Editing NFL on CBS (section)

====The beginning of the semi-merit system====
The August 11, 1968, exhibition game between [[1968 Detroit Lions season|Detroit]] and [[1968 Philadelphia Eagles season|Philadelphia]] was originally scheduled for [[Mexico City]], but was cancelled due to growing [[Mexican Movement of 1968|student demonstrations]] on August 8. The following day, the game was rescheduled to [[Philadelphia]].

When CBS decided to abandon its practice of using dedicated announcing crews for particular teams in [[1968 NFL season|1968]], the network instituted a semi-merit system in its place, with certain crews (such as Ray Scott and [[Paul Christman]] or [[Jack Buck]] and Pat Summerall) being assigned to each week's most prominent games regardless of the participating teams.

On December 22, 1968, CBS interrupted coverage of a [[NFL playoffs, 1968|Western Conference championship game]] between the [[1968 Minnesota Vikings season|Minnesota Vikings]] and [[1968 Baltimore Colts season|Baltimore Colts]] in order to show a broadcast from inside the [[Apollo 8]] spacecraft, headed towards the Moon (the first manned space mission to orbit the Moon, and a major step towards the lunar landing the following July). The interruption began approximately three minutes before halftime of the game, and lasted 17 minutes. CBS showed highlights of the missed action (in which neither team scored) when the network returned to football coverage; nonetheless, the network received approximately 3,000 complaints after the game.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, CBS used a [[marching band]]-like instrumental arrangement of the song "Confidence" (from [[Leon Carr]]'s score for the 1964 [[off-Broadway]] musical ''[[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty#Stage adaptations|The Secret Life of Walter Mitty]]'') as the theme for their NFL broadcasts.

With 1969 being the final season before the [[AFL–NFL merger]], this was also the final season where both leagues would have Thanksgiving doubleheaders. Starting in [[1970 NFL season|1970]], only two games would be played on [[NFL on Thanksgiving Day|Thanksgiving]], with the [[1970 Detroit Lions season|Lions]] and [[1970 Dallas Cowboys season|Cowboys]] hosting those games, and an AFC team rotating as the visiting team between Detroit and Dallas every year.