Well, it all started from this game. The NFL is not only the most popular sports league of my country but the Super Bowl has gained the popularity of being the world’s biggest annual sporting event. The Greatest Game Ever Played is the title given to the Championship Game of 1958 National Football League. This historic game was played on December 28, 1958 at the Yankee Stadium in New York City.
I am a die-hard NFL fan and this game was recited to me by my dad who was there at the Yankee Stadium on “The Day”. As he told me the background of the game, I could see the passion in his eyes that he witnessed the greatest game of NFL as well as the disappointment of defeat being a Giants fan.
The game was played between Baltimore Colts and New York Giants which the Giants lost by a score of 23-17. First time ever in the history of NFL playoffs a game was awaiting a result after normal play and the game was stretched into the sudden death overtime. Around 64,185 fans witnessed the game at the Yankees Stadium whereas an estimated 45 million couch potatoes watched the first match ever to be televised in US.
Pat Summerall scored a 36-yard field goal in the first quarter making it 3-0 in favor of Giants in the first quarter. However, a 2-yard touchdown by Colts running back Alan Ameche and a 15-yard pass by Johnny Unitas to Raymond Berry turned the match on its head with Colts leading 14-3 at halftime.
The lead was then cut to just 4 points with a 1-yard touchdown run by Mel Triplett to make it 14-10. The Giants then took an early lead in the fourth quarter with a 15-yard pass by Conerly setting up Gifford. My dad exclaimed that by this time all went Giants’ way until the historic “2-minute drill” by Unitas. About 2 minutes were left in the game when The Colts gained possession at their 14-yard line and Unitas delivered what is relished as one of the most famous drives in the history of football. The ball was moved into the 13-yard line of Giants’ setting up a 20-yard tying field goal by Steve Myhra with just 7 seconds left.
First time in the history of NFL a game went into sudden death and Unitas later stated that the players had never heard about overtime. But, I guess they really knew what to do in an overtime period. Colts drove 80 yards in 13 plays and finally Ameche scored a 1-yard touchdown to win the Championship 23-17.
This game was presented by ESPN to the US audience on December 13, 2008, which was a 2-hour duration documentary. The game was a spectacular one indeed with my heartbeats at continuous high levels throughout the overtime. It is rightly regarded as “The Greatest Game Ever Played”.