The Kevin Sheehan Show - Billy Kilmer On 50 Yrs Ago Today

Episode Date: December 31, 2022

Kevin with a special edition of the podcast remembering Washington's first NFC Championship win during the Super Bowl era which came 50 years ago today. The starting quarterback for the Redskins on that December 31st,1972 day was Billy Kilmer. Billy joined Kevin to reminisce on not just the 26-3 win over the Cowboys but the season that led up to it.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. A mild, unseasonable rain could not cloud the glory of the moments preceding the Washington Redskins showdown with the ruling world champion Dallas Cowboys. Not since 1945 at Washington hosted a championship game.

And not since 1942 at Washington, D.C. been the home of a champion. Just remember this. 40 men together can't lose. Okay. That was George Allen prior to kickoff 50 years ago today. December 31st, 1972, as the Washington Redskins got ready to battle their heated rival, the Dallas Cowboys, in the NFC Championship game. The first NFC championship game during the Super Bowl era for Washington, a game.

a game they won with a dominating defensive performance and more than enough offense, winning the game 26 to 3 to advance to Super Bowl 7, where they would lose to the 72 Dolphins still the only team during the Super Bowl era to go undefeated start to finish, 14 to 7. This is a special edition of the podcast. Looking back at that game 50 years ago, one guest on this show today, and it would be the guy you'd want to hear from about not only that game, but the season that led up to that game as well.

Billy Kilmer, the starting quarterback of the Redskins that day, will join me in a few minutes. But before we get to Billy, a few things to give you some context of that game 50 years ago. First of all, this was year two of George Allen. George Allen had arrived in 1971, said the future. is now traded for every former ram player for the most part, traded every draft choice. And in that first year, 1971, the skins went 9, 4 and 1, made it to the postseason and lost to the 49ers in Candlestick. 24 to 20 is the wild card team in the divisional round.

But that set the stage for 1972. And they came back as a very good football team, one of the best defenses in all of the NFL. They had certainly a controversy of quarterback. Would it be Sunny? Would it be Billy? Billy had finished up the 71 season. It had quarterbacked much of the 71 season. They came back with Billy Kilmer in the opener in the early portion of the season,

but eventually went to Sunny before Sunny tours Achilles in late October in a game against the Giants in Yankee Stadium. Kilmer took over the team the rest of the way. they went 11 and 1 in that regular season before losing their final two games, but they had already clinched the NFC East title. They lost to the Cowboys in a meaningless game late in the year, lost to OJ Simpson and the Buffalo Bills in the season finale at home. But they went into the postseason as an 11 and 3 team with home field advantage, beat the Packers 16 to 3 in the divisional round,

and then face the Cowboys on December 31st. 1972, 50 years ago today in the NFC title game. A couple of things that led up to that matchup. The week before in the divisional round was the immaculate reception, which was just celebrated and remembered last weekend. December 23rd, 1972 was the immaculate reception. That was the first playoff game of divisional round the week before. The second game that day, that Saturday, December 23rd, was a Dallas comeback in San Francisco.

They rallied from 28 to 13 down to win the game 30 to 28 to advance to the NFC championship game to face Washington. If not, it would have been the 49ers who looked like they were in total control of that playoff game late in that game. Washington beat Green Bay the next day. Miami won the next day. and so it was Miami and Pittsburgh in the AFC championship game, which started at noon on that December 31st. And Miami actually played that game on the road. There was not a home field advantage determined based on record back then. It was on a rotating divisional basis. And the AFC Central, even though the Steelers had a worse record than Miami, everybody had a worse record than Miami.

