King Carter: 30th Anniversary of "Indiana's Dead"
I don't think watching this highlight ever gets old. Awesomeness factor: 10 out of 10 (baseline: 5; +1 for Michigan wins; +1 for funky Brandstatter outfit; +2 for Ufer going crazy; +1 for awesome improbable legendary Michigan lore last second TD; also, wooo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEF6edfexco
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:24 PM ^
Check out mgoblue.com's unedited Ufer call under Game to Remember at http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=mich Maybe only obsessives like myself would notice, but when I listened this morning I noticed that there were things Ufer said that were edited out in the Ufer of Michigan version I've had since I was a kid. Nothing controversial or anything, just probably edited for time. Also, BTW, love the old Michigan Replay porn music they played during highlights. Would love to get DVDs of old Michigan Replay. Do they exist?
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:39 PM ^
you should add +1 for background music.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:01 PM ^
Ufer died in my 7th month of life, I never heard him broadcast a game live. As a youngster, I really liked(and still do) the current broadcast team in Brandstetter and Beckman and never had much reason to go back and listen to old radio broadcasts, not to mention such things were much harder to come across before the rise of the net.
Recently, however, I've come to seek out Bob Ufer's work.
I must say his call of the Carter TD nearly brings tears to my eyes. The euphoria in his voice as he says "I've never been so happy in my cotton-picking 59 years" sounds so true and pure. There is simplistic beauty in the fact that a ball-game played by 20 year-olds reduced an older man to a state of child-like bliss. While most broadcasters are prone to hyperbole I BELIEVED Ufer when he said he'd never been happier than that moment. Truly a great call.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:27 PM ^
The College Football broadcast landscape was so different back then; ABC had exclusive coverage of regular season games, nationwide. In the early 70's teams were limited to three TV appearances every two years, excluding bowl games. Only one Big Ten team could go to a bowl, the Rose Bowl, and teams could not go in successive years. Michigan-OSU was scheduled every year, so there was one other M game on TV, in alternate seasons. Nine saturdays out of ten, if you weren't in the stadium, you listened on the radio. In the stadium, you could head the buzz of Ufer's voice from thousands of transistor radios. Bob Ufer was your eyes and ears; Bob Ufer's voice was a big part of Michigan football. His tales of Yost and Crisler wove what you hearing/seeing with the rich tradition of what had happened on these same fields in years past. It was fantastic.
AC's TD as time expired was something M fans had not seen in generations, if ever. It was a Lazarus-like miracle to Ufer.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:48 PM ^
I can only imagine how Ufer would have called Forcier's TD toss to Matthews, or Henne to Manningham in 2005 or Woodson's TD against OSU in 1997. I imagine he'd have a couple more "happiest moments" to add to his cotton-picking life.
Too bad nobody today says things like "He ran like a penguin with a herring stuck in his cummerbund!"
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:22 PM ^
never gets old.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:36 PM ^
Produces greatest play in Michigan football history. Perfect.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:47 PM ^
I wonder if Anthony Carter will be an honorary captain at this Saturdays game?
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:59 PM ^
Yeah, like GoBlueScot said, that clip never gets old.
I was 7 and attending my second game ever. Its been an addiction ever since.
Coming of age as a UM fan and the first four years AC was on the team. Good times, for sure.
My grandma had a crush on him, always called him 'her Little Anthony' and she loved him because he was awesome in a big boy game despite being 170 pounds soaking wet.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:33 PM ^
is giving him the benfit of the doubt. He had the skinniest legs I've ever seen on a college football player. I was relieved when he went to the USFL out of M, because I was afraid guys like Mike Singletary and Ronnie Lott might snap him in two; but he proved my fears groundless and had a nice NFL career.
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:00 PM ^
+1 for great end zone dance....who holds their arms straight up and starts running with high knees? That dance will forever be synonymous with the touchdown horn.
Would be cool if Hemmingway or Mathews or whoever scored off a pass this weekend and did the same dance to pay homage.
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:30 PM ^
My favorite side note to this play is the head coach in the bright red coat and pants pacing around on the opposite sideline. Back when Lee Corso still announced games, any time a game came down to a Hail Mary situation at the end he would suggest the team should throw it short and run it in. And you knew this play was in the back of his mind when he said it.
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:40 PM ^
Awesome. I hadn't heard the full Ufer clip in a long time.
Here's one of the related videos, which has the whole final drive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWT2pzvzals&feature=related
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:51 PM ^
Anyone notice the play was set up with a fumble/throwing the ball out of bounds? I never knew that.
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:05 PM ^
It led to a rule change: no more intentional fumbling to stop the clock (which is why time ran out on ND after Tate tried to fumble it out on the final play). Lee Corso is miffed about it to this day, and still brings it up on the set of Gameday. He went 0-8 against us, so that play cost him a cherished tie.