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What: “Lost Treasures of NFL Films--Vol. XIII: The Original Six Days to Sunday”

Where: ESPN Classic, today, 4 p.m.

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For the HBO series “Hard Knocks,” which debuted last week, NFL Films was given full access to the Baltimore Ravens’ training camp. But that is not a new concept. NFL Films has been getting that access for years.

The first time was in 1976, when a crew spent a week in November with the New Orleans Saints as they prepared for a game against the Green Bay Packers.

Now, for the first time, the footage shot that week can be seen.

“At the time, I wanted to make a movie, not a 16mm highlight, but a movie for theatrical release about the days leading up to a pro football game,” NFL Films founder Ed Sabol says at the top of the show. “The problem was trying to find a team that would let us do that.”

Hank Stram, who was then the coach of the Saints, never shied away from a camera or a microphone. He granted NFL Films permission and gladly wore a microphone the entire week.

Says NFL Films President Steve Sabol, who in 1976 was the lead cameraman on the crew that filmed the Saints: “Stram was fired before we could edit the footage, and the NFL didn’t want us to complete the project. So the 40,000 feet of film sat in our vault untouched for 25 years. Over the years, we revisited the concept a number of times. So why not complete the film that started it all?”

The result is an entertaining hour, with Stram as the star. Sabol, who narrates, points out that kicker Peter Szaro went to Harvard and spoke seven languages, but Stram speaks a language all his own.

“You hit a sausage shot,” Stram tells Szaro at practice. “You put a little peanut butter on that one,” he says after another kick. “Lay off that ballerina kick, now will ya? Don’t kick it with your toe. Instep.”

Among the assistant coaches who are part of the show are Sam Rutigliano, who went on to coach the Cleveland Browns, and John Beake, who went on to become general manager of the Denver Broncos.

Chuck Muncie was on that team, and Bobby Douglass was the starting quarterback because Archie Manning was sidelined after two surgeries on his arm.

Stram spent only two seasons with the Saints. But he had some pleasant memories along the way, and there is plenty of evidence of that in this film.