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Entries in NFL (3)

Saturday
Feb052011

Mostly complete copy of first Super Bowl telecast finally surfaces

The first Super Bowl was held in 1967, pitting the NFL champs Green Bay Packers vs. the upstart AFL champs, Kansas City Chiefs.

Two networks telecast that first Super Bowl, but, amazingly, neither CBS nor NBC saved a copy. The only archival video from the game is courtesy of NFL Films, which shot from the sideline.

That was until a mostly complete video recording of the CBS broadcast finally surfaced after decades in a Pennsylvania attic. The tape has been restored, but because of rights issues remains out of the public view.

Speaking for other diehard Packer fans, let's hope the NFL and the tape owner reach agreement so the rest of us can see the game that started the Super Bowl frenzy that now consumes America like no other single event.

Saturday
Jan292011

NFL offers free iPad version of Super Bowl program

The iPad version of the Super Bowl game program is available for freeThe NFL has already cranked out the shell of a game program for the Super Bowl matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

And they're making an iPad version of that program -- complete with a dozen videos and other interactive features -- available for free, thanks to sponsorship from Van Heusen. 

The program contains all kinds of info and scouting reports on the two teams, but given the game is in Dallas' new $1 billion-plus stadium, also delivers features on the stadium and legendary Cowboys coach Tom Landry. 

I suspect content will be added as the game draws closer. 

Pretty cool. 

Go Pack!

Wednesday
Nov112009

The NFL's head problem

Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker is long but a rewarding readThere’s been a lot of media coverage in recent weeks about the high number of retired NFL players who have suffered severe mental degradation as a result of years of head-to-head contact. The numbers and the severity of injuries are stunning, even for a game where players are meat.

Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent New Yorker story seemed to kick off the media frenzy, with his suggestions that the NFL is hypocritical in opposing the savagery of dog fighting while allow its own players to beat their brains into mush. I like Gladwell but he seemed over the top in suggesting on “Pardon The Interruption” that the NFL as we know it would cease to exist within a decade (his theory was that concerned parents would prohibit their kids from playing youth football, thus drying up the pool of players).

My question since this all started was “Look at Australian Rules Football,” an awesome game featuring heavy contact -- but whose players wear very little padding and no helmets. The Wall Street Journal’s excellent sports page did just that todaAussie Rules Football is violent but head-to-head combat is rarey with a story with the provacative headline “Is it time to retire the football helmet?

As the WSJ story notes, Aussie “footy” players suffer periodic concussions but rarely severe or lasting head injuries. The reason is that players know that with their heads exposed, they tackle differently. Makes sense. Helmets on the other hand, while protective in isolation, can’t insulate the brain from damage caused by thousands of hits over one’s career. The damage is slow, and symptoms harder to notice.

I actually prefer watching Aussie Rules to the NFL, and wouldn’t mind seeing the NFL ditch helmets, taking the game back to the 1930s. But it won’t happen. Without some remarkable advancement in helmet design, I suspect the NFL will relunctantly implement rules changes to further restrict head-to-head combat without gutting the game of the intensity and violence that makes it our most-popular sport. But can you imagine a scenario, as the WSJ story suggests, where lineman are prohibited from taking three-point stances, thus robbing them of power off the line? Me neither.  

I don't know what the solution is, but the status quo isn't acceptable.