The CRAZIEST CBS BROADCASTING CONTROVERSY in COWBOYS HISTORY | Cardinals @ Cowboys (1981)

Austin, Texas is very clearly Dallas Cowboys country. So, you would think that during week 2 of the 1981 NFL season, as the Dallas Cowboys were taking on the St. Louis Cardinals in their home opener, that CBS would televise the game in Austin, right? Think again, because CBS decided to air tennis instead. Seriously. This is the story behind the crazy controversy, and the decision that made absolutely no sense when you break it down
OFFICIAL JAGUARGATOR9 MERCHANDISE: jg9shop.com/
New listings every week! Get your official JG9 merchandise at jg9shop.com, featuring t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, and much more! Includes merchandise of the JG9 logo, the JG9 Live logo, some minigames played on JG9 Live, and a shirt symbolizing your passer rating if you did nothing but spike the ball into the ground on every single play
LINK TO PATREON: / jaguargator9
Get early access to videos, your name featured in the credits, and the ability to request future video topics by joining today for as low as $3!
LINK TO TWITCH: / jaguargator9_nfl
Play live NFL trivia every Wednesday night at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific with the chance to win cash prizes! Join me every Monday night at 9 PM ET where we'll have an informal Q&A session!
Check out the video below to learn more: • WEEKLY LIVE NFL TRIVIA...
LINK TO DISCORD: / discord
LINK TO TIK TOK: vm.tiktok.com/...
See videos like this condensed down to 60 seconds by following JaguarGator9 on Tik Tok!
SUBSCRIBE TO JAGUARGATOR8: / jaguargator8
Learn more about the weird history of college football by subscribing to JaguarGator8! New videos every Monday!
HIRE JG9 ON FIVERR: www.fiverr.com...
Let JaguarGator9 create customized questions for your next NFL trivia show! Whether you want to play with a group of friends and family, or whether you want to host a trivia show for your business or company, JG9 has you covered!
#nfl #nflthrowback #cbs #cbssports #nflcbs #nfloncbs #cowboys #dallascowboys #football #sports #highlights #tv

[@CTubeMan]

CBS aired NBA games, including the Finals, on tape delay around that time, so they probably thought nothing about airing the Cowboys game on tape delay that day. And if only the 1977 Giants knew the power of pickle juice. This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian will remind everyone you made videos about the following: 1. How the CBS affiliate in St Louis screwed up in not airing a game between the Phoenix Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys in 1990. 2. A game between the Chargers and Raiders in 2013 that aired at 10:30 pm CT on Sunday night.

[@KMcNally117]

How is there a comment 59 minutes prior when it was just uploaded?

[@donaldpaluga]

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!-John McEnroe

[@CTubeMan]

@@KMcNally117 I can’t tell you, it’s a secret! Now pardon me as I hop in my DeLorean.

[@TheSonicsean]

But that Chargers Raiders game was at least live.

[@oofoof12814]

0:50 San Antonio is a WAY larger market than Austin, and they LOVE the Cowboys there.

[@rrrob19]

I actually have a probable explanation for why southern West Virginia got the Panthers instead of Niners-Cowboys. I live in a southwest Virginia county that borders West Virginia and all the channels we get on cable are from southern West Virginia. The Panthers are still the closest NFC team to that area so we frequently get Panthers games even if there’s a better matchup.

[@americangiant1003]

Robert I am a bit surprised by that comment. I would think the region you are talking about of Southern West Virginia would be Redskins/Commanders or even Steelers semi territory. I always thought of the entire state of West Virginia as being either supporters of either DC area professionals sports teams like the now Washington Commanders or even Pittsburgh pro clubs such as the Steelers.

[@rrrob19]

@@americangiant1003 For AFC it is absolutely Steelers territory but for NFC Charlotte is about 100 miles closer to Beckley WV(which is the main market for that part of the state) than DC is. We do also get more than our fair share of Washington games but we usually get the Panthers on Fox.

[@thebauceman]

"Because people developed brains." Great quote. Unfortunately, not enough people have developed brains yet.

