ESPN ran a series this week on the best football games the writers (and the readers) had ever seen. Strangely enough, no one mentioned the "Answered Prayer."
My wife and I had flown to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with my family and had convinced my dad to upgrade his satellite so we could get Vs. to see the game. My dad is a Utah graduate, but a BYU fan. Repentance at its best.
My brother, a BYU alum, lives nearby and had invited some of the other BYU grads in the ward over. As with any gathering of BYU graduates, there were lot of little kids running around the house. I settled in on the couch and proceeded to enjoy the first quarter, sensing another demolition of a conference foe.
As any faithful BYU fan knows, things slipped in the 2nd quarter and I began to get the same sick feeling I had during the Arizona game: Nothing was going well. When the first quarter had been festive, mingling and eating some grub, the second and third quarters were spent dejected on the couch.
BYU got the ball back for their final drive. The room got really, really quiet. Everyone got a little closer to the TV and the kids were staring at the adults, wondering what was so interesting. I started to wonder if praying for a BYU victory was appropriate. Rolling, rolling, time off the clock. The ball flies out of John Beck's hand and across the screen, seemingly to an empty field. When the camera caught up to the ball, there is Jonny Harline all alone on his knees.
The room erupted, everyone hugging and yelling. Kids started bawling, wondering why dad went from silent to yelling in a split second.
It's great to be a BYU fan.
Where were you? Whats the best BYU moment you had?
My 3 Cents: As only an investigative mind as My 3 Cents can provide, we answered the question: Why was/is Harline so open? Since all the cameras were off Harline, there is no video that shows someone blowing their coverage in monumental fashion.
HOWEVER, if you watch closely, #44, my main man Joe Jiannoni, is the one who decides to abandon his short zone coverage on that side of the field to chase down John Beck. On behalf of BYU fans everywhere, thanks for not executing at the highest level Mr. Jianonni!
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5 comments:
In answer to your questions about best experiences, my top 4 are below (3 football, 1 basketball). Mine have to include only games that I attended in person. This severely limits the moments for me (because I have only lived in Utah during my four years at BYU), but nothing on TV can come close to being there.
1. 1990 Miami: BYU fans have never been this loud. It seems impossible to me that another game could have the intensity of this one. Those who were there know what I’m talking about. Those who weren’t can only wish they were. I had perfect seats. East side (in the middle of the student section) on the 45 yard line. Half way up the stands (so you can get a perspective on the field and see to the opposite side). We stood and yelled the whole game and rushed the field afterwards.
2. 1994 Notre Dame: Drove several hours to be at this game. Seated right in front of an Irish fan, who was giving me the business as ND started off with an easy length of the field drive with three off-tackle plays, and a subsequent BYU fumble on the ensuing kickoff. Later in the game, as they scored again, he asked “Where’s your rah-rah song now”? With BYU up 21-14, and ND facing their last chance of the game, he was quite drunk and since we were sitting with our backs to the famous mosaic on the south face of their library, he yelled for his boys to “Come to touchdown jesus, baby, come to touchdown jesus”. When they failed, he didn’t say another word. (I must say that in my three trips to ND stadium to see BYU games, all of the other fans have been extremely gracious). Slapped hands with the team as they ran through the tunnel.
3. 1991 Virginia (NCAA Tournament): There’s nothing like the NCAA’s for basketball. Intensity level ratcheted way up over the regular season. I credit my group of friends with single-handedly bringing the crowd back into the game in the second half to help the boys in blue overcome a second half deficit for the victory.
4. 1996 Texas A&M: Flew across the country to be at this game, and met up with buddies from my school days (graduated 1993). Young Mr. Cahoon (to borrow Brent Musberger’s phrase) made his catch right in front of me. Got to bach it for the weekend and, of course, rushed the field afterwards. A postgame review of the tape that I had rolled gave video evidence of the aforementioned field rushing.
By the way, great job on the site. Keep up the good work.
As best I can tell, when Beck went right, all the U. defenders followed him. There was so much chaos in the end zone, that Harline realized that the left side was wide open and the rest is history.
