Shark Bytes

Wow,
I didn't realize I watched so much TV back in those days....but I was a sports nut (NFL). I'm impressed by the comments and memories of everyone because the majority are quite accurate. No one could hold a candle to the CBS crew of the NFL Today. I looked forward to watching that program. I too miss Irv Cross and Jimmy the Greek. Brent did do very well although he did go over the top a little too much for me. Right on about Phyllis and Jayne. The announcers of old were great too....how bout Ray Scott and that deep voice....love to hear him announcing Vikings, Packers, Lions and Bears games when they all played outdoors.....those were great times....and yes The NFL Today was ahead of it's time back then....

When CBS fired Jimmy The Greek for speaking his mind and saying things that have been concerned by sociologists and black historians. I switched to NBC's pre-game show when CBS began shamelessly hyping the Dallas Cowboys as "America's Team." I don't remember voting on that!

What a great pre game show... and I agree, Musberger can be a bit verbose, but in no way deserves the scorn he gets from other broadcasters... I feel he does fine on ABC college football broadcasts. Think of the innovation... live on-site reports from NFL cities nationwide... pre game stuff, Jimmy the Greek giving odds and "intangables"... the steady analysis of Irv Cross. The elegance and interviewing skills of Phylis George and later the sexy input of Jayne Kennedy. Still... they made football paramount. No forced laughter and no fakery. It gelled. ON NBC you had LEE LEONARD and a young and intimidated BRYANT GUMBEL and they just couldn't compete. As one other poster said, the multitalented and courageous Irv Cross has spent the last 25 years actually DOING something with his life. He works the Vikings post season on KARE-11 TV as a sidelight. His main claim to fame is as AD at Minneapolis based Maclaster College. Great player, great broadcaster and great man. Unlike the current network whores, he chose not to jump ship whenever an NFL contract ran dry. The rest of the current scum lost my respect when they leapt to FOX. FOX is EVIL.

To the previous poster who said to bring back the original theme song, I second that and add this: bring back the "football-player" titles of the '80's, and make a remake of the '80's studio. If they do that, The NFL Today will be much better than it is. (Don't get me wrong; I like it as it is, but these changes will make it better.)

The second incarnation of "The NFL Today" was not anything close to being as great as the original that was hosted by Brent Musberger, but at least it stuck with a variation of the original theme song (From the days of Brent saying "YOU are looking live at...") when it returned in '98. Then some pinheads decided to replace it in '03 with a theme that sounds like something John Tesh would have produced. I know we can't bring Brent, Irv, and Phyllis back but for God's sake, BRING BACK THE OLD THEME SONG!

The show started to jump with Phyllis George, She was put on simply because CBS wanted to have a woman on their NFL show. The jump was completed when Jane Kennedy replaced her. Same character (vacuum headed Cowboys groupie) different actor (Kennedy in place of George). Jane Kennedy has to be the worst female sports "commentator" in history. The show should have been Irv Cross by himself. Irv was cool.

NFL Today was pretty good with Muss, Irv, Jimmy and the rest. For it's time... mid 70s to about 1990, it really kicked NBC's butt (NFL '75, NFL '76, etc.) It was one of the first pregame shows to hype the games and used satellite technology to go around the nation for game set-ups. Overall, a pretty slick production. Musberger is, for some reason, a hated sportscaster, although I liked him. Irv Cross never got his due. Speaking of Irv, he's sort of a renaissance man. He played back in the 60s for the Eagles and Rams, then was a TV pioneer on the NFL Today. After that he did stockbroker work and now is doing post-game commentary for the Minnesota Vikings on Minneapolis Television... but only as a sidelight. His main gig (at least as of 2005) is as the athletic director of Maclaster College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Pretty impressive resume. For adding Phyllis George and Jayne Kennedy, the NFL Today took some chances and was always more entertaining that NBC's "NFL '75" shows with Lee Leonard and Bryant Gumbel. Does anyone out there REMEMBER the NFL Pregame show back in the 70s? If so, post about it because I may be wrong on those details. CBS's NFL Today was ahead of its time and set the tone for the flashy productions of today.

The NFL Today never ever ever jumped and is the greatest NFL pregame show ever!with names like,brent mustburger,Irv Cross,Phillis George,and Jimmy the Greek,terry bradshaw Greg Gumbal (came back to the pregame show after years in the PBP booth in 1998-2004 with phil simms) Terry Bradshaw on it was THE stable in 1970's to 1992 when fox got the NFC rights the CBS got the NFL back in 1998 for the AFC rights from NBC the NFL today should be in the Pro football hall of fame!

It never jumped. Matter-of-factly, my favorite era of it was when they had that great "football-player" opening title sequence created by Bill Feigenbaum-- I always liked to see that football player darting about that computer graphics scene while the talent names were shown-- Brent Musburger curving in from the right-hand side, Phyllis George on a rotating camera, Irv Cross coming together from the top and bottom, and Jimmy "The Greek" zooming in at an angle for the football player to jump over-- and then, as the football player celebrates a touchdown, the entire scene collapses into the vertical title, and a wide shot of the studio fades in. Oh, how I miss those days. That set back then-- that was also one of the good things about it, because you had that anchor desk where Brent, Irv, and Jimmy sat, you had the vertical title above the control-room area, and you had a bank of monitors on the left-hand side of that control-room area. It was one of the best sets in all of sports television. Take that, Fox!

The NFL Today never ever jumps and also is been a staple of CBS sports nfl today aired in the 70's 80's and 90's. My first nfl today was 92. cbs had the nfl for the last time until 1998. it had greg gumbel and terry bradshaw before bradshaw became fox fame and gumbel no 1. pbp for nfl broadcasts. and now i like jim nantz, deion sanders, dam marino and boomer esiason they handle it well like brent musberger, phillis george, irv cross and jimmy the greek did. may the nfl on cbs continue if there contract is up keep the nfl on cbs. cbs is better then fox and abc also nbc at the time for doing nfl games and nfl today is the best