From Michael MacCambridge's 2004 America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation:
That day, America found a new icon in Unitas, and a new passion in professional football. He was invited onto that evening's live broadcast of The Ed Sullivan Show, but declined the invitation and the $300, he explained, because he wanted to be with his team. Ameche gladly went in his place, to be greeted by Sullivan and the country.
Three days later, Castro's forces would overthrow Cuba. But on December 28, 1958, America witnessed the beginning of its own revolution -- and this one would be televised. Like a rebel army seizing the seat of power, pro football had announced its insurgency with an epic football game at the most hallowed ground in baseball, the House That Ruth Built.
By the end of the Colts-Giants game, a seismic shift in the American sports landscape had clearly begun. In another decade, after another New York football team and its charismatic leaded stunned the sports world, football was no longer the rebel, but the new king. And baseball was no longer America's national pastime.
Tags: Michael MacCambridge, America's Game, football, baseball
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