Spanning The Globe

[@robertjohns1675]

That music and hearing it again takes me back to Saturday afternoons in the 70s miss those days alot

[@dcmretro]

WOW! I remember this so well as part of my saturday routine as a child! - Wake up - Get some mini boxes of cereal for breakfast - Eat breakfast in front of TV watching cartoons - Go play outside for a while - Come back in and watch Wide World of Sports - Go back outside to play since Dad takes over the TV to watch football and other sports. I would love to have that back!

[@thecactus1639]

Yep, me too.

[@Stevis82]

One of the best TV theme songs of all time!

[@bobke114]

I grew up in the 1960's and we had ABC,CBS,and sometimes NBC. 3 channels at best. Wide World of Sports was my favorite show without a doubt. One week it was the Lumberjack Olympics,then rodeo from Montana,next week cliff diving from Mexico followed by an Ali fight from somewhere in Europe. Just a really great show with top notch announcers and production crew.

[@thecactus1639]

I used to watch this right after the professional bowling telecast.

[@GeneralZodFDNY77]

A staple of my Saturday afternoon for 20+ years. Damn you, ESPN, for taking it away from me completely.

[@Jiltedin2007]

The Fallen Skiier was a classic! That's the first thing that comes to mind everytime I hear Jim McKay mention these famous words in describing ABC's Wide World of Sports.

[@dme1016]

That skier wiping out - and the unforgettable music, is imprinted forever in my brain as a 60's kid.

[@keeedwards4935]

yes!

[@s.sestric9929]

Vinko Bogataj. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHyodXdnnpmifc0

[@Shelbygtconv]

I was watching when that happened.

[@stephaniegormley9982]

Yeah the 'thrill of victory' people were changed out roughly once a year. But the 'agony of defeat' guy was the same for 20+ years.

[@thecactus1639]

Definitely!

[@piratetiki1705]

Love this. I have to laugh though. I once asked my Grampa why they had the little blurb about pre-recorded material, he told me it was so drunks wouldn't bet on the show. As the years have gone by I can understand it.

[@KurtBenit]

Hearing the theme again, it's arrangement and symphonic quality matched with the visuals is exceptional. I miss the era of great TV show themes - WWOS was the best in my opinion.

[@KurtBenit]

I understand it was Charles Fox, who composed many TV themes.

[@lisabradford8180]

i've always loved the theme song. there have been times when it was stuck in my head lol

[@jayhenley227]

My thoughts exactly!

[@antonewilson4310]

There was no ESPN. This was IT.

[@texsportpub]

This is the BEST sports theme of the BEST sports show ever. I grew up with WWoS. It is shame it was cancelled. Thanks for posting.

[@alonenjersey]

You maybe right. But I still love my VCR. It goes great with my 60 video tapes.

[@MrUnsolvedMystery]

Was there any sports personality Better than the late great Jim McKay? I never got tired of the intro. The only thing that never changed was the “agony of defeat” clip

[@johnnymassie]

This was when there were only 3-4 channels on TV and this was a perfect mix of sports to hold my interest. Good times.

[@imgone54321]

I just didn't know how lucky I was to be growing up in the sixties and watching The Wide World of Sports. The best damn show on Saturday, bar none. It blows espn away. The"N" in espn stands fo No Talent. God I miss it so.

[@OnlyEdandTheAlmost]

I get chills seeing this again. Anyone here remember barrel-jumping?

[@grumpyoldgraymetalhead2441]

Only Ed and The Almost Absolutely! Remember Motorcycles on ice?

[@markpalmieri5948]

I loved watching the barrel jumping

[@dcmretro]

I can only imagine how much a VCR cost back then. Now you can't even GIVE them away to anyone! Thank you for posting this!

[@kaybeedeez3996]

dcmretro it was about $800 in 1983 for what was considered a portable VCR.

[@kaybeedeez3996]

I want to thank everyone that’s kept this video alive throughout the years!

