posted
I was discussing 'the immaculate reception' (background story here) with someone last night & realized there are a couple of UL's associated with it. One is that it was the first time officials used instant replay to make a call, even though there was no such rule at the time. Another is that the number of security on hand determined which way the call went:
quote:Al LoCasale, a Raiders executive for 34 years, gets credit for supplying the punch line to the story about Swearingen's phone conversation.
"I said he asked how many cops there were to escort the officials out of the stadium if they didn't call it a touchdown," says LoCasale, who watched the play from the Oakland sideline. "When he was told there were only six, he raised his arms and said, 'That’s right. It's six for Pittsburgh.'
-------------------- No man has a right in America to treat any other man "tolerantly" for tolerance is the assumption of superiority. -Wendell L. Willkie Posts: 3833 | From: Virginia | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
One issue that's kept alive the IR controversy is that we always see the same NFL Films clip, which is inconclusive. On other famous controverisal calls, like Maradonna's "Hand of God" goal in '86 or the Yankees fan-aided home run in the '96 playoffs, replays pretty clearly showed that the officials had gotten the call wrong. But we've never had that certainty with the IR.
However, I did just notice that Wikipedia links to an article that says NBC's original broadcast of the game did show that the ball hit Tatum, meaning that Harris' catch was legal. But I can't find that video online anywhere.
Also, I wouldn't call it a UL -- more of a misconception -- but many people believe that the IR happened in the same season the Steelers won their first Super Bowl. In fact, they lost the following game to the Dolphins in the AFC Championship, and didn't win the title until two years later. However, many other controversial calls, including the Hand of God, the Jeffrey Maier home run, and the Tom Brady Tuck Rule play, did benefit teams that went on to win titles that same year, and in the latter two cases, signal the start of an extended championship run. (While it wasn't controversial, the same could be said of The Catch by Dwight Clark, which kicked off the 49ers dynasty of the '80s.)
Don Gato
Posts: 951 | From: The place to be | Registered: Mar 2000
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