[@harrymann5523]

Another big footnote of 1981. That was the year CBS decided on making John Madden their lead analyst. The biggest decision was who would Madden work with, Pat Summerall or Vin Scully who was still CBS at the time. The network at first alternated Madden with both Summerall and Scully with the other announcer working with Hank Stram. It was then decided that Summerall would be the better fit for Madden. Scully was not happy and after the season ended, left for NBC. Summerall and Madden went on become one of greatest announce teams in the history of the NFL. One other footnote, Tom Brookshier who had been Summerall’s partner on CBS’ lead announce was reassigned to play by play announcing on lower rung games. On September 13 of that date Brookshier called the 49ers/Bears game with Johnny Morris, and eventually wound up paired with Roger Staubach that year. Brookshier would continue to call games paired with Wayne Walker in 1982 and 1984, Charlie Waters in 1983 (that year Brookshier was suspended for the last two weeks of the season after he made a derogatory comment about the Louisville basketball team) and Dick Vermeil in 1985 and 1986.

[@harrymann5523]

@@mgb4692 Correct. Scully and Hank Stram called the NFC Championship Game between the 49ers and Cowboys that featured “The Catch”. Pat Summerall called the game on radio with Jack Buck. Madden was preparing for his first Super Bowl broadcast

[@mgb4692]

Vin's final CBS NFL game and final NBC game were both at Candlestick, the Giants' last game there (against the Dodgers) and his Dodger finale as well.

[@altfactor]

I woukd think that Vin Scully worked with John Madden on the opening week of the 1981 season because Pat Summerall was tied up with tennis.

[@TimmyTickle]

@@altfactor Correct

[@harrymann5523]

@@TimmyTickle Another fact CBS only really had one announce that worked together for the whole season and that was their number 3 announce team of Lindsey Nelson and George Allen. CBS had Gary Bender and Frank Glieber call games before they became part of their college basketball coverage. Dick Stockton called games. It was also Fred Dryer’s only season with the network. After the smoke cleared, these were the announce teams. Summerall/Madden Vin Scully/Hank Stram Lindsey Nelson/George Allen Tom Brookshier/Roger Staubach Tim Ryan/Fred Dryer Dick Stockton/Johnny Morris Jim Kelly/John Dockery

[@brianarbenz1329]

My guess is that the big $ in the households of U.S. Open fans swayed CBS to make this decision. Networks don't count numbers of viewers, but the dollars in their bank accounts. And the U.S. Open is _the_ yearly sports event of the Wall Street Blue Chip crowd. And McEnroe is from right there, as is Vitas Gerulaitis. And Austin had a significant number of upscale viewers. Ten calls from angry football fans who made $25,000 a year did not beat one satisfied viewer with a million dollar trust fund.

[@TheSonicsean]

Ah yes, watch a football game at 10:30, after the news, which most certainly will not mention the final score of the Cowboys game that comes on later (maybe Austin's CBS station won't, but there's no way NBC or ABC do not at least have the scores during the sports segment). Oh yeah, and you'll probably have to avoid most radios since, this being Texas, the outcome of the game will definitely be mentioned. Not only that, but at least now Austin has a Cowboys Radio affiliate, as well as San Antonio, which you could probably pull in the AM station with a decent antenna. Yes, this is a foolproof plan.

[@mst3kanita]

TIL that cbs doesn't show the us open anymore!

[@toddbiesel4288]

CBS couldn't show the Cowboys live in most Texas markets? You cannot be serious!

[@CTubeMan]

Was CBS the pits of the world that day?

[@marcus813]

Well played, Todd. LOL

[@Musicradio77Network]

WCBS-TV (channel 2) did aired a Cowboys game at 4PM if you were in New York City, that would be a Win-Win for a CBS affiliate in New York City. It was right after the Giants game against the Redskins at 1PM. All I can say is, no problem. Channel 2 also had the US Open during the midday on Sunday.

[@bryantsteury8910]

"Because people developed brains" lolol

[@josephdufour385]

Dez caught that Damn ball....

[@ciesaro]

Danny White perhaps was the most underrated quarterback Dallas ever had

[@garytruex6906]

I remember this, I was 9 years old and we lived in Midland Tx, another secondary market. We got the US OPEN. But our cable provider included KTVT channel 11 out if Dallas. They provided the game. So if you had cable I ou could watch the game live on KTVT an independent station out if Dallas.

[@higgy04]

I love the football and tennis clips being interspersed throughout the video. To quote McEnroe: 'You Can NOT be Serious!!!'

[@jimroscovius]

That type of thing happens to me a lot. I grew up in WI, so I'm a Packers fan. However, I live in Western Iowa, which is considered Vikings territory. Therefore, a few times a season, I have to go the local bar to watch my game. It happens.

