Steve Sabol Quotes

Powerful Steve Sabol for Daily Growth

About Steve Sabol

Stephen A. Sabol, affectionately known as Steve Sabol, was an American filmmaker, television producer, and president of NFL Films, a subsidiary of the National Football League (NFL). Born on March 28, 1942, in New York City, he grew up surrounded by football, with his father Ed Sabol co-founding NFL Films. Steve's passion for football and storytelling was evident from an early age. He began working at NFL Films during his summer vacations while attending Princeton University. After graduating in 1964 with a degree in psychology, he formally joined the company. His innovative approach to sports cinematography revolutionized the way football was presented on television. Sabol is best known for introducing the "instant replay" and slow-motion replays to NFL broadcasts, which significantly enhanced the viewing experience. He also popularized phrases like "Super Bowl," "Red Zone," and "The Immaculate Reception." His work was instrumental in shaping the emotional narrative around NFL games, blending sports highlights with dramatic storytelling techniques. In 1989, Steve Sabol was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He also won numerous Emmy Awards for his outstanding work. Despite his professional success, he remained humble and dedicated to preserving the history and spirit of football through his work. Sabol passed away on September 12, 2012. His legacy continues to live on in the formative years of NFL Films and the unique way sports are presented on television today. His quotes, such as "Football is a perfect thing. The imperfections are part of what make it perfect," encapsulate his love for the game and his commitment to capturing its essence.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Football is life density at its absolute maximum."

This quote by Steve Sabol suggests that football, due to the intense concentration, competition, and passion it generates, embodies human experiences, emotions, and interactions at their most concentrated or dense level. In simpler terms, football mirrors life in an amplified, highly-condensed form, reflecting its complexity, drama, and the human spirit's resilience under pressure.


"The Super Bowl's a perfect metaphor for what America is all about. It's a wondrous, luminous distraction from the flat-out ugliness of human existence."

This quote suggests that the Super Bowl, as an event, serves as a symbol of America's spirit, offering a momentary escape from the harsh realities of life. It implies that the Super Bowl embodies excitement, hope, and unity, aspects which are often absent in daily struggles. However, it also highlights that these positive aspects serve as a distraction from the less appealing aspects of human existence, such as hardship, conflict, and ugliness. The quote, therefore, reflects on the human need for moments of joy, celebration, and shared experience amidst life's challenges.


"It's like poetry in motion, but it's on grass, and some people are trying to maim others."

Steve Sabol's quote underscores the beauty and artistry inherent in American football, while also acknowledging its potential for violence. He suggests that the sport is akin to poetry, with its graceful movements and strategic plays, but reminds us that it takes place on a field, where players risk injury. The metaphorical use of "maim" emphasizes the physicality and intensity of the game. Overall, this quote highlights the dichotomy between the aesthetic appeal and the raw, competitive nature of American football.


"Football is the one place where a 250-pound man isn't expected to behave like a lady."

This quote by Steve Sabol emphasizes the distinct nature of football, a sport that permits a level of physicality and intensity beyond what might be considered 'ladylike' in other social contexts. It highlights the unique characteristics and rules of football where physical strength is not only expected but valued, contrasting with societal norms that often value gentleness and refinement in women. The quote also acknowledges the physical demands and differences between men and women while celebrating the diversity of human behavior and expression within the sport of football.


"Sports are such a metaphor for life: You have your ups and downs, but you can't let the downs distract you from the ultimate goal, which is to win."

This quote suggests that sports serve as a reflection of real-life experiences, where one encounters both successes (ups) and setbacks (downs). The key takeaway is not to let temporary failures or challenges deter from the ultimate objective, which in a metaphorical sense, symbolizes achieving one's goals in life. Instead, it calls for perseverance, resilience, and staying focused on the long-term vision despite facing adversities along the way.


Look at a football field. It looks like a big movie screen. This is theatre. Football combines the strategy of chess. It's part ballet. It's part battleground, part playground. We clarify, amplify and glorify the game with our footage, the narration and that music, and in the end create an inspirational piece of footage.

- Steve Sabol

Game, Big, Clarify, Ballet

Football is such a great game, but football players are so dull.

- Steve Sabol

Football, Game, Players, Football Players

When my father bid $5,000 for the 1962 Championship Game, that was a huge amount. It was double the bid the year before. Pete Rozelle was flabbergasted. Who was this guy who was willing to spend so much money on what seemed like relatively worthless rights to the NFL Championship Game?

- Steve Sabol

Game, Year, Before, Relatively

We see the game as art as much as sport. That helped us nurture not only the game's traditions but to develop its mythology: America's Team, The Catch, The Frozen Tundra.

- Steve Sabol

Art, Game, Frozen, Nurture

You know how I came up with the name 'Road to the Super Bowl?' It's an homage to the old Bob Hope - Bing Crosby buddy movies - you know, like 'Road to Zanzibar' or 'Road to Morocco.' Can you tell? All I've done my whole life is go to movies.

- Steve Sabol

Tell, Crosby, Whole, None

A perfect record does not mean that someone is the greatest. Rocky Marciano never lost a fight, but I never hear anyone say he's the greatest heavyweight champion of all time.

