Best of 2012 - Classic Sports TV and Media blog

I started the Classic Sports TV and Media blog on 12/30/2011, so yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of this site. For the benefit of...

The first game called by Dick Enberg and Billy Packer

38 years ago tomorrow, Dick Enberg and Billy Packer called their first game together, a matchup of UCLA at Maryland. At the time, college ...

CBS special on NCAA tournament - 75 Years: Behind the Mic

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the NCAA tournament, CBS has an interesting array of special programming planned . The celebration k...

ESPNU presents SEC Storied documentary on Sam Bowie

The next episode of the ESPN Films series SEC Storied chronicles Kentucky basketball player Sam Bowie and his injury plagued career . Bowi...

Original NBC footage of The Immaculate Reception

With the 40th anniversary of The Immaculate Reception approaching, here is a look at the original NBC call of that controversial Franco Ha...

NFLN documentary on The Immaculate Reception

The final edition of the NFL Network series A Football Life focuses on the controversial Franco Harris touchdown near the end of the 1972 ...

Documentary on 1963 Mississippi State vs Loyola (Chi) game

One Night in March , a documentary which chronicles the 1963 Mississippi State basketball team and its participation in the NCAA tournament ...

NFL Network documentary on Marcus Allen

The latest installment of the NFLN series A Football Life profiles Hall of Fame running back Marcus Allen.  The one-hour documentary premi...

ESPN 30 for 30 Bo Jackson documentary

The next edition of the fabulous ESPN 30 for 30 series chronicles the legendary Bo Jackson  who achieved success in both MLB and the NFL. ...

The 1979 debut of Dick Vitale as an ESPN college basketball analyst

This week marks the 33rd anniversary of the first college basketball game televised by ESPN . On 12/5/1979, the 3-month old cable network ai...

NFL Network documentary on Barry Sanders

The next edition of the must-see NFL Network documentary series A Football Life profiles the career and life of Hall of Fame running back B...

NBCSN documentary on Earl Campbell

The  NBC Sports Network is presenting a documentary which profiles Hall of Fame running back Earl Campbell . After an outstanding career at ...

The first telecast for the team of Pat Summerall and John Madden

33 years ago yesterday, the legendary duo of Pat Summerall and John Madden called an NFL game on CBS for the first time. This was in 1979...

The myth about the first prime time college football regular season telecast

Despite what many media reports would have you believe, a significant first in sports TV history took place on Saturday 11/16/1968. That eve...

NFL Network documentary on John Riggins

The next installment of the fantastic series A Football Life  on  NFL Network profiles the colorful Hall of Fame running back John Riggins ....

Darrell Royal documentary on Fox Sports Southwest

If you have access to Fox Sports Southwest (DirecTV 676), check out the special programming lineup planned for Thurs 11/22  which focuses ...

The Howard Cosell halftime highlights on ABC Monday Night Football

One of the staples of the original ABC Monday Night Football production was the halftime highlights segment narrated by Howard Cosell . Thi...

Documenting the history of pro football uniform designs

While my primary focus in this blog is historical sports broadcasting, I also appreciate research efforts covering any aspect of sports hist...

ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Naismith rules of basketball

The next installment of the ESPN 30 for 30 series chronicles an interesting quest to return the original rules of basketball document  to...

Keith Jackson and ABC conflicts with college FB and MLB playoffs (1976-1986)

Keith Jackson became the #1 college football announcer on ABC in 1974. Starting in 1976, ABC also held a share of the baseball TV package a...

NFL Network documentary on the Fearsome Foursome of the LA Rams

The great NFL Network series A Football Life continues with  Fearsome Foursome which  profiles the 1960s defensive line of the Los Angele...

ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on 1988 Olympic 100m dash

The next episode of the tremendous  ESPN Films 30 for 30 documentary series focuses on the 100 meter track finals at the 1988 Olympics in ...

Error in Golf Channel documentary on 1991 Ryder Cup

The most fascinating historical broadcast aspect of the excellent Golf Channel  documentary  War by the Shore  on the 1991 Ryder Cup was the...

Chronology of Ryder Cup coverage on US TV

While the Ryder Cup currently receives extensive TV coverage, this event was largely ignored by American TV networks for many years. Here is...

Golf Channel documentary on 1991 Ryder Cup

On Tuesday 9/25 at 9pm ET, Golf Channel will premiere a documentary on the 1991 Ryder Cup matches  from the Kiawah Island Ocean Course. The ...

Tribute to Steve Sabol of NFL Films

I was saddened to learn of the passing of NFL Films president Steve Sabol today. Steve (along with his father Ed) contributed so much to th...

Classic NY Mets broadcast team of Nelson, Murphy, and Kiner

My first memories of following baseball come from the 1969 season and the New York Mets tremendous broadcast team of Lindsey Nelson ,  Bob M...

Jim Lampley calling Division 3 football on ABC in 1977

Here is an ABC regional college football telecast from 11/12/1977 between Division 3 rivals Wabash and DePauw with a young  Jim Lampley  cal...

The launch of ESPN on 9/7/1979

33 years ago today at 7 pm ET, ESPN launched and its first program was SportsCenter. Lee Leonard was the first voice on the air on the Tota...