This is fun. For me:
#1 Miracle Bowl, 1980. OK, so I was only 9 years old, but I remember it well. Talk about dejected! BYU getting destroyed, yet another Bowl loss. You all know what happened in the last 5 minutes of that game, and we woke up all the neighbors in our military housing complex.
#2 Miami, 1990. Close second, because I was a young freshman forced to usher in order to watch the games. That's right, I was lucky enough to wear one of those orange jackets and charged with stopping the massive surge flooding onto the field. Stop them? Yeah right, more like join them! I got to give Stacey Corley a high five. The other writer is correct, no BYU crowd has ever been that loud. That place was rocking!
I was there. I've never jumped so high in my life. I was in the stands right above where Harline caught that pass. It was incredible and the best was to see the look on the yewts faces. Good times.
My memories go clear back to the early 60s listening to radio broadcasts of basketball games lying on the living room floor keeping score on my home-made scorecard - Dave Eastis and Gary Earnest teams. I realize most readers can't believe that team sports existed back then. Well, BYU was never on TV.
Greatest games:
1966 - final basketball game of the year: the Utes have clinched the conference title with All-American Jerry Chambers; BYU has its own All-American, guard Dick Nemelka, and possibly the best all-round player ever, Jeff Congdon - he of the 26 foot shots (only 2 points then) and the unbelievable passes) and three 6'11 centers, including Jim Eakins who spent something like 15 years in the NBA as a designated banger. My high school buddies and I watched from the track at the northwest corner of the court at the old Fieldhouse (now for volleyball) with our $2.00 standing room passes - we were there for every game, and you don't get any closer to the action unless you are on the team bench (if a technical got called, we heard what the player said to get it). The final score, 115-100, does not reflect how badly the Cougars beat the Utes. It would have been closer but Stan Watts removed the big three, Nemelka, Congdon and Steve Kramer with about six minutes to go to a resounding chorus of boos; it was hard to know whether fans were upset that the heroes didn't get to finish the game or that they wanted the beat-down to be worse. Watts put them back in with a couple of minutes left. At the horn, Congdon threw the ball from under the basket and hit the overhanging scoreboard, causing shards of glass or plastic to rain onto the floor - the perfect punctuation mark. The Utes went on to the NCAA final four and the Cougars won the NIT.
2. 1980 - Miracle Bowl: that has already been described. Midway through the 2nd half, I was thinking, we fought Friday afternoon clear from L.A. to watch this? The SMU running backs, Eric Dickerson and Craig James ran for 110 yards and 225 yards respectively - almost like they decided in the huddle how many yards they would pick up this play - "I'll get 14 this time, and you get 22 on the next play..." I was fully aware that the Y had never won a bowl game as I watched the scoreboard: 46-25 with a little over four minutes left in the game. Even after a touchdown, the Vai Sikahema punt return for another, and a blocked punt that gave us the ball at mid field, I remember thinking, "well, at least we'll only lose by six - that's respectable." When Clay Brown caught the Hail Mary with time expired, we almost fell out of the third deck of Jack Murphy Stadium. At the end of the game 30,000 of the original 55,000 observers were gone, and it seemed that 25,000 of those who remained were wearing stetsons and SMU colors. Despite the chill in the air, I left my jacket open to let the world see my BYU sweatshirt. Half of our group left the game with their team down by 20+, but I've never left a BYU game early - now I know why.
3. 1990 - Miami: As my buddy and I got to our seats in the southeast corner of Cougar Stadium, we remarked that it was a fantastic day for football - perfect weather - and I said, "even though we don't stand a snowball's chance in hell to win, I'm glad we're here." I had been wrong before, I'm sure I'll be wrong in the future.
4. 1981 (November) - UCLA: This appears here only because it took place in Pauley Pavilion and only because as UCLA grad students, my buddy and I (he was with me in San Diego for the Miracle Bowl, as well) had UCLA student seats. In fact, my friend, Dr. Dayton, was wearing a BYU windbreaker. Danny Ainge had graduated following his dash for the basket against Notre Dame the previous spring, but future NBAers Fred Roberts and Greg Kite were good enough. Even though this UCLA team wasn't as good as the previous years (Kiki Vanderweghe had graduated), it was a very satisfying win.
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