By Lang Whitaker, SI.com
True story: Saturday night around 8:20 p.m., I flipped my TV over to TBS to watch Game 6 of the Rays-Red Sox series. Instead, I found an episode of The Steve Harvey Show. Now we know the reason. (Things must have been really bad if TBS had to show Steve Harvey instead of Frank TV.) This isn't the first time technical difficulties have tripped up a sports broadcast -- it also happened to CBS on Sunday, when some helium balloons knocked out the Bills-Chargers game for almost three quarters. Here's our list of the top five broadcasting snafus of all-time.
1. The Heidi Game: Back in 1968, one of the great finishes in NFL history between the Jets and the Raiders was missed by viewers when NBC decided to switch away from the game to show a TV movie of the children's tale, Heidi. The network cut away from the game with 65 seconds remaining and Oakland trailing New York by three points -- but the Raiders scored two late touchdowns to secure an unlikely 43-32 victory.
2. The Wardrobe Malfunction: Some might argue that there was absolutely nothing wrong with getting to see Janet Jackson's breast exposed on live TV during the Superbowl XXXVIII halftime show. The FCC took objection, however, and the incident spurred sweeping regulation with broadcast TV.
3. Euro 2008: One of the greatest soccer games of the year was the Germany-Turkey match this summer in the Euro 2008 semifinals. It was a high-scoring game with plenty of goals, except the international feed went in and out throughout the second half, meaning viewers all over the world missed long stretches of the thrilling action.
4. The NFL Network: The NFL starting their own channel was a great idea, but because of fee disputes they've somehow only managed to make it available in about 40 million U.S. homes -- and it's not available at all on the biggest cable systems in many of the largest markets.
5. Cablecam: Last year, during NBC's initial season broadcasting Sunday Night Football, the cablecam -- the camera suspended on wires over the field -- suddenly landed on the field near a Seahawks huddle, delaying the actual game for about 10 minutes.
What's the most memorable technical difficulty of all-time? Let us know below...
Lang Whitaker is the executive editor of SLAM magazine and writes daily at SLAMonline.com.
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Comments (39) Add A Comment
The fact that you continue to have a job could be considered one
THE TRUTH
Captial City, US
Total Comments (12637)
I miss watching the tractor pulls on ESPN. I remember a time when they showed sports rather than looping SportsCenter for 12 hours/day
IamRightYouAreWrong
Florence , SC
Total Comments (766)
Would the Cowboys playing in January or the Cubs in October be considered technical difficulties?
rstowe
Newport News , VA
Total Comments (36492)
Except for the John C Calhoun picture, this is the winner
Spiny Norman
Total Comments (3764)
Early ESPN had Rugby and Australian Rules Football...much better than anything the NFL network shows today (except their 3 games a year on MUTE)
rstowe
Newport News , VA
Total Comments (36492)
LMFAO. nicely played.
Klee Irwin
Total Comments (1595)
a camera dropping on a field is one of the most memorable broadcasting snafus of all time? I bet if you asked 1000 people about that incident, possibly 1 would remember it. That's not real memorable skeezix.
Klee Irwin
Total Comments (1595)
Outside of the United States, EVERYONE cares about the Euros. Americans don't really embrace a game unless it was invented here, or if it was improved here, (purely a subjective thing anyway).
Let me tell you something about those so called faig Euros...they are 10 times the athelte of 85% of the NFL and MLB. You will never see a Sam Adams or Refrig. Perry in EPL
Next, yes, the Heidi game was 40 years ago, but believe it or not, a lot of things happened before this current generation came of age. Not that I am defending this article. It is as lazy a piece as I have read in a while, but I didn't see any time lines in the title, like, "Worst in last 20 years" or "Worst in American Sports".
Spiny Norman
Total Comments (3764)
"It was a high-scoring game with plenty of scoring" Really? But was there any scoring?
marisamiller
Total Comments (11)
Forgive me, but if that other idiot can blast European Football, am I allowed to question the validity of tractor pull as a sport? Just a joke...
Actually, way back when Wide World of Sports, long before ESPN f***ed up tv sports forever, used to show these things, lumberjack championships and all that other stuff.
Spiny Norman
Total Comments (3764)
An AWESOME game. MSG was even showing it briefly here in NY. And those Aussies are also way tougher than 50% of the NFL...no pads, no prancing and pointing and 3rd down packages....
Spiny Norman
Total Comments (3764)
My thoughts exactly!!
chodanutz
Lemont , IL
Total Comments (73)
How are these considered "technical difficulties"?
1. The Heidi incident was a decision made by some idiotic NBC executive. This was a CHOICE, thus cannot be considered a "SNAFU" or technical problem.
2. The "wardrobe malfunction" had absolutely no impact on or slowing down of the playing of the game, and shouldn't be considered a "technical" difficulty.
3. The NFL Network, as a whole, may be a bad BUSINESS DECISION, but how is it a "technical difficulty"?
redrock1
Rockville , MD
Total Comments (1)
LMAO Maybe the best post I have ever seen.
Lou Dobbs 11
Total Comments (728)
The worst technical snafu (shouldn't snafu be a filtered word...er...acronym?) I ever experienced was when I was watching football and my 2 year old got a hold of the remote and switched it to a baseball game while I was out of the room, then LOST THE REMOTE. I was forced to watch baseball for like 5 minutes while I searched for the remote before I remembered I could just get up and change the channel manually. Whew!
inb4 Sevens-burgh
Gainesville , FL
Total Comments (383)
CLASSIC
BOHICA
Lexington, KY
Total Comments (579)
Triple Gold Classic...
train64
Total Comments (90)
This article was posted at 1:20pm today, and yet failed to mention the nearly two-quarters worth of football that were played sans power in Buffalo on Sunday. Per RedRock1's comments, I'd say that ranks us somewhere around #2 (after the Euro thing and before the sky-is-falling camera).
Rosey14086
Lancaster , NY
Total Comments (1)
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