They hosted the AFC.FSI. title game. Miami won that game, though, earlier in the day, 21 to 17, and then the NFC championship game kicked off at 3 p.m. in D.C. at RFK Stadium. And here was an interesting fact about that particular game that day in D.C. It was blacked out. It was not on local television. There was the NFL blackout rule back then. All home games were blacked out. It wasn't until the following year where they then instituted the lifting of the blackout rule if games were sold out 72 hours in advance, which then meant that every Redskin game was on TV because every game was sold out before the season began. But the NFL for many,

many years, up until just a few years ago, felt like attendance was the most important thing. And if games were televised locally, they wouldn't sell out games. It would hurt the ticket market for games. So the game was blacked out. You could not watch the game. It was nationally televised except in Washington. Now, it was on television in Baltimore on the CBS affiliate Channel 2. So if you had one of those TVs back then, you could barely get Channel 2, you probably wrapped your antenna in tinfoil, and perhaps were able to see you. some semblance of a picture, maybe in D.C. you were able to get the Baltimore stations.

Interesting story about that is that Nixon, the president then, who was a massive football fan, tried to get Pete Roselle to lift the blackout rule for playoff games. But Roselle refused to do it. But they eventually voted into legislation prior to the 73 season, the 72-hour lifting of blackout if games were. sold out. But Nixon wanted to watch that game

so badly from the White House and couldn't because they didn't lift the blackout. Roselle refused to do it. And so Washingtonians couldn't watch the game unless you could get Channel 2 in Baltimore or you were one of the 53,129

that were lucky enough to be there. That was the capacity for 1972 football at RFK. 53,129. It would eventually become a number that I think many of you of a certain age are familiar with, 55,000, 35. But for that day in 1972, 50 years ago, it was 53,129. Washington was a three-point favorite in the game.

The weather was super mild for New Year's Eve. It was 49 degrees at kick off. It had rained for much of the day. the rain had stopped at kickoff. The field was a little bit wet and damp and muddy, but it was a super mild day considering the time of the year. And the game was nationally televised on CBS, just not in Washington, nationally everywhere else. And the broadcasters on the game, Jack Buck was the play-by-play voice. Pat Summerall was the lead analyst. This was before Pat Summerall became a play-by-play. guy. Summerall was an analyst. Summerall would eventually start to become the lead play-by-play

analyst for CBS. But that wouldn't happen until 1974 when he got teamed with Tom Brookshire and started doing games with Tom Brookshire long before John Madden came along. Madden was a coach during that time. So Buck and Summerall were on the TV call and you're going to hear what I found on YouTube. I found the radio call, the national radio call, CBS Radio. The broadcasters were Don Klein and Andy Muser. So I'm going to interspers during my conversation with Billy Kilmer. You'll hear some of the play-by-play as it was called on national radio, CBS Radio, for that game as well. All right. Let's get to Billy Kilmer. We'll do that right after these. words from a few of our sponsors.

Cowboys are taking the field two hour left, the Redskins, taking the field two hour right. And now we'd like to call on a man who is an outstanding sports broadcaster for many years and a director of sports for the CBS station in San Francisco. Here's Don Klein. Thank you, Andy. And good afternoon, everyone. As we approached zero hour here for the Cowboys and the Redskins, Dallas, trying for its third. straight Super Bowl appearance, which would be a new success record in gaining access to the pro football championship encounter. As Andy mentioned, as you undoubtedly know by now, they know, the winner of this one knows its

opponent two weeks 10. Washington having won its first division vitals in 1945, trying to extend that mark of success to its first overall championship since the beat the Bears in 42. 50 years ago today, Washington won their first ever. NFC championship game in the Super Bowl era. It was December 31st, 1972 at RFK Stadium. Washington beat the Cowboys, 26 to 3, to advance to Super Bowl 7 on what was a wild New Year's Eve night in the nation's capital.

And the starting quarterback that day at RFK was the one and only Billy Kilmer. And Billy Kilmer joins me right now. Can you believe that it's been 50 years? I know that there have been other, you know, sort of momentous dates, 25 years, 30 years, 50 years, 50 years, Billy, since that night that you guys beat the Cowboys 26 to 3. You know, Kevin, it seems like it was yesterday. Years go by so quick. But, you know, 50 years is amazing.

