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| The Heidi Bowl Football Game Reviewed Photo Credit Getty Images |
Some of you may remember
The Heidi Bowl very well, and many others may have never heard of it or are
just too young to know. If you are one of the others and don’t know what I’m
talking about, let me explain.
November 17th, 1968, at
4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time the Oakland Raiders vs. the New York Jets
football game aired on NBC. The game was played in Oakland California; these
two teams were fierce rivals, quarterback Joe Namath vs. Oakland’s Daryl
Lamonica.
We followed Joe Namath as
he played high school football only 15 miles from where I grew up. I remember
this game very well, as I was watching this game with my father and uncles.
The NBC executives had originally
ordered the television movie Heidi to air at 7:00 PM.
Because of the high-scoring game and excessive injuries and penalties, the game ran late and ended
at 7:07 pm. When the fourth quarter started at 6:20 pm the NBC executives knew
it was not going to end on time.
They decided to keep the
game on until the end. They began to call the network technicians to
communicate their decision but could not get through.
As the time got closer to
7:00 pm. sports fans began calling the network to see if the game was going to
remain on.
This overloaded the network's lines causing the lines to go down, thus the NBC executives could not
communicate their decision. So, at 7:00 pm the game was cut off on the East
Coast for the movie Heidi.
This caused viewers and
sports fans on the East Coast to miss one of the most dramatic endings in
football history. The Oakland Raiders scored two touchdowns in the final minute
of the game to win 43 to 32. I can still remember when they flashed the final
score at the bottom of the screen during Heidi. My dad and uncles were furious.
The game will forever be
known as the Heidi Bowl and prompted the NFL and the networks to agree upon
airing all games in their entirety. Now you know why your regular programs are
delayed on Sunday if a game runs over.
The Jets and Raiders met again in December with the Jets winning 27-23 to win the American Football League Championship. Two weeks later the New York Jets defeated the highly favored Baltimore Colts of the Nation Football League in Super Bowl III.
I hope you enjoyed this bit of sports history.
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