Section 1: A short film from Dorktown
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- čas přidán 24. 06. 2022
- The Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s won four Super Bowls and fielded some of the greatest teams ever assembled. However, the most important game they ever played was not a Super Bowl, but a 1976 playoff matchup against the Baltimore Colts. Though they couldn’t possibly have known it in the moment, lives were on the line.
Written and directed by Jon Bois
Written and produced by Alex Rubenstein
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Imagine a final destination/ground hog day type movie where the Steelers head coach or quarterback has to keep re-living the game over and over until they beat the Baltimore so badly that no one gets hurt.
That would be an amazing weird mystical challenge, like they have been set this challenge and they can't simply warn anyone or the loop just resets, the only way to save those people, is to make it a humiliating blowout.
@@JamesTobiasStewart ooooo or even better, the Baltimore coach or QB has to try their best to throw the game and face the consequences
this is ittttttttt
Imagine Bert Jones having to lose
That would be incredible.
My dad was at this game. He and his brother had left and were in the parking lot when the plane hit. They noticed “this idiot” flying low and watched the crash.
I sent him this video and he called me. “Well that was a little overdramatized, wasn’t it?”
love this haha such a "dad" response if there ever was one
This astutely exemplifies the point Jon was trying to make about what people were actually afraid of back then. That's so wild to me.
Yeah, this episode really is overdramatized
@@maxnikolenko2302 it seriously isnt, if the colts had won this game, hundreds of people wouldve been injured and many of them killed.
Lmao 🤣 that’s what Secret Base does
18:44 A punt from the opponents' 43 gets a base score of 9.29.
Less than 1 yard remaining gets a multiplier of x1.0.
Losing by 9 points gets a multiplier of x3.
This happened in the 2nd quarter, for no clock multiplier.
The surrender index of this punt is 27.88.
Unironicallly pretty bad score
27.88 surrender index on a first half punt is INSANE
I love how much this felt like a "Pretty Good" episode. This one was a real treat
It was fantastic. Like a merger of steve bono 76 yard run episode and larry walters has a bb gun and a lawn chair episode
@@EE-gv9wt You put it into perfect words
i know this is a video i’ll be coming back to a lot
Not to discount Alex's contributions in any way, but Jon just has *such* a way with telling these stories. Bob Beamon's legendary jump in The Bob Emergency, or the entirety of Larry Walters' story, they're so emotionally moving. So was this! This video is, in essence, the description of the plays throughout a football game with a few tangents about what happened after, but I could not have been more on the edge of my seat hoping that one team would be beaten into the ground.
@@royalninja2823 Jon certainly does have more experience making these videos, as well as their set pieces, but I will say it honestly feels weird going back to older videos and not hearing Alex, for me
Still, you're absolutely right. Somehow, so many of us are easily captivated by a Google Earth tour every couple months and it's always greater every time
That flight instructor who got up to find a phone and call the airfield about the rogue plane showed way more initiative than anyone else that day.
Nice pfp
Also I’d say Terry Bradshaw showed quite a bit of initiative that day
Reminds me of the "Miracle 3" story of the SEC Men's basketball tournament at the Georgia Dome where a small tornado blew thru downtown Atlanta. A 3 pointer sent it to OT, leaving fans in the stadium and not exiting while a tornado ripped thru.
I lived in Atlanta at the time. It wasn't a small tornado. It was rated an EF2, which is by no means insignificant, and it was at that intensity as it passed the CNN center.
Or how about Game 3 of the 1989 World Series, which was interrupted by an earthquake. I’ve heard that so many Bay Area residents were at home waiting for the game to start, that normally-packed freeways had way fewer vehicles on them than usual when they collapsed.
I had this exact thought, started telling my roommate about that one
oh shit that would be a great follow up
@@bernier42 theres a 30 For 30 on that and its brilliant.
OMG ... They timed it so the flight simulation hits the stadium exactly 6 minutes from when the scoreboard went final. I'm both impressed and not the least bit surprised. Love you guys.
Oh my God. To. The. Second.
I am in awe.
In AWE.
@@ChristopherBowenSuperbus Noticed that. Incredible attention to detail.
