FanHouse

The Heidi Game was a seminal moment in the history of American sports on television. So many football fans were outraged that the ending of a Jets-Raiders game was preempted in favor of the movie Heidi that sports leagues and TV networks changed their contracts to ensure it would never happen again.

Now the Canadian Football League has had its own version of the Heidi Game. The Edmonton Eskimos were playing the Saskatchewan Roughriders, but the game was delayed by lightning, and in its place CBC showed the Nick Nolte movie The Good Thief.

But when the lightning subsided and the players retook the field, instead of returning to the game, the CBC stayed with the movie. At the time Nolte appeared on viewers' screens, Edmonton was ahead 32-27 in the fourth quarter. After the end of the lightning delay, the Roughriders scored 12 points and won 39-32. The fans at home missed it. The CBC has apologized. I hope The Good Thief has a good ending.