A legendary play that has become part of the lore of college football celebrates its 25th anniversary! Go Bears!!! Visit CalBears.com for tickets and information
Forty years later, Cal broadcaster Joe Starkey would tell the SF Chronicle that he felt he blew the call. He couldn't be more wrong. It was perfect, in all its raw emotion. He did his last Cal game yesterday, and the Bears sent him into retirement in style, with three TDs in the fourth quarter to beat...Stanford. Thanks for the memories, Joe. This one will last forever.
Absolutely. This was a perfect call. This was total mayhem. Guy in the booth is the eyes, ears, and emotion of the listener and Joe was full throttle for the fan. This moment isn't remembered if Joe doesn't go to the wall like he did. Seriously.
I was laughing so hard I was crying at that. I imagined a bionic elbow. It is hard times baby! Hard times! www.dailycal.org/2012/10/19/fallin-stanford-trombonist-gary-tyrrells-life-after-the-play/
@@ElvishShellfish I am pretty sure a lot of people would say Auburn returning Alabama's missed field goal for a touchdown for the win with no time left would be considered a better play this maybe more chaotic because the band was on the field but that doesn't necessarily make it better
@@Salty-Doggy I'm pretty sure nobody outside of Auburn and Alabama (and maybe other SEC schools who for some reason think what good thing happens to another SEC school make them look good) would agree with you. Show these two plays to anybody side by side and they'll love them both. But almost all will think The Play is the greatest play in college football, or probably just football, or probably just sports, ever. EVER. There is simply nothing like it. The rivalry game. The finish. The sheer absurdity of it. And the joyous call. The ending of Auburn and Alabama was great, but not even in the same league.
You're probably right. I was just thinking that a big part of what made this sporting event so thrilling was the announcer's play by play & the changes in his voice.
+jamesk479 it was too hectic and he was just excited he got it in the endzone, didn't mean to tackle him or hit him. He admitted it was an accident from the chaos.
I love the tone change from the commentator. "They get it to Rogers!" "They give it back now to the 30" "They're down to the 20!" "Oh the BAND IS OUT ON THE FIELD HE'S GONNA GO INTO THE END ZONE HE'S GONNA GET AHH THE BEARS THE BEARS HAVE WON THE BEARS HAVE WON OH MY GOD THE MOST AMAZING SENSATIONAL DRAMATIC HEART RENDING EXCITING THRILLING FINISH IN THE HISTORY OF COLLEGE FOOTBAL
I listened live to this broadcast on the radio. There was a long delay after the touchdown until the "THE BEARS HAVE WON" as the referees took a long time deciding just what the hell to do!
That wasn't exactly the way it went. Now after Moen went into the endzone Joe Starkey sounded confused and was wondering if the play would count since there were flags on the field. The officials huddled for the longest time discussing what happened ( remember there was no way for officials to look at replays back then) then they signaled touchdown and Starkey and the whole place went NUTSO!🤣😂
The guy who called that play is STILL the radio play by play announcer for the Cal Bears. His name is Joe Starkey and he just called his 500th game a couple weeks ago.
@@ericstaudt2991 I’m sure there would’ve been some kind of a penalty for the band coming out onto the field. They were already within field goal range at the point of the final lateral.
This was my senior year at UCB. I will never forget this game. I left early to get a jump on traffic so I gave up my seat. I was tired of watching my school lose games at the end. I will never forget the roar I heard as I was getting into my car...
Man! That one takes the cake!!! Been watching replays of this for years and to hear this...right up there with having to defend Ford and how Stfnrd fans want to say Ford's knee was down (game over) but if you look at how there are 2 refs RUNNING up to try to catch up with the play (and there are a COUPLE Stanford guys on top of him or in the way) how in the world are they going to be able to say he was down!!!!
"Oh, the band is out on the field! He's gonna go into the end zone! He got into the end zone! And the Bears! The Bears have won! The Bears have won! Oh, my God! The most amazing, sensational, dramatic, heart-rending... exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football!" Such a great call. And he wasn't even overstating it!
I was at that game. John Elway stood on the sideline, sobbing and with tears streaming down his cheeks. Decades later, he knows that a video of "The Play" will be shown at his funeral.
Elway mistimed the preceding field goal play - left two seconds on the clock. If it had been timed correctly for time to expire during the field goal, the game would have been over and Stanford/Elway would have won. There would have been no subsequent kickoff.
🎉❤😅I was there! Cal Class of 83. We couldn’t believe it. Then the Cal students section, as one, up and flowed onto the field and followed the team in a slow, exultant victory procession. What really sticks in my memory was the dead silence and stillness of the Stanford section. They had a very close vantage of the end zone where Moen creamed the trombone player. Anyway, I’ve never seen 5,000 people sitting so silently, not moving. You could tell that they were in a state of shock. Go BEARS!
+ArtMonkforHallofFame Wrong -- that lateral was made at the 25 yard line tossed slightly backward to the 26 yard line. It was close, but it was legal. If you pause it right at 0:24 as he is colliding with the 3 Cal players then you can see it clearly.
+ArtMonkforHallofFame 30 years later and you fucking idiots still try to argue this? Every official that has commented on this play say there was no illegal forward laterals on the play. GET OVER YOURSELVES YOU STANFORD FUCKS, YOU LOST! LOL!
