Today is the anniversary of one of TV history's most infamous broadcasting interruptions, and unlike some other examples later in the month, it's one caused by the network. The year was 1968 and it was the big game between the hottest football rivals at the time, the Raiders and the Jets. They were running over schedule, and the network bigwigs made the call to push back the following program despite contractual obligations. However, this message never reached the actual people running the station– so many people were calling in, asking if they were going to finish airing the game or not, that the switchboards overloaded, so the original program began as planned.
Instead of the last few minutes of the intense game where the Raiders took a surprise last minute victory, passionate football fans were faced with the opening of a direct to TV adaptation of Heidi. The film starred Jennifer Edwards, who to be completely honest is best known for this film and being the daughter of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Pink Panther" director Blake Edwards. Anyway, sports fans were peeved off and If you find the right guy, some people are still upset about it . Likewise, this broadcast has been dubbed "The Heidi Game" or "Heidi Bowl". I perferer "Heidi Bowl" because I think it rolls off the tongue better.
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