Nineteen eighty-four was a great year for guy-friendly movies and an even better year for guy-friendly television broadcasts. Twenty-five years ago, much changed on television, with networks offering more sports programming, more sitcoms centering around guys, and more shows appealing to a guy's visual and auditory senses. The shows that began 25 years ago paved the way for the shows of today and left a lasting impact on bro pop culture.

1. The Re-Invention of College Football/Flutie's Hail Mary



1984 was the year that invigorated and changed the broadcast of college football games. For all the legal bros and scholars out there, the change in college football broadcasting came about after a June 1984 Supreme Court ruling in NCAA v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma, which stated that the NCAA's television plan violated anti-trust rules and allowed for individual schools to negotiate their own broadcast contracts. Although the results were not immediate, in 1984, ESPN started broadcasting its "College Football Saturday Primetime." To make it an even better year for college football, on November 23, 1984, in one of its bigger and initial college football broadcasts, CBS aired the B.C.-Miami game that ended with Doug Flutie's Hail Mary pass.

How it changed Bro-gramming: The Supreme Court ruling had a strong impact on college sports. The decision, along with the growth of cable networks like ESPN and TBS resulted in an explosion of college sports broadcast options. Although most schools continued to negotiate broadcast contracts through the now defunct CFA, after Notre Dame broke with the CFA and signed an exclusive contract with NBC, more and more schools started negotiating individual broadcast deals, which led to more sports programming options on more channels in more local markets. As a result of the 1984 Supreme Court ruling, there has been a decrease in the number of independent schools and a repositioning of athletic conferences, as schools attempted to increase their bargaining power. Of course, aside from the ruling, ESPN's "College Football Saturday Primetime" has brought us many great football moments and many great sports commentators. And lastly, the win that Flutie clinched for B.C. against the U was not only some great football, but also led to a 16% rise in applications to B.C. and the birth of the "Flutie Effect," where schools experience an increase in applications after their sports teams are victorious.  Keep Reading »