[@WaltGekko]

Not really a controversy. CBS had a contractual commitment to carry the US Open Tennis Championships for many years (Pat Summerall in fact was often off from the NFL to call the US Open the weekend of the finals in that) until ESPN took over the US Open following seven straight years where the Men's Final was played on Monday (the first five of those were due to rain, the last two were because players grew tired of playing the semifinals and finals on back-to-back days due to CBS wanting to have "Super Saturday" with the men's semifinals and women's final on Saturday and the men's final following the 1:00 PM NFL games on Sunday). Cowboys game was likely only shown in St. Louis and Dallas and the NFL in those days could not have delayed that game to say 7:00 PM Central time (8:00 ET) after the US Open and pre-empted prime time for an extra broadcast unlike what the NFL would do now in that scenario.

[@dr.roberts4508]

Little Rock, Ark Raise Hell about it.

[@Musicradio77Network]

WCBS-TV (channel 2) in NYC did aired the Cardinals/Cowboys game at 4PM and right before that came the Giants/Redskins game at 1PM, no problem. Except the US Open was shown during the midday before the NFL, and that was also on channel 2.

[@MarkAHoltz]

Insert the obligatory "I am Bjorn of Borg" joke here.

[@aaronholcomb237]

CBS did this with the basketball tournament as late as the late 1980s. I remember watching the CBS affiliate (mine was KWTV in OKC) telling viewers watching the local sports to turn their head away if they didn't want to know the score.

[@Backpackfiles]

I remember Bears-Niners in that window that day. 10-year-old me was a Bears fan with a grumpy tennis fan dad.

[@markbrian7179]

Austin fans did their best imitation of John McEnroe on that day.

[@higgy04]

Which was said earlier in the year at Wimbledon: You can NOT be serious!!!'

[@arizonawrestlinginterviews1040]

You cannot be serious!!!

[@KnightBoat]

Wouldn't Milwaukee be the most powerful secondary market? The only thing that might disqualify it is that the league actually considers it the Packers primary market along with Green Bay, which is why it's subject to blackout rules even though it's over 100 miles from Lambeau.

[@eonllewis]

Fox tv didn’t exist yet. They didn’t come into existence in 1986, and didn’t broadcast football until the 94 season. All games were broadcast on NBC (for AFC teams) and CBS (NFC) with ABC doing all Monday night games. All Sunday games were shown on CBS, NBC, or their affiliates

[@marcus813]

FOX almost got the NFL in '87, though. ABC was hesitant about keeping its Monday Night Football package at that time. However, FOX and ABC bid the same. Since FOX still had far more coverage gaps than ABC had back then (I know Gainesville, Fla. didn't have an affiliate till '91), the NFL stuck with ABC. FOX didn't forget the lesson it learned, submitting an offer to the NFL that blew the offer from a frugal CBS out of the water a few years later.

[@WaltGekko]

@@marcus813And that was largely because Art Modell and other "old time" owners who would have rubber-stamped renewing the CBS deal at $50 Million less than what CBS was paying through 1993 were ousted and replaced by Jerry Jones and other "new school" owners who accepted FOX's bid. FOX getting the NFC package of the NFL changed everything as that deal had ripple effects far beyond CBS losing that package. FOX was able to obtain more prominent affiliates in numerous cities, including most notably Detroit that in many cases switched from CBS because of the NFL while CBS in many cases either was stuck on channels that had far inferior reaches OR in some cases were relegated to being a "secondary affiliate" that showed its prime time lineup often in the overnight hours. Where this really showed up was in the Late Night TV wars, as Jay Leno surged past David Letterman (who moved to CBS in August 1993, two months before the new TV deals with the NFL were announced), with Letterman's problems being both a weak channel lineup due to departure of numerous CBS affiliates to FOX and their replacements vastly inferior as well as a very weak prime time lineup for years. Even getting back into the NFL with the AFC package in 1998 that included the Patriots becoming what they did in the 2000s and 2010s did not help in the recovery for CBS because many more causal viewers were used to the NFC package and never completely accepted CBS as an AFC network along with not getting back the affiliates lost when FOX took the NFC package.

[@juliuskurtz8143]

81 season the eagles started 9-2 they went 1-7 the finish off the season the NFL tv I don't miss the the TV struggle of the 80s I miss the hard hitting in the 80s

[@cpcva724]

Was the US open aired in Dallas and st Louis at all?

