Posted on 11/17/2018 6:10:12 PM PST by Snickering Hound
Today marks the 50th anniversary of a moment that forever changed television coverage of the National Football League – it is the anniversary of the infamous “Heidi Game.”
The contest pitted the New York Jets against the Oakland Raiders, two bitter rivals in the American Football League, the upstart league in the pre-NFL merger era. The Jets, led by quarterback Joe Namath, took a 32-29 lead in the hard-fought game with less than a minute to play.
That’s when trouble ensued. NBC-TV, which was televising the game, had scheduled a presentation of Heidi, the tale of a young girl’s adventures in the Swiss Alps, for 7 PM ET. That was usually considered a safe time slot for regular programming, given that most pro football games ran about an hour per half in that era.
But this Jets/Raiders game ran slower than expected, and exceeded its scheduled three-hour time slot. So, as per pre-arrangement, the Jets/Raiders game went to commercial, only to return to the start of Heidi at 7 PM instead of the game, with no explanation to the many fans watching in the New York market who were flummoxed that they couldn’t see the end of the game.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
I recall this event. I was watching the TV when this Fiasco unfolded. It was the absolute worst management call by the Networks and the NFL of all time.
What a JOKE!
I know a Heidi. She was only 5 or 6 when this happened. She has been told about Heidi bowl game numerous times.
The Jets have had kind of a long dry spell since that year. Even longer than Chokeland
How about since 1957?
I remember that day as if it was yesterday.
I had 5 young kids waiting for “Heidi”.
We got Heidi.
I was delighted.:-)
.
The Lions are rebuilding.
And Heidi Heitkamp was conceived.
Was it the cool episode of Heidi where she slays the dragon and escapes the Nazis?
Does it pay as much as his Panty Hose commercials?
So you’re saying the “Curse of Heidi” is becoming almost as bad as the “Curse of the Bambino”....?? ;^)
I was there in the living room and my dad stepped out expecting to see the game when he came back.
I explained what happened to him but he couldn’t believe they would have done that.
NBC actually ran the last portion of the game during the “Huntley-Brinkley Report” evening news on Monday night.
It was one big fudged up situation.
Lol, I think Namath checked himself into rehab after that stunt.
I was six years old that year. I was quite possibly one of the happy kids that night. My mother would often let us stay up late for those prime time special movies like “Heidi”, “Wizard of Oz” and “Willie Wonka”.
I had thought it was a Giants game. I don’t know if we were watching the game. My mind says yes, but most likely waiting for Heidi to start.
From the article
The fumble by television executives is remembered today as one of the biggest gaffes in television history, and led to a new rule that all NFL games would be televised to their conclusion.
Fox no longer abides by this. They have dumped out of several games this year due to “contractual obligations”.
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