Two ESPN Classic specials on 1972 Munich Massacre

Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the September 5th terrorist act against Israeli athletes and coaches at the 1972 Summer Olympics in M...

ABC coverage of the "imposter" at the 1972 Olympic marathon

Here is my review of the episode in the ESPN Classic series on the 1972 Munich games which focused on the Olympic marathon. Jim McKay calle...

ABC coverage of USA track controversies in 1972 Olympics

The USA Track Controversy episode in the great ESPN Classic series on the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics focused on the following events: spr...

Upcoming replays of classic Ryder Cups on Golf Channel

The next three Tuesdays, Golf Channel will be re-airing original NBC telecast footage from previous classic Ryder Cup matches . Here is th...

Observations on the ABC coverage of 1972 Olympic basketball

One of the episodes in the  ESPN Classic   series on the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics focused on USA basketball. This 2-hour special (which ...

ESPN Classic series on the 1972 Summer Olympics

Over the next two weeks, ESPN Classic is running a series to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Summer Olympics. These episodes titled  ...

Estimating the total number of MLB games broadcast by Vin Scully

Recently the Dodgers announced that the legendary  Vin Scully will return in 2013 for a 64th season of broadcasting games for the franchise...

Error by filmmaker in ESPN 30 for 30 Pony Exce$$ documentary

One of the best episodes from the ESPN 30 for 30  documentary series was Pony Exce$$ which chronicled the 1980s SMU football program. An NC...

Golf Channel documentary on Snead/Nelson/Hogan

Golf Channel is premiering a film on Mon 8/13 at 9 pm ET which chronicles the impact  of  Sam Snead , Byron Nelson , and Ben Hogan on the g...

Curt Gowdy calling an Olympic swimming event in 1976

Want to hear Curt Gowdy announcing a swimming race? Here is a video of the women's 4x100m freestyle relay from the 1976 Olympics in Mon...

Historic Olympic Broadcaster Logos

I stumbled onto an interesting feature on a blog which contains images of the broadcaster logos  for the United States networks which telev...

ABC clip of spectacular Olga Korbut routine from 1972 Olympics

Here is perhaps the most famous gymnastics performance of all time. D uring the team competition of the 1972 Olympics in Munich.  17-year ol...

Remembering Dave Wottle winning 1972 Olympic 800 meters

While the 1972 Summer Olympics are unfortunately best known for the terrorist attack on Sept 5, the Munich games featured many memorable eve...

Observations on the 1967 NIT final footage on MSG Vault

Recently, I posted about the MSG Vault episode which included footage from the CBS telecast of the 1967 NIT championship game featuring Wal...

The 25th anniversary of Sports Radio WFAN

Sports Radio 66 WFAN in New York celebrates its 25th anniversary this weekend . On 7/1/1987 radio station WHN 1050 AM transformed from a co...

MSG Network to air footage from 1967 NIT title game featuring Walt Frazier

The MSG Vault series on MSG Network will feature color video from the original CBS telecast of the 1967 NIT championship game . In that co...

ESPN Classic to show 1973 King-Riggs Battle of the Sexes

On Saturday 6/23 at 9 pm ET, ESPN Classic is re-airing the Battle of the Sexes tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs durin...

Classic Wimbledon on ESPN Classic

ESPN Classic is replaying many past Wimbledon championship matches over the next week. The broadcast team of Dick Enberg and Bud Collins ...

NBC documentary on 1962 US Open win by Jack Nicklaus

NBC will air a documentary titled The 1962 US Open: Jack's First Major on Sunday 6/17 at 2 pm ET. This USGA special co-produced by Ross ...

NBA TV documentary on 1992 Dream Team

NBA TV is premiering a documentary on the 1992 USA Olympic basketball team on Wed 6/13 at 9 pm ET titled The Dream Team . This special con...

Remembering the classic 1976 NBA Finals game 5

Tomorrow marks the 36th anniversary of the most memorable NBA game I have ever viewed. The Boston Celtics defeated the Phoenix Suns in tripl...

ESPN Classic tribute to the Indianapolis 500

ESPN Classic is replaying the original ABC telecasts of several Indy 500s . ABC provided live coverage of the 500 starting in 1986. Prior to...

Looking back on the Rick Barry "watermelon grin" comment

Today marks the 31st anniversary of the controversial "watermelon grin" remark made by CBS analyst Rick Barry . It took place earl...

ESPN Classic to replay 1975 World Series game 6

ESPN Classic will replay game 6 of the 1975 World Series (Reds-Red Sox) on Mon 4/30 at 3 pm ET. The game ended on a Carlton Fisk 12th innin...

CBS again omits Gary McCord from classic Masters footage

I recorded the recent CBS special Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta: The 1987 Masters which included footage from the final round of the original...

Looking back on the Al Campanis interview

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the infamous 4/6/1987 Al Campanis interview on the ABC Nightline program which was the focus of a recen...

CBS special on 1987 Masters golf tournament

The latest edition of Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta will focus on the 1987 Masters tournament. CBS will air this one-hour special on Sunday ...