I'm glad I'm still here. We're all glad you're still here. too. And of course, you know, that season before we get to the game itself was, you know, a season in which Sunny got hurt, you know, at Yankee Stadium against the Giants earlier in the year. You took over. It was a great team that year. You guys went 11 and 3, losing the last two. You guys were 11 and 1 and then really didn't play to win the games. You had clinched the NFC East title and didn't have a lot to play for in that finale against the bills. But in that play, oh, you know, actually let me back up, what do you remember, what stands

out to you more than anything else about the regular season in 72? Well, you know, 72, I started this season. We went to Minnesota on a Monday night, and then I think the Giants the next week, and we won our first two. And then we went to New England, who had won any games for about a year or two. And I remember

given a long interview to the Washington Post. And then Diren Talbert walks through and I said, how are we going to do for, you know, that tomorrow.

It was Friday and Saturday. And the guy in Dyer and and said, well, the Pats are Patsy. Well, in that interview, whatever I said that interview, and I said that, you know, we had to be careful of New England. They had a young quarterback in Jim Plunkett, and I said, you know, we can't take him lightly up there.

Well, don't you know, I threw three touchdown passes in that game, and we lose a field goal kicker, missed a field goal at the end of the game, and we lose by a point, and then George benched me and put Sonny in. And Sonny did great. He won, I think, the next three games. And we went to New York, and then he snapped his Achilles, and I came in and finished the rest of the season. That New England game, Billy, is famous for Bill Malenczak's blocked pun,

which a lot of the film of that game reveals that it was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown, but it was rule the safety. And so it went from 24-21, and it should have been 28-24, you guys, to 24-23. They punted it, and then you got them in range, and Curtinite missed a field goal that would have won it at the end. And you're right. You threw three touchdowns that day against – And I'll tell you what, I did throw a fourth one.

And if there had been instant replayed that game, to Roy. Jefferson in the back of the end zone, and he kept two feet in rounds, made a great catch, and they ruled out of bounds. And, you know, in our films, you know, after the next day, because there's no instant replay when they called it incomplete. It was over. But he had kept both feet in bounds, and that would have been another touchdown to win it. Yeah, that was a shame. You guys, by the way, I'm looking this up right now. You were 10-point favorites over the Patriots who were terrible. You know, they were a terrible team.

They finished 3 and 11 with one of the wins being over the eventual NFC champion, Washington Redskins. So what about, you know, here, this is, by the way, the 71 season for me is the first season that I remember. George's first season, you know, the game that you guys had at the Coliseum late in the year. I think that's the first football game, Billy, that I can remember as a small child. my father let me stay up, you know, and watch Monday night football bees. That was the game where you guys clinched a playoff berth. And the 72 season, the other, I remember that opener against Minnesota in the New England game. I also remember the game that you didn't play that Sonny played in, the first of the two against the Cowboys, you know, which then it'd become the big, big rival because George had put a target on them.

That was a sunny game, but it was at RFK in October, and that was a huge game in the NFL that year. I know you didn't play in it, but do you remember it? Well, not really. I remember the score. All I remember is we won. I know that Sunny came in and played three games and real good games. Philadelphia was one of, I think, and then the Cowboys and somebody else. before we went down to New York.

But, yeah, he played super there, the three games that he was in, of course. There's that famous shot. The thing about the, you mentioned the 71 season. Yeah. And, you know, we started out 5 and 0. And we went to Kansas City, and I threw Charlie Taylor, two touchdown passes in the first, half. And when he went over the goal line, he

got tackled from behind and broke his, well, yeah, his fibula. And if Charlie had been healthy that whole year, that year we might have won or went to the Super Bowl, Charlie was having

a great year. I can't remember, but he had probably already caught about five touchdown passes. And we were only six games into the season. maybe more. I can't remember. But anyway, when Charlie broke his leg, we did make the playoffs, but it really hurt our offense. Tremend, and he was having a heck of a year that year. Oh, yeah. I mean, that was a great game against the Chiefs, you know, who were, you know,

that was the Hank Stram, Len Dawson, Otis Taylor, and all those defensive future defensive Hall of Famers. And that was the first game you lost in the game in which Taylor broke his fibrillin was out for the year. Yeah, that team was a really good team. And remember, Billy, I mean, you had a big year that year. I mean, the game that you had against the Rams to clinch the playoff birth late in that year was a monster game where you threw three or four touchdowns. Yeah.

