NBC Sports To Air Special On Lost And Forgotten Footage

Tuesday, April 22, 2008


I try to stay away from Press Releases unless it's to make fun of ESPN (I kid, I kid), but this sounds pretty bad ass if you ask me. NBC is going to air a one hour special on lost or forgotten footage of stars like Howard Cosell, Muhammad Ali, Hank Aaron and Joe Namath starting at 5pm this Sunday.

NEW YORK – April 21, 2008 - "Icons From The Archives," a one-hour NBC Sports Special, airs this Sunday at 5 p.m. ET. The show features four of America's greatest sports icons: Muhammad Ali, Howard Cosell, Hank Aaron and Joe Namath through memorable and entertaining moments as captured by classic NBC Sports programs that haven't aired in decades, many of them on film, and stored in NBC's archive warehouse in New Jersey.

NBC Sports' production crew, led by veteran NBC Sports producer John Gilmartin, poured through hundreds of hours of 16mm film and one and two-inch tape to find this vintage footage used in the special. To view the film, the production team dusted off a mid-century Steenbeck Flatbed film-editing machine that is housed in a tucked away corner at NBC's 30 Rockefeller Plaza Studios.

The show also includes an original commercial that aired during the 1977 Ali-Shavers fight in which Howard Cosell interviews a representative from General Electric's CB Radio division on why consumers should buy GE's Citizen Band radios.

NBC Sports' Jimmy Roberts will host "Icons from the Archives."
I really hope there's just clip after clip of Ali arguing with Cosell and Joe Namath hitting on chicks. What better way to spend a evening? There's also a snippet of Cosell talking about an old interview with Fidel Castro. I know what I'm going to be watching at 5pm on Sunday night.

(Via NBC Sports)

Posted by Awful Announcing- at 1:31 PM

3 Comments:

I know what I'm going to be watching at 5pm on Sunday night.

Me, too, and it isn't this. It will probably be yet another viewing of D2: The Mighty Ducks.

GMoney said...
Apr 22, 2008, 4:16:00 PM  

I wouldn't necessarily dismiss this; pre-ESPN/cable, NBC was arguably the best sports network around--NFL, MLB, NCAA basketball (they had the Bird-Magic final in '79), NHL (in its last big extended heyday), and college football (they did the Rose Bowl, among other things).

Anonymous said...
Apr 22, 2008, 5:20:00 PM  

Sounds like NBC is following in the footsteps of Sports Illustrated who recently opened its vault. Good move!

We Got a Guy There - a baseball blog (about both pro and college)

TB said...
Apr 23, 2008, 11:40:00 AM  

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