i would watch this as a kid in the 70s and would always wonder why they would say the human drama of athletic competition and then they would show a horse race. Somehow jockeys don't bring to my mind of human ahtletics when it is the horses doing all the running..idk
That skier is an old family friend of mine. His name is 'Moose' he lives in Steamboat Springs Colorado. He's really tall, and getting kinda old. He's really funny, and still skis. That was a horrible injury for him, but he's recovered since then.
RIP Jim McKay. and by the way the skier who wipes out in the openimg is the late Vladimir "Spider" Sabich who was murdered by his fiancee actress Claudine Longet about 30 years ago.
This brings back so many memories! Every Sunday I'd wonder how the guy on ski's was doing. I was so little! I remember going in the front yard and practicing gymnastics after every show. I loved Nadia Comaneci ~ she got me moving towards cheerleading and gymnastics :)
@mustBAMiracle Your Sundays as a child sound eerily similar to mine :~) I was a gymnast for years, growing up, now I just watch my body fall apart, one surgery or nerve block after another, but oh, what fun I had. Would not trade it for anything.
@Bogie6588 Hey, even as a kid I wondered about some of the "sports" they featured on WWOS. Some were stunts, like Evel Knievel's jumps, and some were just dumb, like the guy supposedly catching a bullet in his teeth. That's no more a sport than pro wrestling. (It's choreographed folks! Otherwise what they do would be felonies!)
I knew I'd find this on here. Youtube, the Time Machine, where I can watch and remember the good old days; being a kid with no worries, playing with my Barbie, Sonny and Cher and Donny and Marie dolls in front of the TV; my dad drinking a beer and watching this show, and every time the skier would crash over that white thing (what is it? a shed? I don't know), my dad yelling out "Mother Finger ! Look at 'em go!" It makes me want to start singing the All In the Family theme song. :)
By any chance would you know if ESPN CLASSICS shows reruns of ABC's WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS? I was never one for sports (except auto racing), but I did like this show watching it on the weekends. It was a family event in our house when everyone gathered together in the den to watch it.
aw,...the seventies,......where is my bicycle with the banana seat, or my evel knievel stunt wind-up jump toy, hotwheels, matchbox, little green army men, the dirty book my uncle gave me, saturday morning cartoon tunes, braves games on the "super station", ect. ect. ect.
@porkinwitz Stop it, stop it, you're making me time sick! I share your emotions entirely. I'd give anything to go back to my childhood of the Seventies. It was a wonderful time for me.
Thank you for sharing. This is when TV was TV. Wide World of Sports, Mutual Of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, and a slew of good cartoons. Dam I miss them days now.
@vfherman TV was so much better back in the 70s when there were very few cable channels. We didn't even have color tv in the 70s, let alone cable. But when the 80s arrived I started growing restless, I wanted to have cable television with all the wide variety of programs it offered and so my sister and father; my mother could carless. Alot of the tv shows and cartoons I grew up watching were leaving regular tv. So in Dec. 1984 we finally got cable.
@vfherman I must say that cable tv was so much better in the 80s when there about ten cable networks and each of them had a wide variety programming on them for everyone. But it wasn't until the 1990s that things started to change for cable and that change was for the worse. They started founding new cable networks designed for one specific like subject ANIMAL PLANET, HOME AND GARDEN TV, CARTOON NETWORK, THE FOOD CHANNEL, TV LAND, THE HISTORY CHANNEL, BBC AMERICA, etc.
@vfherman Not to mention the wide plethora of cable sports networks out there for each aspect of it like ESPN2, GOLF CHANNEL, YES NETWORK, SPEED NETWORK, SPORTS NEW YORK, NHL HOCKEY, ESPNU, FOX SPORTS NETWORK, CBS SPORTS NETWORKS, FOX COLLEGE SPORTS.....well you get the idea. Are any of these sports networks neccessary? ESPN CLASSICS is much better because it's nostalgia, it airs sports events of that we grew up watching when we were younger.
