If you haven’t seen it by now, find out when ESPN will be re-playing it, and be sure to either watch or record its presentation of The Greatest Game Ever Played.  Any collector or football fan will certainly find this well worth the watch.

In conjunction with NFL Films, ESPN took old footage from the 1958 Football Championship game between the New York Football Giants and the Baltimore Colts, colorized it, and re-formatted it to HD.  They then had players from the recent Colts and Giants championship teams sit down with players involved in the game to watch the footage and discuss the game and the differences between the eras.  Unfortunately the game footage is forever lost, so they had to present it documentary style.

However, the quality of the footage is amazing, and the stories the old-timers have to tell and their commentary on the game really add to the footage in a way the video alone doesn’t do.

The game, commonly dubbed “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” featured 17 Pro Football Hall of Famers among the players, coaches and owners involved.  The footage showcases the likes of Johnny Unitas, Lenny Moore, Art Donovan, Gino Marchetti and Raymond Berry for the Colts and Frank Gifford (shown carrying the ball above), Andy Robustelli and Sam Huff for the Giants.  Amazingly, the Giants were coached by a couple of individuals you may have heard of–offensive coordinator Vince Lombardi and defensive coordinator Tom Landry.

As stated, some of the best parts of the documentary are the exchanges between the current players and the guys who played in the game.  Michael Strahan and Art Donovan provided some of the most interesting commentary.  When asked why Donovan didn’t wear full facemasks, his response was that if you wore one you were a sissy!  Strahan also asked him about “lights out” and whether or not Donovan ever snuck out afterwards, to which Donovan replied that he never snuck out, and he never had a party after lights out either.  Clearly this was a concept that Strahan just couldn’t comprehend.

The game itself is incredibly compelling and entertaining (which one would expect from a game with such a moniker).  After a fumble on the opening drive and struggles by the Giants offense, Johnny Unitas took over, finding Raymond Berry through the air multiple times.  After half-time, it was the Giants turn to run their offense, and ultimately they came back on the Colts.  The teams struggled back and forth, and ultimately the game went into overtime, the only NFL championship game ever to go to overtime, where the Colts would score to win the game by a final score of 23-17.

When talking about goal-line plays, Jim Mutscheller, Colts WR/TE, talked about how they would run slants to make the defensive backs smack into the goalposts which, at that time, were situated in the middle of the end zone.

This documentary is a must-watch for any football fan, and definitely for any football collector.  The sheer number of Hall-of-Famers involved in this game make it worth the watch, just to see footage of these greats in their primes.  If you haven’t seen it yet, make it a point to; you won’t be disappointed.

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