[OutsiderFan]

It was an unhappy outcome for Stanford fans. But there's an amazing story behind The Play, and I tell it in my upcoming book. I'm a 1982 grad who played in the LSJUMB. For the book, I interviewed 375 people (coaches and players for both teams, members of both bands, referees, 21 of the 22 players on the field for The Play), reviewed more than 1,500 newspaper articles on the 1982 season for both teams and watched all the available footage. John Elway and Ron Rivera have written the forewords. Rod Gilmore, Ivan Maisel and Gary Tyrrell have written blurbs praising the book. So have three Cal folks, including Gary Plummer and Joe Starkey. Pub date is Nov. 1. You can pre-order it now. https://www.amazon.com/Five-Laterals-Tro...1637271158

Did anyone listen to Ron Barr's call of The Play? I didn't attend the game (I have an unused ticket that I could probably sell for major $ on eBay) and listened on KSFO. 

Barr's call could not have been more different than Starkey's. He expressed no concern or emotion as he called the action. Something like, "...and Garner is down at...no, the play is still alive...there's another lateral...Ford is now running...there's another lateral...(chuckling)...a Cal player is now running through the Stanford band...there are flags all over the field...Kevin Moen is in the end zone...but I'm sure this play is coming back." 

I remember how deflated Barr sounded when he said the ref had signaled TD after a brief discussion. 

20 years ago Barr was asked if he thought the call was correct. His response was not what I expected. He said he thought the refs made the right call. Why? He said that he feared an ugly riot would have ensued if the refs had disallowed the TD. Maybe.

Is there a recording of it?  The Starkey call is one of the worst in the history of sports, if you think a radio play-by-play announcer's job is to actually describe to the listener what is happening on the field.

It's a microcosm of how terrible he has always been at letting listeners know WTF is happening in all Cal games he has done. Interestingly, I never remember his Niners calls being nearly as bad as his Cal ones.

[OutsiderFan]

It was an unhappy outcome for Stanford fans. But there's an amazing story behind The Play, and I tell it in my upcoming book. I'm a 1982 grad who played in the LSJUMB. For the book, I interviewed 375 people (coaches and players for both teams, members of both bands, referees, 21 of the 22 players on the field for The Play), reviewed more than 1,500 newspaper articles on the 1982 season for both teams and watched all the available footage. John Elway and Ron Rivera have written the forewords. Rod Gilmore, Ivan Maisel and Gary Tyrrell have written blurbs praising the book. So have three Cal folks, including Gary Plummer and Joe Starkey. Pub date is Nov. 1. You can pre-order it now. https://www.amazon.com/Five-Laterals-Tro...1637271158

Did anyone listen to Ron Barr's call of The Play? I didn't attend the game (I have an unused ticket that I could probably sell for major $ on eBay) and listened on KSFO. 

Barr's call could not have been more different than Starkey's. He expressed no concern or emotion as he called the action. Something like, "...and Garner is down at...no, the play is still alive...there's another lateral...Ford is now running...there's another lateral...(chuckling)...a Cal player is now running through the Stanford band...there are flags all over the field...Kevin Moen is in the end zone...but I'm sure this play is coming back." 

I remember how deflated Barr sounded when he said the ref had signaled TD after a brief discussion. 

20 years ago Barr was asked if he thought the call was correct. His response was not what I expected. He said he thought the refs made the right call. Why? He said that he feared an ugly riot would have ensued if the refs had disallowed the TD. Maybe.

Is there a recording of it?  The Starkey call is one of the worst in the history of sports, if you think a radio play-by-play announcer's job is to actually describe to the listener what is happening on the field.

It's a microcosm of how terrible he has always been at letting listeners know WTF is happening in all Cal games he has done. Interestingly, I never remember his Niners calls being nearly as bad as his Cal ones.