Telling It Tough

There is nothing so rare as a good evening of exhibition football on television, except possibly an intelligent pre-game show. Fans will find both when they tune in the Super Bowl rematch between Pittsburgh and Dallas on Aug. 28. Before the game, ABC will air not the usual image-burnishing salute to the sport but a realistic study of football as a way of making a living (8 p.m. E.D.T.). It's Tough to Make It in This League neither glosses over the problems players face nor flogs the cliche of football as a paradigm of society's ills.

The action begins with shots of seven-year-olds running blocking drills. The work of football begins early. So do the cliches. Says a coach, watching his 4-ft. prospects bang heads: "The boy who is really sincere about the game of football--he loves contact."

The most effective scenes are about the college draft. Director Paul Galan focuses on University of Virginia Quarterback Scott Gardner. He is seen at the Senior Bowl, an exhibition that Narrator Walt Garrison calls "a flesh market for the N.F.L. [and] a forest of eyes" --the eyes, of course, belonging to pro scouts. Last year was a bad one for quarterbacks, but Gardner did not know how bad until he waited by his scarlet phone on draft day. The first round--worth at least $100,000 a year to any player --passed. By the eighth pick, when a Buffalo p.r. man called and said unenthusiastically that they were glad to have him, Gardner's excitement was gone.

It's Tough emphasizes the precariousness of a pro career, particularly the likelihood of injuries. Dr. James Nicholas, engineer of Joe Namath's knees, notes "the turmoil on the field" and the injuries that inevitably result. He deadpans: "Players are like human beings in this regard." If the show glamorizes anything, it is the survivor. There is a cheerful sequence about the Washington Redskins' "over-the-hill gang" who are much livelier than the glum recruits at the Senior Bowl. The program's strength lies in such vignettes. The viewer may end up agreeing with the good doctor that the armored monsters who will fill the home screen in coming months are "just like human beings."

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