Before cable TV or Internet, we had 3 or 4 channels in most cities. On Sunday afternoons, we used to get NFL football on NBC and CBS and that was it. The old AFL was on NBC and the NFL was on CBS. There was no ESPN post game show or instant information on the status of games. Most fans got their scores by print or next day’s sports page.
On this day in 1968, the movie “Heidi” changed football and TV forever.
The Jets were leading and NBC switched to the movie. There were millions of little girls all over the country waiting for the movie to start.
Then Oakland scored twice in nine seconds and the game was over: 43-32! Nobody saw it. Only fans listening to the radio in New York and Oakland heard about it.
The NFL and the TV networks changed the rules after the game. Thanks to the Heidi game we have to watch the end of the game!
The "Heidi" game matched two of the greatest AFL teams. The Jets won Super Bowl III and the Raiders were one of the best pro-teams of the AFL era.
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