[@danmount9462]

JG09 uses 506 Sports? I see you are a man of culture as well.

[@johnkerry6312]

Incredible amount of ads

[@johnkerry6312]

Only 41.5% of Texans

[@luisvaldes1568]

Lomax's hip ended his carrier early. A good QB.

[@mgrsdgfsdafsdgrsdgfsdg6980]

My old man told me he shot the TV (like Elvis) back when this happened lol!

[@johnkerry6312]

Trying to come up at doubles and facing someone who can pass low? Stop a bit early, hit a good return, then go up more

[@ronpeacock9939]

88 degrees with 50% humidity? They call that hot... shit... compared to here in Phoenix.. that's winter weather... in Sept. here... 120 degrees is not uncommon... I wonder how much the NFL loved that before State Farm stadium was built. At 120.. humidity is not really a factor... it's too hot for most humidity.

[@marcus813]

Here in Tampa Bay, we would have air temperatures that hot early in the NFL season, but our dew points and humidity that time of the year would make those in the Metroplex look like child's play.

[@bens5661]

Wow, okay, "making a poisonous drink out of lemons," nice one

[@raytaylor6412]

The reason there will never be an NFL team in Austin is because the city has a pro football team and soon will be moving to the SEC.

[@micmac99]

Hook 'em

[@marcus813]

The Austin DMA isn't a secondary market for anyone (it's too far away from the Metroplex for that status). It's really just an in-state market in which the Cowboys just happen to be insanely popular, much like Spokane, Wash. for the Seahawks.

[@asareubenwallace4032]

Here in Georgia all falcon's games 1 or 4

[@donaldpaluga]

I have friends in the ATX who are STILL fans of The Artist Formerly Known As The Houston Oilers. THOSE people probably wouldn't care to see the Bills move to Austin

[@mdoerty13]

Just a side note - Out of town scores were not very commonly shown then. NBC started its 10-minute ticker around 1982 - one year later. But even then, there’ would still be periodic updates that could ruin the suspense.

[@tm-cv3qt]

But first we need some context to why this is my favorite channel on KZbin.

[@thomasnavarro7372]

Bears-49ers matchup was also at 3 pm CDT (1pm PDT). That game was only seen in Chicago. 49ers was blackout locally and all the California affiliates (sans San Diego) showed Rams-Saints at 10am slot.

[@charleswilliamsjr]

If Monroe Louisiana had a early game they would have Us Open in Progress!

[@blazer79]

The tape delay option on CBS Games was a disaster. And not just the NFL games. In 1981 & 1982 CBS showed both Magic Johnson’s and Larry Bird’s first NBA Championships on tape delay. The Lakers beat Philadelphia & the Celtics beat Houston. Unless you lived in those markets, the rest of America 🇺🇸 got those games after their 11:00 News. The NBA was at its low point in history. In 1982, the NBA did everything live. But those two previous title games infuriated fans nationwide.

[@matthewdaley746]

Ironically, the 1970s may have had the, lowest, popularity, but, they, also, had the, highest, parity, eight, teams, won, the, Championship, four, teams, won, in, the, 1980s, and, 1990s, five, teams, won, in, the, 2000s, seven, teams, won, in, the, 2010s, but, for, the most part, only, a few teams can, win, in any given year.

[@teen_laqueefa]

@@matthewdaley746 hard to watch for me, Larry and Magic, Then Mj retire, 2002 Sacramento Kings got screwed, I quit caring. I'm all in on a Bengals championship trophy as my only obsession before I die, well after family well being

[@teen_laqueefa]

@@matthewdaley746 true, but the refs were helping push it in the Lakers favor. NFL is the only sport I watch now, and that's because I think my Bengals are about to do something special if healthy. I just don't like basketball like I did as a kid.

[@matthewdaley746]

​@teen_laqueefa Perhaps, but, if the Kings don't, totally, outsmart themselves, they're up, 3-1, even they're, not, blowing that lead, blood simple.

[@marcus813]

I think the tape delay thing lasted through the '86 playoffs IIRC. Wasn't game 5 of the '86 West final on tape delay?

[@americangiant1003]

Being fair, the Bjork/Johnny Mac "rivalry' was huge in 1981. Plus Men's Tennis was much more popular in America back then as well. So Jag (the Narrator here)who probably was very little or not yet born here, does not understand and thinks along the lines of many Millennials. With that said, another solution could have been played this Cards/Cowboys game in St Louis as well. There was no reason as Jag said, why not just have all of the NFC teams play either in the 1pm (ET) Sunday window that weekend. And a MNF matchup as well.

