I’ve written a number of times in passing about the so-called “greatest game ever played” (Sports Illustrated actually called it the best game, but popular nomenclature has won out) and I’ve also written about the nature of energy in sports.  So if you follow me that far, then the greatest game ever played is like some giant nebulous quasar around which all football revolves and in itself contains multitudes of nuclear explosions.  If any game is deserving of such hyperbole, it’s this game.

This year marks the 50th anniversary, with the actual date coming up at the end of this month.  As such, information and retrospectives are running high.  ESPN aired a colorized version of the game, complete with player interviews and commentary.  That of course comes after a much earlier NFL films version of the game, complete with interviews and commentary.  Papers are featuring articles, and people out there may even be hearing of it for the first time.

So, for those just tuning in, 1958 NFL Championship Game, Baltimore Colts at the New York Giants, Yankee Stadium, Sunday, December 28.  There were no two better teams to have in such a game.

The New York Giants won the ’56 championship, the now famous “sneaker game” (we can talk about that one later!).  In ’57 they had a good season, but failed down the stretch.  In any event, they were popular, successful, they played in venerable Yankee Stadium, the Dodgers and Giants of baseball were gone leaving fans looking for something to root for, and let’s face it, they were in New York, and if you can make it there…well you know the rest of the saying.

The Baltimore Colts on the other hand were very different.  Baltimore was in last place amongst big cities on the Eastern seaboard, they owned no championships, the Colts shared their stadium not with a storied dynasty, but with a four year old team that was still about eight years away from winning.
 
The set up of the teams would come to be the oldest argument in all of football, one that rages on to this day: the stifling defense versus the explosive offense.  The Giants were an old school team.  When folks call a team old style it generally refers to the rugby roots of the game, lots of pushing, violent, running the ball (there is no forward pass allowing in rugby, only lateraling), and a reliance on defense.  If the other team can push hard enough to get back the wall of bodies pushing the other way, then they earned the score.  As such, the Giants had the best defense in the league, led by linebacker Sam Huff and playing in defensive coordinator Tom Landry’s (who would later become a legendary head coach) vaunted 4-3 defense.  The Vince Lombardi run offense revolved around Frank Gifford’s power running skills and Pat Summerall’s gifted leg.  Quarterback Charlie Connerly wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t the diamond of the offense, and with all the other facets of the team as high as they were, wasn’t really required to be.

I don’t mean to give the impression that Baltimore was lazy on defense, because with team captain defensive end Gino Marchetti and tackle Art Donovan, amongst others, the defense was certainly at a high level.  But the offense stole the show.  Though in today’s game, the ’58 Colts would look traditional, in those days they threw the ball with near crazy frequency.  And why not?  Alan Ameche was a great power running back, but with a good catching running back in Lenny Moore and the sure hands of oddball perfectionist Raymond Berry, there were plenty of targets.  Then of course, there was the man throwing to those targets, Johnny Unitas.

It was in this context then, that the game was to take place.  The two best teams, fans aplenty for each, everything on the line, and a whole new audience about to see the best that pro football had to offer, all from the Big Apple itself.