, she often gets a reaction like this:

Paul Rice (hidden camera footage): Stop! Stop it.

Heidi  Rice: When did the packers start losing?

Paul Rice: When McNabb scored.

Heidi Rice: Who’s McNabb?

Paul Rice: Stop!

Heidi Rice: Brett Favre’s old right?

Paul Rice: No more questions [waves her off]

When Paul gets really annoyed at Heidi, he starts speaking to her through “Skully,” a plastic skull she bought him for Halloween.

Paul: Skully says “knock it off.” “Pipe down,” he says, “It’s Monday night.”

To be fair, sometimes Heidi’s interruptions are a little annoying or downright obnoxious — like when she’s dancing in front of the TV.

Paul accuses her of competing with the Green Bay Packers.

Needless to say, it’s a competition she can’t win. Just about the only time Paul seems aware his wife is in the room is when he finishes a beer.

Paul finishes a can and boom! He raises the empty above his head. He doesn’t get the new beer fast enough and does this shaking motion. If you’re a wife, you hate to see that.

But let’s see how Heidi does on the tasks we’ve assigned her. She predicted she wouldn’t be able to get Paul off the couch to get his dinner, but look at this.

Heidi Rice: Honey, can you come and get it.

Paul Rice: Yup.

She also succeeds in getting him to take out the trash and check the batteries in their walkie-talkies.

Overall, a very strong showing for Heidi—three tasks attempted and all three completed. But by the end of the third quarter, with the pack trailing the eagles by two touchdowns, Paul is openly lobbying his wife to leave the room.

Paul Rice: Hon. You don’t have to watch this. You’re bored out of your mind watching this.

Usually, she leaves. Tonight, she doesn’t. In fact, Heidi’s behavior is starting to make husband head a little suspicious.

Paul Rice: What are you tape recording me or something?

Heidi Rice: Yeah right.

Well, maybe she’s not, but we are. A few weeks later, we show up in Colorado with our hidden camera footage. Heidi brings Paul to a local motel, saying she wants to introduce him to someone from the Chamber of Commerce. But when they walk in the meeting room, they meet me.

Mankiewicz: Hello Heidi.

Heidi Rice: Hello Josh.

Mankiewicz: Hello Paul.

Paul Rice: Hi?

Mankiewicz: How are you?

Paul Rice: Good?

Mankiewicz: [shakes Paul’s hand] Josh Mankiewicz from Dateline NBC.

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