On this date in 1968 ... Heidi!

[Ronfitch]

"The Raiders took on the NY Jets on November 17, 1968. With the Jets up by 3 with 65 seconds left ..."

http://www.raiders.com/news/article-1/H ... c7937c6e81

[MIKEBENNIDICT]

I laugh at this but I'm sure no one was laughing then.

I've read on message boards and Youtube comments, including those who were who around in 1968 to have seen this and have told about how they along with someone else got irate about this.

One person saw his dad and grandfather throw a fit over it not understanding what it was about.

Too bad no one has made a movie about it.

[Todd Pence]

Two weeks ago when the Jets played the Raiders, the network was deluged with calls demanding that they put the movie HEIDI on.

[John Grasso]

I'm probably one of the few PFRA members who remembers watching that Jets game.
I was not surprised when they cut the telecast of the game since it was a common practice
in those days. I then just switched to listening to the end of the game on the radio.

If I remember correctly during the 1970s the telecast of the weekly basketball game would
begin a few minutes into the game so it could fit into a two-hour time spot. And I believe
the USFL playoff game that went into triple overtime occurred in 1984 and the telecast
of that game was cut after the second overtime.

It's funny, the things you take for granted today.

[BD Sullivan]

And I believe the USFL playoff game that went into triple overtime occurred in 1984 and the telecast of that game was cut after the second overtime.

The Michigan-Los Angeles USFL game was the one that went to triple OT, and while it likely was chopped off in some markets, it wasn't a network decision because I remember seeing the entire game in the Cleveland area. However, one week later, that same ABC affiliate chose not to show the late night conference championship between LA and Arizona. That game should have been played in L.A., but because the '84 Olympics were three weeks from starting (in the Coliseum), they had to shift the game to Arizona. Then, the original starting time of 12:30 p.m. local time was switched to night when they came to the realization that maybe playing an afternoon football game in Tempe in the first week of July probably wasn't a great idea.

[Gary Najman]

Too bad no one has made a movie about it.

I remember that in the early 90s HBO did a 1 hour made-for-tv movie of the game. It was funny because it started in a NY suburban house, where some guy invited to his home many friends, men and women, who all wore Joe Namath's jerseys (I don't know if they were really avaliable then) and Jets caps, while the man's young daughter was eager to see Heidi. So as the house had only tv, the poor girl had to lock herself in her room with her Heidi books, then a loud scream and curses were heard, and the girl's mother entered her room smiling and saying to her: "I have a surprise for you", and then they went down the stairs to see Heidi. THe movie also show a low-end employee making the decisión to cut the game, while I've read that the movie had to be played in his entirety because Timex had bought the slot time, and in fact the man who made the decisión would've been fired then. The funny thing is that the executives who told to cut the game regretted their decisión immediatily, but in the long run it was for the benefit, as they show Namath with the little actress that played Heidi for advertising the following week's game.

[Todd Pence]

Any truth to the rumor that when the Jets and the Raiders played two weeks ago, viewers bombarded the network with calls demanding they put on HEIDI?