Lost Treasures of NFL Films

If there's one thing the players and the coaches in the NFL share, it is fear and loathing of the press corps. Ray Didinger, former sports reporter of the Philadelphia Daily News, talks about the changes that have evolved over the last three decades of NFL reporting.

Steve Sabol now introduces the show from Music Scoring Studio A of the new NFL Films facility to talk about how NFL Films developed their style over time. It began as an extension of the newsreel, but in short order evolved into the standard by which others are judged. Key to their growth were a narrator named John Facenda, a musician named Sam Spence, and a film titled They Call It Pro Football, edited by Yoshio Kishi.

Early in 2002, Foxboro Stadium and Denver Mile High Stadium were leveled and turned into parking lots for the new gridirons in town. Steve Sabol recalls the history of the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos from a lost treasure of his own–the building from which the first 18 Lost Treasures episodes were shot. Interviews of former Patriot and Bronco players and their fans were shot during the demolitions of the old stadiums, recalling the very different paths of two franchises that started on common ground.

O.A. (Bum) Phillips had engendered a family atmosphere during his tenures as head coach of the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints. This program reflects on his virtues, his wardrobe, his player relations, and his coaching genius (Phillips was the winningest coach the Houston Oilers would ever have).

When released in 1986, Phil Tuckett's Autumn Ritual looked like anything but a football film. It was probably the most original sports movie since They Call It Pro Football, 19 years earlier. In 2003, Phil Tuckett embarked on a regenerated Autumn Ritual, mixing footage from the original production with new interviews. And some of the sources are pretty far-fetched, to say the least. New interviewees include Hunter S. Thompson, the former wild man who had sided with the Oakland Raiders, and Snoop Dogg, who bemoans the paucity of African-American coaches in the NFL.