When a game starts to go long, it’s usually the result of it being a down to the wire, edge of the seat battle.  We all know what happens then, the commentator will pipe up that if you tuned in looking for another program, well then you’ll just have to be patient.  Programs get pre-empted all the time.  In fact, it’s a rule.  Football games must be shown in their entirety, and Heidi is the reason.

1968.  The game was the Raiders against the Jets, week eleven in what would be a preview of the AFL championship game.  NBC was carrying the game.  Also, NBC had produced a television adaptation of Heidi and was all set to give a big premier right in primetime.

The film, of course, would have to follow a game that would best be described as huge.  It was a high scoring thrill ride of a game between two of the best teams in the league.  The Jets had Joe Nameth, the Raiders had Daryle Lamonica and were defending champs.  The scene was the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum. 

The Jets opened the scoring with two field goals in the first quarter.  Lamonica responded with two touchdowns.  Nameth was able to answer, finally getting a touchdown of his own, but the two-point conversion try failed, leaving the lead in Oakland’s hands, 14-12 going in to the half.

The Jets took the lead back with a rushing touchdown, and the lead changed hands again with a Raiders rushing touchdown.  The score at this point had already been inflated to 20-19 in favor of the Raiders.

The wild scoring continued, tying at 29-29 when the Jets scored on a field goal, making the score 32-29.  Following their scoring drive, with 1:05 left in the game, the Jets kicked the ball off to the Raiders.  Coincidentally it was now 7 o’clock in the evening.

Now 1:05 is a strange thing in football.  This is the kind of time left on the clock where if you are a fan of the team that needs to score, you remind yourself of just how much time a minute in football is.  If you are the team that needs to defend, you pretty much expect victory and just hope for a three and out so you can get the ball back and comfortably ride out the your last possession.  You’re either telling yourself anything can happen, or hoping anything doesn’t happen.  Whichever side, it’s about the most tense things can get.

So here the teams were.  Remember, for all those Jets fans in New York it was now 7 in the evening.  So NBC, with schedules that needed holding to, proceed with their lineup.  On came Heidi, the made for t.v. movie would eventually win composer John Williams an Emmy, and earn the producers nominations for Outstanding Dramatic Program.  I’m sure that there were plenty of children and families who were more than elated to see Heidi come on at its regularly scheduled time.  Indeed, I remember as a child before I was really into sports getting angry when The Simpsons would get pushed back.  Nonetheless, as soon as Jennifer Edwards’ young face took the screen, the game, for better or worse, entered infamy.

It was during this time that those hoping for anything to happen saw Lamonica head up a hurry-up drive and a couple of deep passes and a facemask penalty later, Lamonica hit Charlie Smith 20 yards downfield who then went 23 more to score.

Now it was Jets fans who needed anything to happen, and with seconds left to play, anything could happen.  Of course Jets fans were watching an orphaned girl get sent to live with her grandfather.

The Jets took the kickoff, managed to fumble it away, and Raider unknown Preston Ridlehuber recovered it and took it in.  Two touchdowns in a matter of seconds, not too bad for the Raiders.  The final score was 43-32.

Jets fans saw none of this and only learned the fate of their team, that they had given up not one but two touchdowns in the final minute to take the loss, on the Monday afterwards.  No one can blame the Jets fans, who famously flooded the switch boards of the NBC offices.

The Jets ended up on top, however, despite the painful loss.  They won out in the AFL Championship game, and then went on to beat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, giving the AFL a new level of legitimacy and making Broadway Joe a star.

Heidi has a 6.3 rating on imdb.com and, from looking at fan response, pales in comparison to the earlier Shirley Temple version of the story.

As with all things AFL, Dave Steidel’s Remember the AFL gives a riveting account of the game.