The AP Archive: 10 Interesting Sports Videos, from Broadway Joe to Michael Jordan on Stage with James Brown
By Ty Duffy
The AP and British Movietone are uploading a treasure trove of old newsreel footage to YouTube. Here are 10 sports-related videos. Joe Namath was once the coolest man on the planet, and Michael Jordan wanted none of singing “Sex Machine” live on stage.
1939 Rose Bowl: The USC Trojans beat the Duke Blue Devils 7-3 in what must have been an incredibly tedious spectacle. Oh, and the Spanish Civil War ended, if anyone cares.
1946 World Series: The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 in Game 7 to win the World Series. Those poor fellows didn’t even know they were cursed.
1964 NBA Finals: The Boston Celtics beat the San Francisco Warriors to win their sixth-straight NBA Finals. For some mysterious reason, Tommy Heinsohn receives more screen time than Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain combined.
1966 Stanley Cup: The Montreal Canadians beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in overtime to win the 1966 Stanley Cup. This was the secondary lede after a creepy feature on women wearing short skirts.
Broadway Joe: Joe Namath getting interviewed, with screaming girls in the background, right after winning the Super Bowl. Unseen are the starry-eyed young boys about to subject themselves to decades of pain and terrible draft picks.
Strong Thoughts About Salmon: Ted Williams was not happy with Salmon fishing practices off the coast of Greenland.
Happy Birthday: Muhammad Ali gave a press conference on his 30th strongirthday. There was a cake involved.
Pele: The Brazilian legend debuts for the New York Cosmos and scores his first goal.
Sex Machine: James Brown gave a concert during the 1996 Olympics. He called Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on stage, and ambushed them into joining him for “Sex Machine.” Scottie Pippen’s pants are the real MVP.
1998 World Cup: England took a 2-1 lead on Argentina in the 16th minute. Argentina equalized. Beckham got sent off. England went down on penalties. The AP had a camera monitoring fans’ reactions in a bar. Our favorite is morose man reaching for his cigarette at 1:35.