Which intro showed Evel Knevel jumping? I've been going nuts trying to find it. I remember watching this show as a kid in the 70's and I used to be glued to the TV waiting to see Evel. If I was outside playing, I'd come in with my friends just to see those 2 or 3 seconds of Evel. He RULES!!!
Vinko Bogataj • International Ski Flying Championships, 1970 competition was nearing its conclusion when snow started falling...heavier and heavier. Visibility was nil; conditions were dismal. This set the stage for an unpronouncable Yugoslavian ski jumper to tumble off the ramp on an aborted attempt. Bogataj was dazed and bruised, but otherwise unhurt. Bogataj retired a few years later to a quiet life of farming, having virtually no clue that he was immortalized as "the agony of defeat guy"
@Urchinking I remember watching it as it happened. The guy actually broke his ankle, and had to be taken off on a stretcher. The popular misconception was that he got up and walked away.
@ThoughtTraveler You can't help but feel sorry for that guy. He could've been one of the world's best ski jumpers, but he will forever be known as "The Agony of Defeat Guy".
I read where he retired and is living out his life as a regular guy. He said that he did not know of his becoming the "agony of defeat" status symbol untill years later. I think he was Swiss
i would watch this as a kid in the 70s and would always wonder why they would say the human drama of athletic competition and then they would show a horse race. Somehow jockeys don't bring to my mind of human ahtletics when it is the horses doing all the running..idk
ncisducky4ever 2 weeks ago
That skier is an old family friend of mine. His name is 'Moose' he lives in Steamboat Springs Colorado. He's really tall, and getting kinda old. He's really funny, and still skis. That was a horrible injury for him, but he's recovered since then.
digidragon1 3 weeks ago
I used to laugh my ass off as a youngster @ 0:15
thadbrains 1 month ago
RIP Jim McKay. and by the way the skier who wipes out in the openimg is the late Vladimir "Spider" Sabich who was murdered by his fiancee actress Claudine Longet about 30 years ago.
saml760 2 months ago
@saml760 Wasn't it Vinko Bogataj?
jmcfx3b2z 2 months ago 2
@jmcfx3b2z jmcfx, you are exactly right, it is Vinko Bogatoj.
gjm1953 2 months ago 2
God, I'm old.
greenunseen 3 months ago 4
Awesome!
scanthat 3 months ago
This brings back so many memories! Every Sunday I'd wonder how the guy on ski's was doing. I was so little! I remember going in the front yard and practicing gymnastics after every show. I loved Nadia Comaneci ~ she got me moving towards cheerleading and gymnastics :)
mustBAMiracle 3 months ago 3
@mustBAMiracle Your Sundays as a child sound eerily similar to mine :~) I was a gymnast for years, growing up, now I just watch my body fall apart, one surgery or nerve block after another, but oh, what fun I had. Would not trade it for anything.
whatanightmare1 3 months ago 2
...and today, tv (including sports) is all about how to make bullshit slicker. Bring back real people living in the real world.
ThisWeekInFascism 4 months ago 2
sit upfront of the tv every sunday afternoon in the 1978
TheRedHotDancer 4 months ago 2
I could swear this one was exactly the voice of Don Messick.
JoseBronxRican 5 months ago
As a little girl, i'd watch this intro every week to see the guy wipe out on the slopes!!!
justsailingalong 5 months ago 2
The thrill of victory, the agony of not drawing a flag for a late hit and getting a bruised hand! Waaah! VICK's Wide World of Whine!
pbanta62 5 months ago
This was before ESPN declared "poker" to be a sport.
Bogie6588 6 months ago 3
@Bogie6588 Hey, even as a kid I wondered about some of the "sports" they featured on WWOS. Some were stunts, like Evel Knievel's jumps, and some were just dumb, like the guy supposedly catching a bullet in his teeth. That's no more a sport than pro wrestling. (It's choreographed folks! Otherwise what they do would be felonies!)
dcs002 4 months ago
One of the greatest shows ever aired! I LOVED it when I was coming along!
Bogie6588 6 months ago
ESPN figures ABC SPorts doesn't have any brand cache. Bunk!
