A Football Life

A Football Life
Genre	Documentary
Created by	NFL Films NFL Network
Narrated by	Josh Charles[1]
Theme music composer	David Robidoux[2]
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	59
Release
Original network	NFL Network
Original release	September 15, 2011 – Present
External links
Production website

A Football Life is a documentary series developed by NFL Films and aired on NFL Network that documents the lives of select National Football League players, coaches, owners, and teams. Friends, teammates, family members and other players and coaches associated with the subjects are interviewed.^[3]

History

The name of the series originated in a quote from Steve Sabol of NFL Films:^[4]

“

For a company that prides itself on telling good stories, this is one hell of a story. Dad makes the Hall of Fame. Son's going to be his presenter. Son gets a brain tumor. Now the story is, Is the son going to be there? Will the son make it? Who knows? I could be around until the Super Bowl in New York [2014]. But I've had a lot of time to think ... So they talk about heaven, and I don't know what is waiting for me up there. But I can tell you this: Nothing will happen up there that can duplicate my life down here. That life cannot be better than the one I've lived down here, the football life. It's been perfect.

”

Originating as an NFL Network special on the career of Bill Parcells in November 2010,^[5] it premiered as an episodic series on September 15, 2011, with the first part of Bill Belichick's documentary.^[6] The documentary was viewed by about 657,000 viewers, the most-watched documentary in NFL Network's history, and was the second-most watched program in Boston at the time with 151,000 viewers, trailing behind a Boston Red Sox game.^[7] Season One was eventually released on DVD.^[8]

Season Two began on September 12, 2012, with The Faces of Tebow.^[9]

The series was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Edited Sports Series/Anthology"^[10] and "Outstanding Promotional Announcement – Episodic" for Belichick's episode^[11] in 2012.^[12]

Episodes

Season One

Source:^[13]

No.	Subject	Original air date
1	Bill Belichick	September 15, 2011
2		September 22, 2011
3	Reggie White & Jerome Brown	September 29, 2011
4	Kurt Warner	October 6, 2011
5	Walter Payton	October 13, 2011
6	Ed Sabol	October 20, 2011
7	Mike Ditka	October 27, 2011
8	Tom Landry	November 3, 2011
9	Al Davis	November 11, 2011

Season Two

Source:^[14][15]

No.	Subject	Original air date
1	Tim Tebow	September 12, 2012
2	Ray Lewis	September 19, 2012
3	Tom Coughlin	September 26, 2012
4	Cleveland '95	October 3, 2012
5	The Fearsome Foursome	October 10, 2012
6	Steve McNair	October 17, 2012
7	Eddie DeBartolo	October 24, 2012
8	Chris Spielman	October 31, 2012
9	Jimmy Johnson	November 7, 2012
10	John Riggins	November 21, 2012
11	Barry Sanders	December 5, 2012
12	Marcus Allen	December 12, 2012
13	The Immaculate Reception	December 19, 2012

Season Three

Source:^{[16][17][18][19]}

No.	Subject	Original air date
1	LaDainian Tomlinson	September 3, 2013
2	Don Shula	September 10, 2013
3	Darrelle Revis	September 17, 2013
4	Derrick Thomas	September 24, 2013
5	Steve Sabol	October 1, 2013
6	Matt Millen	October 8, 2013
7	Michael Strahan	October 15, 2013
8	Pat Summerall	October 22, 2013
9	Warren Sapp	October 29, 2013
10	Randall Cunningham	November 5, 2013
11	Cris Carter	November 12, 2013
12	The Forward Pass	November 19, 2013
13	Steve Gleason	November 26, 2013
14	The Great Wall of Dallas	December 3, 2013
15	Houston '93	December 10, 2013
16	Marty Schottenheimer	December 17, 2013
17	Vince Lombardi	December 24, 2013
18		December 31, 2013
19	Tiki & Ronde Barber	January 7, 2014
20	Bill Parcells	January 14, 2014
21	Jerry Smith	January 21, 2014
22	Jerry Rice	January 28, 2014

Season Four

Season four was announced for September 10, 2014. From the promotional trailers running on NFL Network episodes can be expected featuring stars like Terrell Davis, Lyle Alzado, Joe Greene, Eric Dickerson, Bill Walsh, Ricky Williams, Sean Taylor, Roger Staubach, and Doug Flutie.^[20][21]