[@Yapostadodat]

This show and Candlepins Bowling, were the two cues that it was now Noon time and Saturday Morning Cartoons were OFFICIALLY over and it was time for kids to get the hell out of the house and their parents hair.

[@Russell1971]

WOW!! Talk about bringing back a ton of good memories from back in the day!!! I used to watch this series with my dad each weekend back in the day. I also enjoyed this series as much as I do watching the Olympics today, although NBC tends to spend more time on fluff, fillers, and way too many commercial breaks - and not NEAR enough on competition coverage. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

[@danielmorse6597]

I know. I loved to watch the show. I think its the only time I saw my dad as a kid. When he was not working. I thought the different sports were so cool. Even if I was not into sports.

[@angelgirl7473]

Used to tune into this show loved watching the different sports 🥎 🏋🏼‍♀️🤽🏽‍♂️⚽️🏀🏈⚾️🎱🏇🏼🏇🏼⛷🏊‍♀️🏊‍♂️

[@kaybeedeez3996]

Angel girl yeah, those were the good old days! I miss them.

[@BoltManiac]

that ski jump accident was 50 years ago today, March 21, 1970

[@Gl6619]

I have mixed feeling on this: when this came on it meant Saturday cartoons were over for the day:(

[@MaximvsDread]

Lol...I know what you mean. Time to go outside and play. Because it was Dads' turn with the T.V.

[@32KingGeorge]

gregory lupu & + MaximvsDread WOW,you 2 just took me back with that..LOL. It was time to go outside and have your own wide world of adventure when this came on ) . I will admit that I was digging the opening theme music that I started watching it and got hooked. I even made mp3's of this theme and the classic Monday Night Football themes.

[@riceboy1701e]

gregory lupu Indeed. That was my cue also.

[@GypsyFairy85]

+gregory lupu Well then get outside into the fresh air and sunshine.

[@lisabradford8180]

right? lol

[@maxbrazil3712]

Back in the days when you had only four channels, one being PBS.

[@jenniferstauff746]

Awww, yeah!! This was gotta-see-it stuff for years at our house!! Figure skating! Cliff divers!! Drag racing! Pro bowling!

[@kcindc5539]

…and the agony of defeat. That phrase has been lodged in my head since 1972

[@buckster2575]

Damn I miss the 80s and my childhood.

[@timgammon5650]

what in the wide world of sports is going on around here?"

[@usmcvet8940]

The days before ESPN, HBO, SHOWTIME & PPV you could tune in here and watch the great boxing matches for free..

[@MrWINNSLAW]

"Channel 13 at noon on Saturday! This came on after cartoons!"

[@dbnx1701]

Jason Winn Same channel here in Rochester, NY, same time too.

[@blueknight5754]

Bring it back!

[@SwingshiftCat]

Television sports coverage just hasn't been the same without Jim McKay in the picture. I still watch the tapes I have of the last Winter Olympics he covered (Calgary '88) just to hear and watch him again.

[@dme1016]

Ali & Frazier had a throw- down - with Cosell interviewing them (leading up to The Thriller in Manila), that was on WWOS, I believe. I think the first replay of the fight itself was also on WWOS. IF it had been on ESPN as we know it, there would have been so much talking during the replay by the announcers thst it would have been damn near unwatchable.

[@paulie5533]

Brings back so many memories

[@alonenjersey]

Oh man, if I had a dollar for every time I caught that intro w/ my Dad every Sat. afternoon @ 6 o'clock, I'd be rich.

[@altfactor]

The music goes back to 1966, but this is the 1982-83 season intro.

[@kachoo2135]

I used to love watching this show

[@MikeChuk21]

ESPN on ABC just ain't the same.

[@Americanpatriot-zo2tk]

I prefer the thrill of victory!

[@johnorlando9839]

This is from 83-84 because the skaters shown were Scott Hamilton and Elaine Zayek.

[@hyfy-tr2jy]

They really need to bring this Sports Anthology Show back.....it would be ridiculously poplar with the world of short format attention spans today

[@enmaxus]

I miss these shows

[@Madnessonman]

That poor ski jumper. Every week he tries and never gets it right.

