So, on Friday night, wife Cheryl and I sat down to watch the entire 3-hour presentation.   I was interested to see how the game would be presented, as after talking with Phil I later learned that according to NFL Network producer Ronit Larone, many modern enhancements would be added, such as constant on the screen visuals and a group of seven commentators, including several of the original players from the two teams who would discuss the game as it was being shown.  "We'll make sure we don't ruin anything with the chatter.   If we have the right people together, it will be like a viewing party", Larone said.

We soon saw that it really was a "viewing party" and that too many people were talking too often, drowning out the play-by-play description.   Once the game began, 25% of the screen (right side) was covered up with 3-4 different squares with facts and statistics, squeezing the viewing portion almost square in dimension.   Another distraction for me, being a football historian, were the soundbites of the two coaches before the game.   It was very obvious that they were not from the first Super Bowl, but from earlier games in the case of Lombardi and later games (Superbowl IV) for Hank Stram.

The relatively young network voices Davis, Jeremiah, McGinest and Harrison seemed overly surprised watching the game from film, with straight-on kickers, empty seats in the Coliseum, fans in the stands wearing coats and ties and no touchdown celebrations.   (ASIDE NOTE:   I have had conversations with MLBB and the NFL and both sports organizations admit that they market PRIMARILY to 25-50 year-old males because that is the demographic group that  spends the most money!   This probably explains the concentration on youth regarding their programming and visual presentations).   As for me, I would have rather let the viewers immerse themselves into the game and the era itself without interference and added the extra features and commentary at the quarter breaks or at halftime.   To sum up, I'm glad I saw the program, but at the end of the three hours, I felt the NFL missed a fabulous opportunity to correctly represent the times of 1967 without the warped excess of 21st century technology.

 

Next day I began to get calls from some of YOU, my Rare Sportsfilms customers complaining about the NFL Network presentation, basically saying what I had thought the evening before.   For some, I also answered questions about the discovery of the original partial broadcast in a Pennsylvania attic in 2005, the botched negotiations between the NFL and the owner of the original 2" video, possibilities of anyone ever seeing a restored presentation of that, and also revealed why the NFL probably came to the decision that they did regarding what they eventually showed on television - all additional and fascinating conversations, indeed.

 

        The NFL Network saga seems to have had a happy ending, however.   Within two or three days, probably in response to the many complaints from fans such as us, critical news articles written and negative public commentary, the NFL Network suddenly announced that the following week their original presentation would be re-shown in a more straightforward manner.   After watching it, I feel this was a much more realistic presentation, one which most older fans who actually remember watching the original game 50 years ago would approve of!