WATCH: Brian Billick's 2001 meltdown about the Vet Stadium turf

Sunday's Pro Football Hall of Fame game cancellation may have brought back memories of the 2001 fiasco at Veterans Stadium, when the Ravens and Eagles both refused to play on the newly installed artificial turf because . . . well . . . just watch . . .

The pertinent stuff begins around the 33:00 mark.

The moment was recorded in all of its glory by cameras from HBO, which was recording its first season of "Hard Knocks," following the Ravens through the preseason. The episode featuring the would-be preseason game with the Eagles features then-coach Brian Billick leading ESPN personality Chris Mortensen, Eagles consultant Ron Jaworski, and an HBO cameraman across the playing surface before the game. Billick walks to a spot near the hashmarks and presses his foot down on the turf.

"There's a two-inch give," he says. "We're gonna put our team on this, huh?"

Billick then calls a member of the ground crew over and lectures him.

"We ain't playing unless this gets fixed," he says, walking a straight line across the turf to illustrate the give in the surface.

The HBO camera shows a ground-level close-up of Billick plunging his heel into what appears to be a pothole covered in carpet.

"I can't get to the bottom of that one," he says. "Tell Coach Reid I want to see him out here."

Frankly, it's amazing that the game might have gone on had Billick and the Eagles not agreed that conditions were unsafe. These were wild times at Broad and Pattison.

Cameo by Reid at: 33:38