+Chris Jenkins +Jason Delaney i have no dog in this fight as I have no allegiance to either team. but just look at the ball. We don't care where the players are positioned other than where they are when the ball leaves their hand/touches their hand. So, at 0:23 you can see the player release the ball. The ball is at about the 27 yard line. It's not HD so maybe it's the 26 1/2 yard line. The player who catches the ball (0:24) first touches the ball with the ball at the 25 yard line. Again, without HD it maybe closer to the 26 yard line but there is no doubt that the ball left on one side of the 26 and was caught on the other. forward lateral. that the guy's body is in front of the ball does not change where it was released/caught. This is fully on display at the Music City Miracle where the bodies made the throw look forward but the ball itself only traveled backwards. Here the ball traveled forwards. it is as clear as day. what would likely also be clear if there were 2015 era cameras is that the runner was down at midfield before releasing the lateral earlier in the play.
Yeah, me. I'm in the UK and follow the NFL via NFL Redzone but don't know anything about college football. The mention last Sunday sent me to youtube and it was an amazing play made iconic by the commentary. I particularly liked "... I have never never seen anything like it in the history of I've ever seen any game in my life!"
Without question the best ending to a college football game ever. This game happened a few years before I started watching football but I always enjoy watching the end. Every sports league needs to have a few moments like this.
Mentioned today, Nov 8, 2020. Dallas Cowboys acting QB Garret Gilbert's dad played in this game & the 2020 announcers who referenced it are still calling it "The Play".
One of the best games ever. The band came out on the field because Stanford thought it for sure had won the game with only four seconds left. "The Play" will live forever.
So hard to believe this was 38 years ago !!! Wow, how time flies !! I remember it like it was yesterday, my senior year in high school. My brother's best friend was a 3rd string DL on the Cal team that year. UNFORGETABLE FOR SURE !!!!
Nowadays, this play may have well been overturned and this epic play would have been nullified. Don't get me wrong instant replay has its upside, but ALOT of downside.
Go Bears and Go Joe Starkey - forty years ago and retiring this year. Thanks for the great Cal memories! This was my first game ever at Cal - I was a senior in high school and got into Cal a few weeks later. I had to go after this...
How does this not have more views? I feel like this was one of the first RU-vid videos ever lol i remember being in high school and we would spend hours just watching football nightlights
Starkey's call is horrible. He doesn't tell you what's going on. He never once even uses the word "lateral". The only reason it went down in history is because his voice got hoarse and he screamed about the band being on the field but his "cal" is absolutely awful.
This game was John Elway's last college game. Seconds before the final play Elway had miraculously brought Stanford back to gain the lead. The Cal radio announcer you hear going crazy, is the great Joe Starkey who became the 49ers radio announcer a few years later. When we got home we saw the replay on the news, and see why Starkey went so crazy.
Dolphins miraculous win over Patriots yesterday reminded me of The Play. The sublime last lateral, the hysterical call, the marching band, and last but not least, the two-handed tomahawk spike on the trombone player. The most memorable ending to any football game.
The spike on the trombone player was certainly least, could have given him a concussion or been charged with assault. And there was no marching band coming out onto the field in the Dolphins win.
That guy 28 seconds in getting smashed is the funniest thing I've ever seen, it gets funnier every time I watch it. 3 sports in 1,American football to start off with,then into rugby, and finally basketball when ur man slam dunks the ball off that band members face.
Also amazing, Cal pulled off this miracle with only 10 players on the field instead of stardard 11, due to an oversight-error by the Cal bench. Stupefying additional detail which only heightens the lore.
This highlight always came on for me growing up. I’m 25 now and first time seeing this in 8+ years. The band member getting decked is hilarious and this may be the only CFB highlight before 1985 I know of.
Love how he practically nearly loses his voice making this call. Such an iconic play accompanied by some of the best commentary. You could feel the raw emotion and shock in his voice. This is why we watch!
IMO that's the greatest play in College football history, due to the band being on the field. That's what puts it over the top for me. I had just come from the Rose Bowl that day, where my team the Bruins had just beaten SC on a Karl Morgan sack as time expired. It was right in front of me in the end zone. SC was going for 2. Man, and I thought I had just seen the best play of the day. I came home to see this play on ESPN. Ha!! Good times.
From time to time i go on RU-vid just to listen the Cal announcer's call.....I get goose bumps everytime I hear it.....Best part, "the band is on the field."
@@gigifreakingdies NFL cheerleaders arent there for their cheer ability... they are there for their looks as eye candy. it isnt a cheer competition. very few would care if they were skilled or would even notice the difference.
The guy that did the last lateral stated that he just let it fly since he knew there was no way he was going to make it in the end zone. Luckily he had teammates that kept good pitch relations with him.
That was no lateral. The ball leaves his hands at around the 27 yard line and is caught at around the 25 1/2 yard line. That's an illegal forward pass and should've been a penalty. Also, on the 3rd lateral, the Cal players knee had clearly touched the ground before the ball left his hands. That should've been the ball game. That's what I call home cookin' at it's best!!
I remember my first lecture at Pimentel Hall and how intimidated I was not knowing anyone, being in a lecture hall with more kids than my graduating class, etc. Professor played this video at the end and told us anything was possible... I kind of believed it.
I dont follow American football as in from the uk but I got wrong at work for crying laughing at this vid. Is the band from the team that got the touchdown or the other? Also why didn’t it get stopped or replay the kick when the band were literally walking across
I did not attend Cal until several years later but my father was a Stanford prof and I was always a Bears fan. This always makes me laugh. GO BEARS!!!!!!!
I'm amazed that all these rugby fans are actually watching this video. The Internet is indeed a glorious thing. One day soon, we'll all be watching the same sports.
