Pittsburghers didn't see the Immaculate Reception on TV

[snopes]

Comment: I live in Pittsburgh, PA, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers and home of the
greatest play in sports history (well, at least football history), the
Immaculate Reception (you know, the Franco Harris catch). Almost everyone
in the city of Pittsburgg claims to have seen this world famous play on
TV. However, upon further review, the game was blacked out in the town,
and unless you were there, no one saw it.

[pinqy]

I have never heard of a playoff game being blacked out. The very idea is ridiculous.

pinqy

[MattPHS2002]

I live here, its true. I just read it somewhere I think it was a local paper.

[snopes]

The NFL blackout rule (i.e., games blacked out on local TV if they don't sell out 72 hours in advance) used to apply to playoff games.

- snopes

[Ali Infree]

I believe that is true, I know that I was not watching the game at the time, and I think I would have been. The Steelers in a playoff game was a very new thing.

I know people who were at Three Rivers who did not see the play either, they had given up and were in the tunnels, leaving what they assumed was a lost cause when it happened. It makes for a funny story though.

I know I didn't see the play because I was listening to it on the radio heading for Pittsburgh to pick up a college friend at the old bus station on Liberty Avenue. We got to downtown Pittsburgh minutes after the end of the game and the town was already going crazy.

Ali "Myron Cope on Sports" Infree

[zman977]

I know people who were at Three Rivers who did not see the play either, they had given up and were in the tunnels, leaving what they assumed was a lost cause when it happened.

This is why I never leave a game early no matter what the score because you never know what could happen.

I saw the Immaculate Reception by accident. I was flipping the channel tuner (remember those things?) and just caught the football bouncing off the other Steeler's chest into Franco's hands. The clock ran out and he went in for the TD. Don't know if the game was blacked in PGH, but it was on here in NW PA.

[Chloe]

Poor things. If only some sports show would repeat it once in a great while so they'd get a chance to see it too.

[videoguy]

It was blacked out on local TV according to the Sporting News...

http://www.sportingnews.com/archives...reception.html
THE HISTORY

First of all, let's puncture a few myths.

Don't believe every Pittsburgher who tells you that they feasted their eyes on the Immaculate Reception, because only 50,350 were inside Three Rivers that day and the sold-out AFC divisional playoff was blacked out on local television. Congress amended that policy the next year.

"All those years after, everybody I met was at that game," former linebacker Jack Ham said. "It must have been held at the Coliseum in Los Angeles."

And don't believe anyone who says they heard the shrill voice of legendary Steelers color commentator Myron Cope on that play, because he had already left the booth for post-game interviews and stood beyond the end zone into which Harris ran.

And don't believe the Raiders' contention that it was the first use of instant replay, either.

[Ali Infree]

videoguy wrote:

[And don't believe anyone who says they heard the shrill voice of legendary Steelers color commentator Myron Cope on that play, because he had already left the booth for post-game interviews and stood beyond the end zone into which Harris ran.

Lest my sign off be taken as my own belief that Myron was doing the call, I know better. Jack Fleming, long-time partner of Cope's [and WVU sports announcer] made that call.

Ali "short hop" Infree

PS: One story has it that the officials huddled and decided to call the play the way they did simply to get out of Three Rivers Stadium alive. This was long before instant replay, but the network replay does confirm the call on the field.

[Matt H.]

Originally Posted by Ali Infree

PS: One story has it that the officials huddled and decided to call the play the way they did simply to get out of Three Rivers Stadium alive. This was long before instant replay, but the network replay does confirm the call on the field.

Instant replay does not confirm that it was a legal catch, even all these years later.

The issue with the Immaculate Reception is that the rule at the time was no forward pass could be legally caught by an offensive player if it had already been touched be another offensive player. Therefore, in this play, the question is whether it bounced off of Jack Tatum and only Jack Tatum.

[Ali Infree]

Matt H. writes:

Instant replay does not confirm that it was a legal catch, even all these years later.

