The 1982 Big Game: "The Play"

Retired Oakland Tribune photojournalist Robert Stinnett discusses the making of his famous picture as Cal's Kevin Moen leaps into the end zone after making a game-winning catch.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• the
• play
• robert
• stinnett
• big
• game
• cal
• stanford
• football
• photograph
• jane
• tyska
• oakland
• oaklandtribune

[dorsal08]

The fact that the officials let the 2nd (illegal) lateral go reminds me of the celtics/suns game of 1976 when the officials let the celtics get away with calling a time out when they didn't have one left and they went on to win that game.

[abbeywood22]

"trojantjl" is an idiot. Case closed.

[Naperdude05]

@abbeywood22 Clearly down???? LOL!

[mccormack9]

GREAT piece of history. Thank you for posting.

[cqdakota]

Whats Sad is Kevin Moen is my LB Coach lol... i didn't believe him when he said he was apart of "The Play" but damn was i wrong.

[kruegercal]

"WaaaaaaH!!! WaaaaaaH!!! WaaaaaaH!!! His knee was down!" No it wasn't Stanfurd fans. No flag. No call. You lose. Your team and your band couldn't bring him down. How pathetic. How Stanfurd of you. Thankfully, this play is immortal in college football lore. DEAL WITH IT!

Now go run up the score with that douche of a coach Captain Comeback (even his Alma Mater disowned him).

[Anymajordude5]

Google owns YouTube, Google founded by two Stanford grad students. Obvious all these thumbs down done inside YouTube by a bitter Stanford supporter with Admin privledges.

[BeastlyDuck1]

Cal had the most heart no matter what anyone says...they won that game

[trojantjl]

Cal won. Case closed.

[dzstroke015]

While some poor sports still argue laterals, they forget the three things that made The Play happen. 1. Elway called time with 8 seconds left, allowing time for the kickoff. 2. The Cal players on the field were NCAA Rugby Champions. 3. The band was watching the clock and started taking the field before the controversial laterals. Even if the ball was downed for one of the laterals, Cal would have had one more play, since a game can't end on a defensive penalty (illegal participation by the band)

[dzstroke015]

Wow! I see some people are still living in denial, over 25 years later. Elway got over it. Why can't the rest of you? It's amazing that people with Cardinal colored glasses can see what trained officials have never seen: conclusive video evidence that Garner's knee was down (he was surrounded by Stanfurd players, so those glasses must have X-ray capability) or that the fifth lateral from Ford to Moen (not Rodgers--check those glasses) was forward. Nice try, amateurs.