Nowadays it is the policy of the NFL to NOT cut away from games until they're concluded (barring an obvious blowout), but fifty years ago today - in a game involving former Tide QB Joe Namath - NBC managed to anger football fans coast to coast when they cut away from the AFL showdown between the defending AFL champion Oakland Raiders and the eventual 1968 AFL champion NY Jets - and fans missed one of the most incredible comebacks in history. The final 90 seconds of the game saw a total of 17 points scored. (To make it more incredible, Oakland actually had a TD called back).
But the country missed it because NBC executives couldn't reach the proper folks to tell them to delay the start of the movie until the game was over - because of switchboard jams caused by fans wanting to know the same thing.
Of course, if they'd done the right thing......the game wouldn't be nearly so well remembered. The Raiders won, but the Jets won the rematch for the AFL title......and went on to make more history when they won Super Bowl III just eight weeks after getting sacked by Heidi.
But the country missed it because NBC executives couldn't reach the proper folks to tell them to delay the start of the movie until the game was over - because of switchboard jams caused by fans wanting to know the same thing.
Of course, if they'd done the right thing......the game wouldn't be nearly so well remembered. The Raiders won, but the Jets won the rematch for the AFL title......and went on to make more history when they won Super Bowl III just eight weeks after getting sacked by Heidi.
