(Expletives deleted)
By Steve Sabol
When we wire a player for sound, we will roll 2? hours of tape to get 10 minutes that is usable. Players are psyched up and short of breath, so their diction isn't the best. Their words often come out garbled because of their mouthpieces. Even the words we hear often are in code.
"Hawk strong, fifty-four toss power option, X drag out, Y square in, fire three."
As Einstein's wife once said, "I understand the words, but not the sentences."
Not a lot of what a player says in a game is intelligible.
Most of the rest is profane.
That's not surprising because football is an emotional sport. Under stressful conditions, profanity can be an effective and expedient form of self-expression. Profanity can be heard in other pressure-packed occupations -- a firehouse, a police station, an emergency room, even the oval office. Words are chameleons that reflect the color of their environment, and foul language on a football field has an unmistakable tone.
"We gotta get our damn ass in gear and move the damn ball on their ass. Just keep throwing all that quick-popping crap at their ass and we'll bury their ass. Hell, once we get our ass jacked-up and start comin', it's gonna be their ass!"
That particular sound bite wouldn't pose any problems for NFL Films. We never delete hell, damn, crap, or ass from any of our shows. Because of its many varied usages, ass does have some unacceptable versions. It is all right to kick ass, whip ass, tear ass, pound somebody's ass, or knock someone's ass off. But it is not permissible to hear something pulled out of, or inserted into one.
Another player who never used obscene language was Marc Wilson, a quarterback for the Raiders during the 1980s. Steve Young, who is a friend of Wilson, says that "the Raiders got so annoyed they designated a guy to curse for Marc to make them feel good. So when he threw an interception they'd point to this other guy and he would curse for Wilson."
Ravens coach Brian Billick considers profanity just another button on his motivational master panel. "When you inject a curse word you do make a stronger point. There's a difference between calling a man an idiot and a [bleeping] idiot," Billick says. "We don't have home plate to kick dirt on, so you have to do something to express your displeasure. So, as General Patton said, 'Give it to them loud and dirty, and that way they'll understand.'"
Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden's profanity comes in short, sharp bursts of precisely aimed concentrated fire. Gruden explains, "You're experiencing all these emotional peaks and valleys, and sometimes the best way to let a player know how you feel is to let one fly."
The most notorious curser is Jim Hanifan, venerable offensive line coach of the St. Louis Rams. He can rant for 10 minutes on the sideline without saying a word fit for a Disney film.
Rams O-line coach Jim Hanifan (left, in yellow) is known for his colorful vocabulary.
When Hanifan was the head coach of the Cardinals during the 1980s, he made a conscious effort to curtail his use of four-letter words, but one phone call made him reconsider. "When I was interviewed I'd say, 'Gosh darn it, aw shucks, confound it!' Then I heard this lady on a call-in show say, 'Our coach is too nice. He should be more profane. We're sick and tired of this golly-gee-whiz crap!' After I heard that, I never worried about my language again."
If profanity was electricity, former coach Norm Van Brocklin was Thomas Edison. The first and only time we miked him for a game was in 1971 when he was coaching the Atlanta Falcons. We spent hours trying to sanitize the soundtrack, but we had to censor so much of what he said that the finished audio sounded like a big dump truck backing up: "beep, beep, beep."
When we showed Van Brocklin the finished feature, he just shook his head and said, "Vulgarity shouldn't be a consistent part of anyone's vocabulary." Then he looked me in the eye and said,
"But there is a time when it's the best [bleeping] way to express yourself."
...........................................................
KOD
By Steve Sabol
When we wire a player for sound, we will roll 2? hours of tape to get 10 minutes that is usable. Players are psyched up and short of breath, so their diction isn't the best. Their words often come out garbled because of their mouthpieces. Even the words we hear often are in code.
"Hawk strong, fifty-four toss power option, X drag out, Y square in, fire three."
As Einstein's wife once said, "I understand the words, but not the sentences."
Not a lot of what a player says in a game is intelligible.
Most of the rest is profane.
That's not surprising because football is an emotional sport. Under stressful conditions, profanity can be an effective and expedient form of self-expression. Profanity can be heard in other pressure-packed occupations -- a firehouse, a police station, an emergency room, even the oval office. Words are chameleons that reflect the color of their environment, and foul language on a football field has an unmistakable tone.
"We gotta get our damn ass in gear and move the damn ball on their ass. Just keep throwing all that quick-popping crap at their ass and we'll bury their ass. Hell, once we get our ass jacked-up and start comin', it's gonna be their ass!"
That particular sound bite wouldn't pose any problems for NFL Films. We never delete hell, damn, crap, or ass from any of our shows. Because of its many varied usages, ass does have some unacceptable versions. It is all right to kick ass, whip ass, tear ass, pound somebody's ass, or knock someone's ass off. But it is not permissible to hear something pulled out of, or inserted into one.
Another player who never used obscene language was Marc Wilson, a quarterback for the Raiders during the 1980s. Steve Young, who is a friend of Wilson, says that "the Raiders got so annoyed they designated a guy to curse for Marc to make them feel good. So when he threw an interception they'd point to this other guy and he would curse for Wilson."
Ravens coach Brian Billick considers profanity just another button on his motivational master panel. "When you inject a curse word you do make a stronger point. There's a difference between calling a man an idiot and a [bleeping] idiot," Billick says. "We don't have home plate to kick dirt on, so you have to do something to express your displeasure. So, as General Patton said, 'Give it to them loud and dirty, and that way they'll understand.'"
Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden's profanity comes in short, sharp bursts of precisely aimed concentrated fire. Gruden explains, "You're experiencing all these emotional peaks and valleys, and sometimes the best way to let a player know how you feel is to let one fly."
The most notorious curser is Jim Hanifan, venerable offensive line coach of the St. Louis Rams. He can rant for 10 minutes on the sideline without saying a word fit for a Disney film.
Rams O-line coach Jim Hanifan (left, in yellow) is known for his colorful vocabulary.
When Hanifan was the head coach of the Cardinals during the 1980s, he made a conscious effort to curtail his use of four-letter words, but one phone call made him reconsider. "When I was interviewed I'd say, 'Gosh darn it, aw shucks, confound it!' Then I heard this lady on a call-in show say, 'Our coach is too nice. He should be more profane. We're sick and tired of this golly-gee-whiz crap!' After I heard that, I never worried about my language again."
If profanity was electricity, former coach Norm Van Brocklin was Thomas Edison. The first and only time we miked him for a game was in 1971 when he was coaching the Atlanta Falcons. We spent hours trying to sanitize the soundtrack, but we had to censor so much of what he said that the finished audio sounded like a big dump truck backing up: "beep, beep, beep."
When we showed Van Brocklin the finished feature, he just shook his head and said, "Vulgarity shouldn't be a consistent part of anyone's vocabulary." Then he looked me in the eye and said,
"But there is a time when it's the best [bleeping] way to express yourself."
...........................................................
KOD
Motley