No.	Subject	Original air date
1	"Mean Joe" Greene	September 12, 2014
2	Brandon Marshall	September 19, 2014
3	Sean Taylor	September 26, 2014
4	Warren Moon	October 3, 2014
5	Eric Dickerson	October 10, 2014
6	Doug Flutie	October 17, 2014
7	Terrell Davis	October 24, 2014
8	Ricky Williams	October 31, 2014
9	Earl Campbell	November 7, 2014
10	Csonka, Kiick & Morris	November 14, 2014
11	Lyle Alzado	November 21, 2014
12	Dick Butkus & Gale Sayers	November 28, 2014
13	Roger Staubach	December 5, 2014
14	Keenan McCardell & Jimmy Smith	December 19, 2014
15	2006 Rose Bowl	January 2, 2015
16	Bill Walsh	January 23, 2015
17	Joe Namath	January 30, 2015

Season Five

Season five began on September 18 at 9 pm, and it had 14 new episodes including Terrell Owens, Dick Vermeil, Paul Brown, and more.^[22]

No.	Subject	Original air date
1	Christian Okoye	September 18, 2015
2	Dexter Manley	September 25, 2015
3	Jerome Bettis	October 2, 2015
4	Terrell Owens	October 9, 2015
5	Alan Page	October 16, 2015
6	Steve Largent	October 23, 2015
7	Dick Vermeil	October 30, 2015
8	Paul Brown	November 6, 2015
9	Mike Singletary	November 13, 2015
10	Charles Haley	November 19, 2015
11	Bruce Arians	December 11, 2015
12	Marshall Faulk	December 18, 2015
13	Ken Stabler	December 25, 2015

References

1. Forsberg, Chris. "Belichick documentary set for NFL Network - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston". Espn.go.com. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
2. "CREDITS". Retrieved 2012-12-08.
3. "NFL Network’s ‘A Football Life’ Chronicles the Lives & Legacies of Reggie White & Jerome Brown". Sportsmedianews.com. 2011-09-23. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
4. Peter King (2011-09-18). "In his brilliance and impact on NFL, Sabol truly lived 'a football life'". SI.com. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
5. "Parcells is what documentary says he is". sun-sentinel.com. 2010-11-20. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
6. "A Football Life: Bill Belichick". Patriots.com. 2011-08-29. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
7. ""A Football Life: Bill Belichick" Most-Watched Documentary Ever On NFL Network - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. 2011-09-16. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
8. "NFL Network Presents: A Football Life - Season 1 DVD". NFL Shop. Retrieved 2012-10-19.
9. "9/7 – ‘The Faces of Tebow’ Debuts Sept. 12 on NFL Network | DC Sports Net". Dcsportsnetwork.com. 2012-09-07. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
10. "Breaking News - Emmy-Nominated Series "A Football Life" Returns Wednesday, September 12 at 8:00 PM ET on NFL Network". TheFutonCritic.com. 2012-08-28. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
11. TCIPF Staff (2012-03-20). "NFL Films is nominated for 8 Sports Emmy Awards! : NFL Films Blog". Nflfilms.nfl.com. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
12. "The Emmy Awards - THE NATIONAL TELEVISION ACADEMY ANNONCES THE NOMINEES FOR THE 33RD ANNUAL SPORTS EMMY® AWARDS". Emmyonline.tv. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
13. "A Football Life: Complete Episode List". Thetvdb.com. 2011-12-06. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
14. "NFL Network's A FOOTBALL LIFE to Return 9/12". tv.broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
15. "NFL Network's A Football Life Explores Life, Legacy of Steve McNair Oct. 17". titansonline.com. 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
16. "'A Football Life' preview: LaDainian Tomlinson". National Football League. 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2013-09-01.
17. "'A first look at what NFL Films has in store for Season 3 of A Football Life'". Awful Announcing. 2013-09-01. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
18. "'A Football Life Season 2013'". TV.com. 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
19. "NFL Network’s ‘A Football Life’ Examines ‘The Great Wall of Dallas’ Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 9:00 PM ET'". NFLCommunications.com. 2013-11-27. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
20. "NFL Films-Produced Series ‘A Football Life’ & ‘America’s Game’ Return on NFL Network". http://NFLCommunications.com. 2014-08-28. Retrieved 2014-08-29. External link in |work= (help)
21. "Pro Football Hall of Fame Quarterback Warren Moon Featured on ‘A Football Life’". http://NFLCommunications.com. 2014-09-30. Retrieved 2014-10-04. External link in |work= (help)
22. http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/nfl-networks-a-football-life-returns-with-14-new-episodes.html