[@matthewdaley746]

Yeah, too, bad, he had to ruin it by quitting at the age of, 26, in 1982, we got cheated out of what could have been, the, Federer-Nadal, of its day, sports is, really, maddening, sometimes.

[@clydemiller4776]

“thanks along the lines of a Millenial” (sic) Well that’s just unnecessary. With that said, your solutions make sense. But I think JG9 makes a pretty clear case that CBS made the wrong initial decision, and then screwed it up even further by basically forcing viewers to choose between waiting to watch the game on tape delay in the late fringe or watching a 3:00 (CT) game on NBC during which the outcome of the Cowboys game happening at the same time would be spoiled. Like the Wichita Falls incident that he also made a video about, this is a case of CBS not communicating with their local affiliates and not understanding the wants of their secondary markets. I’ll take your word for it that men’s tennis was a huge deal in ‘81, because I wasn’t there. But the feedback from viewers in Austin made it pretty clear that that wasn’t what they wanted to see at 3:00 that day.

[@matthewdaley746]

​@clydemiller4776 I guarantee you this wouldn't have happened if Roger Staubach, was, still, the, QB, Danny White got disrespected throughout his career, in, so, very many ways.

[@americangiant1003]

@@matthewdaley746 Difference is that More Americans cared about that Bjork/Johnny Mac was because of McEnroe is from the US. As big as the more recent Nadal/Federer rivalry has also been historic gaining major International attention except for the US, not having one of the 2 players from America has lessen the attention here. FYI I really think the US Tennis Open needs to be away from ESPN. It gets overshadowed by the end of the MLB regular season and also the start of the NFL and College Football seasons. Ideally it should be on say either TNT/TBS or USA Network with the Mens and Woman’s Finals broadcast on NBC.

[@matthewdaley746]

​@@americangiant1003 It, was, so, many things, contrasting personalities, most, of all, speaking of which, when Serena Williams retires, I think tennis will, totally, fall off of the map, that, probably, is, not, long, from, now.

[@Coralskipper]

I actually appreciate that the reason this happened was in part because they wanted to protect the players. It so rarely happens in football

[@marcus813]

I understand that aspect of it, but if that's such a problem, the NFL should've had the Cowboys host a game either on Monday Night Football or in NBC's late window.

[@anthony0358]

Wow excellent video! I had not heard about this controversy. I recall that the NFL used to start on Labor Day weekend in those days so CBS had two weeks of conflict. I recall in some years late in the contract CBS gave that Labor Day tennis to USA network. What a season that was back in 1981 as we had the start of the Niners dynasty

[@dionr1168]

USA Network having the US Open tennis tournament also affected the wrestling business, since WWE has had the Monday night timeslot on that network for most of the last 35 years (most of that obviously being Monday Night Raw, but before that, they had Prime Time Wrestling), so obviously Raw would get preempted by the US Open during that time. The most famous case was in 1995, when WWE's biggest competitor, WCW started the Monday Night Wars by launching Nitro the day of a US Open-related preemption.

[@marcus813]

@@dionr1168 Those preemptions are why WWE took Raw to what has since rebranded as the Paramount Network, which told WWE that it wouldn't preempt the show. That's why Raw always airs on USA these days aside from when the Olympics take place (USA is part of Comcast's Olympic media deal).

[@chrisguardiano6143]

@@marcus813 now WWE will be one to take advantage of preemptions because AEW will likely get preempted with both their Wednesday & Friday shows from now until early June due to TBS & TNT airing March Madness, the NBA Playoffs & new this year the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

[@warrenduree9417]

This probably would have affected way more than just Austin. Every single market in Texas that's not Dallas-Fort Worth, Oklahoma City and all of Western and Southern Oklahoma, Little Rock and most of Arkansas (the rest of Arkansas would have been screwed also since they were secondary St. Louis), Shreveport and North Louisiana, Alberquerque/Santa Fe and the entire state of New Mexico were all Cowboys secondary markets then.

[@micmac99]

Even Phoenix had a HUGE Cowboys fan base for many years, which hasn't really diminished until relatively recently when the Cardinals 1) built their own dedicated stadium and 2) started winning consistently and are finally building a solid local fan base.