[@bigphreaking]

Just awesome. Looked for it every weekend.

[@Viking380]

My favorite was Franz Klammer downhill paired with ELO’s Fire on High. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up every time I saw it, just fantastic. I’ve tried to fine it but no luck.

[@abevillanueva1974]

Gosh, I miss them days!

[@tritonrocks]

I can almost hear the voice of Cotton McKnight on ESPN 8 The Ocho - "If it's almost a sport, we've got it here"...

[@sheilabloom6735]

Jim Mc McKay! The very best.

[@angelgirl7473]

When this came on was the only way to catch up on sports. And maybe watch them to

[@Philippe1613]

Lots of memories there!

[@pacarter7169]

Nostalgia- remembering this Saturday morning before cable- was such a great time- few exceptions.

[@Kelski1998]

This signaled the time to go outside and play to me when I was a kid! I think they forgot how to do that to nowadays!

[@riceboy1701e]

WOW! EXCELLENT version! VERY convincing if it's not HD. LOVE it! The intro was always awe-inspiring...then it was almost always followed with women's gymnastics, men's curling, or some other offbeat, BORING sport (except the LLWS) that had little interest.

[@bigpharmarules]

I'd love to know who won the cycling race!

[@66kprdwd]

Wish this show was still on TV!! I always felt so sorry for that skier. Every week he crashes!!

[@diablorojo1999]

Marco Tardelli scores that goal for Italy at the 1982 World Cup Final at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain

[@cas447]

The agony of defeat is really cringeworthy.

[@recnepsgnitnarb6530]

Where is Slim Pickens when you need him!

[@sce2aux464]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZS6kIydqJubo5I

[@rubedogg6969]

The thrill of victory.......and the agony of the feet!

[@margarethill1667]

I used watch this stuff damn good sports!

[@DaveWollenberg]

RIP, Jim McKay.

[@kustomkart1314]

From a better time.....

[@dbnx1701]

WELL time to go outside and play, lol.

[@paulie5533]

Shed a tears after seeing this

[@HowardSternn]

Does anyone have any original shows that I can buy from this show.

[@thewaitingape]

I'd wait all year for motorcycle racing on ice,and the Oriental world of self defense.

[@mrceleb2006]

This is from 1983.

[@nrwilliams015]

Try this out: ESPN on ABC's Wide World of Sports!!!

[@geo_ashburn]

This show was truly Appointment Viewing

[@LakeofBays1]

0:22 - That's my Rabbi!

[@thohangst]

That Rabbi is all of ours.

[@supaordie]

Mommmmm! Cartoons are over, can I go outside?? Hell naw boy, watch tv u might learn something. Like the agony of the feet? Go outside and play kid 😂

[@kaybeedeez3996]

Can’t believe I recorded this 35 years ago.

[@kaybeedeez3996]

Thanks to everyone that’s kept this video alive through the years

[@karolinesmail489]

Kaybee Deez any clue as to who that skier was?I've always thought about that it made me cringe then and even now!

[@kaybeedeez3996]

Karoline Smail - no! Gosh, I was watching that opening 20 years before then!

[@JackWigal]

@ThoughtTraveler Bernard Legat and Eammon Coughlan are two sports stars I look up to. Besides, the 21st Century is still young. Give it another 90 years or so, I'm sure someone great will come along that you can look up to.

[@MrVERBALASSAULT]

Legendary

[@kenbeattie3967]

What I'd give to go back to a simpler time in my life. If I had a dollar for every time I said "The Agony of Defeat" I'd be a rich man. Any time one of my buddies (or myself) wiped out on our bike, skateboard or mini-bike, ect. It was always the first thing we'd say to one another, then laugh so hard. Best of times...

[@thecactus1639]

Man, ain’t that the truth!

[@Monicoconst]

does anyone know who scores that incredible goal ???