@@tBagley43 The crash happened 6 minutes after the game ended
@@serraramayfield9230 Yeah, they clearly mentioned it during the introduction of the video.
The entire flight they had up mirrored his flight. They did their research and then some.
This might be the only series on CZcams that I don't play when I first see it. I make sure i'm doing nothing else for 40 minutes and sit and enjoy it in full.
I do that for summoning salt videos
I love summoning salt but I watch his videos to fall asleep x)
Same, I only watch this with headphones, and with clear mind. Just pure art, and entartainment.
Same bro, see it on my feed at work, waiting till before bed to finally dig in.
100 percent I always make it a point to not watch these pieces casually.
Only Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein could get me, a Ravens fan, to root for the goddam Pittsburgh Steelers. Well played, sirs. Another masterpiece.
As a Browns fan who’s hated the shit out of Terry Bradshaw for my entire life, I concur.
Yinzer Nation strikes again.
This comment got me excited
Lol
@@cbfire9987 Amen to that. I did enjoy the brief newspaper clipping at 16:42 that referred to him as a dumb quarterback.
Every time I see "Dorktown" I feel joy that is impossible to put into words
every time i see a new Secret Base upload i feel the same
That's how I feel when conservative judges die
100%
I know right?!
No offense to Mr Rubenstein, but when I see "Jon Bois" I feel that joy
despite it being smaller in scope than the recent Stieb, Falcons, and Mariners docs, this might be my favorite Dorktown piece? The stakes are so immediately clear it's tense throughout, and because it's not a story a lot of people are familiar with there's still suspense as to what will happen. Great job Jon and Alex!
Right! Like, they make it clear in the beginning that a small plane WILL crash into section 1 at a specific time. Those are massive stakes lol
Stieb will rank up there with Ken Burns Baseball for me
222-0 and this one are my favorite Jon Bois projects. The punting one was special too. All three have incredible storytelling and editing.
Masterful use of dramatic irony. We know what’s going to happen, and no one taking part in the story does. The only thing we don’t know is how hardcore the fans are, and that’s the only part that matters. Excellent film, and one that didn’t feel like a 40 minute watch.
This is actually a great demonstration of Alfred Hitchcock’s bomb analogy of suspense. The tension of knowing what the ticking clock is is far more engaging than if the plane crash had just happened out of seemingly nowhere.
The last 11 minutes of this video are paced and edited to perfection. Truly shows that you don't need a big budget to tell a story well. Excellently done Secret Base.
and the best part about that is the fact that once the game ends, they let the 6 minutes between that and the plane crash play out in real time. it would be so easy at that point to say 6 minutes worth of meaningless fluff to fill time, or leave a lot more silence there, but they just don't, and it works fantastically
how do they do it.
They proved that Terry Bradshaw was on a mission from God that day. He played a game so perfect, that it forced enough people to leave that nobody died when the plane crashed. Not a bad time to have the game of your life huh?
Saving the lives of several people in the upper deck of a stadium takes the phrase perfect passerating to a new level.
There's that part from 39:22 and on: "Our institutions failed... Why is it Terry Bradshaw's job? Why is it Franco Harris's job? Why is it Mean Joe Greene's job?" that just keeps coming back to me, over and over again.
@@notclintdempsey6106 I know, right? And in the ensuing 47 years, our institutions have only gotten worse.
This, as a Baltimorean, is one of the saddest stories in our football history. This game retrospectively marked the symbolic end of an era and the plane crash the beginning of a new one - one that saw us lose the Colts we loved so dearly.
Hey, at least you got the Browns just as they got good.
@@alaeriia01 And a bit later the 2012 ravens were born. I was only 7 and I still remember how good that defense was
When we needed him most, Jon Bois came back pretty good
When the world needed him most…. Jon Bois got in a small plane and crashed it into a football stadium :(
@@sittinonthegodamcornerdoindope I can't believe Jon Bois planned to shoot his general manager for colluding in holding him back in free agency
From 34:32 to 40:32.
They recreated the six minute lapse between the game ending and the plane crash as part of their storytelling. Bravo!
This is an absolute masterclass production
hi adonis
Wow, Bert Jones played his power cards perfectly. I was not expecting such a strategic move that minimized all that risk when I saw his face. Smart dude
Everyone looked like that in the '70s, it was a rough decade
“Plane crashes in stands” Yep, this is what I will be watching for the next 42 minutes.
