# Is Super Bowl I definitely gone forever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 23, 2005, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224 "2005-01-23T06:43:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/21 "2005-01-23T22:33:57Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > Slight hijack: Are there any plans to release the games on DVD? [Yes](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index%3Ddvd%26field-keywords%3Dsuper%252520bowl%26store-name%3Ddvd/104-3613216-0595955) Not entire games, it seems, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/22 "2005-01-23T22:36:33Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Ok, but joking aside, could enough information be salvaged from the film using modern (or future) technology to reproduce that Super Bowl? Like the way the FBI can pull data off a hard drive even after it’s been copied over. > Am I making any sense. Could this be done? Well, they could do what was done with _Metropolis_. Take as much usable footage that’s available, clean it up so that it matches as closely as possible and fill in the gaps with stills and radio broadcasts. Where commentaries are not available, I’m sure they could record new ones based on play-by-play accounts. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/23 "2005-01-23T22:51:04Z")
There were VCR’s available back in the 1950’s so it’s not impossible that some fan at home taped the AFL-NFL championship in 1967. But nobody’s stepped forward with a copy. Probably don’t want to admit they reused the tape a week later to tape an episode of _The Man From UNCLE_. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/24 "2005-01-23T23:01:26Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > There were VCR’s available back in the 1950’s… Huh? That doesn’t sound right, especially if you’re talking about home VCRs. Could you supply a cite for that? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/25 "2005-01-23T23:11:38Z")
In the movie _Auto-Focus_, they portray Bob Crane as making home-made porno films with his own videotaping equipment while his TV series _Hogan’s Heroes_ was still in production, so that’s in the 1960’s. There’s an episide of the TV series _Columbo_ made in the early 1970’s in which it’s a major plot point that video recorders were available but rather expensive. So I think there’s a good possibility there were some home-made videotapes of Superbowl I. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/26 "2005-01-23T23:20:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Could you supply a cite for that? Thanks. [Here you go.](http://www.tvhistory.tv/VCR%20History.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/27 "2005-01-23T23:22:07Z")
I do see however these were VTR’s not VCR’s. But the technology doesn’t affect what I said; in theory it’s possible some home viewer taped the game. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/28 "2005-01-23T23:30:54Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > [Here you go.](http://www.tvhistory.tv/VCR%20History.htm) IGNDITF, but Your cite doesn’t back you up, Little Nemo. from above: World’s First VTR Intended for Home Use – Developed by SONY in 1964 – CV-2000 (only a few hundred were sold) Size: 10-3/4" High x 17" Wide x 15.5" Deep. Tape: 1/2" reel-to-reel, 1 hour max. record at 7-1/2 ips. The first VCR for home use was introduced in 1972, by SONY. So, it’s unlikely any home tape unthusiast has the Super Bowl in question at home on ancient magnetic tape. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/29 "2005-01-23T23:32:24Z")
My apologies for not bolding your name, **Little Nemo**. Please don’t send no giant squids after me. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/30 "2005-01-24T00:00:37Z")
When HBO ran a documentary on the first Super Bowl last year, they found some original audio I believe and they were able to match it up with some of the NFL Films recording of it. The strange thing is that the game was televised by TWO networks: CBS and NBC. I believe Super Bowl II is lost and the NFL Films tape of that doesn’t even show much of the game, but is really just a showcase for Vince Lombardi to talk about how smart he is. I’ve seen Super Bowl III at the Museum of Television and Radio. It’s really weird to watch. The game is a big deal, but nothing like it is today. It’s sort of like watching a mid-level college bowl game. The halftime show was the Florida A&M marching band. And some hokey thing about American values. The commercials were just regular commercials for cars and razors. Nothing out of the ordinary. Not a lot of special effects. Curt Gowdy was calling the play-by-play. And he didn’t use the word “sack” then. He talked about QBs getting “thrown”. And something I’ve never understood about Super Bowl III. The Jets were leading 16-7 with time running out. The Colts had a fourth and goal. Don Shula decided to go for it. I wonder why he didn’t kick a field goal there and then try for an onside kick? He was going to have to score twice. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/31 "2005-01-24T02:46:46Z")
> [@Kozmik](#): > > I recall an episode of \*The Adventures of Pete and Pete \* where they pondered the chance of the original broadcast signals seen by those on a distant planet. The idea of broadcasts being picked up by other planets long after they were originally broadcast has been commented on a number of times. The idea is that after they’ve aired on Earth, the broadcast signals are going out to the far reaches of space. Besides the _Pete and Pete_ episode (which I believe also had something to do with a theory of the fact that the first three letters in Johnny Unitas’s last name are also the first three letters of the word “Universe”), a memorable episode of _Futurama_ involved a race of TV-loving aliens declaring war on Earth due to a 1,000-year-old preempted broadcast of the last episode of a popular 20th century TV show, _Single Female Lawyer_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/32 "2005-01-24T04:45:34Z")
A home version of recording television shows on magnetic tape was available in 1964. The site says a few hundred were sold. Why is it impossible that one of them was used to tape a football game in 1967? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/33 "2005-01-24T04:51:33Z")