[@j50wells]

Remember well. First off, cartoons, Scooby Doo Saturday morning, and Bugs Bunny, Fat Albert. Then we got to watch "Mikey Likes it" commercial. Then....the agony of defeat. Somewhere in there was the Abbot and Costello Theater and the Little Rascals. every Saturday afternoon.

[@dsaucedo21]

I used to watch this and think “this isn’t the NFL, now change it!”

[@nhoJzenithraM]

Nice, but your reminding me how old I am. lol

[@hick12901]

Whatever happened to the gymnast who ran straight into the pommel horse?

[@pip12111]

John I I dont know,but that was a nasty Gymnastics fail

[@thohangst]

She got hurt.

[@tomconstance2391]

It was a dude, at least up until that moment

[@sticksrossi]

At :011 who are the little league kids on 'the thrill of victory'?? Which game was that?

[@ryancoveyduc9160]

Little League World Series.

[@sticksrossi]

Ryan Coveyduc I know it's Little League but where were they from? I watched that game live. It says West on there shirts. California? The pitcher's first name was Cody. That's all I know.

[@ryancoveyduc9160]

If it says west, it would be USA. Foreign teams would have their country name on it.

[@bigpharmarules]

+Richard Rossi Since the soccer clip appears to be from 1982 (per other posters), I will guess Kirkland, Washington team that won it all in 1982. They were the only West team to win in that era, and Taiwan won the five before that.

[@bigpharmarules]

+bigpharmarules Yep, Kirkland...Cody Webster www.seattletimes.com/sports/other-sports/1982-kirkland-story-retold/

[@AHpsychorider]

That and Monday Night Football.....GRRRRRRRR

[@Catnip11147]

The precursor to ESPN 2.

[@PR4470]

@NBK1122 or how about this one....."wouldn't you rather have a buick?" or something like that.

[@luvs2cover]

Love this from my childhood 🥰

[@NBK1122]

"Have you driven a Ford lately?"

[@ebsnodgrass]

What about the part about the Space Aliens? 👽

[@Gorilla_Jones]

Great memories!

[@LoriNYRealtor]

cartoons were on sunday

[@privatejoy1989]

I always hated to see the skier fall......

[@disco3466]

Sunday afternoons! EPIC!

[@manickreations]

home....

[@MrKabDrivr]

@ThoughtTraveler I tend to agree...

[@IraMcGurkin]

This was always so exciting. Then they showed some lame sport and I found something else to do.

[@buckster2575]

Sometimes they had something cool.

[@danielcrowe9324]

The Harlem Globetrotters were always fun to watch!🏀🏀🏀

[@CrimsonFury006]

@ThoughtTraveler Maybe this past decade at least, but not the whole 21st century. Is it just me or have people been so pessimistic about everything over the past decade?

[@jamesrivera4947]

Before sports became such a thoroughly saturated fixture in American life, there was ABC's "Wide World of Sports."

[@MVboys2]

@ThoughtTraveler fasle

[@stevennations9262]

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof The world and they that dwell therein

[@davidpollack3556]

WOW!! These were ABC's Glory days! Back when sports Football was on Free TV! Ever since the ESPN ABC merger ABC is just not the #1 fun, entertainment and proud news outlet it once was. Only when I was watching the Bills-Bengals game last Monday did I finally see a proud network act like it used to act like. Reminded me of Jim Mc Kay and the '72 Munich Summer Olympic Games where the atheleetes took Center stage over the sport itself. I was also thankful they kept that commentator Steven A Smith's comments to a minimum. Every time that guy speaks he is worse than Kanye West or Kyrie Irving put together. Every word out of his mouth is like lisening to Malcolm X or Louis Farakhan speaking about how bad blacks have it. I was afraid he was going to accuse University of Cincinnatti Medical Center for maltreatment of Damon Hamlin when they treated him and took him to the Hospital! I wonder if Smith would have cared at all if it was one of the white players that collapsed?

[@ArmpitStudios]

Sports used to be interesting. Now it's all a bunch of crap and eXtReMe. Screw that.