Appropriate Titling

Song - Action Scene

Artist(s) - Mary Therese Matthews, Sally Anne Griffith, John Bähler, Matthew Muhoberac

Released - 1985

Primetime Usage - 1987

Contained on - FirstCom A2 (Intense), FirstCom UT105 (New Beginning)

Featured Highlight - Rams @ Oilers, 1987


Sometimes a song title fits the music perfectly.  "Action Scene," though it doesn't have the most original name, is a track that instantly brings to mind imagery of a hard-hitting & breakneck nature.  It fits so well with sports highlights, in fact, that it's really a shame NFL Primetime only used this in its initial year.  Action Scene was composed by the same quartet that brought us Strategy, and is the third & final NFL Primetime song from FC-A2 to be profiled here.

In the opening week of 1987, the L.A. Rams (still with Eric Dickerson for a few more games) went to Houston as a solid favorite to start 1-0.  Instead, the Oilers came back from a 16-3 deficit to pull the upset and begin their first decent season since Bud Adams stupidly fired Bum Phillips several years earlier.  Gayle Gardner, who left ESPN partway through the 1987 season, presents the highlights here:

Strategery

Song - Strategy

Artist(s) - Mary Therese Matthews, Sally Anne Griffith, John Bähler, Matthew Muhoberac

Released - 1985

Primetime Usage - 1987

Contained on - FirstCom UT105 (New Beginning)

Featured Highlight - Lions @ Vikings, 1987


It doesn't get much more obscure than this.  "Strategy," composed by same three artists as "Fast Drive" plus Matthew Muhoberac, was used on the very last highlight of the very first episode of NFL Primetime and I haven't seen any other clips use it.  The availability of 1987 Primetimes is rather limited, however, so it definitely could've been used more than that.  Still…  it's probably one of the least remembered songs used on the show.  That doesn't mean it's bad, though.  Strategy's combination of '70s style and '80s instrumentation is unique, and it's relatively large amount of starts & stops—though not ideal for sports highlights—makes it an interesting song to listen to.

Finding the hard copy of FirstCom UT105 is the only way to get this track legally, I'm pretty sure.  Good luck with that…

As indicated above, Strategy's only known highlight usage was the Lions/Vikings game that ended the first-ever NFL Primetime.  Minnesota pulls out a somewhat comfortable, albeit sloppy, win that kicked off one of the most schizophrenic seasons for a team in NFL history.