Tabletop Fußball was a revelation to me when I first got to Germany. Fußball is German for football, but it's not the game we know in the States as football. It's more like ... well ... soccer. (Since it's a noun, it's always capitalized in German, and that odd character, an Eszett, in the middle of the word is actually a double "s.")
The Americans picked up tabletop Fußball from the Germans. But the American troops were obsessed by it. There was a table in almost every dayroom I ever set foot in. The NCO Clubs had tables. So did the rec centers.
In late 1968 we decided to hold a live Fußball tournament on "Catch 22." Finally, we'd get a chance to use that overhead mirror in the studio -- for tabletop shots. The response to the call for entries was enthusiastic. Air Force and Army units from all over the region entered teams. It was one of our most successful attempts to involve our audience in "Catch 22." The competition was keen. The tournament lasted several months.
The AFTV-22 crew also broadcast a live American football game from the Spangdahlem field that fall -- a first for us. Fortunately, the field was just behind the AFTV-22 building, between the studio and the flight line. By dragging long cables to the near side of the field we were able to run three live cameras and direct the show from master control. Everybody on the staff was involved in broadcasting that game, from running cameras to doing play-by-play and color commentary, to directing.
Word filtered down that the brass at Spangdahlem had laid down one rule for us: Do not show pictures of activity on the flightline. Given that the flightline was behind the bleachers on the far side of the field, we didn't really see how it would be possible not to see it on camera. But we agreed to the guidelines anyway: "Sure, yeah. We'll follow the rule."
Of course we couldn't. Just a few minutes into the game, a successful 30-yard Spangdahlem pass had the crowd on its feet. The roar of approval segued seamlessly into the roar of a 49th Tactical Fighter Wing Phantom taking off above the heads of the cheering crowd. There was just no way to shoot the game without showing takeoffs and landings.
The secret was out: USAF jets were operating at Spangdahlem. What a shock.
We never heard one word of criticism from the brass after the game.
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You write "Everybody on the staff was involved in broadcasting that game, from running cameras to doing play-by-play and color commentary, to directing." So that means, had the dice rolled over just one more time, you might have become Howard Cosell? Or Jim McKay?
ReplyDeleteI wanted to direct. It was a skill I wanted to hone. I never directed much TV after my experience at Spang, but it gave me a much deeper understanding of what could go wrong when I was on-camera. And it seemed like something always did, especially at WTVR TV. Maybe I really wanted to be Don Hewitt.
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