parcells316;1340841 said:
They didn't rank the teams 21-40. This was an NFL Films project and Steve Sabol, head of NFL Films, said they decided to have a panel only rank the top 20 teams because he didn't want to get any backlash from the team ranked 40th.
I posted that before I did a quick re-read on it. So that's a "my bad" moment, cuz I just read they're only airing the top 20 leading up to the Super Bow.
However, I do know that a documentary was created for each SB team. This according to Gosselin.
NFL Films has something Super (10/17)
[SIZE=-1]12:31 PM CDT on Tuesday, October 17, 2006[/SIZE]
I've always been a fan of NFL Films.
Historically, that arm of the NFL is what separated football from baseball, basketball, hockey and the other sports – its documentation of the sport on film.
Back in 1962, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle awarded Ed Sabol total access, allowing him to take his cameras onto practice and game fields, into sidelines and locker rooms. Since then, NFL Films has given us the voice of John Facenda and five decades of classic footage, highlighted by the miking of Kansas City coach Hank Stram in Super Bowl IV.
NFL Films has won 92 Emmys for its work. But the best is yet to come. In a massive undertaking commissioned by the NFL Network, NFL Films is compiling a 41-part series ranking the Super Bowl champions, entitled "America's Game."
"It's the kind of thing that every football fan is going to want to have – all 40 of them," said Steve Sabol, Ed's son and the man now in charge of NFL Films. "It's like what Ken Burns did for the Civil War."
Each of the 40 champions is the subject of an hour-long documentary. The NFL Network will count down the 20 greatest Super Bowl teams, beginning the Friday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 24) with No. 20. The series will run through Feb. 3, the day before the Super Bowl, when the greatest champion will be unveiled.
A 41st installment of the series will be the first to air on the NFL Network on Nov. 17. It will preview the series and include taped interviews with the panel of 53 voters who ranked the champions.
That panel includes former players (Dan Marino) and coaches (Marv Levy), general managers (Carl Peterson) plus writers (Bob Oates, Los Angeles Times) and broadcasters (Joe Buck, Fox). There was one stipulation for inclusion on the panel – you've never been a part of a Super Bowl champion.
The narration for the series is provided by several Hollywood actors, including Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis. Each championship season is seen through the eyes of three players or coaches from that team.
"Hopefully we'd get a big-name star," Sabol said. "The second choice would be someone on the other side of the ball, and the third choice would be someone with an interesting personal story."
The project began in early 2005, and NFL Films traveled as far as Alaska to get an interview (Larry Csonka). No one is a featured speaker on more than one game. So Troy Aikman is interviewed for the 1992 Cowboys but not 1993 or 1995.
I've seen a few of the episodes and found them compelling, spiced by that third-person "wild-card" interviewee. Duane Thomas was the wild card on the 1971 Cowboys and talks about his contractual problems that season with Tex Schramm and his eventual fallout with the Cowboys.
Center Bill Curry was superb as the wild card of the 1970 Colts documentary, as was tight end Todd Christensen for the 1983 Raiders. Some interesting tidbits are revealed, and the sideline banter is classic. I have a much greater respect now for Drew Bledsoe the person and teammate after watching the installment of the 2001 Patriots.
For the record, I was a member of the panel and here was how I voted the top 10: 1) 1992 Cowboys, 2) 1975 Steelers, 3) 1989 49ers, 4) 1972 Miami, 5, 1977 Cowboys, 6) 1998 Broncos, 7) 1984 49ers, 8) 1985 Bears, 9) 1976 Raiders, 10) 1978 Steelers.
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