So if there were just a few 100 people who could have recorded the show off of TV in 1967, don’t you think one of them would have spoken up about owning a copy of game these past 38 years? Why would that person be hoarding the copy of the game? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/34 "2005-01-24T05:40:38Z")
They may have died. They may have forgotten what they recorded. They may vaguely remember what they recorded but not realize that no one else has a copy. There are many scenarios where it’s possible to imagine that a copy will one day turn up. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/35 "2005-01-24T06:09:37Z")
> [@Governor Quinn](#): > > One possibility: As a live event, there is the possibility that some broadcaster may have made a kinescope of the game. That’s the only way quite a lot of programming from the era survived. Before the invention of videotape, kinescopes (i.e., films made by shooting the picture off a monitor with a special film camera during the live broadcast), were the only way of saving a live television show. But they were expensive and generally made only by the network, not the affiliate stations. (In fact, an affiliate doing so would probably have been violating copyright laws.) Professional quality video tape recorders (VTRs, not VCRs) were invented in the mid-1950s and had become nearly universal at broadcast stations by the mid-1960s. I don’t have a cite handy, but I’m reasonably certain that the practice of making kinescopes was long dead by 1967. But **Governor Quinn** is right in principle: someone at an affiliate might have recorded the game on tape, and that tape might turn up one day. Since there were many more pro VTRs in broadcast stations than there were home units, this is far more likely, IMO, than a home tape showing up. And the quality would be much better, too. But if either kind of tape shows up, the two main problems will be 1) is there still a working machine capable of playing the tape, and b) will the tape’s condition allow for a viable transfer? The former is relatively likely. There are people like [this guy](http://www.labguysworld.com/index.html) who collect and painstakingly restore antique electronics. But the latter is more problematic. Magnetic tape is a fragile medium, especially if not stored in cool, dry conditions. Even if it had been stored properly the whole time, 38 years is pushing the practical limits of the lifetime of magnetic tape. But the real problem is that if the tape doesn’t have a big label that says “Super Bowl I” on it, no one finding it would know what it is. And since they aren’t likely to have access to a working 1960s vintage VTR, they _couldn’t_ find out. And if no one knows what it is, it’s extremely likely to be discarded unseen. In fact, if there ever was such a tape, chances are pretty good that it has already been destroyed. Sorry 'bout that, sports fans. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/36 "2005-01-24T07:12:33Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > Why would that person be hoarding the copy of the game? A complete 35mm print of _Richard III_ (1912), one of the first feature-length motion pictures, and long thought to be lost, was [found](http://www.silentera.com/DVD/richardIIIDVD.html) in very good condition in an Oregon film collector’s home in 1996. He had owned it since the early 1960s. The [oldest surviving black and white videotape](http://www.ev1.pair.com/edsel/edselshow1.html), of _The Edsel Show_ from 1957, was [discovered](http://www.ev1.pair.com/edsel/edselshow3.html) in 1987. The statement that the videotape of the Super Bowl I was “taped over” is only a guess: there is no record of what become of the tape. It could have also been stolen. > [@Commasense](#): > > I don’t have a cite handy, but I’m reasonably certain that the practice of making kinescopes was long dead by 1967. Daily episodes of _Dark Shadows_ were still being distributed by ABC as black and white kinescope films as late as [1970](http://www.mpimedia.com/darkshadows/history/hist8.html), to small-market television stations that wanted to time-shift the show from the network air time but did not have videotape equipment yet. > [@dalej42](#): > > What about possible armed forces tapes that were sent overseas? I believe, although I can’t be certain, that some old shows and footage has been found in military bases. Right you are! A lost 1969 episode of _The Tonight Show_ was [found](http://www.johnnycarson.com/carson/dear_johnny/carson_chronicles/issue8.jsp#art) as a color kinescope film copy made for the Armed Forces Network. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/37 "2005-01-24T16:55:41Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > A home version of recording television shows on magnetic tape was available in 1964. The site says a few hundred were sold. Why is it impossible that one of them was used to tape a football game in 1967? I was operating under the misapprehension the first superbowl was in the late '50s, not the late 60’s. My bad :smack: So it remains possible that the commercial broadcast of Superbowl I is on tape is someone’s closet. Recorded by a V **T** R. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/38 "2005-01-24T16:56:51Z")
in someone’s closet. :smack: :smack: I better sit down, I’m feeling dizzy. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/39 "2005-01-24T19:56:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Magnetic tape is a fragile medium, especially if not stored in cool, dry conditions. Even if it had been stored properly the whole time, 38 years is pushing the practical limits of the lifetime of magnetic tape. Is the deterioration of magnetic tape real or is it something that digital manufacturers claim happens? The reason I ask is that a couple of years ago I was moving and I found a box of twenty year old videotapes in my garage. These were definitely not recorded or stored under optimum conditions. Curious to see what shape they were in, I popped one in the VCR. I was surprised because it seemed to be in fine condition. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224/40 "2005-01-24T20:12:44Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > “Meesa Howahd Cossell, and from da fwozen tundra offa Lambo Feeld, disn da Supeybowl!” We need an “I just pissed myself smiley.” Cripes, of all days to be wearing light gray pants. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-super-bowl-i-definitely-gone-forever/286224.md?page=3)