I see that vintage logo, and I think 'sports': Olympics. Monday Night Football. Wide World Of Sports. "The Agony Of Defeat".
The sports department at ABC has got to be watching NBC Olympic coverage and just shaking their heads in disgust, helpless to do anything but bear witness to those lame-asses at NBC Sports massacre these games.
Isn't that awful?
What a show that was! Started in April '61 during the Bay of Pigs and they had a special anniversary show every five years afterwards. They actually showed just about every kind of sport there was on that show, very much including the ones that don't get much notice . . . track and field (including all the field events), wrist wrestling, skiing, amateur wrestling . . . you name it. And now it's long gone. But it wouldn't be the same without Jim anyway. Jim was the voice of the Wide World of Sports, the Olympics, the Indy 500 (with Jackie Stewart), and the Triple Crown. There'll never be another like him.
Hey, while you're at it, don't forget "The American Sportsman" with Curt Gowdy, who usually hunted and fished with people like Bing Crosby and Phil Harris. Can you imagine a network showing a hunting show nowadays?
The sports department at ABC has got to be watching NBC Olympic coverage and just shaking their heads in disgust, helpless to do anything but bear witness to those lame-asses at NBC Sports massacre these games.
Too bad ABC made the decision after the '88 Winter Olympics in Calgary to no longer bid to telecast the games. But even if they did carry them again one day it wouldn't be the same. No Jim McKay, no Chris Schenkel, no Howard Cosell, and no Roone Arledge overseeing everything. (Yeah, I know. Roone was a lib who later ran the ABC national news telecasts.)
NBC was originally supposed to carry the 1980 games until they were boycotted. They wound up a few minutes of highlights during other sports telecasts. And they still showed about as much as they do today!
Believe it or not, the first American network to carry the Olympics (winter and summer 1960) was CBS. Can you believe it? But Jim McKay was with them at the time. ::Sigh::