Tagged: National Football League

TV BLOOPERS

November 17 in history:

Television history was made on this day in 1968, when a Sunday afternoon game between the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders was running long.  NBC was contracted to broadcast a new version of “Heidi,” sponsored by Timex watches, precisely at 7 p.m. Eastern time that night, whether the game was over or not.  A last-minute network decision to delay “Heidi” until after the game did not get to the right people, and the football broadcast for most of the U.S. was cut off with one minute left to play, and the Jets ahead by three points.  The game ended with two quick touchdowns by the Raiders, who won by a score of 43-32.  The fan uproar that resulted led to the now-common practice of delaying all regular programming on the networks rather than disrupting football games in progress.
President Richard Nixon made history on live television by stating “I’m not a crook” during a broadcast news conference on November 17th, 1973.  The question-and-answer session was part of an Associated Press meeting at Disney World, in the middle of the Watergate scandal.  Nixon made the “crook” remark while telling the reporters that he had never profited from his years of public service.
 

TV coverage of a concession speech by Howard Dean has been blamed for costing him the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004.  Dean was portrayed as being too emotional and out of control when he shouted to supporters after losing the Iowa caucuses.  Dean, a former governor of Vermont, was born on November 17th, 1948.

BIG STUFF

October 18 in history:

The tale of a big whale was introduced on this date in 1851, when Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick” was published in England.

The U.S. made a big purchase from Russia on October 18th, 1867…Alaska.  The Alaska territory was more than half a million acres, about twice as large as Texas. The acquisition arranged by Secretary of State William Seward was derided with nicknames like “Seward’s Folly” and “Seward’s Icebox.”

Nicknamed after something else big and cold, Chicago Bears rookie William “The Refrigerator” Perry became an overnight star during a Monday Night Football game against Green Bay in October 1985.  The two head coaches in that contest both celebrated their birthdays that game week, on October 18th…Mike Ditka of the Bears (1939), and Forrest Gregg of the Packers (1933).

Both Gregg and Ditka were still active players in the NFL during the 1970 season, when “Monday Night Football” made its debut. Announcer Keith Jackson, who handled the play-by-play for the Monday night games that first season, was born on this date in 1928.

IT’S ALL IN THE GAME

August 27 in history:

August 27th is the only date which is the birthday of more than one Vice-President of the United States.  Three V-P’s actually were born on this date…Lincoln’s first V-P, Hannibal Hamlin (1809), Coolidge’s V-P, Charles Dawes (1865), and Lyndon Johnson (1908), who later became President after Kennedy’s assassination.

Dawes is the only U.S. vice-president who wrote a number-one hit song.  His tune titled “Melody in A Major” was turned into “It’s All in the Game,” and the Tommy Edwards recording topped the charts in 1958. On this date in ’58, it looked like the game of major league baseball would be leaving Washington, D.C., when the owner of the Senators ball club said he would probably move the team to Minnesota. President Eisenhower even weighed in that day, urging the Senators to stay in D.C.

Another town got a professional sports team on August 27th, 1921, when the Green Bay Packers went pro and joined an organization which would soon be renamed the National Football League.