One of the police officers struck was a man named Joe Sacco. He couldn't leave early because of the close flybys and was hit by the plane. He spent a month or more in the hospital and retired from the police force four years later on disability. This could have been really, really bad.
Also, I found this on one of the articles in the Baltimore Sun quoted in the video that further went on to talk about Kroner's "exploits" after the crash and short prison stay:
"But Kroner's strange saga was far from over.
He resurfaced four years later when he was charged with stealing two Greyhound buses from Dulles Airport in Virginia."
SEQUEL
"stealing two Greyhound buses" -- this seems like a silly question, but did he steal them at the same time? Cause that totally seems like something this guy would figure out how to do.
@@UNHchabo he stole one, dropped it off at a different terminal, and stole a different one 😂
Why was this man allowed to roam so freely causing all this mayhem? What am I missing?
@@JMillz512 Because he didn't kill or intentionally harm anyone. His actions would be better classified as reckless so a jail sentence under 5 years actually does seem normal.
Stories like these really let you appreciate local history and events. I’ve been a Marylander all my short life so knowing about Memorial Stadium is commonplace, but this story is special. This structure of storytelling is so riveting too, weaving in real life scenario and sport to see how all the pieces fall into place.
The sport was real life too though
@@B3Band Wait, if you die in sport you die in real life? Ope.
As a fan of deep dives into both sports history and air craft accident investigations, this feels like an amazing crossover episode.
I didn't think there'd be two of us!
Make it 3
4 now
I've seen enough episodes of Air Disasters that I think I could credibly interview for a Go Team job with the NTSB. (of course I couldn't; that's just the Dunning-Kruger talking)
I grew up in Memorial Stadium. Had my 6 year old heart broken by Willie Stargell and the Pirates in 79, but made whole again against the Phillies in 83. Watched my dad almost drink himself to death the day after Robert Irsay and his Mayflower trucks abandoned us in the middle of the night for Indy. Almost every one of my most cherished childhood memories was in that plain, ugly, dilapidated, wonderful stadium. Somehow I never, ever heard this story. Thank you so much to everyone who brought this story back to life.
This is why I love my Oakland Coliseum to this day… the last dive bar stadium in sports
Just as Sick's Stadium was literally a sick stadium, by memorializing this event Jon makes Memorial Stadium literally a memorial stadium.
Every stadium has some sort of memorial therefore every stadium is a memorial stadium
@@CynicalCharlatan88 According to Jon Bois, a Seattle area Lowe's has a memorial to Sick's Stadium. Therefore Lowe's is even a memorial stadium . . . a sick memorial stadium.
The opening of this feels like the mission briefing of a time travel movie, excellently written, had me cheering for the Steelers to save those fans
there is something immensely satisfying about the back and forth switching between jon's flight commentary and alex's game commentary
Less than 5 minutes in and we already have our first mariners doc crossover.
Oh Dorktown, you never disappoint
The winking nod to the Surrender Index on that Colts 4th-and-inches in Pittsburgh territory was great too.
When’s the reference?
@@kc7818 That Colts punt mentioned in the above comment was one of the 10 worst punts on the Surrender Index - I believe it was #7?
@@serraramayfield9230 couldn't have been surrender index video only calculated Punts in the 21st century (aka 2001-2018). Baltimore was #7 on the list but that was the ravens and this punt was in 1976.
18:50 is the part in question.
@@Rayen015 okay then, i misremembered
39:15 "Not cause of today, nobody remembers today." We now get to remember a story of this size thanks to the brilliance of Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein. Every single Dorktown episode somehow eclipses the last for scale and wonder. Amazing video as always Secret Base!
Very glad you highlighted Bert Jones’ career. He gets lost in the shuffle too often when talking about the legacy of Indy’s great QB’s. He was on pace to be the next Johnny Unitas before injuries tore him apart. Truly a travesty of his era. Place him in an era with better medical understanding and he’d have a far greater career than he had.
it's tragic that his shoulder couldn't take the rigors of playing QB. he and Bengals QB Greg Cook are both hall of fame talents who had their careers ruined by torn rotator cuffs
Bert Jones never played a single down in Indianapolis.
