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Master and Commander
Posts: 1431
| Subject: ABC's Wide World Of Sports/NSR
In my opinion ABC presented the viewing audience the greatest sports coverage the world has ever seen. Beginning in 1961 they covered athletic events from arm wrestling to the Olympics. Roone Arledge and company treated us all to a comprehensive sports coverage that has never been equaled. I don't know why they surrendered their top spot in sports coverage to CBS, but I certainly miss the energy that Jim McKay and crew brought to the viewing audience. It didn't matter if it was track and field, down hill sking, figure skating, the Indy 500 or what ever sport, they brought it to life. The coverage of the Israeli massacre at the Munich Olympics in 1972 was outstanding and the world felt the sorrow and tragedy of the event. I miss the excitement they brought into our living rooms. |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 877
| Subject: RE: ABC's Wide World Of Sports/NSR
I miss Jim McKay... I remember watching WWOS growing up... and remember (everytime I hear him calling the game) Al Michaels and Ken Dryden (one of the great goalies in NHL history, next to Jacques Plante) calling the USA vs USSR hockey game in 1980... all on Wide World of Sports. |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: ABC's Wide World Of Sports/NSR
Boy do I AGREE...I said that only this past Saturday....I enjoyed the Worldwide aspect of it...Downhill Skiing, Bobsleding, Ski jumping, Grande Prix racing, Alpine events like biatholon....Diving competition...Swimming championships....regular foriegn Tennis matches....Sailing.... The national networks give you golf...baseball...golf...football....more golf....hippity hop music...rap music in the unknown tongue....basketball....NASCAR RACES where you see wildly painted cars with more ads painted on them than a Mexican alley, that go round and round for several hours until no one who's gone to take a leak since it started knows what lap what car is in....(they need a rule...anyone who gets lapped has to get the hell off the track.) Then you have Hockey...followed by the last six holes in the Ex Lax Open...then interviews with sports figures nobody ever heard of...ESPN predictions...more hippity hop...Updates on Drew Peterson, the potty training of Anna Nicole Smith's baby, an explanation regarding four new holes they dug in Aruba and a possible Natilie sighting in Pago-Pago, Britney Spears getting out of some car and giving reporters a no panties view, the results of Dancing With The Stars....Politicians calling each other seven kinds of sonuvabitches...Jack Lalaine hawking his Power Juicer....Charlie Rose interviews with people nobody ever heard of....Sessemi Street, the Telletubbies and Crocadile Hunter reruns....Everybody and their brother telling you how to cook, build stronger abs and cure erectile disfunction. And religious fanatics telling you that without your money sin will take over entire countries nobody should give a damn about....the need is always dire and if you don't mail a check fast, your soul will be parked in hell for eternity...in Afterlife with No Parole status...Damned if I wouldn't do a major abnormal sex act to get Wide World of Sports back...I miss ski jumping....I think the Constitution should be ammended to give all Americans both the right and the unrestricted opportunity to see the Hommenkallen Jump every year. And cliff diving in Accapulco...And the Ididerod....And high stakes Curling....Chinese Ping Pong played on lead paint painted tables...Polo...Croquet...Squash....the Niarobi Derby...Hollywood toenail painting and maybe 2000 more hours of Tiger Wood's lining up puts on the last hole of regular play. RCK...Boy did you drill a nerve...I need to build a shrine around a photo of Jim McKay and burn candles, drink rooster blood, toss chicken bones in the air and pray for his return....Hey' how bout NFL dog fighting? DEX |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1455
| Subject: Jaques Plante?
You mean the guy who showed up at Madison Square Garden wearing a face mask? I was there and you could have heard the boos all the way to Montreal. Just to show him how real goalies played the Gump took a few pucks in the nose, which was about the size of Montreal. When the 2nd period started the hot pennies rained down on the crease coming from the cheap seats. There were so many lighters lit up it looked like a meteor shower.
Now to Wide World. It was the one show that turned me into a couch potatoe when it was on. Like Dex I was fascinated by the long ski jump competition. I can't remember if I every missed a show until I joined the Navy. All I needed for a great weekend was the Wide World of Sports and the Sunday newspaper comic section. Jim McKay is my TV hero. The gold standard in sportscasting. |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1607
| Subject: RE: ABC's Wide World Of Sports/NSR
WWS was also responsible for transferring so many what we considered minor sports to major status. I use to love the US/USSR track meet in non Olympic years and treated it like we were at war. Never was a big fan of downhill skiing until I saw Franz Klammer (sp) win the downhill with Frank Gifford narrating. Klammer was at the top of the hill and the Austrians were celebrating as if he had alrady won the event. Klammer came through in a death defying run that verified he was the best.
Edited by Gil 2008-03-10 5:14 PM
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: ABC's Wide World Of Sports/NSR
Man has this thread blown the dust off of a lot of long forgotten memories. Damn do I deeply appreciate the gift of the return of these memories. I have no idea who covered the last Winter Olympics must have been some generic, no name cable outfit...The last Winter Games I remember were the ones in Lillehammer, Norway...after that I have no ideea where in the hell they were held....Sad, I love winter sports. But, the posts in this thread...the memories contained in the responses are pure gold...each a treasure. Thanks ALL, DEX |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2673
Location: New Jersey | Subject: RE: Jaques Plante?
I loved that show! My favorite part was the beginning of the show, where the voice over goes on about the "Thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat". As he says that, that poor SOB skier goes flying off the side of the ski jump on his ass.....The epitome of an embarassing defeat.... |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1431
| Subject: RE: ABC's Wide World Of Sports/NSR
In the hierarchy of skiing accidents, there are spills, there are falls, and there are catastrophic wipeouts. "The agony of defeat" was definitely a catastrophic wipeout. For years, ABC's "Wide World of Sports" showcased the crash during its introduction:
Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport! The thrill of victory...and the agony of defeat! The human drama of athletic competition! This is ABC's Wide World of Sports!
The agonized athlete was a Slovene ski jumper by the name of Vinko Bogataj. A respected jumper and a fierce competitor, Bogataj's fate took a turn for the worse at the World Ski Flying Championships in 1970. Midway through his third run, Bogataj felt he was going too fast and tried to slow down. Unfortunately, he lost his balance and tumbled spectacularly over the side of the ramp. Bogataj suffered only a concussion, though apparently he never again jumped with quite the same "abandon." Understandable, if you ask us.
An interesting side note: Bogataj lived behind the Iron Curtain. As a result, he had no idea how infamous his crash had become in the United States. So it was with great confusion that he accepted an invitation to attend ABC's "Wide World of Sports" anniversary show. Once there, he found himself hounded by fans (including Muhammad Ali) who wanted to shake hands with "the agony of defeat." We call that a minor victory
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ABC's Wide World Of Sports/NSR
