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“Then came the one that I like to call the Magic Game: Game III between the Jets and the Colts not only put the Super Bowl on the map, it made it a permanent part of the American sports and entertainment consciousness.” Pete Rozell

Please Credit Me

Let me say this for openers: if and when you turn on the NFL Network in February and watch the original broadcast of the Jets’ 16-7 victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III for the first time since it was broadcast in 1969, please think of me. See, without your humble servant, it wouldn’t be on.

If you think this is like Al Gore suggesting he invented the Internet -- and if he actually said that, please email the quote -- you are mistaken. He was wrong. I'm not.

Today I am honestly admitting and now willing to accept all the thanks, credit and accolades as it was my investigating, nudging, poking and yes, fighting for the rebroadcast of that famous event in sports history that has made it happen. I'm not kidding. I actually think I had an impact. Is it possible that I might have put a bug in the NFL’s ear about the game’s strange absence? And if that is true, that’s good enough for me. I’m not above taking credit for something that maybe I don’t have a right to take credit for. Lord knows how many times each one of us has deserved credit for some idea, some solution, some ‘something’ and not been recognized. It’s the way of the world. If you're a working stiff, you know what I'm talking about. So, I'm taking credit; it's only fair.

Because it does seem of a bit of a coincidence that the "situation" has changed since my phone calls. Unless the plans to rebroadcast were made regardless of my calls but, if so, then there's no reason to write this aricle.

If you missed it, here’s Richard Sandomir’s NY Times column from Dec. 29, where he reports that: “The league had until now preferred to let Super Bowls be recalled through the prism of NFL Films, but those were the official, edited versions; the original network versions were locked away. Now, it is possible (if you are among those who get the NFL Network) to see the games, including the Jets’ 16-7 upset win over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III on Feb. 3. (It will be) the original broadcasts of nine Super Bowls for the first time since they were broadcast.”

Actually, the correct adjective is not “preferred.” More like “ignored,” or “was legally bound.”

Now, this might seem like a “who cares,” but this was more than an important victory for the New York Jets (their only Super Bowl appearance, as we all know), but a culturally defining moment. But it’s never been seen since, and you can’t buy the dang thing … only recreations and highlights. Until now.

It was 37 years ago

This has been a mystery that has frustrated me over the years. As a die-hard Jets fan, I've wanted to relive the excitement of a game that changed the face of professional football, and is considered iconic in the turbulent era of the 1960s in which it was played, but only shown once to the world.

Super Bowl III. Jets 16, Colts 7.

For Jets' fans of a certain age (or any age), Super Bowl III remains the quintessential moment of glory for a franchise whose losing years far outnumber its winning years. The adjective, "long suffering" applies as much to fans of the Jets as it does (or DID) to Boston Red Sox fans and still remains a part of the Chicago Cubs' lexicon. And so it goes that while each mini-camp in June, preseason camp in August, opening kickoff in September or playoff berth brings forth great optimism for the boys in Green, there also is a touch -- ok, a large dose -- of pessimism that this team -- could ever find the spotlight as it had a lifetime ago on January 12, 1969 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

And, believe me, it was a lifetime ago.

In January, 1969, the Beatles' White Album was number one in Billboard magazine, the Mets were still nine months away from their first miracle World Series victory, Woodstock hadn't taken place yet, man wouldn't land on the moon until August and Richard Nixon was still a week away from being inaugurated -- the first time. The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., Bobby Kennedy, the violence of the Democratic Convention in Chicago, Kent State, the war in Vietnam, riots in our cities -- all these events were driving a stake through the heart and soul of the country. Would the nation survive these chaotic, frightening times?

Then, only three weeks into the New Year, with the psychological wounds that the country had experienced in 1968 still very much open and painfully raw, two football teams from two competing football leagues, found themselves in a game that was overflowing with conflict, irony and Shakespearean drama. It was a perfect cosmic battle of the "old guard" Baltimore Colts of the established NFL versus the "new guard" New York Jets of the start-up American Football League; working class Baltimore versus sophisticated, hip New York City. Even the quarterbacks clashed in their styles: crusty, crew-cut, veteran, legendary quarterback Johnny Unitas of the Colts, versus young, brash, irreverent swaggering Jets’ quarterback Joe Namath.

It was, as author Geoffrey Colvin has written in "Who Lost Super Bowl III?" , the "Old Culture and the New Culture (were) at war." Soon, the New Culture would win, but that was far from certain on that overcast day in Miami.

With that in mind, I began my search for a DVD of the game.

