3,109 and Counting

It's not like anybody over at the Peacock's roost is anxious to get back onto the gridiron.

In a press release announcing the debut of Sunday Night Football this Sunday night, NBC  pointed out that it will have been a palindromic (OK, I added the palindrome reference) 3,113 days since NBC's last NFL broadcast–the Denver Broncos vs. Green Bay Packers Super Bowl Jan. 25, 1998.

NBC is returning with the Hall of Fame game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders Aug. 6.

Actually NBC has been carrying football for several years, first the aborted XFL then more recently the Arena Football League.

The XFL died of its own hot-tub touting hot-doggin weight, though it left behind some arial camera work co-opted by the NFL. As for arena ball, which is played indoors on what looked to be an astroturfed hockey rink, NBC dropped that ball like Ernest Byner on the goal line when it got the NFL back.

By John Eggerton