Wild Card Weekend Announcing: AFL Kick Starts the Action

Finally, the NFL playoffs are starting. But wait, games don't start until tomorrow? In the afternoon?

Sadly, yes, we need to wait an entire day before dreams are crushed for two cities, then two more on Sunday. But just because there's no NFL on TV on Friday, doesn't mean there's not any good football on TV. The college exhibition season is over too, but tonight at 8 p.m. ET, the NFL Network is premiering NFL Films' Full Color Football: The history of the American Football League. The five-part series, originally shown on Showtime last year, has been updated with new introductions by John Madden and focuses a lot on the balance of power between the AFL and NFL all the way through the merger. And yes, Al Davis is featured prominently.

Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films, and the documentary's producers, did a conference call this week. Sabol talked about the difference between the two leagues:

When you go back to look at the AFL and the rivalry they had with the NFL, which is really the guts of this series, is the battle between these two rival leagues and the owners and the players; that the NFL in the early '60s was a game of power and there was a sense of moral balance to the game, because winning teams were not only considered superior skill wise, but also superior in courage and character and desire.

But in the AFL, in the minds of those of us in the NFL at the time, they all earned that moral balance by the passing games and that many people in the AFL felt cheapened the game with the long bombs and quick scores, which is something we go on to disprove in the series; but what the AFL was doing was perfectly congruent with an era, and that was the '60s. There was this emphasis on this big bang style of offense that was brimming over with a lot of energy and it was really characteristic of that era, the new frontier.

Pfft. Power. Moral balance. I want ridiculous scrambling and long bombs. It is fascinating to think that back then the NFL, its inhabitants and, by proxy, its fans had a higher sense of character and self worth because their teams were seen as 'more powerful' or won more games. It'd be like a nation of Yankees fans. Ah, the '60s must have been a magical time.

One other interesting note was about how television played a role in the advancement of the AFL. We've talked about how even the XFL, with all its faults, had some important technological advancements that we see every Sunday in the NFL. But the AFL had some innovations as well. Producer David Plaut explained:

One of the stories and really areas we explored is the sort of perfect synergy that came about between ABC Sports and the AFL, beginning in 1960. ABC was the also ran among the three networks at the time, and they wanted to become big time. They wanted to have pro sports, but really they couldn't have been a player for the NFL realistically, but it made sense business wise and every way for them to partner with the AFL.

Well, what ended up happening as a result of that relationship was a young producer by the name of Roone Arledge got the job. And with his innovations and his vision for how football and sports should be packaged and promoted on television, coinciding with the AFL's willingness to try anything, they wanted to promote themselves and wanted to become popular and sell their product in new ways.

Those two innovative viewpoints came together, and what was produced was sound from one thing, the use of sounds in television broadcast as it had never been captured and promoted before, which again comes to a head in our portrayal of the Championship Game. We actually have sound footage of a young Jack Buck, midfield, with a huge microphone that looks like he's holding a yardstick that's three feet long, and he's capturing the sound of the players and referee tossing the coin before the first over time.

In addition, it seems simple now, but just the use of super imposing players' names on the screen, he explains how that was something they did just to familiarize the public. I believe the examples he used were when the Giants played the Bears, everybody knew the players, everybody already had a stake in the game and they cared about the traditions that were at stake and clashing.

But when the Oilers played the Los Angeles Chargers, no one knew who to root for, so they put players on the screens and they interviewed players at halftime and pregame and whatever opportunity they could in order to familiarize the viewing audience with the players that were trying to make a name for themselves in the AFL.

Okay, from TV of yesteryear to TV of this weekend: who is calling what game for whom? Rather than go by network, like the regular season, we'll go by date. And we'll add in the national radio calls as well.

Saturday, Jan. 9
Both games on Saturday are on NBC. The first game kicks off at 4:30 p.m. with Jets at Bengals after a half-hour Football Afternoon in America show with Bob Costas, Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann and the crew. Tom Hammond, Joe Gibbs, Joe Theismann and Tiki Barber have the call from Cincinnati. On Westwood One Radio, if you happen to be on your way home from a 3-year-old's birthday party that your friends always schedule on Wild Card weekend (mutters to self), you can listen to Larry Kahn, Dan Fouts and Laura Okmin.

In the late game, kicking off at 8:00 p.m., Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Andrea Kremer will call Philly at Dallas. On Westwood One, Ian Eagle, Dan Reeves and Kevin Kiley have the radio call.

Sunday, Jan. 10
CBS has the early game as the Ravens travel to the Patriots. Following their one-hour studio show, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will be on the call in Foxboro. On radio, Kevin Harlan, Mark Malone and Steve Tasker get the call for Westwood One.

In the late game on Sunday, FOX's coverage starts at 4:00 p.m. with their studio show, followed by Packers at Cardinals with Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Pam Oliver and Chris Myers on the call. It's worth mentioning that CBS has no sideline reporter listed while FOX has two. It will be interesting, in the event of an injury or sideline situation, how each network handles the coverage. On radio for the Packers-Cardinals game, Marv Albert, James Lofton and Tony Boselli have the call for Westwood one.

H/T to Fang's Bites for the radio pairings. As for the video this week, well darn-it if this wasn't obvious. The '60s must have been a magical time. Enjoy the games.

 

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.