Remembering the year sports put a damper on Christmas in Baltimore

When Christmas Eve comes along every year, I always think back to where I was on Dec. 24, 1977, and how sports kind of ruined Christmas for the high school junior me that year.

I was at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium with about 60,000 other fans hoping to cheer on the Colts to a playoff win over coach John Madden's Oakland Raiders. The winner of that game would move on to the AFC Championship. Looking back now, so many years later, there was a ton of talent on the field that day and the game was an epic struggle that went into the second overtime in one of the longest game's in NFL history.

It was a great game, if, as a Colts fan, you briefly overlook the ending.

We didn't know it then, but it would be the last playoff game for a Baltimore-based team with the Colts name. But that day, those of us cheering so loudly in that stadium were proud of the guys in the horseshoes and couldn't wait for kickoff.

I digress from baseball, which is a real rarity in this space. But right now with the lockout going on, there is less to discuss, and heck, it's Christmas, so hopefully you are in a good mood and won't cross me off next year's Christmas card list!

Looking back now - 44 years later - I am still mad that Colts coach Ted Marchibroda chose to sit on the ball with just under three minutes left and leading by three. A first down or two may have run out the clock and ended in a win, but the coach, per my memory, ran Lydell Mitchell rather than let quarterback Bert Jones even throw a short and safe pass to pick up a critical first down and keep the ball away from Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler.

But Stabler did the get the ball back, tight end Dave Casper made a remarkable over-the-shoulder catch of a 42-yard pass and the Raiders got the game-tying field goal. It was 31-all in the final seconds. "Ghost to the Post" was the now-famous play that led to the tying field goal and forced the first overtime, which was scoreless.

Early in the second OT, it was Casper again catching a 10-yard pass that ended the epic struggle and sent the Raiders to the next round with a 37-31 win. It sent the rest of us into the cold of a Baltimore Saturday afternoon so very disappointed. Not even the impending arrival of Santa Claus could console some of us.

That Oakland team was loaded with future Hall of Famers, including Madden, Stabler, Casper, Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, Fred Biletnikoff, Ted Hendricks, Willie Brown and Ray Guy. And I may have missed a few.

That Raiders team was the defending Super Bowl champion, but would lose the next week to Denver by three points in the AFC title game. The Colts would not play another playoff game representing Baltimore.

The Raiders outgained the Colts per the box score, 491 to 301 yards, but made four turnovers to none for the Colts. Jones did not have a good day, going 12-for-26 without a TD passing. In fact two Baltimore touchdowns came on Bruce Laird's 61-yard interception return and Marshall Johnson's 87-yard kickoff return.

With the Christmas Eve loss, Baltimore had reached the playoffs three years in a row, but lost in the first round each time. The 1975 Colts started the three-year run of success, going 10-4 after finishing last the previous year at 2-12. It was a fun three years that seemed to come crashing down that day, looking back now. The Colts would have six straight losing seasons beginning in 1978 and then moved to Indianapolis.

Baltimore sports fans, including this kid, were crushed.

But looking back, it was fun to be in a stadium that rocked for a team we loved producing lifelong memories, most of them good.

Even if Christmas just wasn't the same that year.