With the NFL season starting in earnest today, here are a few starts — openings of NFL broadcasts over the decades.

We begin with the novel concept of football on Monday nights:

A lot of Midwesterners are familiar with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMnQT8hKQvQ

Believe it or don’t, ABC had a Monday Night Football opening without Hank Williams:

Until Fox Sports showed up, CBS traditionally carried NFC games …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym3ZcpVHaZ4

… and NBC carried AFC games …

… and then Fox grabbed the NFC rights …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbU4fPYRvcY

… and then CBS took AFC rights away from NBC …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uRiIPwlcJs

… and then NBC took Monday Night Football away from ABC and moved it to Sunday night.

No discussion of NFL music would be complete without mentioning the music with which millions of backyard football games are played — NFL Films music: