Spanning The Globe - CLASSIC opening theme to ABC's Wide World of Sports

For people who didn't watch TV before cable and the ESPN thing...you have no idea how iconic this lead in is to my 55-year old ears.

I still get chills hearing this theme.

If you were a kid in the mid 70 to mid 80s this intro will ALWAYS hold a very special place in your heart.. And most of us watched this intro in the same spot every wkend, for myself it was on the downstairs couch right when I came back from hockey practice at 4oclk....I cant believe how much time has passed Thank You Jim

When ABC has the Super Bowl, they should open up the broadcast with this theme. Retro graphics, ski jump fail, mixed with retro and current sport highlights. No ad talking. Just the Wide World of Sports lines. It would be incredible.

The ski jumper wiping out is the best part

Wow. I remember never knowing ahead of time what they were going to show...that was the appeal for me as a kid, it could have been anything. Racing, Equestrian, Cliff Diving, anything. The world sure seemed alot larger then.

I remember when TV’s only carried 3 channels.Saturdays was our fun day to watch TV and sports .As a kid we couldn’t wait to come inside from playing just to watch our Saturdays coverage of ABC Sports.

I don't think that there'll ever be a better introduction to a sports variety show than the late Jim McKay ever delivered.

One of the greatest shows growing up as a kid.Every Saturday at 5:00p.m.I would watch ABC'S WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS.My whole family would watch the show,while eating homemade pizza.Man,was that great memories.

The poor "agony of defeat" guy is a Yugoslavian ski jumper Vinko Bogataj at an event in Germany in 1970. He suffered a concussion and broken ankle on that. He's still alive at 72 and has enjoyed his unusual piece of fame ever since..

just brought back some cool memories of being a youngster in the 80s. the world was so big back then.

The Wide World or Sports theme was ghost-written by Charles Fox (then 24 yrs old) for $500. That theme opened every show for all 33 years. Though Fox didn't receive screen credit there, it did lead directly to him writing the original theme for "ABC's Monday Night Football" and a host of other tv themes including "Love American Style", "Happy Days" "Love Boat", "Wonder Woman" and "Laverne & Shirley". Fox also wrote the Grammy winning song "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and was voted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2004.

jim Mc Cay was the best, the trill of victory and the agony of defeat i loved that show i watched every Saturday in the 70's

The best opening ever!

Best sports show ever produced. Gave the viewing public a taste of sports unheard of in the USA. From cliff diving to Jai alai to curling etc...

4:30 on Saturday afternoons. Right after "Pro Bowlers Tour".

I have been looking for this theme for 30 years now. Could sing it in my head and never forgot the tune, but no matter how hard I tried, I could never find the music I could only remember by hearing it. We played this song in Marching Band in High school in the 1970's.... What a thrill ti gave the crowd! I wish the NFL would bring it back again!

As a kid, I'd only watch the beginning to see the skier wipe out on the ski ramp

I learned years ago that the same guy that composed this theme also composed Killing Me Softly, which was first sung by Roberta Flack :) So it's not a surprise as to why I loved listening to this intro as a kid.

This was the 82-83 edition because Scott Hamilton and Elaine Zayak were featured and they both were world champions in 1982.