"This Week:
In honor of the start of football season, I wanted to feature an interview with Michael Oriard. Michael is a writer, cultural historian of football, and former offensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs. He has written several books including King Football, Sporting with the Gods: The Rhetoric of Play and Game in American Literature, and Brand NFL: Making and Selling America's Favorite Sport. Earlier this year he published The Head in Football: The History of Concussions and the Future of the Sport. I first got in touch with Michael in 2012 after reading his piece in Slate about the death of Steve Sabol. Sabol was the creative force behind NFL Films and is responsible for a lot of the technical, visual, and narrative innovations that shape the way we watch football today.
00:00 - BTR Today
00:41 - Michael Oriard
02:34 - Watching as a Player
03:19 - Visual language of Football
06:23 - Storytelling
10:15 - Highlights as Art
12:01 - Marketing
14:30 - NFL Films in context
20:16 - The Glory of Violence
25:48 - The Future
28:23 - Finish
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