ON THE MARK.

TAP DANCING IN THE DARK.

Chris Cuthbert probably knows how Steve Tasker felt last night during the blackout at the Super Bowl.   Tasker was the sideline reporter for CBS, who ended up being the main announcer when the power went off.  For a guy who usually does some sideline reporting and talks to the coaches, Tasker was thrust into the spotlight and did a great job informing the hundred million or so TV viewers that were wondering what was going on.  For someone with limited broadcast experience, he did a credible job following a news story, and will likely be rewarded by the network when the time comes for future job assignments. 
     Back in 1988, Cuthbert was thrust into the spotlight when, as a young reporter for CBC, he was covering the Washington Capitals-New Jersey Devils playoff series.  Occasionally, they would throw to Chris for an "update" in Washington, but he was strictly a correspondent.  However, when a power failure in Montreal postponed the Habs-Bruins game, the CBC had no choice but to go to Cuthbert, who did a terrific solo job as play by play man, color analyst, stats man, host and just about everything else.   They say timing is everything, and the power failure helped launched Cuthbert's career. 
    Later that spring, the Bruins and Oilers met in the Stanley Cup final, and the old Boston Garden was the scene for game 4.   The Oilers led 3 games to none, but on that late May day, the temperature was sizzling and a thick fog engulfed the Garden.  Players were asked to skate around during a break in play, in hopes of dissipating the fog.   It didn't work, and eventually, with the score tied at 3-3 late in the 2nd, the power went out and the game had to be cancelled for safety reasons.  Imagine 15 thousand fans, many of them half drunk, being asked to leave the Garden during a Stanley Cup final game.   Eventually, the Oilers won the series in Edmonton.
    Two years later, I was covering the Bruins and Oilers in the Cup final at Boston.  Game One was a marathon affair on another hot and muggy evening.  You were only allowed one beer at a time at the old Garden, which meant by the time you got to your seat, the beer was consumed and it was time to go back for another.  They stopped selling beer after the second intermission, but the game went into a third overtime, until finally the power went out.   It was about 12:40 a.m., and the last subway train would be leaving soon.   A P.A. announcement told the crowd that the last train would be leaving North Station at 1:15, and that caused a stir as several thousand fans got up to leave, unable to make their way home without public transit.  The lights were still out, the natives were getting restless (no beer will do that to you) and now they were being told that the subway was leaving before the end of the game.  Luckily, Mass Transit changed their mind, and a few minutes later word came down that the last train would leave North Station "at the conclusion of the game".   After about half an hour, the lights came back on, and soon thereafter, little used Petr Klima scored at about 1:30 a.m. to give the Oilers the win.    During the post game news conference, I asked Klima when his last shift was before the game winner.  "At about 8 p.m." said Klima.
       Maybe it had to do with the lousy hydro system in Massachusetts.  In the AFC championship game between the Patriots and Jacksonville in 1997 at Foxboro Stadium, the lights went out for some 11 minutes, just as Adam Vinatieri was about to kick a field goal.   Luckily, there was no Twitter, like there was during last night's power outage.   With all the power available from Smartphones in the Superdome, wasn't there way to harness that power and help bring the lights back on?    To prevent this from happening in the future, let's make certain there's a "Flashlight" App available so that if they lights do go out, fans can use their phones to illuminate the playing field, and delays like the one last night will be a thing of the past.