72 Hour Blackout

I was listening to WIP on Saturday night – Joe Giglio behind the mic and Caesar Gramenzi behind the glass.

Since it was the 23^rd anniversary of Christian Laettner’s historic “shot” in the NCAA tournament, Joe was asking callers about the most memorable game they ever attended live. Somewhere in the midst of that, I realized I hadn’t communicated with Joe for about a week. The reason being – since Nicky Football was traded to the Rams, there isn’t very much I disagree with him about any more.

So I decided to call and share an experience. But before I get into that, I’m going to indulge myself by taking you on a little self-serving gambit.

In case anyone out there doesn’t know me yet, I attended my first Eagles game way back during Chuck Bednarik’s rookie season. By coincidence, the Rams had a rookie backup quarterback playing in that same game. His name was Norm Van Brocklin. No way a six-year-old could’ve possibly known, but a decade hence Chuck Bednarik would be snapping the ball to Norm Van Brocklin when the Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers 17-13 to win the NFL championship in 1960.

So I’ve been around for a while and seen as much in the world of Philly sports – or more – as anyone else alive.

In fact – since I’m three years older than he is – I’ve seen more Philly sports than Ray Didinger. Let me point out, when I was attending my aforementioned first Eagles game, Ray was still wearing diapers. So there’s no doubt in my mind that I’ve seen more of Philadelphia sports than he has.

Wait a minute, you might be saying, Ray was a sports reporter and he’s on radio and TV a lot. Yes, he was and yes he is.

But I worked as a sports writer as well. Not in Philly mind you, but in the hot-bed of sports that exists only in the Virgin Islands. In fact, I was the first sports writer to put NBA super-star Tim Duncan’s name on the sports page – although Timmy was still an aspiring Olympic Swimmer the first time I wrote about him. Plus, I covered sports like yacht racing, and horse racing, and croquet – for crying out loud. I’ll bet you Ray Diddy never covered croquet.

And I guarantee you this – I’m not as boring as Ray Diddy. I’ll bet he’s never consumed a beer and rarely – if ever – dropped the F-bomb. What kind of Eagles fan is that?

I can assure you – I’ve got a résumé satiated with beer drinking and F-bomb spewings.

But enough self-aggrandizement. Back to my memorable sporting experience.

The year was 1972 and I moved to South Florida during that summer. It was a fortuitous move since the Dolphins completed a Perfect Season with a 14-7 win over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII.

Throughout that season, I assimilated into the Dolphins fan-base. I watched the Dolphins overcome the loss of starting quarterback Bob Griese to a broken leg by having 38-year-old backup Earl Morrall step into the breach and sustain the winning streak.

The regular season ended with the Dolphins a perfect 14-0.

Then came the first playoff game – scheduled for December 24 at the Orange Bowl versus the Cleveland Browns. I was at work on the Thursday prior to the Browns game when I heard the message on the radio. Alas and alack – the Orange Bowl hadn’t sold out 72 hours in advance of kickoff. The first playoff game was falling victim to the NFL’s 72 hour blackout rule and wasn’t going to be televised in my viewing area.

WTF?

How was I going to see the game?

Well, after a quick meeting of the minds, the solution came easy. I’d cultivated a few buddies who were avid Dolphins fans. Better yet, one of them had a private pilot’s license. So our dilemma was solved.

We chipped in and rented a four-seater Cessna from Safari Aviation at North Perry Airport in Miramar – which we flew cross-state to Ft. Myers – which was beyond the blackout area.

We radioed the tower as we were circling for a landing and mentioned our intent. In response, the airport sent a baggage conveyor out to meet us. After we secured the plane, we rode on the baggage conveyor to the airport. And once inside the airport, we made our way to the bar.

From there, between swilling beers and dropping F-bombs, I watched the game with my new buddies as the Dolphins came from behind in the fourth quarter to pull out a hard-earned 20-14 playoff win.

We flew back to North Perry Airport after the game.

I don’t remember how much the Cessna cost to rent – but I’m pretty sure it was under $200. Split four ways, that’s about fifty bucks each for a one-of-a-kind memory that’s priceless and enduring.

Betcha Ray Diddy never rented a Cessna to fly to a playoff game.