Insomnia....

....NOT shopgirl recommended!

So what DOES one do when faced with insomnia?

Well, I found myself flipping channels on the TV and was lucky enough to catch the last 15 minutes of The Top Fifty Outrageous Sports Moments on the Best Damn Sports Show Period. At least I can be entertained in the midst of my insomnia!

Of course it is entertaining to watch the various baseball players get clocked by a fence (or did the fence get clocked by the baseball player?), a homerun off the top of the head of the guy trying to catch the ball, an all-out brawl in a fight ring (NO idea what THAT was about). Then. NOOO, could it be? Well of course it had to be on the list. Yes, Football fans. "The Play". It made the list as the #3 Outrageous Sports Moment. Cool! Too bad, they only showed the 42 seconds, but I suppose that "The Play" easily makes up its very own segment all on its own.

For those of you that don't have a clue what I am talking about, (and no, it is not delirium due to the lack of sleep), I submit for you the back-story along with two videos. (the shorter version for those who want to just see the actual play and the longer version for those of us who will continue to watch it year after year, stopping whatever we are doing to just take it in one more time.) Enjoy! I know I did, and will. (thx U!)

It was Nov. 20, 1982. The Big Game, Cal vs. Stanford, was being played that year at Cal's Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif. It was a heck of a game, a quarterback shootout of sorts between Cal sophomore Gale Gilbert and Stanford senior John Elway. When Elway completed a fourth-and-17 to set up a supposedly game-winning field goal and the Cardinal went ahead 20-19, four seconds remained on the clock.

It was plenty of time for Cal.

What followed has been shown thousands of times in the past 20 years, whenever some TV producer needs an example of a fantastic finish or the annual Cal-Stanford game approaches.

The Play was a kickoff return that covered 57 yards, involved an impromptu five laterals, at least a couple of questionable calls (or non-calls) by the referees, the entire 144-piece Stanford marching band, thousands of delirious fans on one side, as many stunned ones on the other, a host of confused coaches, administrators and 700 million other people who claim they were there that day.

It was largely comical, absolutely unbelievable, unprecedented and undoubtedly unrepeatable. In the frenzied words of Cal play-by-play man Joe Starkey as The Play ended, it was this:

"The Bears have won! The Bears have won! Oh my God! The most amazing, sensational, dramatic, heart-rending, exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football!" ( Sports Illustrated)

Short Version (00:42)



Long Version (06:46)

~ the fever is back.
*grins*