Copyright © 2004-2005 Timothy Horrigan
This
page is devoted to an excerpt from Tim Horrigan's novel The
Forgotten Liars, set in 1980 at the time of Super Bowl
XIV. The Steelers beat the Rams, XXXI to XIX. Some other stuff you
might want to check out:
Before going back uptown to West 121st Street, we bought a Sunday
Times. I was surprised to discover that (in all the uproar of
the night) we had almost forgotten about a major national holiday:
the Super Bowl. "Looks like another dull one," I
complained. The game pitted a powerful Pittsburgh Steelers team
versus a mediocre Los Angeles Rams team (who went 9-7 in the regular
season, but scored a couple of lucky victories in the playoffs over
Dallas and Tampa Bay.) "Looks like a rout."
"The game last year was exciting," Victor Shoberg pointed
out. (That was the manic 35-31 Pittsburgh victory that would've been
a 38-35 Cowboy victory if veteran tight end Jackie Smith had not
inexplicably dropped an incredibly easy Danny White pass in the
end-zone.)
"Yeah, but that was
an exception."
*****
The film crew left during the first quarter: they needed to get some
additional Super Sunday shots at the West End Cafe. (The West End is
apparently significantly more famous in Paris than in New York,
because a lot of the lesser-known jazz-musicians who play the Jazz
Room at the West End are not lesser-known in Paris.)
The 1980 Super Bowl turned out to
be pretty exciting. The Steelers started out strong, but then the
pesky Rams responded with a surprising rally. I don't know how the
Rams stayed so close to the 1979 Steelers (I say "1979"
because the 1980 Super Bowl was held to determine the champion of the
1979 season.) The Steelers had many Hall of Famers on their team,
whereas the only guys on the 1979 Rams that you ever heard of would
be defensive lineman Fred Dryer and wide receiver Dante Wingfield.
And you probably only heard of Fred Dryer because (after retiring
from the NFL) he went on to star on a popular cops-and-robbers show
on TV in the mid-1980's called Hunter.
Astoundingly, the Rams were ahead 19 to 17 at the end of the third
quarter. The cameraman underneath the Goodyear Blimp hovering over
the Rose Bowl caught probably the most beautiful shot (aesthetically
speaking) in Super Bowl history during the brief pause between the
third and fourth quarters. It was sunset in Southern California the
glow of the setting sun reflected subtly off the San Gabriel
Mountains. Inside the Rose Bowl, the floodlit multitude glittered
like an equivalent number of precious stones (over 100,000 precious
stones) surrounding the lush green football field. The camera zoomed
down towards the field, and you could actually see the individual
Rams players running full-speed from one end of the field to the
other with their fists held high in exultation- and it wasn't just 11
players running down the field, it was the whole contingent of 47
players!- and the hometown Rams fans held their fists high in
exultation, too- and well, it was all just too incredibly beautiful
to describe, even if you were cheering for the Steelers (who scored
two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull out the victory.)
Super Bowl XIV was the first Super Bowl with a home team, i.e., the Los Angeles Rams. However, the 1979-1980 Los Angeles Rams did not play at the Rose Bowl: at the time, they played a few miles down the Pasadena Freeway at the L.A. Coliseum. (The next season, they moved to Anaheim, and they later moved to Saint Louis.) The only other Super Bowl with a home team was Super Bowl XIX in 1985, held at the old Stanford Stadium on the campus of Stanford University. (However, the 1984-1985 San Francisco 49ers played their home games at Candlestick Park. A few years later, in 1989, they would move temporarily to Stanford while earthquake damge to Candlestick was being repaired.)
In my novel The Forgotten Liars, Tammi Honig's father— the legendary slag magnate Gerard J. Honig— is a part-owner of the Detroit Lions. Mr. Honig is now (as of the summer of 2006) an active gentleman in his mid-70s, who still owns his piece of the Lions. In spite of Mr. Honig's untiring support, the Lions are one of a handful of teams which have never played in the Super Bowl. However, the 2006 game, Super Bowl XL, was played at their home stadium, Ford Field.
Super Bowl XIV was the first Super Bowl where a major household appliance played: i.e., Fred Dryer of the Los Angeles Rams (who is better-known as an actor.) VI years later, another appliance appeared in Super Bowl XX: the unforgettable Chicago Bears defensive lineman William "The Refrigerator" Perry.
The Steelers' head coach Chuck Noll set a record at Super Bowl XIV which still stands: this was his 4th Super Bowl ring.
I may as well reprint the box score here. And I might mention that Billy McEwan, the narrator of The Forgotten Liars is a great afficionado of box scores.
Super Bowl XIV
Pittsburgh 31, Los Angeles 19
Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
January 20, 1980
Attendance: 103,985
SCORING
Los Angeles 7 6 6 0 -- 19
Pittsburgh 3 7 7 14 -- 31
PIT- FG Bahr 41, 7:29 1st
LA- Bryant 1 run (Corral kick), 12:16 1st
PIT- Harris 1 run (Bahr kick), 2:08 2nd
LA- FG Corral 31, 7:39 2nd
LA- FG Corral 45, 14:46 2nd
PIT- Swann 47 pass from Bradshaw (Bahr kick),
2:48 3rd
LA- R. Smith 24 pass from McCutcheon
(kick failed), 4:45 3rd
PIT- Stallworth 73 pass from Bradshaw (Bahr kick),
2:56 4th
PIT- Harris 1 run (Bahr kick), 13:11 4th
TEAM STATISTICS L.A. Pitt.
