National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast

How many professional sports leagues can pinpoint the exact spot, the exact day, even the exact time they “arrived?” The National Football League can: Yankee Stadium, December 28, 1958, 4:51 PM. Fifty years ago this December 28 — the final day of the 2008 NFL regular season — what would become known as “The Greatest Game Ever Played” took place — the 1958 NFL Championship Game between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants at Yankee Stadium in New York City. And when Colts fullback Alan Ameche burst through a hole for a one-yard touchdown with 6:45 left in overtime — at 4:51 on a foggy, drizzly day — he took the National Football League with him into a new era. The NFL would never be the same. America had discovered it.

It may be hard for today’s young sports fan to believe, but 50 years ago, the sports scene — and the NFL — was vastly different. There was no SportsCenter, no internet (and therefore no EMQB), no sports-talk radio, no fantasy football. The “X-Games” didn’t exist because, for most Americans, there were no “alternative” games. Baseball was the No. 1 sport with fans. Then came this late-winter nationally televised NFL epic between larger-than-life teams featuring picturesque names like “Huff” and “Katcavage” and “Unitas” in a game that surged back and forth into the first sudden-death overtime in NFL title game history.

Here’s a heads-up for you. You can watch this game — digitally restored and colorized by ESPN Films in association with NFL Films — on ESPN next weekend — Saturday, December 13 at 9 p.m. ET. I’m not so sure it was the greatest NFL game ever played, but it was probably the most important.

Source: NFL Media

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’ Remembered Fifty Years Later

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast

Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Dallas Cowboys debuts tonight on HBO. The first sports-based reality series — and one of the fastest-turnaround reality series — kicks off its fourth season at 10 p.m. ET. Subsequent hour-long episodes air each Wednesday at the same time, culminating in the September 3 season finale, with regular encore plays on Thursdays. HBO playdates for episode one: August 7 (3:30 p.m., midnight), August 8 (11:00 p.m.), August 9 (10:00 a.m., 11:40 p.m.), August 10 (11:30 a.m., 11:15 p.m.) and August 11 (10:30 a.m.). HBO2 playdates for episode one: August 8 (8:00 p.m.), August 15 (7:00 p.m.) and August 23 (11:30 a.m.).

The five-episode cinema verité series will focus on the daily lives and routines of players and coaches as the Dallas Cowboys prep for the 2008 NFL season. A 24-person NFL Films crew will live at the Cowboys’ training camp, shooting more than 700 hours of video over the course of the series. Camera and sound crews will be given unencumbered access to the players and coaches meeting rooms, training rooms, dormitories and practice fields. The Cowboys are training in Oxnard, Cal., right now and will return to Dallas in mid-August.

Source: HBO

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’ Debuts Tonight

Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL

The Dallas Cowboys‘ 2008 training camp in Oxnard, CA, will once again be featured as part of the HBO series Hard Knocks. With its reality TV appeal and rare insider access, Hard Knocks has easily been one of my all-time favorite television programs. It has not been a regular series, but NFL Films’ previous work with the Baltimore Ravens (2001) and Cowboys (2002) was brilliant. Sadly, last season’s return (they had mysteriously taken four years off) with the Kansas City Chiefs was forgettable.

Some people can’t miss an episode of Lost. Others wait all week for another dose of American Idol. For my money — and I am paying because it’s on HBO — it just doesn’t get any better than Hard Knocks. And even though I’m not a Cowboys fan, with the likes of celebrity NFLers like Tony Romo, Terrell Owens and Pacman Jones in camp, it’s sure to be an interesting journey. It will also give owner Jerry Jones an opportunity to present his warm, fuzzy side to a national viewing audience for five episodes beginning August 6. Who among you can resist?

Source: cbs11tv.com, Photo: Newscom

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

Cowboys to Star in HBO Series ‘Hard Knocks’

There’s an interesting article in the new issue of Wired (issue 15.10, page 72) entitled “Instant Replay: NFL Films’ exhaustive archive is rushing into the digital age.” Did you know each season NFL Films’ collection grows by roughly 1,000 miles of 16-mm film?

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

Wired Magazine Article Covers NFL Films