Full Color Football: The History of the AFL

[Ebenezer]

New series on Showtime...just saw the first installment. Great, great stuff!!! They just reviewed 1960-62. Houston winning the first two years and then the Dallas Texas beating the Oilers for the third championship....and then Lamar Hunt picks up and leaves Dallas because it was more important to the league for them to succeed in another city rather than stay...incredible show.

[PECKERWOOD]

I didn't see this, sounds like a good show. I bought and watched Buffalo's new 50th anniversary DVD about the history of the Bills and that was awesome as well, highly recommend it! :up:

[Mad Bomber]

Wow. Sounds good.

Too bad my freakin' cable company wants to charge me extra for SHO (even though I have their TV, Internet (which is great) and phone (which is also great) services.

[Ebenezer]

I couldn't find dates but here is the schedule guide from Showtime:

Full Color Football
AN OVERVIEW OF THE FIVE-PART SERIES

Episode 1: The New Frontier
When 26 year old Lamar Hunt's dream of owning a pro football team is road-blocked by the NFL, Hunt dreams bigger and starts a new league. The AFL's early days coincide with the dawn of a new age in America, reflected in the energy of a young president and the grand national ambition to reach the moon. Pro football was well on its way to becoming America's game and it would do so with help from the most powerful machine of the age: television. Watch the other league's earliest days—through the stories of eye witnesses like John Madden, Dan Rather, Larry King, Tim Russert, Hank Stram and Jim Brown—in episode one of "Full Color Football." Read More

Episode 2: Times They Are A Changin'
The AFL enters its 4th season with the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the passing of the Civil Rights Movement changing the landscape of America. The ripple effects were felt in the AFL, where the Sid Gillman helped the Chargers become the premier offensive team in the league, winning the AFL championship in 1963. Other teams like the Boston Patriots were just trying to get noticed in their own towns. And the Bills won back-to-back titles—and the hearts and minds of Buffalo fans—with a dominating defense. Sports and society finally intersect in 1965, when African-American players lead a boycott of the All Star game.

Episode 3: War and Peace
Bolstered by a generous new TV contract from NBC, the AFL wages war against the NFL by outbidding and even kidnapping top college prospects to join the new league. The arrival of Joe Namath revives a sagging New York franchise, while existing stars Lance Alworth, Willie Brown, Clem Daniels and others set records and increase attendance. When the Giants raid the Bills for kicker Pete Gogolak, the AFL retaliates by signing some of the NFL's biggest stars, forcing a merger between the leagues—an agreement that ends the football wars and creates a world championship game that would come to be known as the Super Bowl.

Episode 4: Revolution
The AFL's quest for respectability takes another hit after the Raiders are soundly beaten in Super Bowl II. In 1968, amid the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, a league full of rebels and misfits continue to revolt against the establishment. Broadway Joe matures from showman into a champion quarterback. The Jets defeat the Raiders for the 1968 AFL championship. Namath guarantees a victory in Super Bowl III over the mighty Baltimore Colts and then delivers the greatest upset in the history of sports.

Episode 5: The Final Frontier
It's 1969 and anything is possible—the Jets upset the Colts in Super Bowl III, Man walks on the Moon—but the AFL is still considered separate and unequal in the eyes of the NFL. The debate over how the leagues will be realigned is long and contentious. The now predominant figure in all of pro football, Joe Namath, nearly retires under attack from the NFL establishment. But the league of possibility will make its mark for years to come. Innovations like the West Coast offense and stack defense are born in the AFL. Under Hank Stram, the Kansas City Chiefs dominate the Vikings in Super Bowl IV, becoming the first team with more blacks than whites to win a championship. The AFL finally has its respect. And with the dawn of Monday Night Football, the newly merged NFL is now the most popular sport in America.

[Billz_fan]

I gotta check and see if this is "on Demand" yet. I love this kinda show. Growing up in the late 60's and 70's (born in 59) I always watched the AFL. They were so much more fun to watch. I also at 10 years old was rooting for the Jets in SB III and getting all kinds of flack for it. That was a sweet win for the AFL. Curt Gowdy always seemed to be calling the games every week to.

Great Great Times !