Ed Sabol or HDTV

Ed Sabol or HDTV


Which has had a bigger impact on sports television?

signbabybrady said:

Which has had a bigger impact on sports television?

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Odd choice. Sabol was a visionary who changed how we perceive football forever. HD is just TV with better definition.

Tunescribe said:

Odd choice. Sabol was a visionary who changed how we perceive football forever. HD is just TV with better definition.

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Are you really questioning the impact of HD on sports television? While I don't agree how many times do hear someone say the statement why spend at the stadiums when the view is better from the couch.

I thought it was a good comparison to ask which was bigger the visionary or the technological advancement.

There is so much about football that makes it great. It's an intellectual's game of strategy and planning, teamwork and organization, and yet a game in which the most fundamental qualities of toughness and strength and speed, patience and discipline are often the most important elements of victory. Those things aren't unique to football, they can be found in other sports, to varying degrees. Ed Sabol and Steve Sabol brought into focus a different element that to me brings the game so much higher than the rest: artistry. I'd argue that other than Pete Rozelle and the owners of the NFL and AFL in the 1960s and 1970s, there has been no one more instrumental to the success of the NFL than the Sabols. RIP, Ed.

signbabybrady said:

Are you really questioning the impact of HD on sports television? While I don't agree how many times do hear someone say the statement why spend at the stadiums when the view is better from the couch.

I thought it was a good comparison to ask which was bigger the visionary or the technological advancement.

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Ed Sabol gave the NFL an added dimension and made it year-round.

A better question would be the invention of replay or Ed Sabol.

Sabol is one of the most important individuals to this sport though, he was a gigantic part of helping everything feel as big as it was, creating the drama, etc.

HDTV just made that more fun to watch in my eyes. The only reason I love football more now than when I watched it on a standard def TV is because I'm older and appreciate it more. It has nothing to do with the quality of my viewing screen.

Sabol.

He and Rozelle may be the two most important figures in NFL history.

Ed Sabol: A Football Life is required viewing:

signbabybrady said:

Are you really questioning the impact of HD on sports television? While I don't agree how many times do hear someone say the statement why spend at the stadiums when the view is better from the couch.

I thought it was a good comparison to ask which was bigger the visionary or the technological advancement.

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I don't understand your question. I was just explaining why I thought Sabol's impact was more significant. HD TV is great, but nothing is better than what you see in the stadium.

I voted Ed. I can say that I have had the pleasure of personally knowing Mr. Sabol ever since I moved here to AZ...almost 10 yrs. he was sharp and witty then and he was the same til the end. He loved his NFL and his NFL Films. The "Football Life" of him is truly what he was like. I think the more he liked you or appreciated you the more he ribbed you. He will truly be missed. RIP Mr. Sabol.

I would say DVR has done more for sports, and TV in general, than HDTV. Much better picture quality is all HDTV is. You can still see sports on standard def TVs.

Tunescribe said:

I don't understand your question. I was just explaining why I thought Sabol's impact was more significant. HD TV is great, but nothing is better than what you see in the stadium.

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You said odd choice. I think Sabols impact is greater I thought HDTV was by many people's opinion probably the next best. I am one who prefers the stadium I guess I just got thrown off by "odd choice" I like everything else you said on the subject though.

NFL Films was awesome - in the 1970s, when my brother & I would watch "This Week in the NFL"
hosted by Pat Summerall & Tom Brookshier on Sundays before the 1pm game.

However, if I want to watch & record Pats games, then I want to use the actual game broadcast,
as it happened - not some confusing, out-of-sequence, too slow, too up-close, mumbo-jumbo.

signbabybrady said:

how many times do hear someone say the statement why spend at the stadiums when the view is better from the couch.

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Doesn't have to be HD to make that statement.

I wonder if the votes will differ based on age: for someone like me, hatched at the extreme tail end of the 60s, and a young lad through the 70s, the early NFL Films were HUGELY impactful. When we had the good chance of finding one on TV (a rare event imo), it was a rare, glorious treat. We may have REALLY liked football, but when we saw those slo-mo films, bigger than life, we LOVED football.

signbabybrady said:

Are you really questioning the impact of HD on sports television? While I don't agree how many times do hear someone say the statement why spend at the stadiums when the view is better from the couch.

I thought it was a good comparison to ask which was bigger the visionary or the technological advancement.

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To answer the topic, Ed Sabol, definitively.

And I think you have the impact of HD in the wrong order : HD didn't bring new viewers to sports, but sports sold a whole bunch of HDTV. It had the same impact as color tv had at the time... so, in a way, it wasn't even the first time that television had gone through a major technological advancement.

signbabybrady said:

You said odd choice. I think Sabols impact is greater I thought HDTV was by many people's opinion probably the next best. I am one who prefers the stadium I guess I just got thrown off by "odd choice" I like everything else you said on the subject though.

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OK. I guess I thought it should be obvious that a genuine pioneer like Sabol was much more significant than television with higher definition.

Not everyone enjoys the old clips. Give me HD.

farn said:

Not everyone enjoys the old clips. Give me HD.

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You need to educate yourself about Ed Sabol. He founded NFL films and revolutionized (essentially invented) sports videography. It's not just about "old clips," it's about how we enjoy the NFL via shows like "Inside the NFL," "NFL Presents," "A Football Life," "NFL Sound EFX" and other Patriots-related videos.

Without a doubt Ed Sabol, he revolutionized the way we watch the NFL... my wife and friends who are huge fans, has become even more fans with all the compendium of films that have been released since the Superbowl..Sound FX, Turning Point etc. Ed Sabol paved the way for all of this..

I love me some NFL films, but try watching non HD football for 1 day....

HDTV gave us a way better viewing experience which i think is more important than hearing coach and player speak since I played enough football to hear all that jazz.

deters said:

I love me some NFL films, but try watching non HD football for 1 day....

HDTV gave us a way better viewing experience which i think is more important than hearing coach and player speak since I played enough football to hear all that jazz.

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It really depends how old you are. us old geezers (you know who you are) enjoyed watching football on TV before there was HD. I say it's not even close, Ed Sabol by a landslide. I don't even think the NFL becomes as popular as it is today if it weren't for Ed Sabol and NFL Films. Then again, I might be somewhat biased, I loved watching NFL Films in the 1970s, and I'm still addicted to it to this very day. I have the NFl Now app, and they have tons of NFL Films on there, and I watch them all the time. Also Youtube has a ton of NFL Films stuff too.

Back in the early 1970s, if it weren't for NFL Films, I would have never seen the segment on Mack Herron, and that segment made me a Patriot's fan, along with highlights of Grogan and company. Back then, the only highlights you got was on This is the NFL, which showed highlights from games the previous Sunday, which I watched EVERY Saturday night with my Dad). This was pre-ESPN obviously. As an NFL fan, I owe a lot to Ed Sabol, he made the game the great spectacle it is today.