O’Donnell: ‘NFL Today’ to dance back to the age of young Walter Payton and Barry White
NOSTALGIA AND SENTIMENTALITY can too frequently fog the lens.
Don't tell that to the National Football League and the overseers of CBS's “The NFL Today.”
Sunday, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the debut of the breakthrough sports studio show, the Fisheye Network will go full-bore retro to honor the pregame staple (11 a.m., WBBM-Channel 2).
Producer Drew Kaliski and staff have been plotting for months to capture the visual and aesthetic feel of the era for the one-off. And there is no questioning that in its startup days, “The NFL Today” was a landmark football TV accouterment.
THE ORIGINAL CAST INCLUDED: Brent Musburger — the Chicago-spawned broadcasting whiz kid then all of age 36 — former Miss America Phyllis George and Irv Cross, best known previously as a steady DB with the Eagles and like Musburger, a Northwestern alum.
One year later, in 1976, Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder was added for his gambling chops, and America had a most prominent TV sports annex for the line-dance inclusivity of the disco era.
Musburger is the sole surviving cast member. He'll appear on set for the full hour honorarium alongside current regulars James Brown, Bill Cowher, Nate Burleson and Matt Ryan.
HOWEVER FOGGY THE LENS, the full truth is that in its earliest incarnations (the breathtaking young Jayne Kennedy replaced George in 1978-79), “The NFL Today” hit its target — football-rabid males ages 3 to 103 — right behind the laces.
Musburger was facile. Cross was reassuring. George and Kennedy were supremely telegenic, George almost too much so — the forever beaming homecoming queen who also wanted your vote for student council president.
AND “THE GREEK?”
In an age when NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle and associates broached no mention of actual point spreads during league-affiliated broadcasts, Snyder sidestepped a whole lot of checkpoints.
He suggested an acceptable nefariousness. With people like rogue Raiders principal Al Davis constantly feeding him information, the Steubenville, Ohio, native came across as a wise insider.
His wardrobe was perfectly in sync with the times, as if a chubbier, older John Travolta had grown up and out and danced over from “Saturday Night Fever.”
THE ENTIRE SAGA OF “THE NFL TODAY” was captured terrifically in “You Are Looking Live!”, a book published four years ago and written by Rich Podolsky, a longtime CBS Sports staffer.
For 60 minutes Sunday morning, that past will pervade.
Nostalgia and sentimentality will be as “in” on the set of “The NFL Today” as “Get Down Tonight” by K.C. and the Sunshine Band was on the day that the program premiered.
STREET-BEATIN':
With all of the grousing about the second-half performance of the Cubs, if Craig Counsell and the Curious Ivies secure the No. 1 NL wild-card slot, the 2025 campaign will be considered a positive return to form. All games of their best-of-three NLWCS would then be contested at Wrigley Field beginning Sept. 30 (ESPN). That said, the extension of Jed Hoyer was premature. (Does he have a market?) …
Despite the fact the visiting Cowboys are 1½-point favorites, many hard-core Bears cushion squeezers fully expect a win today (3:25 p.m., Fox; Tom Brady and Kevin Burkhardt). Most fully committed McCaskey Bears haters are hoping Dallas DC Matt Eberflus throws a shutout at his old employer. Of the nine NFL teams entering the day 0-2, some very smart people think B.J. & the Bears are third-most likely for a jump up, behind only the Chiefs and the Texans. (Anyone wanna bet?) …
Observers couldn't help but note the emotional presentation of Tim Carey — third-generation chief of Hawthorne Race Course — at the 2026 dates hearing of the Illinois Racing Board. Carey once again stated that the Southwest suburban oval cannot find an acceptable partner for its conversion to a racino. That leaves both thoroughbred and harness racing in the Chicago area on a once-unfathomable life support. …
Northwestern insiders who would know are saying that it's extremely unlikely major university influencers will allow the Wildcats to move into their new $860M football stadium next summer with David Braun as head coach. Braun — a skilled young tactician — is perceived as “lacking marquee.” Now if his modestly talented '25 Cats make the CFP, All Things Purple are subject to review. …
Joe Ponsetto — the all-time DePaul men's basketball great — is refereeing prep football games around the region to stay in shape. “The Godfather” was the Bosco-fueled engine behind Proviso East's remarkable 1974 IHSA championship and followed with a distinguished career as an assistant Illinois Attorney General. (He'll continue whistling this winter with hoops.) …
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.