Yeah, that did it. We got into the playoffs. But after Charlie got hurt, we had a little lull. And we got a tie with Philadelphia. And then we lose a couple of games. Well, we lost to Dallas in our stadium that year. And we had beat them in Dallas earlier, and then they came there, and we lost the game 13-0.

And we had no offense. And maybe one other game. And we had to win Philadelphia, New York, and then the Rams to get into playoffs, which we did. You know, I don't know if you've ever seen. this or if you ever look for these things and maybe you don't. But, you know, that Rams Monday night game is actually the whole game as it was broadcast on Monday night football by ABC with Frank Gifford and Meredith and Howard Coasell is actually available on YouTube, the entire game.

And you're interviewed by Howard before the game started. That was like that opened the broadcast with Howard having a conversation with you in an interview. I don't remember that. Yeah, you guys know. I don't know. That was a long time ago. That was 51 years ago.

Let's get back to 50 years ago in the 72 season. So you come in and there's that famous shot of you walking onto the field at Yankee Stadium against the Giants with Sunny being carried off. You know, I've talked to Sunny many times over the years about that season and his disappointment. But you guys were so close. But did you know when you were. walked onto the field that the injury was going to be a season-ending injury to Sunny. Did you know that at that point? Not really.

I mean, I knew he was limping, and he had never, he hadn't got hit because I was watching him and then he threw a pass and I took my eye off of it and went down field and I turned back and now he's limping off the field. That's why I kind of looked at his, they got a picture of him limping of me looking at his thing. I didn't know if he got the sprain or what had happened. So I didn't know at the time that it was an Achilles. Larry Brown on that day, if you recall, set the franchise record with 191 yards rushing. I know.

Yeah. He had a great year that year. He was MVP. You know, he was a catalyst for our offense that year. There's no doubt about it. All right. Let's fast forward to the post. season. One of the things, and I don't think I've ever asked anybody, I don't think I've ever asked

Sonny this, and I'll ask you this. The Packers were your first playoff opponent at RFK Stadium. It was Christmas Eve, 1972, and it was a different Packers team. It wasn't the Lombardi Packers, but was there still the aura of the Packers in 1972? I don't know. I don't think so. They had a complete. different team. They were basically a running team in those days. Yeah, that really good running back there that had a good year. John Brockington. Yeah, Brockington. I had a great year. You know, we

what was to score? 16 to 3 or something like that. You got it. Yeah, and our defense of those two playoff games, they were banged if, in fact, the defense was good enough to win when we played Miami in the Super Bowl. And our defense was just great all year. But no playoffs, they really came. And they played great. And, you know, hold both teams down to three points in those two games, those playoff

games. By the way, Billy, I don't know how much you watched of the 50-year anniversary of the Immaculate Reception game last weekend. But that game was played the day before you. you guys played the Packers. That was the Bradshaw, Frank O'Harris game, and that was the day before. And the game that followed that game was the Cowboys coming back from down 15 in the fourth quarter to beat the 49ers at Candlestick, which meant that the Cowboys were going to be the opponent

for you guys in the NFC championship games. So when the Green Bay game ended, what were your first thoughts, you know, looking forward to the Cowboys? and having that rivalry renewing an NFC title game. It was all right with me and the all our team because it was going to be played at RFK, and that was a big thing. We had a home field advantage.