The issue with the Immaculate Reception is that the rule at the time was no forward pass could be legally caught by an offensive player if it had already been touched be another offensive player. Therefore, in this play, the question is whether it bounced off of Jack Tatum and only Jack Tatum.

First, there was no instant replay, only the footage captured at the time by the network.

Second, the ball seems to hit Jack Tatum, although, I have to say it is a judgement call. One dimension isn't good enough for absolute certainty.

You're not still mad about the subsequent loss to the Steelers in the SuperBowl are ya?


Ali "At least you have the Twins" Infree

[jimmy101_again]

Even if a person was watching the TV broadcast they still did not see the "immaculate reception".

Harris' hands, the ball and the ground are not visible in the video that was broadcast, or any of the other video that was taken of the play.

Hence the name, "immaculate". It is impossible to prove if the the catch was legit or if the ball was grabed after hitting the ground.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by Ali Infree

First, there was no instant replay, only the footage captured at the time by the network.

"Instant replay" refers to the ability of a TV broadcast unit to spool and replay recorded video of a live event within seconds of its occurrence, a technology which certainly existed back then. What you mean is that the NFL then had no mechanism in place for referees to review video before making a final call on a disputed play.

- snopes

[Ali Infree]

snopes wrote:

"Instant replay" refers to the ability of a TV broadcast unit to spool and replay recorded video of a live event within seconds of its occurrence, a technology which certainly existed back then. What you mean is that the NFL then had no mechanism in place for referees to review video before making a final call on a disputed play.

Well, yes, that is what I meant

Ali "losing it for words" Infree

[Matt H.]

Originally Posted by Ali Infree

Matt H. writes:



First, there was no instant replay, only the footage captured at the time by the network.

Second, the ball seems to hit Jack Tatum, although, I have to say it is a judgement call. One dimension isn't good enough for absolute certainty.

You're not still mad about the subsequent loss to the Steelers in the SuperBowl are ya?

Looks can be deceiving. I'm originally from Wisconsin, so I hate the Vikings.

[Ali Infree]

Matt H. wrote:

Looks can be deceiving. I'm originally from Wisconsin, so I hate the Vikings.

Well, immaculate reception aside, are you liking this season for Green Bay?

Ali "Favre might get another ring" Infree

[Matt H.]

Originally Posted by Ali Infree

Matt H. wrote:



Well, immaculate reception aside, are you liking this season for Green Bay?

Ali "Favre might get another ring" Infree

Liking it? I think I'm responsible for half of the Packers' clothing revenue this year.

Originally Posted by Matt H.

The issue with the Immaculate Reception is that the rule at the time was no forward pass could be legally caught by an offensive player if it had already been touched be another offensive player. Therefore, in this play, the question is whether it bounced off of Jack Tatum and only Jack Tatum.

The rule in effect at the time was "If a defensive player touches pass first, or simultaneously with or subsequent to its having been touched by only one eligible offensive player, then all offensive players become and remain eligible."

1. Hits the defensive player first, it's legally up for grabs.
2. Hits the offensive player first, then touched by another offensive player, it cannot be legally caught by the offense.
3. Hits the offensive player first, then hits a defensive player, may legally be caught by another offensive player.

According to the Wiki on the play,

In 1998, during halftime of the AFC Championship game, NBC showed a replay from its original broadcast. The replay presented a different angle than the NFL Films clip that is most often shown. According to a writer for the New York Daily News, "NBC's replay showed the ball clearly hit one and only one man[:] Oakland DB Jack Tatum."

It also lists other investigations, including one by a "physics professor and longtime fan of the Raiders" that all conclude the ball hit Tatum, making it a legal play.

[Elwood]

Lest my sign off be taken as my own belief that Myron was doing the call, I know better. Jack Fleming, long-time partner of Cope's [and WVU sports announcer] made that call.

And what a call it was. Jack Fleming = best. play-by-play caller. ever. I've never worked out how he could possibly call every Steelers, West Virginia Football and West Virginia Men's Basketball game. He must have taken a lot of red-eye flights.