@@diggsfather Chad Pennington should be thrown in there too
@@jamesdulany2176 while I get that technically yes Bert Jones never played a down in Indianapolis, it's common to use the city as shorthand, the other option having to spell it out like "Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts". We understand that he's talking about the Colts team/history in general.
The only time it would be 'wrong' is if it's like the Browns/Ravens, where the team history 'stayed' with Cleveland. So like records set by the Ravens in from 1996-99 would not count at all as Browns records.
It can get complicated, like with the Hornets and Bobcats of the NBA. The Hornets retired Bobby Phills's jersey. it moved with them when they relocated to New Orleans, but when they 'relinquished' the team name to become the Pelicans, the Bobcats took back the name and its history from 1988-2002, including the retired number.
The Colts had very good teams from 1975-77. It all fell apart in 1978 when John Dutton held out and was traded, and Bert Jones got hurt. The Colts went on a downward spiral. Attendance lagged and neither Baltimore City nor the State of Maryland was forthcoming about a new stadium. Irsay was one of the worst owners in the history of sports and he drove the Colts into the ground with ineptitude fueled by alcohol.
Irsay originally bought the Rams in 1971 and teaded teams with Carroll Rosenbloom. Rosenbloom hated Memorial Stadium (later he hated the LA Coliseum) and wanted out of Baltimore.
Indy built a stadium and offered Irsay what Baltimore would not, and Irsay bolted. The Colts have been in Indianapolis longer than they were in Baltimore.
I remember this game well. Being a lifelong Steelers fan, 1976 was a rough ride. The Steelers started 1-4 and won nine in a row, but the only winning team they beat in that streak was the Bengals (twice). Pittsburgh just dismantled Baltimore that day. It was never close.
It is worth noting that the Colts won the AFC East due to a tiebreaker with the 11-3 Patriots, who really were the best team in the AFC that year. The Patriots won in Pittsburgh and demolished Oakland, the Raiders' only loss of the season. The day before, the Patriots had the Raiders beaten but a terrible roughing the passer call on Ray Hamilton on a 4th and 17 gave the Raiders a lucky break. Little did anyone know that the Patriots would get revenge 25 years later due to the "tuck rule".
Only after the Colts left, and a decade after the Baltimore Bullets left for DC, did Maryland get its act together and formulate a plan to replace Memorial Stadium, which the Orioles hated almost as much as Irsay did.
I was 360 miles from Baltimore when the Steelers won that game, and when the Pirates won two World Series over the Orioles. I had no idea at the time I would end up working in Washington, DC for six years and would find a shabby but roomy apartment 17 minutes from the Inner Harbor. I moved back to Pittsburgh a few months before Art Modell moved his team to Baltimore. Life is crazy.
Babe wake up, new Dorktown dropped
She's in jail for buying condoms
Just found out my dad was in that section. Thanks for the existential nightmares Jon! (Great video)
For those wondering:
Donald Kroner’s affinity for spectacles didn’t stop here. He was arrested for stealing a Greyhound bus in 1980. Kroner died in 2013.
Well, that sounds about right.
I love how Dorktown finds the most unbelievable stories. When Kroner was introduced things got 100x crazier and it just keeps on going
Kroner is literally a 70s cartoon villain, just getting into nonsense hijinks that are moderately dangerous
Hey aren't you that pokemon guy that abused your girlfriend and forced her out of her own apartment? What was that all about?
@@FixedFunction Yeah! He also said some really awful shit after the Charlottesville attacks, and also said some really transphobic shit in his TemTem vid. He's only commenting here to fuel engagement because he only wants money and doesn't care about who he hurts along the way, like the greedy monger he is!
@@FixedFunction Weird how losers on the internet just exist to spread lies. Haven't heard this one before
@@Verlisify Once upon a time in Colorado... :)
Game Ends: 34:33
Plane Crashes 40:33
I shit you not, exactly 6 minutes.
This is my first of several hundred viewings. Looking forward to having this memorized.
Nothing hits quite like Jon Bois talking over wireframe graphics on top of slow zooms and pans in Google Earth.
