In Utah, Things Get a Little Harry

ABC was left embarrassed by its cross-promotion of “Monday Night Football” and the steamy new series, “Desperate Housewives,” at the start of Monday’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.

But the most embarrassing moment in sports television history occurred 36 years ago today. On the East Coast, NBC cut away from an Oakland Raider-New York Jet game to show the children’s movie, “Heidi,” and missed two Raider touchdowns in a final minute of a 43-32 victory. It has become known as “the Heidi game.”

Around Salt Lake City this week, they’re talking about another children’s movie, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” in the same vein.

A power outage delayed the start of Saturday’s Wyoming-Utah game at Laramie, Wyo., by 1 hour 39 minutes. It was being regionally televised by ABC, but the affiliate in Salt Lake City didn’t show any of the game because, according to the Deseret News, the late-starting game would have overlapped with the network’s showing of “Harry Potter.” The station was contractually obligated to show the movie in its entirety.

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Trivia time: What was John McKay’s record against UCLA in his 16 seasons at USC?

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Attractive invitation: Heisman Trophy hopefuls Jason White and Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma, and Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush of USC participated in a taped Q&A; on FSN’s college football pregame show last weekend.

White directed this comment at Leinart: “I want to know how you balance your time between football, the Hollywood spotlight and all the girls.”

Said Leinart: “Well, Jason, it’s tough. Football, school, all the girls.... You have to come out here one time and go out.”

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That’s stamina: Also on the FSN show, Bush said to Peterson: “Hey, Adrian, they call me ‘the President.’ What’s your nickname?”

Said Peterson: “A.D. It stands for all day.... My daddy gave it to me when I was younger.... Whatever I did, I did it all day.”

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Headlines: The naming of Eli Manning as the New York Giants’ starting quarterback was good news to tabloid headline writers in New York.

“Eli’s Comin’ ” was the main headline on the cover of Tuesday’s New York Post, and the same headline also ran in the New York Daily News.

“You Da Manning” was the headline on the back cover of the Post.

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More redundancy: Several readers e-mailed to say that “The Los Angeles Angels,” in Spanish, is “The The Angels Angels.” And “The La Brea Tar Pits” translates to “The The Tar Tar Pits.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1990, Houston’s David Klingler threw an NCAA-record 11 touchdown passes as the Cougars beat Eastern Washington, 84-21.

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Trivia answer: 10-5-1.

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And finally: Mike Downey of the Chicago Tribune, on Michael Phelps’ DUI bust: “I heard the cops tested him by seeing if he could swim a straight line.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.