Steelers fans we live in a wonderful time.
For years, many Steelers fans (including me) have been on the quest to find original broadcasts of Steelers game from the 1970s. In the pre-Internet days, it was a nearly impossible task. At one point, I was thrilled to find out from a friend who worked at a television station that the station he worked at previously had three reels of tape of Super Bowl XIII and Super Bowl XIV.
Even though the games weren't complete and even though the copies showed the wear of the years, the chance to get to remember what Mean Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw and the rest of the 70s Steelers in their prime was worth sitting at his television station to dub the tapes at 2 a.m. Later on through trades I was able to land copies of all the Steelers Super Bowls, although the copies of the earlier Super Bowls left a lot to be described (VCR technology was in its infancy and you can tell). But hey, it was a chance to see what the Steelers looked like in 1974--who cared if you couldn't read the numbers on the jerseys because the quality was so bad.
Hoops jumping was necessary for fans because until recently, there was no way to buy full game broadcasts. Thankfully NFL Films and Warner Brothers Home Video have changed that. They started releasing current Super Bowls a couple of years ago, but now they made things very interesting by beginning to roll out Greatest Games DVDs for various teams. There are DVDs for the Packers, Redskins, Broncos, Patriots, Cowboys and most importantly the Steelers (Warner Home Video, $39.98).
The Steelers DVD set includes the full broadcasts from all five Steelers Super Bowl wins (you can buy the Cowboys DVD set if you really want a copy of the Steelers' Super Bowl loss). If you're a Steelers fan who either remembers the 70s or wants to know more about the 70s, the DVDs are a must-have. You get to see the defense at its best (against the Vikings in Super Bowl IX). You can see Lynn Swann and Jack Lambert at their absolute best (in Super Bowl X), and the rise of the offense in Super Bowl XIII and Super Bowl XIV.
There aren't a lot of extras tied in with the DVDs--that's left to NFL Films other offerings, but you get what you paid for, which is full broadcasts in as good a quality as NFL Films could find. Now that doesn't mean that the DVDs of Super Bowl IX or X are the same as watching last week's Giants-Steelers game. They had to work with what they had, which is original recording of the game on tape technology from the 1970s. The games are in better condition than any hand-me down tapes I've seen of 1970s Steeler games, and everything is clear, it's just not with the same detail as you will get with a modern broadcast. By the Super Bowl XIII and Super Bowl XIV broadcasts the quality of the DVDs improves, and as you would expect, Jerome Bettis and the rest of the Steelers in Super Bowl XL are in top-notch quality.
Steelers Super Bowl DVDs Give Fans What We've Been Waiting For originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on 2008-10-29T10:06:00+00:00. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
