Customer Reviews

NFL Matchup of the Millennium - Box Set [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm in my twenties, so I've only seen highlights of the 60s Packers and 70s Steelers, and I got this box set partially in hopes of learning more about them. If you have any similar interest, look elsewhere.

The editing and video reconstruction is impressive for the most part, but on many plays, there are annoying cuts in the action, so you see the quarterback release a pass, then a cut to the receiver catching it, without actually watching how the ball got there.

There's also virtually no opportunity to see the offensive line or the defense in action. You see the most important moments in the simulated plays, but you can't learn anything about HOW an individual played or what made him so great. For instance, I still couldn't tell you a thing about Jack Ham's style of play, and I didn't learn anything at all about Bart Starr. You could watch all three games and not even know Forrest Gregg or Larry Allen were in there. These are just four of many examples.

The simulated games are also horribly predictable and the drama is badly overdone: the announcers tell you someone hasn't made a catch yet, and the next play he does; squeezed into three little games are an overtime, a game-deciding replay challenge, a disputed coin toss, and about 50 4th-quarter drives that would put John Elway to shame. Last-minute rallies are fun when they're spontaneous, not when you know they're coming and that they're there for false drama.

There's very little actual football, but there's a lot of production. There are some nice interviews with players, good cuts of some old footage, and a LOT of cuts to the booth with Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann, Steve Sabol, and a simulated Howard Cosell.

The best part of this box set, if you can stand his abrasiveness, is Cossell. I'd only read about him, but I felt like I got a real flavor for why he inspired such intense feeling (positive and negative) from viewers. Even the Cosell hook is a little disappointing, though, as some quotes are reused up to three times, and a few themes are a little overdone. The producers thought some jokes were so funny, they used them in each of the three videos.

If you want to watch football, buy a Super Bowl or highlight video instead. If you want to learn about the past, read a book (Total Football II is a great resource). If you want to settle the debate about greatest team ever, this is helpful but hardly indisputable. And if you really like Theismann and Patrick and "Forrest Gump"-style editing, this might be right for you. But for a die-hard football fan, this is certain to be a disappointment. I do not recommend it.

I bought this dvd out of curiosity.This is not a dvd of facts but of what if's.This dvd uses old footage to make up the games.I enjoyed all of the games and thought it was fun to watch.Any true football fan would like this in their collection.These are 4 great teams at different times made there mark in football forever.I don't normally comment on other reviews,but an earlier reviewer said that the Steelers wouldn't know what to do with the 49er's.As good as the 49er's were they never faced a defense as intense,quick and strong as the 70's Steelers.To the other reviewer who said that the 90's Cowboy's would steam roll the Steelers all I can say is "yeah right".

Enjoyed watching these videos with our family over the Christmas holiday. The kids got a kick out of seeing the old time players

Ok, so you want to see a computerized matchup of Rocky Marciano fight Muhammed Ali, or How about Babe Ruth hit on John Smoltz, well that is pretty much what you get here only with the NFL. A fictitous story that can not replace what makes all sports worth there true value, the human spirit. I guess if your a real fan, and you want to go on an imaginary trip on what ifs, I think a better solution is to throw on a Monatana Jersey, and place a few Packer Jersey's on your kids, and see if they can stop you. jk.

Yesterday, after the Steelers came from behind to beat the "Cryboys"(a term first coined by Myron Cope), I got this DVD out an watched it again... I have used it for many years now to kid 49'er fans as well as Cowboy fans about who is the best NFL team/franchise ever. All lifelong Steelers fans should have this in their DVD library.

I bought it and I can say that this collection is the best.The especial effects that made Bradshaw play against Aikman are terrific.If you are a real NFL fan you will love it just like I did.The only thing that in my opinion is bad about the movies is that the best team ever(Cowboys)ends up......Okay I'am not going to spoil the fun.Buy it I garante.

The reason the 49ers of the 1980's are there is because while the AFC was weak, they were not as weak as you might think, I mean, John Elway, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, if you try to say they are weak then your an idiot, and they had good supporting casts. The 49ers of the 80's lost to good teams yes, but they also beat those same teams on other occations thus prooving that any team can beat any other team on any given sunday, thats why the game is played because even the greatest of teams 80's 49ers included lost a few games, you can not find one team in history that won ALL the tough games they played, because its the way the game is, you win some you lose some, its what a team does after a tough lose that makes them champions and thats why the 1980's 49ers were among the greatest champions of NFL history, they could lose but next week be right back in it again. That my friend is what made all 4 of these teams the greatest teams of all time, and I agree that it is unfair to try to crown one single greatest team because the standards of these eras were all different, for example, player size, each team has to be judged within the context of their own era.

They come up this kind of cobbling of old footage and "computerized matchups" every several years (remember "The Dream Season" from a while back?). Sorry but it is all bogus, even if morbidly fascinating.

It is not only impossible, but horribly unfair, to compare teams of different eras, not to mention the dramatically different brands of football played in different eras (think of the dramatic changes in rules, differences in training regimens, technology, etc). Joe Montana and Jerry Rice could not have survived a pre-1980 style beating. Herb Adderley would have been booted out of the "modern" NFL for his vicious clothesline hits, and don't even talk about Dick Butkus and Ray Nitschke. The examples are endless.

Such "greatest ever" debates always rage among sports fans as well as "authorities", but ultimately they cannot be settled. Undoubtedly, this new package will introduce new biases, favoring whatever today's fans want to see.

Productions like this one, and "The Dream Season" are fun but what are they based on? "Computerized matchups"? Subjective bias? COME ON GUYS. YOU CANNOT COMPARE TEAMS AND INDIVIDUALS FROM DIFFERENT ERAS. The game has changed. The rules have changed. The training regimens have changed. RESPECT THE GREATS BY JUDGING THEM ACCORDING TO THE TIMES IN WHICH THEY PLAYED.

It is all speculation. In the end, it's hype. Why are the 49ers (who benefitted from weak competition and favorable matchups, and ridiculously weak AFC Super Bowl opponents throughout their glory years, and who lost to good teams like the Bears, Giants) in the top 5 teams at all?

ANYBODY THAT KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL WOULD TELL YOU THE 90S COWBOYS WERE SIMPLY THE BEST DYNASTY EVER.IF THEY LINED UP AGAINST THE 60S PACKERS OR [THE MOST OVERRATED AND JUICED UP ON ROIDS TEAM EVER],THE 70S STEALERS,THEY WOULD GET STEAMROLLED BY THE BIGGEST BADDEST OFFENSIVE LINE EVER.AND IF IT WASN'T FOR THE ONSET OF FREE AGENCY,THAT TEAM WOULD HAVE DONE THINGS NO OTHER TEAM WOULD EVER MATCH,PERIOD.AS FOR THE 49ERS,THE COWBOYS BEAT THEM UP IN THE 90S AND THE 80S VERSION WOULD NOT HAVE FAIRED ANY BETTER.WITH TROY,EMMITT,MIKE,JAY,MOOSE,ALVIN AND THE DOOMSDAY 3 DEFENSE,NOT ONLY DID THEY TALK THE TALK,THEY WALKED THE WALK.