Total First Downs 16 19
Rushing 6 8
Passing 9 10
Penalty 1 1
Total Net Yardage 301 393
Total Offensive Plays 59 58
Avg. Gain per Offensive Play 5.1 6.8
Rushes 29 37
Yards Gained Rushing (Net) 107 84
Average Yards per Rush 3.7 2.3
Passes Attempted 26 21
Passes Completed 16 14
Had Intercepted 1 3
Tackled Attempting to Pass 4 0
Yards Lost Attempting to Pass 42 0
Yards Gained Passing (Net) 194 309
Punts 5 2
Average Distance 44.0 42.5
Punt Returns 1 4
Punt Return Yardage 4 31
Kickoff Returns 6 5
Kickoff Return Yardage 79 162
Interception Return Yardage 21 16
Fumbles 0 0
Own Fumbles Recovered 0 0
Opponent Fumbles Recovered 0 0
Penalties 2 6
Yards Penalized 26 65
Total Points Scored 19 31
Touchdowns 2 4
Rushing 1 2
Passing 1 2
Returns 0 0
Extra Points 1 4
Field Goals 2 1
Field Goals Attempted 2 1
Safeties 0 0
Third-Down Efficiency 5/14 9/14
Fourth-Down Efficiency 1/2 0/0
Time of Possession 29:31 30:29
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing Los Angeles No. Yds. LG TD Tyler 17 60 39 0 Bryant 6 30 14 1 McCutcheon 5 10 6 0 Ferragamo 1 7 7 0 Pittsburgh No. Yds. LG TD Harris 20 46 12 2 Bleier 10 25 9 0 Bradshaw 3 9 6 0 Thornton 4 4 5 0 Passing Los Angeles Att. Comp. Yds. TD Int. Ferragamo 25 15 212 0 1 McCutcheon 1 1 24 1 0 Pittsburgh Att. Comp. Yds. TD Int. Bradshaw 21 14 309 2 3 Receiving Los Angeles No. Yds. LG TD Waddy 3 75 50 0 Bryant 3 21 12 0 Tyler 3 20 11 0 Dennard 2 32 24 0 Nelson 2 20 14 0 D. Hill 1 28 28 0 R. Smith 1 24 24t 1 McCutcheon 1 16 16 0 Pittsburgh No. Yds. LG TD Swann 5 79 47t 1 Stallworth 3 121 73t 1 Harris 3 66 32 0 Cunningham 2 21 13 0 Thornton 1 22 22 0 Interceptions Los Angeles No. Yds. LG TD Elmendorf 1 10 10 0 Brown 1 6 6 0 Perry 1 -1 1 0 Thomas 0 6 6 0 Pittsburgh No. Yds. LG TD Lambert 1 16 16 0 Punting Los Angeles No. Avg. LG Blk. Clark 5 44.0 59 0 Pittsburgh No. Avg. LG Blk. C. Colquitt 2 42.5 50 0 Punt Returns Los Angeles No. FC Yds. LG TD Brown 1 0 4 4 0 Pittsburgh No. FC Yds. LG TD Bell 2 0 17 11 0 Smith 2 0 14 7 0 Kickoff Returns Los Angeles No. Yds. LG TD E. Hill 3 47 27 0 Jodat 2 32 16 0 Andrews 1 0 0 0 Pittsburgh No. Yds. LG TD L. Anderson 5 162 45 0 Los Angeles Rams Pittsburgh Steelers == Offense == Saul, Rich C Webster, Mike C Harrah, Dennis G Davis, Samuel G Hill, Kent G Mullins, Gerry G France, Doug T Brown, Larry T Slater, Jackie T Kolb, Jon T Nelson, Terry TE Cunningham, Bennie TE Dennard, Preston WR Stallworth, John WR Waddy, Billy WR Swann, Lynn WR Bryant, Cullen RB Bleier, Rocky RB Tyler, Wendell RB Harris, Franco RB Ferragamo, Vince QB Bradshaw, Terry QB == Defense == Brooks, Larry DT Dunn, Gary DT Fanning, Mike DT Greene, Joe DT Dryer, Fred DE Banaszak, John DE Youngblood, Jack DE Greenwood, L. C. DE Brudzinski, Bob OLB Cole, Robin OLB Youngblood, Jim OLB Winston, Dennis OLB Reynolds, Jack MLB Lambert, Jack MLB Perry, Rod CB Blount, Mel CB Thomas, Patrick CB Johnson, Ronald CB Cromwell, Nolan FS Thomas, J.T. FS Elmendorf, Dave SS Shell, Donnie SS == Substitute == Andrews, George Anderson, Anthony Bain, Bill Anderson, Larry Brown, Eddie Bahr, Matt Clark, Ken Beasley, Tom Corral, Frank Bell, Theo Doss, Reggie Colquitt, Craig Gravelle, Gordon Courson, Steve Harris, Joe Dornbrook, Thom Hill, Drew Furness, Steve Hill, Eddie Graves, Tom Jodat, Jim Grossman, Randy McCutcheon, Lawrence Hawthorne, Greg O'Steen, Dwayne Moser, Rick Ryczek, Dan Petersen, Ted Smith, Ronnie Smith, Jim A. Sully, Ivory Thornton, Sidney Wallace, Jackie Toews, Loren Westbrooks, Gregory Valentine, Zack Wilkinson, Gerald White, Dwight Young, Charle Woodruff, Dwayne == Did Not Play == Ellis, Ken Ham, Jack Lee, Bob Kruczek, Mike Rutledge, Jeff Stoudt, Cliff
Read an excerpt (set after the Twilight Jones & the Elvis Clones gig)
Read even one more excerpt (set during the 1980 Democratic National Convention)
Read one final excerpt (this time on Xlibris.com)
State Senator Kathleen Sgambati's unofficial campaign theme song "Sgambati to Love"
|
|