So, you know, we felt good about the game. And, you know, one thing about that game, that I'll never forget, and probably it's the most motivating thing that I've ever had my, The entire life was the morning of the game, we used to have a little coffee deal. We were up, me and Ron McDowell, Pat Fisher. We'd go down in a restaurant at the old Marriott out by Dulles Airport.

And I was reading the paper, and in the paper, Tom Landry had said, well, I think we have an advantage. advantage because Roger Stombeck is a better athlete than Billy Kilman. And I almost, I just, I could have played the game right there. I was so fired up and ready to play. And I've mentioned it a lot of times. But if they had to play the game right then, I was ready to go. You know, first of all, the thing that people don't know about you prior to your car accident,

you were a phenomenal runner as a college quarterback and as a pro quarterback in your early days. You were halfback. I was a single week, yes. That was a single week tailback in college. But you did a lot of throwing and, you know, I did all the kick it and running. That's why I went to UCLA because of that formation. You know, there's another story about that game that Roger Staubach's told before. He said that prior to that game, Diron Talbert had said, and it was in their papers, that Washington had the advantage because it was Stawback that was going to play the game and not Craig Morton.

So Staubeck came into that game fired up as well. How many have you had conversations with Roger over the years about the rivalry or that game in particular? Yeah, I used to live in Dallas for a while. Yeah, I used to see Dad. And I went to a lot of cowboy games of those days, and I'd run into Roger. We talked about it a lot. But, you know, and he mentioned about that. So, you know, he was fired up too, darn fired him off.

Our defense played super that day. All right. Tell me about the game itself. First of all, you know, the RFK Stadium experience, which I got to be a part of as, you know, as a kid and as a teenager and as an adult, a young adult, you know, nothing we've seen, obviously, from FedEx Field has ever, you know, come close to that. What was the stadium like that day? What are your memories of, you know, pre-kickoff and how jacked up the place was? Well, I remember it was just packed full of our fans, and they were right behind. I remember taking the opening kickoff and moving them right down the field.

I threw Charlie Taylor a touchdown pass to open the scoring. And from then on, you know, and our defense shut them out. And I know it was a close game and it was 10 to 3 there. and I remember I fumbled up. Somehow I tried to hand off I don't know if Larry or who it was and the ball

came out and it was fumbled and I remember Jerry Smith came out of nowhere and jumped on the ball because the Cowboys were good if they had recovered that fumble, it was inside the 20-yard line

and that would have given them some spark. And when Jerry jumped on that ball, then we moved and we probably had to pump the ball. I can't remember the series and all that. The only thing is, you know, when we were 10-3 and the quarter was over, the third quarter, and we've changed ends, and I went over to the sideline, and Charlie Waters was their left corner, right corner to me, when I'm looking at it, and he got hurt just before that change of possession there. So they brought in a kid that hadn't played there very much,

and I went over, I said, I'm going to try to run them. I told Charlie, just run by this guy. I ran a play action path. the o'clock on first down that's what the cowboys always played was a running down defense they had and when Charlie when I ran the play action play turned around and I just heaved it as far as I threw in fact I thought I'd overthrown Charlie and Charlie had sub-burst of speed and he went from the 10-yard line to the end zone as quick as anybody and he just ran. right under the ball.

That just blew the game wide open. And the fans just went. I remember the explosion of the fans. Mark Washington. I'll never forget that. Mark Washington. Yeah, he was the quarterback. Kilmer dropping back.

From a heave long to the right side. Way down the right side. It is fought for a touchdown. Another Washington touchdown. And again, it's Charlie Taylor. Way down the right side line. A 45-yard touchdown pass, Gilmer to Taylor, their second collaboration of the day. And they beat the rookie Mark Washington.