[@redmustangredmustang]

It's amazing how stupid these executives were back then. As much as many people hate or love the Cowboys, they were always a 100% ratings smash especially when they were still a good team in 1981. They still are a ratings giant today, but if you wanted to charge a higher price for commercials you did it during big Cowboys games like vs the Redskins, or Giants, or Vikings, etc. This is stuff that gets you fired from the network.

[@matthewdaley746]

They're, not, any, better, today, a, good, show is going to get axed, so, that NCIS can get an abbreviated, twentieth, (and, final), season, next year, just to make it to a, short, list.

[@jlrva3864]

To be fair to the US Open, the McEnroe/ Borg rivalry of 1980 and 1981 produced some of the best tennis ever played. The 1980 final went 5 sets and took nearly 4 hours to complete. Even so, living in Texas at the time, everyone knew that tennis was way down on the preference list on which football was king.

[@matthewdaley746]

Yeah, and, just when it was getting, good, Bjorn Borg quit, because, the idea of him, not, winning, by showing up, was, a concept he couldn't live, with, though, it's, better, than, what Steffi Graf decided, when it, was, her turn, to, actually, compete.

[@KnightBoat]

Who gives a shit? It's still tennis. The only more boring sport is golf.

[@matthewdaley746]

​@@KnightBoat Soccer's, truly, boring, occasionally.

[@KnightBoat]

@@matthewdaley746 Not a soccer fan, but I'd gladly watch it over golf or tennis.

[@matthewdaley746]

​@@KnightBoat World, Cup, occasionally, great.

[@chrisguardiano6143]

There will be a significant number of doubleheaders on CBS this upcoming season especially in November & December due to Fox airing games from the FIFA World Cup (including the Final) in 1 PM ET time slot. Fox will show games in the 4 PM ET time slot mainly involving West Coast teams like the 49ers, Rams & Seahawks.

[@ciesaro]

I remember that Lions Rams game of 1980. The first Rams regular season game in Anaheim. Jack Youngblood and Larry Brooks held out of training camp. The game did not sell out so CBS had no conflict with the US Open

[@redmustangredmustang]

This was also the first time you saw that same astroturf and end zone design you saw right in that video was used from 81 to 1995. Then change the turf and end zone design in 1996 until 2002 after the Titans game to the field turf.

[@joshuaw711]

There are so many options here. Tape delay the US Open, rent time from independent stations/ABC stations, cross flex with NBC. Show the US open on another network. There's options and CBS failed to take action on any real action. I think the NFL is much more popular than the US Open.

[@diamonddog13]

McEnroe was a hell of a great serve-and-volleyer. You don't see much of that these days. Borg never won the US Open.

[@ianward3647]

what is your favorite football moment of all time

[@Simbaforlife]

Deshaun Watson leading the game winning drive to beat Bama in the National Championship🥲

[@misterjonesable]

Deandre Hopkins catching a td in the end zone over three Bills defenders. Gloriously impossible catch

[@felixleiter5092]

Manchester United winning the treble in 1999.

[@okolo22000]

16:48-17:04 Nice 👍! Who is your writer because I swear the comedic timing on these is brilliant; even though most of the stories aren’t meant to be comedies in the slightest.

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

Thanks! It’s a one man operation. I do everything (scriptwriting, audio, recording, clip compilation, editing… the whole nine yards)

[@okolo22000]

Really now! I totally believe you but how do you find out all of these things? I would think some of this stuff is either lost in time or simply classified. You’re quite literally a post-modern Ed & Steve Sabol.

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

@@okolo22000 Lot of digging through newspaper archives and watching films and seeing if anything that interests me. Means a lot to hear that

[@altfactor]

Did Austin, Texas have an under (non network) TV station in 1981? If it did, CBS could have offered the football game to their regular affiliate at 3:05 P.M. CDT, and tennis live to an independent station live at 3 P.M. CDT.

[@marcus813]

What was initially KBVO-TV (now CBS affiliate KEYE-TV), Austin's 1st indy, didn't launch until 1983 and even if it existed in '81, I doubt the NFL would've even put the Cardinals/Cowboys game there in any event. The NFL's TV people weren't smart enough to even think about that kind of thing back in those days.

[@Rockhound6165]

Cowboys beat my Cards that day but the Cards got revenge a few weeks later. This was the rookie season of Neil Lomax. He would eventually unseat Jim Hart of the starting job and the next season lead the Cards to their final playoff appearance in St. Louis.

