Ed and Steve Sabol of NFL Films will receive the lifetime achievement award at the Sports Emmy Awards Monday at the Marriott Marquis hotel in New York City.

NFL Films, founded by the father and son team, has documented every move of the NFL since it began in 1962.

"Though technology has changed, our message has stayed the same," said Steve Sabol, 61. "We are people who love movies and football. We are not as interested in the score, as the struggle of football - the mud, the muscles, the sweat, the passion."

The Mt. Laurel (N.J.) company, which has expanded from four to 275 employees, has won 84 Emmys over the years and provides programming for ESPN, the NFL Network, HBO, Fox, CBS and many other channels.

Its library has more than 100 million feet of film. NFL Films shoots over 720 miles of film each season and provides the highlights for every team in the league.

"We and National Geographic are the only ones who still use film," Steve Sabol said. "Film holds up better than video tape, which breaks down. Film lasts forever."

Ed Sabol, 89, is retired and living in Arizona, but "still calls in for critiques every week," Steve said.

Tim Russert of NBC News will present the lifetime achievement award to the Sabols. The ceremony will be telecast May 2 on Fox Sports Net.

It's a girl

Congratulations to NFL Films, Comcast SportsNet, and WIP 610-AM's Ray Didinger, who became a grandfather for the second time. His son, David, who works in the media services department at NFL Films, and his wife Christine had a baby girl, Kaitlyn Rose Didinger, on March 31. Kaitlyn joins big sister Haley, 3.

Baldinger going abroad

South Jersey resident Brian Baldinger will be announcing NFL Europe games for Fox again beginning May 18. He also will be returning to NFL games with Kenny Albert in the fall. Baldinger also voiced his first video game, Xbox's "NFL Fever 2005."

Book it

There's a funny book in stores by Philadelphia native Joe Queenan called "True Believers: The Inner Tragic Life of Sports Fans." In one chapter about announcers, Queenan rips Joe Thiesmann, Mike Patrick, Dan Dierdorf, Chris Berman and others.

(Spell)check, please

With sportscasts these days more like two-minute drills, it's no surprise that some of the local stations are using a ticker at the bottom of the screen to give scores. However, it doesn't excuse them from not spelling names correctly, as WPVI had "Red Winds" instead of "Red Wings" on Sunday.

Leaving a bad taste

When the Flyers scored a goal Wednesday night, Jim Jackson's call was "He scores for a case of Tastykake."

Yuck!

Laura Nachman covers television and radio sports for the Courier Times. She can be reached at lauranachman@aol.com.