Yeah, he was the corner, and it was a perfect throw, Billy. I mean, and I don't know if you threw it as far as you could through it, but, you know, those of us that have been fans of the team have watched that throw many times, and it was perfectly laid in there. And that was really the clincher. That game is a game that really doesn't exist on video anywhere. It's just a lot of the NFL film stuff. The final score was 26 to 3, and you're right. It was 10 to 3 going into the fourth quarter,

and that fumble that Jerry Smith recovered was huge. But I get the sense, and tell me if I'm wrong, that you guys were the superior team. And that even though the game was close from a score standpoint, your defense just wasn't going to let up anything. No, they weren't. And, you know, we had a couple of, after I threw that touchdown pass, you remember if you look back in stats,

that was the last pass I threw on that game because we intercepted Roger a couple times, and we got in plus territory, you know, Kurt Knight kicked four field goals, you know, to get there. But I didn't try to, I just, tried to run the clock down, and we did run the ball pretty good. We got fairly close, and Kurt made two or three field goals in the fourth quarter, you know, after that.

And, you know, that was the game. Three field goals in the fourth quarter, the last two from 46 and 45 yards. And the NFL films shows that the 45-yard or the last one just barely, barely got over the crossbar. And so from the 45-yard line, Knight will try another one. He's been successful three times already. He's got another and hardly had the distance. It just didn't leak its way over the goal post. And hitting across the crossbar on the extreme left side,

a 45-yard field goal by Knight, added to 1839 and 47-yard attempts earlier, and he has his fourth field goal up the day. fans after that one, and there were still two minutes left in the game, started to storm the field. And the rest of that game was played with just the fans sort of lining the field on what was, by the way, and I didn't ask you about this, what was just a mild day. And it was January, it was December 31st in D.C. And it was 50 degrees in mild. I know, it was a perfect day.

Perfect. There was no wind. You know, no wind. It was, you know, as far as it could have been zero. it could have been 90 degrees. I didn't, you know, the weather didn't bother me at all. You finished 14 of 18 for 194 yards, two touchdowns, both to Charlie Taylor, including that beauty in the fourth quarter.

No interceptions. You weren't sacked once, at least according to the stat sheet at Pro Football reference. And you, by the way, I think you rushed at least, you had a couple of rushes, including one for a first down in that game, and you guys won the game. 26 to 3. So your memories of the aftermath, the countdown to the final few seconds, George being carried off the field, and then what happened that night? Because I imagine that there was quite a party. Well, I went to two or three parties, and I ended up down in Georgetown, you know, after midnight to about three or four in the morning. And, you know,

that's probably typical of me anyway. So I didn't have to play a game for two more weeks. So I partied pretty good. Do you remember where were you in Georgetown? What was the spot? Was it Winston's? What was the spot in Georgetown, 1972 New Year's Eve? Well, it was the Palmol.

Paul Mall. And then right across the street, was that? Nathan's? No. Right across street. Winston was up the street. Yeah, it was up the street. Oh, God, there's a famous bar.

Well, Clydes, Clydes is there. Clydes. Yeah. Clydes. Yeah. It was Clydes. In fact, I closed Clydes up at two and three of the morning. And who was with you?

Was it the whole team? Because I know a lot of people ended up at Duke Zeberts that night. I had to. You know, it's funny. First of all, I had a bunch of friends of mine from Dallas that I was with early, and they had to catch a play in the morning. But I kind of partied with them early, you know, right after the game. And then I had to go to a party at Johnny Coons because I was represented,

the Coons family in the car business. And they had a big New Year's Eve party. out in next county. So I went out there, you know, around midnight, you know,

and then I went back to Georgetown after midnight and stayed there probably three in the morning or something like that. I can only imagine the partying going on. And I was with a bunch of teammates,

you know, off and on. They were at every, you know, wherever I was. I would imagine, I would imagine you were getting chauffeered around pretty much most of the night. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I had a chauffeur. That was a New Year's morning waking up like many do, but for you because of different reasons. 26 to 3, 50 years ago on a warm New Year's Eve night at RFK Stadium in our city, which was such a different city back then. Yeah, very different. You know, so much so different. And just you think about all of the things going on, the political environment, you know, Watergate had been, the Watergate break in, it had been June earlier that year. You know, it was like you guys are winning the NFC championship, and Woodward and Bernstein are working on trying to solve this Watergate thing at the same time, you know, probably somewhere in Georgetown as well.

