Some here may recall the day in 1968 when NBC infamously cut off an in-progress NFL game to show its highly promoted made-for-TV movie "Heidi," only to see the Oakland Raiders come back in the last few minutes to beat the New York Jets. But viewers never saw it because someone at the network made the dumb decision to go with the movie. It has gone down in history as The Heidi Bowl.

You'd think every network would remember the outrage that followed. But apparently not a decision maker at ABC. 

On Sunday, affiliates were showing a tense and close WNBA championship game. With just a few minutes left and the lead see-sawing back and forth, the contest disappeared in favour of  - wait for it - an episode of Wheel of Fortune. 

"Heidi" happened before the days of social media. So you can only imagine the profane rants that filled the Internet as fans screamed their disapproval about this mistake.

Unlike the NBC incident, someone realized the error and went back to the game before it finished, at least allowing those watching to see how it ended. But not before many vented their spleens on the web. 

You have to wonder how this stuff happens and why Heidi almost repeated itself. That old adage about those not learning from history being doomed to repeat it comes to mind. I don't suppose the exec. who made this decision will come forward. (Would that be buying avowal?)

WNBA Fans Rage As Game Cuts to 'Wheel of Fortune'—'Ready to Start a Riot'

Worth noting that because of that NBC fumble, the rules for football forever changed. According to the History Channel: 

"Shortly after the Heidi debacle, the NFL inserted a clause into its TV contracts that guaranteed that all games would be broadcast completely in their home markets."

So the effects of something that happened 56 years ago still reverberates today. Maybe the WNBA should ask for the same thing.