Preparing for what could be the most lopsided match-up in the history of pro football, several local CBS network affiliates are dropping this weekend’s game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Denver Broncos in favor of programs that are actually watchable.
“No way am I putting this carload of crapola on my air,” station manager Delmore “Bo” DuBose of Dothan, Alabama’s WTVY-TV 4 said. “I’ll put on a replay of the 1974 Auburn-Alabama game. That should draw about eighteen times more people than would watch Doctor Manning perform a lobotomy on the Jags.”
Bonnie Allgood, who manages station KGWC in Casper, Wyoming, located in a regional hot bed of Broncos’ football, said she hasn’t received a single negative call from viewers since the announcement was made to not telecast the game.
“Fortunately, after deciding we wouldn’t carry the game, the state’s Department of Game and Fishery moved elk and moose hunting season up a week,” Allgood said.
A similar situation occurred in 1966 when the powerful Baltimore Colts led by Johnny Unitas were 35-point favorites over the expansion Atlanta Falcons. Rather than telecast the game, most local stations simply ran a photo of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World” album cover on the television screen with ratings outdrawing the football game by an average of 42 gross rating points.
