From: johndoe@samadams.inmet (johndoe)
Subject: Re: Greatest Moment 
Reply-To: johndoe@inmet.com (Bus error - core dumped)
Organization: Intermetrics, Inc.
	<1993Jan4.200458.5078@netcom.com> <1993Jan5.003008.14080@PacBell.COM>
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 20:44:34 GMT

In article <1993Jan5.003008.14080@PacBell.COM> jpglori@srv.PacBell.COM (JOHN) writes:
>
>In article <1993Jan4.200458.5078@netcom.com> mzimmers@netcom.com (Michael Zimmers) writes:
>>In article <1993Jan4.174932.18395@pdn.paradyne.com> lej@pdn.paradyne.com (Leo James) writes:
>>
>>>In article <1993Jan3.220850.19849@ncsu.edu> delarocq@eos.ncsu.edu (DERRELL EMERY LAROCQUE) writes:
>>>Which event would y'all vote for as "the greatest moment" in
>>>your favorite franchise's history?
>>
>>I bet most Niner fans will disagree, but after beating the Bowboys
>>in the '81 NFC title game, the Big Dance, as well as the other
>>Big Dances, was anticlimactic.
>>
>>-- 
>>Michael Zimmers                                    |  Home:  408 996 1984
>>SoftHelp                                           |  Work:  408 996 1965
>>Software Solutions for Open Systems                |  Data:  408 996 1974
>>
>I will not speak for other NINER fans, but the OILER-BILLS game
>was the best I have EVER seen for excitement! "The Catch" and
>"The Drive" are my two other favorites of course, but this one
>tops them all from just a fans standpoint, regardless of team
>affliation.
>-- 
> ---------  John Gloria - jpglori@pacbell.com	--------	
>"To be absolutely certain about something, one must know
>everything or nothing about it."   Olin Miller
>
from an unbiased fan's standpoint, for all time greatest moments for a team
and the game, i think you have to also remember the following:

	- alan ameche carrying the football into the end zone, the baltimore
	  colts to the first ever championship, johnny unitas to instead
	  legend status, and the nfl to the forefront of the national
	  sporting consciousness.  this was one of the most dramatic games
	  in nfl history, coming on the heels of several championship
	  blowouts, surpassing even most super-bowl blowouts, and at a time
	  when the country was really turning on to television and
	  nationwide viewing in a big, big way.  the nfl would not be where
	  it is today without that game.  (as an nfl fan who wasn't even
	  born yet, the enormity of the impact of this game still gives me
	  chills when i see highlights.)

	- the immaculate reception:  at once one of the most controversial
	  and inspiring plays in the history of the game.  seemingly out of
	  the game with no time left in a big game, the steelers literally
	  stole victory from the jaws of defeat as the game ended.
	  definitely in the running for greatest moment in steeler history.

	- cleveland kicking the winning field goal to win the championship
	  against the rams in their first season in their new league (fresh
	  from four years of running rough shod over the old aafc, of which
	  only three teams survived.) 

	- the saints returning the opening kickoff for a td in their first
	  ever game as a franchise.  this may very well indeed the greatest
	  moment in saints history!

	- i had mentioned how the cowboys might have been the object of
	  many teams' greatest moments; i think for them, it is harder to
	  define a greatest moment, but perhaps the one highlight to pick
	  for the cowboys is their 1975 playoff victory over the vikings
	  at the met in bloomington.  staubach and the cowboys have pulled
	  off many great comebacks, but it was in staubach's post-game
	  comments, while describing the drive on which they survived a 4th-
	  and long to get to the fifty, from where he launched his prayer to
	  drew pearson that the phrase 'hail-mary' became a buzzword for
	  scores of announcers to this day.

and to put a little perspective on a few views regarding dallas:

	- while i stated that some fans may consider the recent bears
	  44-0 drubbing of dallas as their greatest moment, certainly
	  one must consider the 73-0 championship game, in which the
	  bears avenged their earlier 7-3 loss to the redskins that
	  same season.

	- while the eagles of recent memory would have to consider the
	  pasting they dealt the cowboys in the 1980-81 nfc championship,
	  certainly their championship seasons of 48 and 49, with eagle
	  hero steve van buren piling up the rushing yardage, or the 1960
	  championship, with norm van brocklin piloting his second team
	  to an nfl championship (still the only qb to start on two 
	  different nfl championship teams), and ironman chuck bednarik
	  stopping the packers jim taylor on the 2 yard line as time ran 
	  out.  (subsequently, that moment also became as defining for
	  the packers as any other, as they arose from this narrow defeat
	  for 5 championships in the next 7 years, rather than crumbling
	  under the weight of their narrow loss.
-j.d.