We wondered – how LONG have they been using that theme?

So it was time to do a quick research project – according to Wikipedia.

It’s a piece composed by jingle writer Frankie Vinci for the network, which unveiled it for Super Bowl XXVI at the end of the 1991 season. When the network lost its bid to cover the NFL to FOX after the 1993 season, CBS continued using the music on its NFL radio broadcasts and brought it back again in 1998 when the network started broadcasting the AFC games.

So, to answer the question, the music has been used continuously in some fashion since 1991! Yes folks, that’s 21 years! Sick of it yet? I know I am. I won’t even go into FOX’s composition – maybe on another day.

But in the meantime …

click here for a great article that gives an even a better look at all networks’ NFL musical pieces.

If you go back to the 1960s, I tracked down my favorite NFL theme music – CBS’s usage of “Confidence,” a marching band-like piece taken from Leon Carr‘s score from the 1964 off-Broadway musical The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Let’s go back in time and listen.

Here’s the link. This is from the 1970 television intro for the Lions vs. Cowboys NFL Divisional Playoff Game (yes, that’s 42 years ago!) – an intro voiced over by none other than Pat Summerall.