January 20, 2009: Barack Obama Is Inaugurated as the 1st Black President

January 20, 2009: Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States -- the 1st black person, the 1st nonwhite person, to hold the office.

The National Mall in Washington, D.C. was full. The National Park Service used overhead cameras to determine that there were 1.8 million people on hand, and that there was absolutely no more room for anyone else. It is an unbreakable record.

Was it mostly black people, proud to see one of their own, take the Oath of Office and become the nation's leader? Was it all liberals, glad to see one of their own after 8 years? Or was it just a lot of people eager to see the outgoing President, George W. Bush, a failed evangelical fanatic right-wing Republican, go away and never come back? In other words, was it less an embrace of the new guy, and more an effort to see that the guy they fired was truly gone? Only those who were on hand know for sure.

Obama took office just 4 months after the economy crashed on Bush's watch, and as a war that Bush started and never knew how to end -- at times, he seemed to not want it to end -- approached its 6th anniversary. He had defeated the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, because McCain had promised to ramp up the war that America wanted to end, and didn't seem to understand the struggles of those hurt by the crash and the ensuing recession.

Obama's Inaugural Address was decent, if not one of his more memorable speeches: "This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America's possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: Youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk, and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it, so long as we seize it together."

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January 20, 2009 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was in the middle of its Playoffs. There were 4 games played in the NBA that day:

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Chicago Bulls, 105-102 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers, 99-81 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Sacramento Kings, 118-99 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the Utah Jazz beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 112-107 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City (then named the EnergySolutions Arena).

There were 8 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Anaheim Ducks, 4-2 at Madison Square Garden. (The New York Islanders and the New Jersey Devils were not scheduled.)

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at Scotiabank Place (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* The Carolina Panthers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1 at the Mellon Arena (as the Civic Arena was then called) in Pittsburgh.

* The Atlanta Thrashers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Minnesota Wild, 5-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-3 at Rexall Place (as the Northlands Coliseum was then known) in Edmonton.

* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-3 at the Jobing.com Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1 at the HP Pavilion (now the SAP Center) in San Jose. Patrick Marleau scored the winner with 1:52 left in overtime.