Not Hiding Heidi

Today is the 50th anniversary of the legendary Heidi Game.

For those of you not familiar, it was a very exciting televised pro football game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets.  It had a three-hour time slot on NBC, which was thought to be more than enough (and generally was back in then--game times have since expanded).

The contest started at 4 pm.  With a little over a minute left in the game, the Jets were leading 32-29.  However, the broadcast was running long.  Since it seemed a likely win for the Jets, after a commercial break, NBC decided to air the heartwarming tale of Heidi (about a Swiss orphan who lives in the mountains with her grandfather), as scheduled, at 7 pm.

Fans were bewildered, and, in an age where it wasn't easy to find out elsewhere what was happening, enraged.  What they missed turned out to be dramatic.  In that final minute, Oakland managed to score not one, but two touchdowns, winning 43-32.

But at least Heidi fans didn't miss the beginning of the tale.