These guys knew how to have fun, so it's perfect that their story is running on New Year's Eve.
Rebels With a Cause: The Story of the American Football League (Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, HBO) showcases the 1960s upstart league whose run-and-gun energy wasn't confined to on-field play.
Less corporate than the established NFL, the competing AFL drafted showy players like Joe Namath and cultivated quirky characters like Ben Davidson, Johnny Sample, Fred Williamson and Wahoo McDaniel. (And future leaders like Gene Upshaw and Jack Kemp.)
Watch this fun hour during the league's 50th season celebration, then wallow further in nostalgia at Remember the AFL.
(Rebels With a Cause: The Story of the American Football League is also available via HBO On Demand through Jan. 25.)