If the immaculate reception happened now, with plenty of camera angles and a replay, would Franco Harris’ touchdown hold?
Probably.
The field call was a touchdown. None of the available videos conclusively conclude that it was incorrect. Whether the ball bounced directly from Frenchy Fuqua to Harris, which was illegal under the rules of the day, or that Harris trapped the ball.
This is the key phrase: “concludes decisively”.
Why would we guess that an additional video would turn out any different? (Again, more angles and different speeds make it possible to find just about any desired result.)
It’s a touchdown then and a touchdown today.
Oakland Raiders got mad then, Las Vegas Raiders would be mad now.
That’s part of the fun. The late great John Madden, then Oakland coach, took the bitterness of that call to his grave.
We’ve all seen model Harris at the Pittsburgh airport. It looks like legal gambling from that point of view. George Washington and Nellie Bly probably agree.
The 50th anniversary of the immaculate reception prompts an intriguing reflection, including: who the hell is going to venture to Acrisure Stadium in sub-zero temperatures on Christmas Eve to watch two 6-8 teams play a meaningless game in recognition of this anniversary. and retired from Harris’ No. 32?
The more/less informal is 45,000 in the stands.
The meaning of the Immaculate Reception is difficult to define.
Harris’ death just days before he was to be honored adds further punctuation to the immaculate reception. Like the play that made him famous, Harris was a catalyst for everything the Pittsburgh Steelers achieved in the ’70s. He was among the dynasty’s least replaceable players, ranked along with Joe Greene and Terry Bradshaw.
Current Steelers coach Mike Tomlin called the pristine reception “the most important play in the history of the game.” It’s ridiculous. It’s not even close to being that. You could say it’s not even the Steelers’ most important game.
But he has a lot of romance because of the nickname. The Steelers failed to win a Super Bowl that season and, in fact, lost their next two playoff games.
But, because the Steelers won four Super Bowls in the ’70s, the immaculate reception seems like a spark point. But the Steelers surely would have won those Super Bowls if the immaculate reception hadn’t happened.
The immaculate reception marked the first time the Steelers have won a playoff game. Heck, it was the Steelers’ first playoff touchdown. This season was the first time they won 10 or more games, the second time they won their division, and the first time they finished above .500 since 1963.
The Immaculate Reception was an emergence as well as an ignition. The immaculate reception was when the Steelers and professional football became kings in Pittsburgh. The Pirates and baseball had ruled until then.
It was also the first of two cataclysmic events that took place just eight days apart. Roberto Clemente’s plane crashed on New Year’s Eve, killing the Pirates superstar. (The Steelers had lost the AFC Championship Game to undefeated Miami earlier in the day.)
Despite the legendary status of the Immaculate Reception in Pittsburgh, it has nothing to do with the significance of Bill Mazeroski’s home run to beat the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series in what could be MLB’s biggest upset.
The Mazeroski Circuit is the greatest moment in Pittsburgh sports history. Even bigger than Johnny Cueto dropping the ball.
Immaculate reception could benefit from an odd degree of recency bias. Those who remember the Mazeroski stunt are dying. I wasn’t even born yet.
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