Why does the author include an allusion to Betsy Ross at the beginning of the passage?

Make sure the topic of your persuasive essay is not a.something someone else is writing about b.a fact c.something you have written about before

On november 17, 1968, football fans across the united states sat glued to their televisions. a close game between two top teams—the new york jets and the oakland raiders—was being broadcast. when the jets pulled ahead with only fifty seconds remaining, viewers went wild. but then, just as the raiders were bringing the ball across midfield, the game disappeared from the screen! in its place, a previously scheduled children's movie, heidi, started playing. callers flooded the tv network's phone lines, but it was too late. the raiders scored two touchdowns in the very final moments—touchdowns that were unseen by all but west coast viewers. as a result of the interrupted event, dubbed "the heidi game," television networks began delaying their regularly scheduled programs until football games had ended.

How can you sit there calmly eating muffins when we are in this horrible trouble i cant make out you seen to me to be perfectly heartless who said this quote