1976 might as well feel like a whole different planet by comparison to 2022. I've been a Steeler fan since the 90's and never once has this story crossed me. I love this series because it brings these moments to the attention of hundreds of thousands of me's who would've never known about them without Jon and Alex's research and trademark delivery.
Yeah, women had abortion rights back then
@@B3Band imagine watching this video then reading the comments , and replying with something completely unrelated. Jesus dude
@@WheresMyInhaler ya well he’s not wrong and if you go to Bois’ twitter he would agree with him. Dire times and if you don’t like hearing about it, that’s your problem you fucking baby
They still do, I love how you nut jobs have no ide what Roe was.
I have to say that Memorial Stadium’s nickname as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum” has to be the greatest stadium nickname ever
The stretch that starts at 29:57 and ends a few minutes later with the simulated take-off and tension-ratcheting track is awesome.
Short film is wholly deserving of nominations and awards next time those come around!
Also, the Scoreboard hits FINAL at 34:34, exactly 6 minuted before the plane crashes
I love getting these kinds of breakdown from you guys... history, stats, and an engrossing, yet professional gravitas for the subject matter ❤
U are beautiful
You're giving me a little gravitas in my pants, if you know what I mean.
We meet again, beautiful
@@thedumbdog1964 her boyfriend and me are hers lol
@@thedumbdog1964 hey bud ❤️ I miss you guys
I wasn't born until a little more than a decade after this happened, I've never heard this story. I am not quite 26 minutes into this episode, and my stomach is CHURNING. I have consumed anything Bois has made like I am an addict, and pairing with Alex for Dorktown has been a wonderful partnership that I've enjoyed a ton from the very beginning. This is no exception, but my god is it PAINFUL.
I honestly love how Dorktown has become sort of the combination of the best of both Pretty Good and Chart Party
Add “Literally saved the lives of an entire section of fans” to the already expansive list of things the 70s Steelers accomplished.
Thank yinz for the Pittsburgh related content 😊
This was a nice short film on one of the most bizarre moments in NFL history. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time as it felt like the Steelers were on a secret mission to get the fans out of the stadium as quickly as possible. Nicely done Secret Base.
Throwback to a Pretty Good type of story and characters, with dorktown visuals and setting. What a blending of eras, a thoroughly enjoyable piece!
As a Pittsburgh native and a fan of the Baltimore Marching Band, I never knew that the Steelers saved lives in Memorial Stadium back in 1976. Truly a miracle. Well done as always, SB!
This may be one of the greatest videos in SB history, and that is saying a lot.
I've heard of the end of this story and seen the picture, but I never heard the buildup or much about the game, only the pure luck that no one was killed. Adding all that context in, and I'm actually holding back tears. Especially with Jon's last lines of whether someone can be a hero by accident. This should have never happened, and knowing the FAA and how they fortunately have long been an organization that does take accidents and learn from them instead of saying "oh, it'll never happen again" and doing nothing, hopefully it will never happen again.
FAA learns its lessons in blood, but it never forgets them for the sake of the future.
The picture-in-picture with the flight and the game was great, but the plane actually visible on the BROADCAST made me gasp.
(Amazing storytelling as always.)
The fact that the stats and star talent alone are enough to make this video a compelling piece of retrospective sports journalism, but then to have the madman in an airplane on what is essentially a delusional kamikaze mission to crash into the stadium looming over us like the in-game clock in Majora's Mask as we watch really puts it over the top. I have never heard of this story and cannot believe it's never talked about, regardless of the fact that nobody died. Absolutely my favorite piece of storytelling so far out of all the Dorktowns. There is nothing like this brand of storytelling anywhere in the media landscape and this would get an easy Emmy if it were on TV. Dorktown shits on anything sports related in traditional media and it's not even close. This is perfect storytelling.
This game was an anomaly in that the Colts were in the middle of a very successful streak but did not show up against The Steel Curtain. It’s unusual because Bert Jones was in the middle of his incredible run. Jones might just be the best QB you’ve never heard of.
