COLTS VS GIANTS: THE GREATEST GAME EVER

ESPN is airing a documentary on the 1958 New York Giants-Baltimore Colts NFL championship game that has been called the greatest game ever played. Not coincidentally, that's the name of the ESPN program that will be broadcast at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday.

The game was played 50 years ago, on Dec. 28, 1958, at Yankee Stadium. It was the first, and only, NFL championship game to go into overtime. Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas led a score-tying field-goal drive at the end of regulation to make the score 17-17. Unitas then threw often to Raymond Berry while moving the Colts 80 yards. Alan Ameche scored the game-winning touchdown on a one-yard run.

What the NBC network did not know at the time, was what they had on their hands. The game aired at 4 PM ET and went on into the Sunday night. Since it was the first (and only) NFL title game that has gone overtime, it went way into the night. People on Sunday evening are usually at home. NBC discovered when the rating came in that virtually every home in America with a tv had the game on! They could hear the cash registers ringing. This game was the beginning of one of the most successful sports leagues in history driven by beer advertising.