01 February 2010
Two amazing football comebacks
Football fans who are not from Minnesota will enjoy watching the Superbowl this coming weekend. Since this marks the end of the season, this is also my last chance to post two videos. The top one is the trailer for the very interesting documentary Harvard Beats Yale 29-29; I don't have time to post the story, but you can read about it at the link.
The one below is from a 1994 high school game in Texas, in which Plano East trailed by a score of 41-17 with only 3 minutes left in the game. The announcers are more like cheerleaders than analysts, but that's part of the fun. If you watch, don't turn it off until the very very last play; there is a surprise ending.
And finally, if you like this sort of thing, you will probably want to count the number of laterals in this final play from a Division III game.
No more football. (Olympics next).
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The Harvard Crimson headline--used as the title of the film--is just utter genius. It cracks me up every time I encounter it. (It was recently emulated by the Village Voice in reporting Brown's victory in Massachusetts, "Republicans Win Majority, 41-59.")
ReplyDeleteMy younger sister, a Cliffie at the time, and my father, a Harvard professor, attended the game. I don't know nuttin' from football, but I deeply envy them the experience.
Hard Beats Yale 29-29 is available on Netflix. It's as much of a social documentary as it is a great football game. It was abhout team mates that were anti-war playing along side "Nam vets. There's George Bush doing his cheerleading thing and Harvard guard Tommy Lee Jones talking about his room mate, Al Gore. You even learn who B.D. Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury character was based on.
ReplyDeleteEven if football isn't your thing, this is worth watching. The Yalies are tortured to this day with how this game turned out...
@anon - I've seen the movie and agree with your comment except for the last sentence. Had the game not turned out the way it did, none of them would have had lasting fame (except maybe Calvin Hill and Downing). Perversely the tie gives them not only fame but more memories and talking points than a runaway victory ever would have. Some of them acknowledge that in the movie.
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