- Steve Sabol

Perfect, Say, Heavyweight, Marciano

When we started in the early '60s, football had a little bit of a tradition. But, they didn't have a mythology. And NFL Films, through our music and our scripts and our photography, created a mythology for the sport.

- Steve Sabol

Through, Films, Created, Scripts

There have been nine Super Bowls in New Orleans, and not all of them have brought the best of luck to NFL Films. We got robbed twice there, got food poisoning, and my hotel room was broken into on the day the Bears played the Patriots in January 1986.

- Steve Sabol

Been, Nine, Brought, Orleans

To me, football is very personal. Even as a kid, I looked at football in dramaturgical terms. It wasn't the score that interested me, it was the struggle.

- Steve Sabol

Kid, Very, Looked, Struggle

When we started NFL Films, there were no focus groups, there were no demographic studies, there were no surveys. Every decision that we made, we made with our hearts, not with our heads. And, in the very beginning, we really didn't even have a business plan.

- Steve Sabol

Decision, Very, Films, Focus Groups

The autumn wind is a pirate. Blustering in from sea with a rollicking song he sweeps along swaggering boisterously. His face is weather beaten, he wears a hooded sash with a silver hat about his head... The autumn wind is a Raider, pillaging just for fun.

- Steve Sabol

Sea, Pirate, About, Wind

I've always been fascinated by Picasso and how he would look at a single image through multiple perspectives and from separate moments in time. He would look at a woman's face and he would see almost a three-dimensional look even though it was a flat canvas. I thought, well why couldn't we do the same thing with a football play?

- Steve Sabol

Play, Through, Been, Perspectives

We would get 20 different angles and then cut them all together. That's what I called it at the time - the 'cubistic' treatment of shooting football. It was the same thing Picasso did except we did it with a football play. It's taking a single image and looking at it from multiple perspectives.

- Steve Sabol

Play, Cut, Treatment, Perspectives

I've been very lucky in the freedom that I've been given. Every artist needs two types of freedom: You need the freedom to - the freedom to come up with an idea or treatment - and then you need the other half of the freedom, and that's freedom from - somebody saying, 'This is great. This is how I want you to do it.'

- Steve Sabol

Lucky, Very, Treatment, I Want You

All this technology has not changed the way NFL Films does business and our process. Yes, with one touch of a button now you reach millions of people but it is still the same approach that my father and I started out with.

- Steve Sabol

Father, Reach, Our, Button

I never thought of what I was doing as a way to sell the NFL. I was making movies about a sport that I loved, about players and coaches that I respected. I wanted to convey my love of the game through film. And most artists convey their love through art. And my art and my love was expressed through film.

- Steve Sabol

Love, Doing, Through, Respected

I blew the college boards, and to ease the snub from Harvard made a tour of Europe.

- Steve Sabol

College, Ease, Blew, Harvard

NFL Films has had one continuous, creative vision for 47 years. These are timeless things; timeless stories that we capture just like people go back and read Greek mythology.

- Steve Sabol

Greek, Stories, Films, Timeless

Lombardi, a certain magic still lingers in the very name. It speaks of duels in the snow and November mud... He remains for many the heart of pro football, pumping hard right now.

- Steve Sabol

Magic, Very, November, Mud

Covering a Super Bowl is actually one of the easiest things we do because our most experienced people are there. We'll have 25,000 feet of film and there's no way you're going to miss anything.

- Steve Sabol

Feet, Going, Covering, Experienced

I always was fascinated by neat nicknames.

- Steve Sabol

Always, Neat, Fascinated, Nicknames

I remember when we were making 'They Call It Pro Football,' which was our 'Citizen Kane.' The first line is 'It starts with a whistle and ends with a gun.'

- Steve Sabol

Gun, Citizen, Which, Whistle

I have loved football as an almost mythic game since I was in the fourth grade. To me, the game wasn't even grounded in reality. The uniform turned you into a warrior. Being on a team, the mythology of physical combat, the struggle against the elements, the narrative of the game.

- Steve Sabol

Game, Turned, Almost, Fourth

My Dad hated his job. He sold overcoats, but he wanted to make movies. He had a failed career working with the Ritz Brothers - they were like the Marx Brothers, only a tier below. I always had a picture in my mind of him in a straw hat.

- Steve Sabol

Career, Brothers, Dad, Straw

The only other human endeavor on which there's more 16-millimeter film than pro football is World War II, and we're going to pass that in 2013.

- Steve Sabol

Other, Going, Which, World War II

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. Nothing. That life cannot be better than the one I've lived down here, the football life. It's been perfect.

- Steve Sabol

My Life, Here, Been, Duplicate

I think in the NFL knowledge is power, and you try to get the knowledge by whatever means.

- Steve Sabol

Knowledge Is Power, Think, NFL

I don't go to games as much as I used to because of the NFL's Sunday Ticket. So I'll watch the games, take notes.

- Steve Sabol

Go, Notes, Ticket, NFL

How about that? You can hear NFL Films music on everything from 'SpongeBob SquarePants' to 'Deep Throat.'

- Steve Sabol

Deep, Throat, Films, NFL

Football is a sport of emotions, and we have to capture that in our films.

- Steve Sabol

Football, Emotions, Films, Capture

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