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40 years since an NFL game has been played in wonderful silence!


Stallions

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The announcer less game was an NFL contest played on December 20, 1980, between the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins.  The NBC television network broadcast it without assigning any commentators to cover it. The two teams were playing the last game of that season for them as neither had qualified for the playoffs. Since the game was being broadcast nationally NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer decided on the idea to boost what would otherwise have been weak ratings. The Jets won a 24–17 upset victory.

Just crowd noise and officials calls.  Wonderful

Edited by Stallions
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8 minutes ago, Stallions said:

The announcer less game was an NFL contest played on December 20, 1980, between the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins.  The NBC television network broadcast it without assigning any commentators to cover it. The two teams were playing the last game of that season for them as neither had qualified for the playoffs. Since the game was being broadcast nationally NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer decided on the idea to boost what would otherwise have been weak ratings. The Jets won a 24–17 upset victory.

Just crowd noise and officials calls.  Wonderful

Not having announcers was a dumb concept. It would have been better to simply not broadcast that game. I remembered that game. I quickly turned the game off.

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18 minutes ago, Sundancer said:

I remember watching that game. It sucked. 

Yeah.   They didn't have many graphics, so there often were plays where you didn't know was going on.  What were the refs talking about?   Who was piling up stats.  Who made that tackle.   It wasn't very enjoyable. 

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Along with my countless weaknesses, I think I have an above average ability to tune out, or at least discount, the many horrible commentators out there. I may have learned this from my wife, who constantly demonstrates how easy it is to tune ME out. 

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1 minute ago, row_33 said:

The media wrote their stories before the game came on , how it was terrible and how important announcers were....

 

 

It was a media conspiracy that the game was terrible? 

 

If it was so great and would drive up revenue, do you really think the NFL wouldn't be doing it every game? The NFL/networks are about the money, not employing 3 reporters and all the spotters. 

 

Most people leave the volume up for NFL games for a reason. The announcers matter. 

 

Today the experience could be better with on screen graphics, but that 1980 game was painful. 

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42 minutes ago, Stallions said:

The announcer less game was an NFL contest played on December 20, 1980, between the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins.  The NBC television network broadcast it without assigning any commentators to cover it. The two teams were playing the last game of that season for them as neither had qualified for the playoffs. Since the game was being broadcast nationally NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer decided on the idea to boost what would otherwise have been weak ratings. The Jets won a 24–17 upset victory.

Just crowd noise and officials calls.  Wonderful

 

Just curious. Did you watch it and think it was wonderful or does it just sound like something that would be wonderful? 

 

There's a reason they only did it one time. Most folks at the time thought it was less than wonderful.

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34 minutes ago, frostbitmic said:

It was an idea ahead of its time ... Now we just have a mute button.

 

this seems like an opportune time to remind everyone if your audio setup includes a center channel you can mute it and silence the announcers while keeping the sounds of the game intact

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36 minutes ago, BananaB said:

I turn the sound off on a regular basis. Especially on MNF when Collinsworth is drooling over certain QBs. 

You turn it off so often you don't even realize Collinsworth doesn't work MNF.

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1 hour ago, Stallions said:

The announcer less game was an NFL contest played on December 20, 1980, between the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins.  The NBC television network broadcast it without assigning any commentators to cover it. The two teams were playing the last game of that season for them as neither had qualified for the playoffs. Since the game was being broadcast nationally NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer decided on the idea to boost what would otherwise have been weak ratings. The Jets won a 24–17 upset victory.

Just crowd noise and officials calls.  Wonderful

I remember that. That experiment did not last long.

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