My son was playing his PSP football game (Madden NFL 2008) pitting the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Kansas City Chiefs and showed me a replay that reminded me of The Immaculate Reception. Although I was only 4 years old at the time of the most famous play in professional football, I was a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan growing up (Indianapolis did not have a team at that time) and knew all about the importance of that miraculous catch.

Have you ever tried to explain The Immaculate Reception to a 13 year old boy?  It is actually somewhat difficult.  So, we looked it up on the internet and learned quite a bit.  The Steelers were trailing the Oakland Raiders 7-6 with only 22 seconds left to go in the AFC Divisional playoff game two days before Christmas 1972.  It was 4^th down with 10 yards to go, and the Steelers had the ball on their own 40 yard line.  Terry Bradshaw managed to escape the pass rush and hurl a ball downfield toward halfback John Fuqua.  Oakland safety Jack Tatum hit him just as the ball arrived, causing the ball to be deflected backwards where it was scooped up by Franco Harris just before it hit the ground who ran it in for the game winning touchdown.

I had no idea that the play was so controversial because of a professional football rule that was changed in 1978.  Apparently in 1972, a ball could not hit an offensive player and then be caught by a different player.  It was not considered a legal catch at the time and so this catch would not have counted.  But, if the ball bounced off the defender, the catch would stand.  It took quite some time for the referees to figure out exactly what had happened on that day.  Eventually the touchdown was upheld, and the Steelers went on to win the first of four Super Bowls for the decade.

My son thought the play was awesome.  He also enjoyed the fact that he knew Terry Bradshaw from Fox NFL Sunday and that John Madden was coach of the Raiders at the time.  Of course he knows Madden from his video games and from Monday Night Football in years past.  The internet is a wonderful resource since we were able to read about the play and learn some things that I never knew.  Then we were able to watch it unfold on YouTube.  Unless you are a Raiders fan, you would have to agree that the play was truly miraculous and a turning point for the Steelers in the 1970’s.