The Search for the Holy Game

My first stop was Amazon. com where I see that NFL Films, the greatest of all sports vaults, has a series called "The NFL's Greatest Games'' of which Super Bowl III is featured. A quick read of the blurb says it’s all the plays and commentary by Curt Gowdy, the NBC broadcaster for the game. However, once I receive it and play it, I noticed something definitely wrong. This is not the actual NBC broadcast of the game that I remember. Yes, all the plays are there and, yes, Curt Gowdy's wonderful voice is heard, but it doesn't seem to be the actual play by play sound of the game.

In fact, this is not the television broadcast of the game but rather a compilation of NFL footage with Gowdy recreating his play-by-play almost thirty years after that momentous victory. I longed to hear color commentator Al DeRogatis’ comments and Kyle Rote's half-time interview with Bob Hope. Sure, the interviews with Johnny Sample, Tom Matte and, of course, Joe Namath are interesting and provide context, but this was not what I expected. One of the most important games in NFL history and it's a re-creation? I feel as though I've been tricked.

Next, I went to nflfilms.com. Surely, they must have then entire game and I just happened to buy the wrong DVD. Wrong again. As it says on the website, "Entire games of the Super Bowls are not available from NFL Films or from any other source."

If I can purchase the NBA Dynasty Series - New York Knicks - The Complete History (which includes eight landmark games in their original broadcast form) and the just recently purchased 1986 World Series box set (and have seen entire 1969 World Series games on television), is there a good reason why the actual broadcast of Super Bowl III is not available? It’s not a technology issue, unless the tape was erased like some old Honeymooners or Johnny Carson Tonight Show episodes. Could that be?

Calls to NBC Sports got me nowhere. Even the Museum of Television and Radio and the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences could not give me a suitable answer. Think about this: they have available the last episode of Cheers!, Elvis Presley’s first TV appearance on the the Tommy Dorsey Show and all the Laugh In programs, but not this? Only one of the most important sports events of the last half-century and it’s not available? Sorry, buddy, we don't got it.

Called the Jets in Hempstead. They didn't know, but they'd get back to me. Meanwhile, I called NFL Films and spoke to Patrick Pantano in Media Relations. He didn't know, though he did say they do have a nice DVD called 'The NFL's Greatest Games'' of which Super Bowl III is featured. I know, I said, but I want the real thing. He said he'd get back to me.

A few hours go by; it's finally the Jets calling me back. Their suggestion: call Patrick Pantano at NFL Films! I feel like Bill Murray in the movie, Groundhog Day. But as it turned out, NFL Films did have some interesting information when they called again.

No, Mr. Pantano said, Super Bowl III is not available, but there is a copy of the broadcast in our vault. He wasn't sure exactly why it had never been released, but speculated that it was a copyright issue. I should talk to NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky at the NFL in Manhattan. And this is where my search came to an abrupt halt. My legal search, that is.

As Mr. Polanky explained, Mr. Pantano's speculation was accurate. Because Super Bowl III took place seven years before the current copyright law was enacted (in 1976), nobody owns the broadcast of the game. And there, sports fans, is the answer. It's the lawyers. Don’t get me started.

A Life of Crime

Remember the “not available from any other source” notice on the NFL Film’s website? I suppose that’s legally accurate.

Which brings me to how I was driven to a life of crime, my dear reader. Rather, driven to ebay.com to search for “Jets Super Bowl III” and ... drum roll ... there it was. Selling for only six dollars, plus two bucks for shipping! This what I've been looking for -- the original television broadcast of Super Bowl III. I ordered it, and when it arrived, I tore open the package like a little kid opening his birthday present and gingerly placed it into the DVD player.

There's Curt, there's the palm trees of the Orange Bowl, Curt giving a weather report, then the highlights of both the AFL and NFL Championship Games. Crude by today's standards, but wonderful nonetheless. Now, truth be told, this copy from NBC New York must be a third or fourth generation, viewing quality somewhere between French Impressionism and watching a game through wax paper, but with Curt Gowdy and Al DeRogatis and Bob Hope and "I'd walk a mile for a Camel" cigarette commercial and the new 1969 Chevy Impala, the marching band for a halftime show in wardrobes that didn't malfunction, it is a three-hour time capsule.

And that’s where the story ends.

Or ended. Until last Friday, Dec. 29th. Sandomir’s column, NFL Network. It is true: one man can change the world. Me.

So, finally, on February 3, millions will get to see – for the first time since Jan. 12, 1969, the actual television broadcast of Super Bowl III. But no DVD release I’ve been told. Now, why is THAT? Guess I'll have to buy a cleaner version on ebay on February 4.

Gee, I wonder what ever happened to Patrick Pantano who I had spoken to during the summer about this whole situation. He’s not at NFL Films anymore. Turns out, our good friend, Patrick Pantano is the Communications Director for the NFL Network.

You think that maybe he got the idea from … nah…

P.S.—Where was Coach Mangini on that day in 1969 when the Jets were at the top of the football world? He’d still have to wait another two years and a week to be born on January 19, 1971.