Bruce Jacobs was filling in for Chris Myers a few weeks ago while Shula was a guest on Myers and Hartman. They had Shula as a guest and Jacobs asked him about the Mud Bowl and whether the failure to put the tarp out was intentional. Shula flipped out, stammering and implying no reasonable person could possibly believe that. Jacobs assured him he did in fact believe that and would have done the same thing. From the sound of it, I thought Shula was going to pop a blood vessel in his head. The guy is STILL defensive over it. Innocent people don't act that way 27 years later.
Of course it was intentional. McNeil alone ran for 200 yards the week before and had a good game against the Raiders the week before that. Fuck Shula; he and Belly are cheating bastards.
Incidentally, I posted earlier about the Cincy 1982 playoff game here: http://forums.theganggreen.com/showthread.php?t=52493
You know, I thought it was a blowout too....but watching it in college I forgot the details...Jets won 'going away' but we were down 14-3 early and didn't put it away until Darrol Ray's interception in the 4th Quarter.
The Dolphins didn't control the Orange Bowl...the people running the Orange Bowl did......WHO WAS IN CHARGE that day and WHO made the decision NOT to put the tarp down ? You just don't show up in a stadium for a big game...there are preparations ALL WEEK -- concessions, field, logos, security, etc -- and I have to believe that it was SOP to cover the field when it rained, except if it was just a short shower. What I believe may have happened is someone from the Orange Bowl contacted the Dolphins/Shula and said "Hey, it's gonna rain later this week/it's raining...whatcha want us to do with the field?" and the Fish/Shula said they'd get back to them....never got back to them....voilla, horrible field conditions. So Shula could legitimately say "I never ordered a tarp not be put on the field." OTOH, Shula is a decent guy and a very devout Catholic so I don't think he is necessarily lying.
IIRC, he didn't outright deny it on the radio that day. He simply attacked the asker of the question. Jacobs even stated it was a smart move. Also, being a devout RC doesn't make someone a decent guy, and being a decent guy off the field doesn't mean you have to be one on the sidelines.