Bert Jones, the 1976 NFL MVP, burned across the NFL landscape very quickly and vanished just as quickly. He lost 15 of his first 18 starts, made just one All NFL team and one Pro Bowl, threw for 3,000 yards only once in a winning season, never won a playoff game, and his last full season he won 2 and lost 13 games. The ELO Rater puts him in with Willie McGinest, Dave Grayson, Cliff Harris, and Harold Carmichael, around 350th on the list of NFL players. This vastly underrates him as player, at least in term of peak value, because for a brief moment when he was healthy, Bertram Hays ‘Bert’ Jones was the best player in the NFL.
If you followed football in the mid 1970s, you know that more glowing prose was heaped on Jones in the sports pages than just about anyone else besides OJ Simpson, who peaked a little earlier and burned out sooner. I think a lot of this came about because he was a Colt, and he seized the mantle of Johnny Unitas in Baltimore right at the time that the club needed this. He did not timidly fill the spot- he redefined the position with sheer physical power, he was ‘The Ruston Rifle’, equipped with a slingshot arm and equally strong legs. Bert Jones did not just run with the ball, he ran with purpose, and at 6’3’ and 210 pounds he was as dangerous on the run as he was in the pocket. Like RGIII he had a hell for leather style that you knew could lead to disaster, and it finally did, but while he played his teams followed him fearlessly into the heart of the battle. It did not hurt that they won, either. They won a lot.
Well - not at first- he was drafted second in 1973 to join a team that was just awful. He was 1-4 in 1973, and 1-7 in 1974. The old guard Colts had all left and what was left was a young and inexperienced squad that played very badly up until the middle stages of 1975. After a 1-4 start, they beat the Jets in New York on October 26th, and suddenly they gelled, winning their last nine games of the year.
But the Colts and Jones at that point were just getting started. The next year - this year for the film- they were 11-3 with Jones winning an MVP award, and in 1977 they won a third consecutive division title at 10-4. During that run the Colts were 30-7 with Jones under center; the one thing that escaped them was a playoff win. In an era that rewarded mistake free signal calling Jones was one of the most careful quarterbacks of all time, throwing only 32 interceptions in 1214 attempts in the 49 games between 1975 and 1979 while fumbling only 8 times. That’s what made him special- he made a lot of big plays and almost no miscues; overall at his peak he was 35 and 9.
As a steelers fan, knowing my team was once so good it saved peoples lives, kinda awesome
I grew up in Baltimore and was 2 weeks old when this happened. I remember my dad telling me about this. I’ve went to games and sat in that section not realizing this is where the plane crashed.
It was awesome to see some of the neighborhoods my family and friends lived in during the flyovers.
Jon is such an S+ tier storyteller (and heck, I'd give Alex A-tier). I respect the heck outta both of them for the immense work I'm sure they do that isn't immediately obvious in the final video too. These videos might just be the best thing on the internet.
I grew up near Baltimore and was 4 years old when this game happened. Seeing the plane in the upper deck of Memorial Stadium is one of my first memories.
The Steelers of the 1970s, led by Terry Bradshaw, were truly a powerhouse team, and that era was the golden age of the Steelers.
Ridiculously overpowered team haha
They had a stacked rooster, Terry Bradshaw wasn't the best
我同意。
@@WillBillDillPickle He didn't need to but someone had to deliver the ball to those guys
The framing device that if the Steelers don’t destroy the colts, people will die. Was so engaging and brilliant, amazing video
One day I'm gonna figure out where yall get this 90s synth jazz from
He (or Jon Bois fans like myself) has a playlist set up on Spotify and I think Apple Music
Love your vids FD
Wondering the same thinf
Dorktown - always providing you with stuff you end up wanting to know but didn't know you wanted to.
YUP!
That's very accurate!
It's these types of stories that get lost in the annual churn of sports season after sports season. I'm so glad these guys give attention to stories that aren't just stats, win-loss totals, and post-game interviews.
The players live their lives to play the game they love. Quite often, the fans do the same to watch it. And, in the intersection of all of this is a rogue pilot who almost killed some people with his antics, but didn't because of cosmic forces, fate, or just pure chance. There's something so human in this.
This is like a mix between Pretty Good and Dorktown I love it.
Jon Bois and sportsball. What more could any person want from life?
Our bodily autonomy back, and the Supreme Court seat that the Republicans stole
More of it
Love and affection?