[@luisvaldes1568]

Go Cards!

[@dionr1168]

The same network did something similar in 2011 also involving the Cowboys, this time the opponent being the Bills. This time, they switched to another game in the middle of the 3rd quarter due to the Cowboys having a lopsided lead. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for one thing; this game switch included the SAN ANTONIO market (San Antonio is roughly 70 miles away from Austin). Having grown up in that city, I know for a fact that San Antonio is a de facto secondary market for the Cowboys. As a Cowboys fan, I was obviously happy with the outcome of the game, but I was still pissed that CBS robbed my home market of the opportunity to see the game in its entirety, especially considering the fact that my home market is Cowboys turf.

[@matthewdaley746]

At least, you could say your team had, four, (later, five), NBA, Championships, to, their one.

[@mgb4692]

Ah yes the game best known for David Nelson scoring the Bills only points and flipping the ball to the Cowboys cheerleader he was dating at the time Even then that still might not be it: the Bills QB was Ryan Fitzpatrick

[@matthewdaley746]

​@mgb4692 He hastened the, end, of Tom Brady, with, the Patriots, so, he's just fine, with, me, that's, that, I guess.

[@marcus813]

I wasn't aware of CBS pulling that stunt with KENS 5. It's as if some people forgot to do market research or something.

[@matthewdaley746]

@@marcus813 Well, considering certain events.

[@americanidol30]

Wouldn’t tennis fans be upset if they couldn’t see the entire Men’s U.S. Open Final? They could only see the championship point if the match was still going on when football was over.

[@matthewdaley746]

Allegiances would dictate reaction.

[@altfactor]

It's my understanding that in the late 1970's/early 1980's heydey of the Bjorn Borg/John McEnroe rivalry, the U.S. Open tennis men's championship match on CBS reportedly drew more viewers than the 4:05 P.M. EDT NFL game on NBC (but not by a huge margin).

[@matthewdaley746]

Too bad Bjorn Borg's ego, was, such that he left the minute he had a rival, he could have played until he, was, 40, instead, he walked away at 26, OTOH, he handled that situation, far, better, than, Steffi Graf.

[@altfactor]

Wasn't the Borg/McEnroe rivalry the reason NBC began broadcasting the men's finals at Wimbledon live at 9 A.M. EDT on a Saturday or Sunday morning instead of running it on a few hours' delay at 12 Noon or 1 P.M.EDT?

[@matthewdaley746]

@@altfactor Absolutely, a real candidate.

[@mgb4692]

In 1998, FOX, with the single game that week, in the midst of McGwire-mania, did a Cardinals/Reds game. The 4:05 regional game for other markets? Cardinals/Cowboys (which was Tim Ryan's FOX debut). I'm guessing Austin ended up with the Cowboys by then

[@matthewdaley746]

Unfortunately, a miserable lie.

[@mgb4692]

When Ric Flair came back to WCW the next week they even referenced McGwire on Nitro Which is funny now considering Flair has done everything possible in the last 20 years to completely undo his legacy the way McGwire did his

[@matthewdaley746]

@@mgb4692 Yeah, stupendously telling reaction.

[@teen_laqueefa]

@@matthewdaley746 LOL

[@matthewdaley746]

@@teen_laqueefa Hypocrisy is absolutely limitless.

[@Tubewings]

At the time, the U.S. Open was the third Grand Slam tennis tournament held that year, as from 1977 to 1985, the Australian Open was moved from January to December (there were two Aussie Opens held in 1977 and none in 1986).

[@ajk]

why did they move it to December for?

[@Tubewings]

@@ajk Of the four major tennis tournaments, the Australian Open was the least popular due to its remoteness, the inconvenient dates (they were generally held around Christmas and New Year's at the time), and the low prize money. As a result, many of the world's best players didn't play there until the 1980s.

[@CTubeMan]

@@Tubewings And as long as I’ve remembered the Aussie Open was never on network TV, unless ABC got secondary coverage from ESPN.

[@matthewdaley746]

@CTubeMan Yeah, it, was, truly, completely, dominated, for, several years by Novak Djokovic, until, well, you know.

[@cpcva724]

If it wasn't for that players vaccination status it would have been completely ignored here this year.

[@Crunkboy415]

As a Niners fan I laugh at their inconvenience. 😄

[@mrg8581]

Let them watch tennis