Irish’s Montana Comes Back… Again!

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football ticket buyers had not seen the end of Montana’s comeback potential. It was not until 1979 that the full extent of Joe Montana-at Notre Dame football glory would unfold and blossom into a beautiful, legendary pigskin flower.

Wikipedia described the morning of Notre Dame’s 1979 game against Houston as “freakishly cold.” Joe Montana, forced to leave the game at the end of the third quarter to battle a rapidly deteriorating case of hypothermia (Joe Cool, indeed), could only watch in agony as his team went down by 22 points before the start of the fourth quarter. Prior to the game, Montana had been diagnosed with a bad case of the flu. So the odds were against him coming into the game. He had the flu, a bad case of hypothermia, a three-plus touchdown deficit, and only one quarter with which to mount a comeback.

No hope, no chance, no way? Nope… No problem.

Joe Montana stormed back onto the field after downing a bowl of chicken soup, probably using both hands, bringing the bowl to his mouth and spilling a lot of the broth out along the corners of his mouth… probably. About a half hour later Joe Montana was throwing the winning touchdown pass with no time left on the clock. Notre Dame wins 35-34, and Joe Montana is officially at Legend Status in Notre Dame history. StubHub.com can’t promise to get you tickets to games as exciting as some of Cool Joe’s, but then again, you never know when a legend will be born in South Bend.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 23, 2007 - Post a comment