Super Bowl Monday_ From the Persian Gulf to the Shores of West Florida - Adam Lazarus [55]
Back on the field, Jeff Hostetler had to somersault out of the path of Giants teammates charging onto the field toward Matt Bahr. Despite a sore neck that nearly kept him sidelined that day (X-rays had to be taken after he tried to tackle a Chicago kick returner the week before), the five-foot, eight-inch, 174-pound Bahr didn’t mind being bear-hugged by Lawrence Taylor.
“It was a good kick, but I’ll tell you what, this victory is for [my teammates]. They worked so hard through training camp; they overcame so many obstacles. I’m just happy to be along for the ride.”
In the visitors’ locker room, reporters and writers surrounded Bahr and Hostetler, the game’s two last-second stars. Both men had waited a long time for this moment. So had Everson Walls.
“I’ve been trying to negate [“The Catch”] all my career, and nobody ever let me,” he said. “This is the only way to negate it. Go to the Super Bowl.”
After praising his team behind closed doors and accepting the George Halas NFC Championship Trophy, Parcells addressed a throng of reporters.
“We had them all the way,” he said with a smirk.
Moments later, Parcells noticed Mark Ingram, who, late in the final period, had not been quite as optimistic while talking to Ottis Anderson.
“It’s better than Christmas morning, isn’t it?” Parcells asked.
“This is better,” replied Ingram.
“That’s probably the greatest game I ever coached in. There were a lot of great players playing in that game. Some on our side and certainly quite a number on San Francisco,” Bill Parcells said in 2010, four years after coaching the last of 505 NFL and collegiate games. “I think everyone who played in that game realized that that was a very special game. It certainly was for me.”
“Jerry Markbreit was the referee of the game. He told me years later that he was the head referee for [437] games. He told me that was the greatest game he ever officiated.”
Anyone not in Candlestick Park that afternoon nearly missed the sights and sounds of the Giants’ miraculous win.
All afternoon, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue remained on-call, ready to replace the national CBS television broadcast in favor of live coverage from the Persian Gulf.
“The decision was made as close to kickoff as he could make it,” NFL Vice President of Communications Joe Browne said. “It was made after he saw there were no major events.”
Still, on at least one occasion, television producers somehow relayed a message informing the referee to extend an on-the-field time-out. They did not want the viewers at home to miss a single play while CBS anchor Dan Rather’s report on a missile attack in Saudi Arabia ran long.
Even at Candlestick, the war was not far from people’s minds. San Francisco police on special duty and mounted officers guarded the field up until an hour before game time. Inside the Giants’ locker room, the war couldn’t be ignored. Ottis Anderson, Pepper Johnson, Gary Reasons, and Matt Cavanaugh each had a cousin in the military, as was Bob Mrosko’s brother. And linebacker Johnie Cooks stayed up most of Wednesday night and Thursday morning with his sobbing wife as they watched the news: his uncle, cousin, and brother-in-law each served in the Gulf.
“Life has to go on,” Cooks said. “It would be better to be playing and give people something else to think about for three hours. We’re sad about what’s going on, but it’s something we’ve got to deal with.”
On game day, Giants players wore yellow wristbands to honor the American sailors and soldiers. Giants owner Wellington Mara—a naval lieutenant commander during World War II—approved the wardrobe addition.
After his kick sailed through the goalposts, Bahr shouted, “This is for the troops,” and waved the wristband in the air.
“The NFL didn’t like it,” Bahr said years later.
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