When the news of Steve Sabol’s death hit a few days ago, we put together a montage of various videos (which represent a small fraction of what NFL Films did under Sabol). Sabol also gave this interview, with a site called Foam Finger Nation, right before Super Bowl XLV, about a month before he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.

In it, Steve talks about his past experiences, and also goes over a collection of artwork that he had done blending pop art and football. Sabol was an art major in college, before joining his father at NFL Films, and his artist’s heart shows through in all his work.

Here are some Sabol responses that I think are worth remembering:

“I wish the Super Bowl was played in the day . . . It was beautiful sun, it was great for the cameras, it had great color. Now it’s at six-thirty. Film, it just doesn’t look as vibrant. Football to me is still a one o’clock game Sunday, that’s the way it should be.”

. . .

“When you look at the Super Bowl, it’s sort of got the Four Horsemen of our culture, and that’s the reason it’s so popular. It’s got Violence, Celebrity, Competition, and Noise–that’s what our culture is right now, those [four] things.”

. . .

“One of the things that I’ve always believed about, that’s it important in making movies,  and I also think it’s true of art, is you’ve gotta get a good beginning, and a good ending, and get ‘em as close together as possible.”

Steve’s beginning and ending were too close together (curse you, cancer) but he sure knew how to make a good movie.