Jets-Raiders Took Back Seat to Heidi

Never had one finger on one button triggered so many blown gaskets.

Thirty-one years ago today, the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets were engaged in a memorable game in Oakland that would wind up being remembered as “the Heidi Game.”

The Daryle Lamonica-led Raiders were in the process of creating a wild finish to overhaul the Joe Namath-led Jets. The Jets had taken the lead with 1:05 to play on Jim Turner’s field goal.

Then Lamonica threw to rookie Charlie Smith for a 42-yard touchdown to gain the lead again. Nine seconds later, the Raiders recovered a New York fumble on the kickoff and scored again in the final seconds for a 43-32 win.

Probably the wildest finish to a game that season, everyone later agreed.

One problem.

Very few television viewers saw the finish.

At NBC headquarters in New York, seconds before Oakland’s Lamonica-to-Smith touchdown pass, a technician pushed a button that made the football game vanish from the screens of millions of viewers.

In its place appeared a two-hour adaptation of the Johanna Spyri children’s classic, “Heidi.”

NBC’s switchboard lit up. Across the land, football viewers fumed. Even the New York City Police Department switchboard was flooded with calls.

NBC tried to switch back to the game, but by the time lines had been restored, the game was over.

Also on this date: In 1965, baseball took a flier on an Air Force general, hiring William D. “Spike” Eckert, 56, as commissioner to succeed retiring Ford Frick, 70. Eckert signed a seven-year deal at $65,000 a year. Baseball’s owners fired him three years later. . . . In 1979, the Dodgers invested $2.1 million in a free agent, pitcher Don Stanhouse, who appeared in 21 games in 1980, was injured, and was out of baseball a year later. . . . In 1956, Syracuse’s Jim Brown had a spectacular finale to his college football career. He scored six touchdowns and 43 points in a 61-7 rout of Colgate. His touchdown runs were of 6, 15, 50, 8, 1 and 19 yards.

For the record: In Tuesday’s Countdown to 2000, it was mentioned Oklahoma has the NCAA’s longest winning streak in football at 47 games. Mt. Union, a Division III school, has has the record for all divisions at 52.