Holiday Nightmares- Your Strangest/Worst Thanksgiving?

G

groveChuck

U-matic Member
It's the beginning of the holiday season, with all the craziness that entails, and I found myself telling my wife this story today.

1993, Miami Dolphins playing the Cowboys in Dallas (like today, dangit), in the infamous Leon Lett game (if you're a fan of either team, and old enough, you remember it).

I was shooting news.

A couple renting a duplex complained to the landlord that their toilet kept stopping up. There was a blockage in the septic tank. It was opened.
A human body (well, the remains) was in the septic tank, blocking it. Homicide detectives were called, I was assigned.

I spent Thanksgiving 1993 on this crime scene, with a monitor on the roof of the car with the Dolphins/Cowboys game on, watching the game with the homicide detectives, everybody wishing we were home with a beer.
The detectives thanked me profusely for putting the game on. The Dolphins won. :beer:

As for the victim, he had lived in the duplex, disappearing in 1979. Turned out he had been shot, the septic tank opened, and he was thrown in.
His family thought he had just vanished.

What your stangest/weirdest/worst Thanksgiving? Those of other nationalities are welcome to chime in with other holiday nightmares...
 
Oh yeah, it was Thanksgiving Nightmare II (Dolphins' season in septic tank as opposed to a body)

Great game, though...

Where's Leon Lett when you need him???
Lett was a talented player and a cornerstone of the Cowboys defense during his tenure (1991–2000), but he is also remembered for being involved in two infamous plays.
Two of the top three of ESPN's "25 Biggest Sports Blunders" are attributed to Lett...

The second play (ranked #3 in both ESPN lists) was more serious as it resulted in a Cowboy defeat.
On Thanksgiving Day in 1993, during a rare snow and sleet storm in Dallas, the Cowboys, who came into the game with a 7-3 record, were leading the 8-2 Miami Dolphins 14–13 with 15 seconds remaining in the game.

The Dolphins attempted a 41-yard field goal to take the lead but the kick was blocked.
While most of his teammates began celebrating, Lett attempted to recover the ball. He slipped on the ice as he tried to pick up the football, and Miami recovered the "muff" on the Dallas one-yard line.
Had Lett simply done nothing, the Cowboys would have automatically received possession and could have run out the clock.
By touching the ball and then failing to hold onto it, Lett enabled the Dolphins to take possession and then try another field goal with three seconds left on the clock.
This second attempt was successful and the Dolphins won the game 16–14 as the clock expired.
Click to expand...
 
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