Colorful Stories

AS THE eight original American Football League franchises played their 50th season, Showtime's winning five-part documentary Full Color Football used artfully chosen vintage footage (was every game played in the mud?) to showcase the AFL's fun, follies and futuristic, razzle-dazzle style. Even better, it went outside the stadium to show how the league was in tune with the tumultuous times and opened more doors to black players than the hidebound NFL. Fans of the retro also could decide for themselves who threw the sweetest passes: Don Draper of AMC's fictional Mad Men or Jets matinee idol (and Super Bowl III hero) Joe Namath?

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JAMES DRAKE