filkertom | Da Big Game (Reply)

Thirty years ago, the idea of Michigan playing Ohio State for the number one spot in the nation would've sent me into the same screaming fit it's already sent a lot of people.

Twenty-five years ago was already too late. I'd discovered gaming. And, as Brother Rob sez, "He wargames through weekend, leads armies and legions / He doesn't care how well you putted."

Still, the modern gladiatorial arenas are damned popular. It may be said best by Garrison Keillor in today's installment of his Writer's Almanac:

It was on this day in 1968 that NBC executives made one of the worst broadcasting decisions in the history of network television, interrupting their coverage of a football game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets in order to show the scheduled movie, Heidi, about an orphaned girl who goes to live with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps.

There was one minute left in the game and the Jets were leading by 32 to 29, when NBC went to a commercial. No televised football game had ever gone longer than three hours before, and executives weren't sure what to do. Timex had paid a lot of money to advertise during Heidi, and network executives figured the Jets would win the game anyway, so after the commercial break, the movie began.

Football fans were enraged. So many people called to complain that the NBC telephone switchboard in New York City blew 26 fuses. People were right to complain. What they missed was the Raiders coming back to score two touchdowns in the final minute, winning the game 43 to 32.

It was that game, and the storm of protest by fans, that forced TV executives to realize how passionate the audience for football really was. Two years later, networks began showing football on Monday nights as well. And because of that game, the NFL now has a contract with the networks that all football games will be shown until their completion.

On the other hand, I think the networks were completely clueless about their audience from the git-go. They were dreaming dreams of the great love a certain segment of the population has for The Sound of Music. I mean, going from a testosterone-laden war in miniature... to Heidi?

So... all that's on TV tonight is football and Heidi. The internet doesn't exist yet. What do you do for fun? No, wait, the real question: Do you really much care about your local sports team(s)?