Anybody else remember when Victor Kiam was owner of the Patriots and he ran the Zamboni out to clear the field of snow for a game-winning field goal? Now that was in your face cheating, but they got away with it as far as I recall.
That was NOT the first time nor the last time that the field immediately around the spot of the kick was cleared of snow for a kicker to kick a field goal. In fact I have seen the field cleared more often than not.
It wasn't exactly like that. From NFLHistory.net (not affiliated with the NFL):
You can't hang that on Victor Kiam.
It was December 12th, 1982, and the Miami Dolphins came to Schafer Stadium to take on the Patriots. The day before, it had rained the whole entire day, that night the temperatures had plummeted, and the entire field of Astroturf had frozen solid with ice. On game day, a Nor’easter storm blew in and presented both teams with a snowstorm that dumped about 9 inches of snow on the two teams as they played. Neither team could muster much offense, as both teams combined through the entire game recorded only 11 pass completions. It had turned into an ice dancing smash mouth running game for both teams, and it appeared the game would be played to a scoreless tie. Both teams missed field goals during the game. But with less than 5 minutes left in the game, the Patriots had moved their way to within field goal range once again.A time out was called, as John Smith (an interestingly fitting name), prepared to kick the field goal attempt. Mark Henderson was an inmate at the Walpole State prison. That day, he was on work release, running a snowplow at the stadium during the game. Quarterback Steve Grogan, and then head coach Ron Meyer, motioned for Henderson to drive his snowplow onto the field to clear the yard markers. When Henderson got to the spot where John Smith would be kicking from, he swerved his plow and brushed away the snow, giving Smith enough footing to attempt the field goal. Smith then made the 33-yard field goal, and the Patriots came away with a 3-0 win in the game. Don Shula was incensed, and accused the Patriots organization of deceitful practices, and the media went berserk over the snowplow driver.
Many stories followed that game, but the history was made, and Mark Henderson went down in New England legacy. Nowadays, it’s very rare to find a Patriot fan who has not at least heard of Mark Henderson, and what he did on that frozen December day also known as “The Snowplow Game”.
That incident occurred years before Victor Kiam got involved with the Patriots.
The inept Sullivans were long time team owners, and the incident involved an actual convict who was on a work release program that made way for a game winning Patriots Field Goal in what was a scoreless game during a serious snow storm.
Victor Kiam's tenure as an NFL owner was profoundly inept but ultimately benign, as far as we who were/are Patriots fans were concerned.
The James Orthwein ownership period was much more of a tragedy for Patriot fans as the Budweiser family heir came quite close to moving the team to St. Louis, Mo.
That was stifled by the fact that earlier noted Sullivans who were so incapable in business that they actually sold the Patriots playing stadium to the Robert Kraft family, and the Lease contract guarantees were prohibitively expensive.
The end result was that the Patriots were bought by the Kraft's, and the Patriots have since become, arguably, the most successful franchise in NFL history.
We (I am) are talking $$$$ now.
P.S. Zamboni's are used on hockey rinks, and snow plows are used to clear snow.