Remembering the “Heidi Bowl”

Today is an anniversary which often passes without notice, but in true American style, we should honor it here lest we ever forget. Forty years ago today, on Nov. 17, 1968, the New York Jets were barely leading in a pitched battle with the Oakland Raiders, hanging on to a slim 32-29 lead. There was still 65 seconds left on the game clock, but NBC television executives were looking at the real world clock instead. It was 7:00 pm on the East Coast and there was a decision to be made.

They made that decision, cutting away from the game and switching over to the scheduled broadcast of the movie ‘Heidi.’ Moments after viewers saw the opening credits of the film begin to roll, the Raiders staged one of the most dramatic, surging comebacks seen up to that time, scoring two touchdowns in under a minute and trouncing the shell shocked Jets 43-32. But unless you were watching on the West Coast, you didn’t see it.

I was still in middle school at the time and not yet as much of a fan as my dad, so I didn’t really understand exactly what had driven him to knock over his can of Utica Club beer and stomp around the room screaming words my mother insisted I shouldn’t repeat in polite company. He never forgot it, though, retelling that story with his friends every football season in years to come. He cursed the name of NBC until the day he died. He wasn’t alone, either. The Heidi Bowl and the ensuing outrage expressed by fans is widely credited as the key event which changed the way the major networks handled sports broadcasting which continues to this day.

And as for the Jets fans? Well… we’ve still really never forgiven the Raiders.