@@oaketree Not possible. This is the best substitute a person can have.
i have no knowledge, context or exposure to american football and i'm already hooked within the first two minutes
edit: holy shit the editing is phenomenal. i cannot believe they maintained actual suspense from beginning to end while spoiling what happens in the first two minutes
when Jon said "did you hear it?" I actually rewound to listen closer and got chills down my spine
The video footage from the field late in the game was even more ominous.
@@AuraHero you're right but I wrote this comment before I got to that part
“Does this remind YOU of anything? Sound off in the comments.” - The Loser Machine
Why, no fellas, the story of a man who gave authorities every reason to be suspicious of him and (rightfully) confiscate his pilots license, who had made prior threats of violence, and yet was still able to have access to aircraft reminds me of nothing from the real world.
Brilliant stuff. Keep up the great work.
And, in a similar fashion, the good guys can't just win. They need a blowout, or all is lost.
is this a 9/11 reference?
@@eugenegreen2285 It's more an allegory to gun control, or rather, the lack thereof, in the United States.
I am legit shocked this is the first time I'm hearing about this. Kudos to Secret Base. Heck of a story.
I remember hearing about a story of a small plane that crashed into the upper deck of Memorial Stadium after a Colts playoff game.
I always thought the story of the crash was it was a freak accident.
Had no idea up until now who Donald Kroner was and that he was intentionally showboating around and through Memorial Stadium that day.
One of the craziest stories I've ever heard. As a colts fan for more than 30 years I'm embarrassed that I didn't know it. Thanks for making this excellent video.
As someone who doesn’t watch football, this was one of the most intriguing and well done videos I’ve ever seen. Absolutely amazing
This is masterclass story telling. I was hooked from jump. Like I'm pretty no one is going to die from jump, but the way they tell story has you lock in because of the race against time that is being presented. Jon Bois is just too good right now.
Full stop, as a Steelers fan there are few QBs I respect more than Bert Jones. The man fought tooth and nail for his team, on and off the field, and managed to do so well at both he rallied his team back from the brink of collapse to a Playoff contender.
Jesus christ, i'm hanging in the edge of my chair all this video. This is AMAZING. Jon and Alex are truly geniuses, the whole atmosphere and pacing are near perfect.
I was a Colts season ticket holder for 12 years and was at this game in the next section …..the guy was buzzing the stadium throwing toilet paper and other stuff out his window…..the Baltimore Police “ Foxtrot “ chopper tried chasing that idiot away to no avail….thank goodness the game was a blow out and most fans had left, me included……but we heard the crash…..he said he was trying to land on the field but cut it too close……😂
Gotta zoom in on that line "Employees at the Harford AIRPORT were unaware that he arrived by PLANE"
Boy was the 70s a relaxed time 😂
I’m glad Bert Jones is getting his love, those Colts teams got buried in the 70s by so many factors in an out of there control, but all the old Baltimore people I know have nothing but praise for the great Bert Jones. Great story and great series
Moreover, Bert Jones is the perfect archetype for Ridiculously Handsome Quarterback. I'm straight AF but that dude was a total dreamboat.
For real. Who the fuck thinks Joe Namath looks good compared to Mr. All-American?
Too bad he got outclassed by a balding goofus.
@@johnchedsey1306 Would be played by Ryan Gosling, if he had to be cast for a movie.
@@johnchedsey1306 too bad injuries took over, from seeing his highlights. He was damn good
this is one of the greatest youtube videos ever
Some of the best sports documentary work ever made.
This is an insane story, and this is somehow the most compelling way of telling it. Never stop doing these. Bravo.
Very Twilight Zone-ish. Like when the movie star named Bunny mysteriously appears and adamantly cancels the town gathering at the fairgrounds, crushing everyone’s spirit, but saving their lives as her plane then crashed on it. Only this was real life. Downright eerie! …
And wonderfully researched by you! Excellent job.
Curiously absent from that list of "most shutouts": The 1977 Falcons. As good as the Grits Blitz was, they always got scored on at least once...