ThePretzelHead 6 months ago
I Believe This Was A Video Clip Of ABC Sports' ABC's Wide World Of Sports Video Open From 1978.
radiodj1520 7 months ago
Yep this was Saturday for me:
Cartoons in the morning
Mid-Day Movie
Wide World of Sports in the afternoon :)
soulgirl66 7 months ago
Thumps up if the USA Women's soccer Team brought you here.
What an agonizing defeat !!
indyfan22k 7 months ago
I spent many a Saturday afternoon watching WWoS...Ahh, the good old days...before ESPN took over sports.
blakkjack21 7 months ago
That poor skier..
bvs1216 8 months ago
Hey, can you tell me who announced the promo for Wide World of Sports? The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
TheSarge2001 8 months ago
@TheSarge2001 It is Jim McKay. He died in 2008.
pepjrp 8 months ago
@pepjrp
thank you for your answer. to my question about the voice on Wide World of Sports.
TheSarge2001 8 months ago
@TheSarge2001 You're very welcome.
pepjrp 8 months ago
I miss this show. I wish it would re-emerge.
alloutoftime 8 months ago
This is the BEST sports theme of the BEST sports show ever. I grew up with WWoS. It is shame it was cancelled. Thanks for posting.
texsportpub 8 months ago
Favorited and put in Action and Adventure Sports playlist.
actionadventures 8 months ago
This was on air the year before its replacement came to pass - ESPN.
WSenator1 9 months ago
I knew I'd find this on here. Youtube, the Time Machine, where I can watch and remember the good old days; being a kid with no worries, playing with my Barbie, Sonny and Cher and Donny and Marie dolls in front of the TV; my dad drinking a beer and watching this show, and every time the skier would crash over that white thing (what is it? a shed? I don't know), my dad yelling out "Mother Finger ! Look at 'em go!" It makes me want to start singing the All In the Family theme song. :)
Atomtristemother 9 months ago
:26-- MY GOD! It's full of sports! ;)
pbanta62 9 months ago
What year's version has the rodeo clown getting gored by a bull immediately after the ski jump guy?
Spiletta42 9 months ago
Anyone got a spare Time Machine lying around?
I need to get back to the 70's again for a week to watch Tv....
(..... and a sports almanac wouldn't hurt either... ;-)
bluenotejazz 9 months ago
they should said agony on the feet
nctvman 10 months ago
awesome
TheWheels777 10 months ago
By any chance would you know if ESPN CLASSICS shows reruns of ABC's WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS? I was never one for sports (except auto racing), but I did like this show watching it on the weekends. It was a family event in our house when everyone gathered together in the den to watch it.
67nairb 10 months ago
aw,...the seventies,......where is my bicycle with the banana seat, or my evel knievel stunt wind-up jump toy, hotwheels, matchbox, little green army men, the dirty book my uncle gave me, saturday morning cartoon tunes, braves games on the "super station", ect. ect. ect.
porkinwitz 10 months ago
@porkinwitz Stop it, stop it, you're making me time sick! I share your emotions entirely. I'd give anything to go back to my childhood of the Seventies. It was a wonderful time for me.
67nairb 10 months ago
Thank you for sharing. This is when TV was TV. Wide World of Sports, Mutual Of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, and a slew of good cartoons. Dam I miss them days now.
vfherman 10 months ago 2
@vfherman TV was so much better back in the 70s when there were very few cable channels. We didn't even have color tv in the 70s, let alone cable. But when the 80s arrived I started growing restless, I wanted to have cable television with all the wide variety of programs it offered and so my sister and father; my mother could carless. Alot of the tv shows and cartoons I grew up watching were leaving regular tv. So in Dec. 1984 we finally got cable.
67nairb 10 months ago
@vfherman I must say that cable tv was so much better in the 80s when there about ten cable networks and each of them had a wide variety programming on them for everyone. But it wasn't until the 1990s that things started to change for cable and that change was for the worse. They started founding new cable networks designed for one specific like subject ANIMAL PLANET, HOME AND GARDEN TV, CARTOON NETWORK, THE FOOD CHANNEL, TV LAND, THE HISTORY CHANNEL, BBC AMERICA, etc.
