Wrong. Just wrong.
November 26th, 2007, 5:07 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Dan Zeiger
The results of FSN Arizona’s online poll asking viewers to name the top moment in the Arizona-Arizona State rivalry are in. Here are the five finalists (in chronological order), as selected by 55,000 voters:
1982: Arizona’s win knocks ASU out of the Rose Bowl
1982-90: The Streak (UA goes 8-0-1 against ASU)
1986: Chuck Cecil’s 100-yard interception return
1996: ASU’s 56-14 rout in Tucson
2005: Terry Richardson’s punt return for a touchdown
The voting results will be unveiled during the network’s “Duel In The Desert” pregame show, airing at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
A moment is missing, and its omission has the subtlety of a solar flare.
Evidently, the voting turned into an online war between fans of the each school trying to prevent the other from owning the No. 1 overall moment. As a result, the early leaders — Cecil’s interception for UA and the 1996 game for ASU — became the target of each fan base in the race to the top.
One school’s fans made the right choice on their top moment. Those from the other school were not even in the same time zone.
John Jefferson’s “The Catch” in 1975 is the most significant play in the UA-ASU rivalry, period. No other game had more on the line for both teams, and no other moment has has been a source of debate years — even decades — later.
The 1996 game was a boring blowout that had no Rose Bowl implications (ASU had already sewn up the invitation) and was marred by fourth-quarter fisticuffs. As I have written before, Terry Richardson’s punt return, while electrifying, was not the most important play he made in the 2005 contest.
Usually, I am hesitant to second-guess the desires of fans, some of who read my work. And, after all, this was their poll.
However, discussing the UA-ASU rivalry without Jefferson’s catch at the forefront is like talking about the history of the Fiesta Bowl with no mention of the 1987 Miami (Fla.)-Penn State game. Or discussing the New York Yankees with no mention of Babe Ruth. Or discussing Franklin Roosevelt with no mention of the New Deal.
You might as well not even bring the subject up.