Same with the 1991 Gang Green Eagles defense led by Buddy Ryan
85-86 bears absent too
i mean against a constant all out blitz a scoring play will happen once in a while because its so high risk high reward
@@Lakitu886 Indeed. It is really, really hard to prevent a team from scoring every single time for 10-12 possessions, not even a field goal. The punt may be the most common outcome of a football drive, but teams still score about 3 or 4 times a game (consider a 24-17 score), which is a hard average to swing all the way to zero.
Bert Jones was a favorite QB of mine back in the 1970s. For about a four year span, he was the best QB in football. Trouble is, Baltimore never had much of a defense, and the Irsays could never stock the roster adequately to make them a legit Super Bowl threat. Then, as the team's O-Line deteriorated, he got injured, repeatedly. Sadly, Jones wouldn't be the last QB the irsays completely ruined. Can't blame Elway a bit for telling Irsay to go to hell in 1983 (he was warned away by Jones, in part.
Dorktowns are the best sports documentaries ever
The best thing is that Kroner was then charged 4 years after this in 1980 for stealing a Greyhound Bus from Dulles International Airport, so after all this they were like "You lovable scamp" and just let him back out.
I dunno about Alex, but I know Jon HATES the Steelers, so I was convinced we'd never see a Steelers story from them unless it was us getting crushed. Pleasantly surprised!
Quite possibly the greatest CZcams video I've ever seen. Utterly astonishing.
Immaculate storytelling
For the people who don't know, Google Earth Pro, the platform in which most of Jon's Stories are told on, has a flight sim mode. It's basic. They probably stole it from GTA IV.
I have been using google earth, regularly, since 2008 and until this video i have never seen anyone use it in a meaningful fashion.
thanks jon and alex
I was at that game, which was a stinker for Colts fans. The Steelers absolutely blew them out. Like many fans we left a bit early, only to hear about the plane crash on the radio when we got to our car.
Something tells me this video is about more than just a guy who shouldn't have been piloting, somehow getting his hands on several planes, leading to the Steelers somehow being the ones who end up being responsible for saving people
I'm surprised I had to scroll this far to see a comment like this.
The anology to gun control legislation is pretty strong subtext in the rightful condemnation of a dangerous man being permitted to rent a plane.
I'm just yelling "how" when the Ep starts, and "HOW?!", as it ends. Just, woah. These are the stories of humanity summed up in sport.
That was incredible, just what I needed following a rough week. Thanks so much for inspiring those of us who want to tell great stories in unique ways.
Rough week?
@@TheOtherBradBird he had a rough week.
A very rough week.
@@jedlockett52 That's rough man.
Very rough.
stories like this make me convinced that there is some sort of higher power in the universe. The sheer amount of outcomes that had to happen, combined with the craziness happening simultaneously, ALSO combined with the fact that everything that needed to happen did, in fact, happen, IN ADDITION to the fact that Terry Bradshaw and the Steelers played their best statistical game ever, HOW CAN ANY OF THAT POSSIBLY BE RANDOM??
This is Jon Bois's Donnie Darko: meticulously crafting a universe safe from a plane crash, but through the power of sports statistics and surprisingly cinematic game footage instead of ennui and under-explanation.
I would watch this movie, and I am one of the non-sports fans
This film is so damn good. All the work on this channel is. The ppl who run the show here also all seem to be rly good folks. Never seen a channel be quite popular and still massively underrated.
I will never get over how you Secret Base dorks make us care so much about these truly hidden gems. You guys don't tell sports stories. You guys tell stories of humanity, served with a side of sports.
And honestly, that's the key: human stories are captivating, but sports make them more so when told well.
This is one of those stories that I knew the outcome going in, but the way you told the story had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.
This is one of the greatest sports stories I’ve ever heard. You all did an incredible job, this may be your very best work. Thank you so much for making this
that was incredible, thank you for all of your work
I'm not sure why, but I needed this. Always love dorktown, and the subject is usually something I never experienced or even heard of before, but is presented in painstaking detail with a level of analysis that is both impressive and insightful and helps to make you appreciate the subtleties of sports.
As a Baltimorean, I have heard about this incident so many times...but for it to be covered by my favorite video journalists is such a blessing! The work is amazing as always.
Amazing telling of a moment when total serendipity and idiocy collide. Thank you!
I seriously couldn’t stop watching this, it’s enthralling!