Horror Story - Super Bowl VII

[BlitzFiftySix]

I was speaking with my father this weekend and he reminded me of a story that I had completely forgotten about re: something that happened to him when I was a kid.

My father was a succesfull car salesman in the DC area (now retired) and in 1971 he won a sales contest that sent him to SuperBowl VII in Pasadena to see the Skins vs. Fins. What a terrific prize, huh?

Now for the horror story. A few hours before kickoff he was tilting back a few cold ones in the hotel bar waiting for the bus to leave taking the guys to the stadium. My dad went to the bathroom to settle up with mother nature and when he came out he was stunned to see his buds from the bar were gone and the barkeep told him that they had left to get on the bus.

My old man took off like a bat out of hell to catch the bus enroute to the stadium. After running outside of the bar he was relieved to see the bus still there with his drinking partners waving for him to hurry up.

Pop's decided to short cut his way to bus by hopping a chain link fence and get's his foot caught in the links while going over.

Snap Crackle Pop and my father watches the game from the Emergency Room in So. Cal.

[Riggo-toni]

It could've been worse.

It coulda been a SB we won!

[Phat Hog]

Damn Blitz, that does suck.... but at least it wasn't SB XXII.

[bulldog]

Super Bowl XVIII was the hardest 3 hours of football for me to watch since I started following the Redskins in 1971-72.

Everything that could have gone wrong did and even those things that usually DON'T go wrong did TWICE over

SB VII I remember watching as a kid. My father told me after the Bass interception and return the game was over because there wasn't enough time left for the Skins to recover the ball and score again.

I remember just telling him the Skins HAD to get the ball back and score to tie the game! I didn't want to believe it was possible for the team to lose after beating Dallas (who had crushed Miami the previous year, 24-3) so handily in the NFC Title game.

Afterward he said what even some players today have said, namely that Allen got the team too high for Dallas and there was nothing left in the can for the Dolphins.

That and the presence of SJ would have made a difference

[The Consigliere]

I was just thinking about XVIII, and when I thought about it, something struck me that never has before. XVIII is a lot like XXII in a major certain way. Everything that could possibly go right for the Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII and the Redskins in Super Bowl XXII (starting in the second quarter) happened, in each Super Bowl the Redskins, and then later the Broncos had everything possible go wrong, while their opponents had everything go right. When it comes down to it, I've only seen one other Super Bowl like it, and that was XXIV, when the Niners demolished the Broncos in the biggest arsewhupping ever.

Other Super Bowls have gone one way, or another, or yet another, but those three really strike me as three Super Bowls in which teams completely imploded while their opponents had every single possibility turn in their favor from beginging to end. It was absolutely amazing.

Happily I wasn't alive for VII, that would have been incredibly hard to stomach. I really loathe that Dolphins squad, had the biggest cake schedule in history and in truth are probably one of the worst ever NFL teams to compile a record with one loss or less. They get all the props in the world for doing it, but that team really didn't achieve their dominance against very good teams. Much greater teams have done a much better job than them, even if they didn't finish with a perfect record. It's a shame they didn't have a tougher schedule that year, and it's a shame that Jake Scott got those two picks.

[Bang]

It's always been my opinion that Ray Guy won SB 18.

That skins team was an absolute juggernaut, BUT, if you slapped them early, they couldn't recover. Recall, two of the three losses ..(one to Dallas in the opener, that truly, I can't recall if this supports my argument, because I can't remember the particulars,, I know it was a loss, 31-30..anyone want to help?)

One to GB on MNF, and then of course, the Raiders loss in the Super Bowl both had similar beginnings,, ie: a big play early that gave the opponent a foothold.

As I recall, the Packers recovered a fumble on the Skins first possession,, a swing pass ruled a backward lateral. The receiver dropped it, and then stood there while the Packer picked it up. they scored quick, and that was it. Off to the races.

In the SB, on the Raiders first possession, the Redskins held and forced them to punt. the center snapped the ball WAY over Guy's head, and he SKIED up, SNATCHED it by the point, and boomed one, pinned us back. They then blocked our punt, fell on it, and it was over.

Had Guy let that ball get by, the Redskins likely would have romped that game. But, as it is, he performed a superhuman jump and catch to get it, and to me, that gave them their foothold. After that the blocked punt, the Squirek crap,, the Marcus Allen run.. it was just a matter of course.

Just the way I saw it, anyway.

Feel free to tell me I was too drunk.

~Bang

[PCS]

I really hated the Dolphins. Had to watch my 2 favorite teams back then get spanked in the SB's by them. Come to think of it....... I still hate the Phins. :cool: Well, good thing I like the A's back then too.

[glorydays]

BlitzFifty Six that was a shame. The heightened excitement of just being in the "live" atmosphere was taken away immediately. I guess the his moral of the story is when you get that one chance you take it. I'm sure if that opp ever came again, he'd have just cruised to the bus. Glad he overcame it. His leg isn't still bothering him is it?

That day my heart sank when Larry Brown was carried off the field, tattered and torn, banged up and abused from slamming into a brick wall of a line, that used a tatto artist named, Manny Fernandez.

Brown was the epitome of the ultimate soldier.

[Highway66]

What a bummer:dallasuck