America's Game.

As had the Green Bay Packers in the previous decade, the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s dominated professional football, winning four Super Bowls between 1975 and 1980. The Steelers were not the only glamour team during the decade. The Dallas Cow-boys, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, and Oakland Raiders each inspired either intense love or hate in football fans from coast to coast. Pro football by the end of the decade had indeed become America's game. Results from a 1978 Harris sports survey showed that football enjoyed a 70 percent following among American sports fans—compared to 54 percent for baseball. More than a quarter of the fans surveyed named football as their favorite sport; 16 percent named baseball. Record numbers of American families viewed Super Bowls VI through XIV on their televisions, making the glitzy, heavily hyped championship between the American and National Football Conferences one of...