So, lastly. Oh, for a couple of weeks, nobody thought about politics. No, nobody did. Nobody did. Yeah, it was a special night. Of course, two weeks later was a disappointment. But man, you know, in Super Bowl 7, you had chances. You know, I've always thought that that one throw to Jerry Smith in the back of the end zone that hit the crossbar was the big one.

Yeah, it was. I said, I got that in. It might have been a different ballgame. You know, with, you know, with all your premium. and doing his little deal and Mike Bass running in for a touchdown. But our defense played good enough to win that game.

Offensively, I didn't play real good. I threw three interceptions, and that kind of stifled our offense. The second half, we moved the ball up and down the field pretty good and kept it kind of away from their offense, but we just couldn't score. We had chances. We missed a field goal. and something, you know, things like that.

Yeah. You know, next year or the year after, I'll have you back if you'll do it. Because I think some of the, I think the 73 team in many ways was a really good football team that certainly had a chance to get back and do some damage. And you guys had a chance in that playoff game, you know, at Minnesota. And then your 74 season, that was a hell of a football team too, and a really good offensive team. team that year. And you guys got stymied against the Rams and the Coliseum. But those are, those are 48 and 49 years ago. So we'll wait on those. I hope, I hope you enjoy going down memory lane.

I'm sure you've been asked by other people to do it. It's amazing. It's been that long. But I hope you're well. Happy New Year to you. Wish you the best, Billy. Thank you, Kevin. Same to you. Happy New Year. I'm going to be up there for Sonny's Oh, right. Sonny's which they should have retired his number of years ago,

but I'll be there in that ceremony. You got that right. It should have happened before, and they're going to retire Sunny's Jersey during the game against Dallas next week. And it'll be great to have you up, Billy. Thanks so much.

Again, happy New Year to you. Thank you, Kevin. Billy Kilmer, everybody. Wow. What a memory still. Super sharp. God, I enjoyed that. I hope you did as well. And it's great that he's going to be back in town next week for Sunny's Jersey retirement ceremony. If you haven't rated or reviewed the podcast, man, it would be helpful if you would do it. It would take 30 seconds on Apple, five stars, if you don't mind, a quick one to two sentence review. Maybe about today's show. That would be truly helpful. All right, that's it for this special edition.

Really, really thrilled that Billy was able to do it. I'm going to leave you with one more call from that CBS radio call of the championship game. It's the final call as the final few seconds ran off the clock. Happy New Year. I'll be back on Monday. The clock now is running. The count is on. The fans are already starting on to the field. Seven seconds remain, but they'll never play them, believe me.

And the field is a swarm of humanity here. As the Washington Redskins have won the game. The clock still shows a second to go, but they'll never play it, believe me. And it is 26 to 3 Washington leading in the game. And I couldn't think that they will try to clear the field and get in one more play. What purpose would it serve? A sea of humanity, particularly on the Washington side of the field, where their Redskins are trying to fight their way off the field.

As meantime, the Dallas Cowboys are walking from the field with hardly anyone paying any attention to them. As they go to the locker room through the goalpost to our left, the Redskins are attempting to use the dugout to our right. Andy, you'd have to say at this point that the Washington Redskins have finally found somebody who could stop them down there today, and it's their own fans who are doing a better job of stopping them getting out of the stadium than the Dallas Cowboys did today. George Allen, of course, is being carried from the field as well as you might imagine. And I am certain that the game is going to be ruled complete. And Phil will tell you that that's the end of the game with the final score, Washington 26th, Dallas 3. We'll be back with a recap in just a moment.