67nairb 10 months ago
@vfherman Not to mention the wide plethora of cable sports networks out there for each aspect of it like ESPN2, GOLF CHANNEL, YES NETWORK, SPEED NETWORK, SPORTS NEW YORK, NHL HOCKEY, ESPNU, FOX SPORTS NETWORK, CBS SPORTS NETWORKS, FOX COLLEGE SPORTS.....well you get the idea. Are any of these sports networks neccessary? ESPN CLASSICS is much better because it's nostalgia, it airs sports events of that we grew up watching when we were younger.
67nairb 10 months ago
What is the name of the weight-lifter?
stargate121 1 year ago
@stargate121 The Weightlifter is Vasily Alexeev of the U.S.S.R.
martylain71 1 year ago
I remember when I wiped out like that when I was ski jumping. I SHIT MY PANTS. :-)
waterfordjim 1 year ago
@waterfordjim thanks for sharing!
vikings844 11 months ago
@waterfordjim thanks for sharing That wonderful storey!
vikings844 11 months ago
I get chills! How great was this?
1560438 1 year ago
Great theme music to the greatest sports TV series in history. What a class act Jim McKay was.
7Lukibi99Tore7 1 year ago
Which intro showed Evel Knevel jumping? I've been going nuts trying to find it. I remember watching this show as a kid in the 70's and I used to be glued to the TV waiting to see Evel. If I was outside playing, I'd come in with my friends just to see those 2 or 3 seconds of Evel. He RULES!!!
bobstrete 1 year ago
If anyone has any original shows from Wide World of Sports shows just PM
HowardSternn 1 year ago
Back when sporting events were free!
beaagent29p 1 year ago
Watched this every Saturday. What memories. Thanks for sharing.
ottlakerambler 1 year ago
No matter HOW many versions of ABC Wide World of Sports there are..the ONLY one constant is that guy who wipes out on the ski slope.....
ThoughtTraveler 1 year ago 36
Vinko Bogataj • International Ski Flying Championships, 1970 competition was nearing its conclusion when snow started falling...heavier and heavier. Visibility was nil; conditions were dismal. This set the stage for an unpronouncable Yugoslavian ski jumper to tumble off the ramp on an aborted attempt. Bogataj was dazed and bruised, but otherwise unhurt. Bogataj retired a few years later to a quiet life of farming, having virtually no clue that he was immortalized as "the agony of defeat guy"
Urchinking 1 year ago
@Urchinking
Thanks for the info....for all of us who grew up in the 70s this guy will always be remembered as the poor "the agony of defeat guy"
I am glad he is ok and doing well...
ThoughtTraveler 1 year ago
@Urchinking I remember watching it as it happened. The guy actually broke his ankle, and had to be taken off on a stretcher. The popular misconception was that he got up and walked away.
ftsjr 1 year ago
@ThoughtTraveler You can't help but feel sorry for that guy. He could've been one of the world's best ski jumpers, but he will forever be known as "The Agony of Defeat Guy".
JasonL77 1 year ago
@JasonL77
I read where he retired and is living out his life as a regular guy. He said that he did not know of his becoming the "agony of defeat" status symbol untill years later. I think he was Swiss
ThoughtTraveler 11 months ago
What year was the one with Evel Knievel in the intro? That and the skier wiping out stuck in my mind. It had to be mid 70s.
rawerner666 1 year ago
I remember this so well...so nice to see again...I use watch this with my dad every weekend....thanks for sharing
DebraMadonna66 1 year ago 9
@DebraMadonna66 Same here! (Sigh!) So many fond memories!
BOLDLYGO2007 1 month ago
Yes, this is the one I remember, the big Russian always stuck in my memory.
whitewitchoz 1 year ago
@whitewitchoz That's weightlifter Vasily Alexeyev.
SportzNut21 1 year ago
whats wrong?? Couldn't show the whole thing???
mrtrek64 1 year ago