Skip to main content
Come Fan with UsSunday, June 21, 2026

Hall Of Fame RB Tony Dorsett Compares The Super Bowl Then And Now

SB Nation's Joel Thorman of Arrowhead Pride is on the ground in South Florida, providing reports, commentary and impressions from Super Bowl week.

I had a chance to catch up with Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett this afternoon. He was there with the folks from YesterYear Fantasy Sports, which is actually a pretty cool historical fantasy league where you play fantasy football with guys from the 70s, 80s and so on.

One of the things I was eager to hear from Dorsett was difference in media coverage between the Super Bowl he played in during the 70s and 80s and the zoo that it’s become today.

Trust me, football is king and football deserves all the attention it’s getting. It’s grown by leaps and bounds but you’ve got a whole lot of media outlets. It’s a world wide extravaganza. It was that way when I was playing but its gotten bigger, man, and rightfully so.

Personally, my first memories of the Super Bowl becoming a “Wow” event came in the early 90s when the Cowboys were (or are) America’s team. There were the Triplets, the media coverage and everything that went along with what we now associate with Super Bowl Week.

It’s the same but its just magnified. It’s all relevant. Back in the 70s, it was big then. It was huge. Now, the venues they play in, some of them are a lot bigger.

He did point out that the technology of it all has changed the most. It’s no longer the media talking with the athletes, then filing their stories that evening for the paper the next morning.

The media outlets…everything has changed technologically wise. It’s just become a bigger and better thing.

The technology has most definitely changed. Back then, someone like me wasn’t interviewing him then posting it on a website 30 minutes later.

Look for more stuff later on today and tomorrow morning on my conversation with Tony Dorsett. Cowboys fans should take note of his thoughts on Marion Barber, Felix Jones and the two-back system.

See More:

More in General

GeneralFromPosting and Toasting
An SB Nation New Yorker needs our helpAn SB Nation New Yorker needs our help
GeneralFromPosting and Toasting
General
Sabastian Sawe breaks 2-hour barrier, shatters marathon world recordSabastian Sawe breaks 2-hour barrier, shatters marathon world record
General

The mythical two-hour mark was broken at the London Marathon.

By Bernd Buchmasser
A Huge Dog
THE HISTORY OF CHARGING THE MOUND, EPISODE 1THE HISTORY OF CHARGING THE MOUND, EPISODE 1
Play
General
Super Bowl 60 coin toss resultsSuper Bowl 60 coin toss results
General

The Seahawks and Patriots will open the Super Bowl with the coin toss to determine who starts with the ball. We have the full coin toss results for Super Bowl 60.

By David Fucillo
General
Marc Marquez completes a comeback for the agesMarc Marquez completes a comeback for the ages
General

MotoGP’s Marc Marquez completed a comeback for the ages with his 2025 title

By Mark Schofield
General
How to make sure SBNation.com appears in your Google search resultsHow to make sure SBNation.com appears in your Google search results