HBO’s Homecoming Game : ‘Play by Play’ Is a Two-Part Look at TV’s Sports Archives

Television loves celebrating itself.

Witness the reunion and clip shows that have become a staple of the networks’ sweeps weeks.

But sports have been absent from such retrospective specials until this week, when HBO premieres the first of a two-part special, “Play by Play: A History of Sports Television.”

The program follows the genre from the first sports telecast--a Columbia-Princeton baseball game May 17, 1939, on NBC--to the USA Network’s helmet camera on its World League of American Football telecasts.

In between, the show is a delight for viewers who grew up with the medium. Not only is nearly every major moment in sports over the past 30 years included, but now-forgotten icons reappear, such as the NBC peacock and Peter Puck, the cartoon character created by NBC to explain hockey.

Other clips: Joe Frazier in 1973 struggling to swim in ABC’s “Superstars,” Muhammad Ali and Frazier wrestling in an ABC studio in 1974 while reviewing their 1971 fight, and Ali taunting George Foreman in 1975 when Foreman was fighting five opponents in the same afternoon.

“This is the weirdest occasion you’ll ever want to see,” was Howard Cosell’s retort.

Perhaps not. “Play by Play” includes Brent Musburger announcing a 40-yard race between behemoths carrying refrigerators, part of CBS’ mid-1970s “World’s Strongest Man,” competition; NBC’s 1980 NFL game without an announcer, and that same network’s “Silent Minute” during the Super Bowl XX pregame show.

A requisite TV-football moment, NBC’s “Heidi” game, is not overlooked: The 1968 incident is recalled with a clip of David Brinkley explaining that the network switched from an Oakland Raiders-New York Jets game to “Heidi” only to have the Raiders score two late touchdowns to win.

Baseball is represented by the memorable World Series home runs of Kirk Gibson and Carlton Fisk. HBO’s research also uncovered “The Joe DiMaggio Dugout Show.”

The Olympics are highlighted by the U.S. hockey team’s 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” Bob Beamon’s record 1968 long jump and Bill Toomey’s decathlon gold medal that same year.

“Play by Play” is hosted by several of the medium’s most well-known announcers: Bob Costas, Curt Gowdy, Jim Lampley, Jim McKay, Musburger and Pat Summerall.

“They went out of their way to make this a quality production,” Costas said. “They had sets and lighting that you would expect from a film. They had enough material for 20 shows.”

“Only an organization like HBO, which is detached from the three-network internecine competition scene, could have done this type of show,” said Lampley, the KCBS anchorman who also calls boxing and tennis matches for HBO. “If ABC had said we are going to do this, and had gone to NBC, they would not have gotten the necessary footage.”

Very little HBO footage was used. The most prominent clip from the network was of Buster Douglas’ 1990 knockout of then-heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.

Seth Abraham, HBO’s senior vice president, programming operations and sports, conceived “The History of Television Sports” seven years ago. A researcher was hired three years ago and producers Rick Bernstein and Paulette Douglas worked full-time on the project since April.

“For a sports producer, it’s a dream project,” Bernstein said. “At first, it wasn’t. There were hundreds and hundreds of tapes to screen. For the longest time, there was absolutely no light at the end of the tunnel.

“It’s a difficult show because in two hours, there’s no way you get everything in. Making the decisions of what’s going to be in this one-time documentary is very difficult.

“It’s a very fair documentary, but it’s not a dry nuts and bolts show. We don’t talk about ratings and commercial times and things like that; it’s a show about the stories that have made up the history of sports television.”

Finding tape highlights turned into an international scavenger hunt. More than 500 hours of footage was supplied by all three networks, cable outlets, private collectors, independent producers and historical archives.

The hardest event to find was Super Bowl I, although it was carried by both CBS and NBC.

“For reasons none of us know, both networks have lost it, and no one has a copy,” Bernstein said. “We heard there might be a copy of it in Cuba; we tried there. We heard Hugh Hefner had his own videotape machine then; we contacted him to see if he might have it. We put ads in trade magazines, announced on our program “Inside the NFL” that we were looking for it.

“We tried looking at the ‘Today’ show and ‘The Tonight Show’ the day after the game when there were guests on the show to see if they rolled in some footage then. We had no luck.

“But somehow CBS News had just a portion of it which they aired on a piece they did on Super Bowl XXV this year. As far as we know and CBS knows, that’s all that exists, 30 seconds of (Max McGee and Jim Taylor scoring touchdowns.)”

Also lost are TV’s coverage of Bobby Thompson’s 1951 pennant-winning home run for the New York Giants, Don Larsen’s 1956 World Series perfect game and Franco Harris’ 1972 “Immaculate Reception.” In their place, film accounts are used.

But “The History of Television Sports,” is just not highlight clips.

“What really separates the show are the stories we have,” Bernstein said. “You could have put together a show filled with clips of the greatest moments in sports TV history, but what makes the show work are the stories we have. We did over 25 interviews with broadcasters and production people (including Mel Allen, Roone Arledge, Red Barber, Harry Coyle and Lindsey Nelson.) It’s their stories that tell how these moments occurred and why we see what we see.”

Bernstein’s favorites: Jim McKay discussing that he would be the one to inform the parents of Israeli weightlifter David Berger in Ohio whether or not their son had survived being taken hostage by terrorists during the 1972 Olympic Games; director Harry Coyle recounting how he got the shot of Fisk reacting to his home run and his problems in getting the proper shots during Larsen’s perfect game (“It was the toughest game he ever did,” Bernstein said. “All the cameramen were mesmerized by Larsen and were shooting him.”) and Chris Berman recalling having to explain that ESPN was cable’s all-sports network and not “Espanol,” a Spanish-language service.

“Play by Play: A History of Sports Television” airs Tuesday at 10 p.m. on HBO. Part 2 airs Dec. 10 at 10 p.m.