A history lesson

Our present culture is in love with the present.

We're quick to call everything the "best ever" without spending much time consulting the "ever" part. Hence, the trend of a college football "Game of the Century" about, oh, once a year.

Reading a book on the life of Bear Bryant, you pick up on the revelation that there were actually functioning civilizations before the 1980s. And those civilizations managed to play some darn good and compelling football games.

One of those games, as detailed in The Last Coach: A Life of Paul "Bear" Bryant, was the 1973 Sugar Bowl between Alabama and Notre Dame.

When you think about this year's meeting in the BCS title game between the two two traditional mega-powers, you assume their rivalry goes back to the ancient days in the 30s and 40s and 50s. But New Year's Eve of 1973 was the first time the Tide and Irish hooked up, for whatever reason.

Some fascinating facts from that showdown, according to the book and other accounts:

-- Nebraska and Southern Cal lost at the end of the regular season, leaving three teams unbeaten: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Notre Dame. The Sooners were ruled ineligible for postseason play because of recruiting violations.

-- For a reason that no one has been able to identify, a tape of the game had never been made public or replayed on a sports classic channel at the time of the book's publishing (2005). You can watch the highlights here and here.

-- Alabama fans were still ticked from a snub in the 1966 season, when Ara Parseghian played for a tie against Michigan State in a titanic matchup. The Irish went on to claim the national title, and seven years later Bama fans still sported bumper stickers that blared: "To hell with AP and UPI, Bama's Number One!" Some people believed there'd be heightened nastiness between the two fan bases because of anti-Catholic sentiments by Alabama's Protestant-heavy leanings. Before "Catholics vs. Convicts" (Notre Dame vs. Miami in the 1980s), there was "Catholics vs. Baptists." And the game's location, in wild New Orleans, only added to the anticipation of craziness.

-- Scalpers were getting more than $2,000 per ticket for the game, which was played at rickety Tulane Stadium in those days.

-- Howard Cosell was an NFL guy, but the immensity of this matchup compelled Roone Arledge to send the broadcasting icon to New Orleans. Cosell knew little of the college game and was reluctant to call this one. He marveled at Notre Dame's strange variation of the T-formation. "Oh this college game is something else!"

-- The artificial turf was slick from heavy rains, compelling both teams to improvise with their footwear. Alabama's players switched to Tulane's game shoes. Notre Dame's players switched to Tulane's practice shoes. That would never happen today; equipment staffs are massively prepared for every possible variable.

-- Notre Dame missed an extra point early. Alabama missed an extra point late. There were six lead changes. Alabama went up in the second quarter, but Notre Dame immediately went back up with a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, followed by a successful two-point conversion. Alabama went up late on a razzle-dazzle play in which the quarterback hauled in a touchdown pass from a halfback. The missed extra point meant the score was 23-21, giving Notre Dame the opportunity to go ahead with a field goal. The Irish did just that, moving into field-goal range after completing a deep ball into double coverage. Notre Dame went up 24-23 with a little over four minutes left.

-- Alabama had to punt on the next possession but still had a chance after pinning Notre Dame at its 1. The Tide needed a stop. On third-and-8 from the 3, Parseghian gambled and went play-action. Tom Clements dropped into his own end zone and found tight end Robin Weber down the left sideline for a 35-yard gain. It was Weber's second catch of the season.

From the book: "A step or two from the sidelines Weber made the grab and went out of bounds, perhaps ten feet from where Bear Bryant, ashen-faced, was standing."

-- In the press box, a sportswriter named Herbie Kirby of the Birmingham News filed his last story of the night -- then collapsed of a heart attack and died.

-- A Japanese sportswriter taking in his first American football game filed a story with this lead paragraph: "I am not sure what was happening on the field, but I know it was something exciting and something good."

-- After consoling his weeping team in the Alabama locker room, Bryant went straight to Notre Dame's locker room and congratulated Clements.

-- Bryant later wrote that Parseghian wrote him a few weeks after the game, recalling:

"He said how much his group had enjoyed playing us, how wrong the impressions were beforehand. (They pictured us as a bunch of rednecks, and we had some thoughts about them, too.) He said how much everybody got out of the game, and how great it was for college football that we now had a series going. It was very gracious, Ara's letter. I'd love to have written him."

-- The Nielsen rating for this game was 25.3, far higher than the 14.0 rating for Alabama's victory over LSU in last season's BCS title game, as reported in this article from the Birmingham News.

-- Bryant lost his next three meetings with Notre Dame (1975, 1976, 1980), one of the few blights on his spectacular coaching resume.

LW