We’ve already talked at length about the nightmare that was Chris Berman and Trent Dilfer announcing last night’s Monday Night Football game, but even we admit that there are still fans of Berman that are out there. Even if you’ve grown tired of Berman’s broadcast persona, there’s no questioning what he’s contributed to ESPN and the NFL over the years. In particular, Berman’s partnership with Tom Jackson on NFL Primetime was one of the most influential sports shows of all-time.
Fox’s Jimmy Traina tweeted this last night and it’s hard to disagree that NFL Primetime belongs in this category:
And no disrespect to Inside the NBA or College Gameday, but the greatest studio show of alltime was the old NFL Primetime w Berman & Jackson
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) September 15, 2015
Of course, that was a different era we’re talking about. The whole concept of the sports highlight is a bit passe given everything right at our fingertips now. But as a kid growing up in the 90’s there was nothing like NFL Primetime. It was appointment viewing because you had to get caught up on all the NFL highlights. And it wasn’t just Berman and Jackson’s high paced commentary and chemistry, it was the music too. NFL Primetime’s soundtrack is legendary.
So that got me thinking… is the NFL Primetime music out there somewhere? The answer is yes, yes they are.
A YouTube user and saint named Mark Polinsky compiled all the old-school NFL Primetime themes. You can listen to them all here, but these are just a few of our favorites.
I know ESPN has used some of these with their NFL highlights in the post-primetime era, but hearing all of them in one place is simply awesome. It’s not necessarily theme music, but the NFL Primetime highlights track have to go up there near the top of the list of any great sports soundtrack ever.
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