May 11, 2013: The FA Cup Final is held at the new Wembley Stadium in London. Manchester City were the defending Premier League Champions. Wigan Athletic, also of the Manchester area, were doomed to be relegated. Yet, through sheer grit and determination, they had gotten to the Final for the 1st time.
For the full 90 minutes, much of it in rainfall, Wigan held off the best team in the country. (Yes, Manchester United won the League, but they weren't better than City.) And then came stoppage time. Ben Watson, a 22-year-old Londoner who came on as a substitute in the 81st minute, scored in the 91st. Referee Andre Marriner blew his whistle at the 94th minute, and Wigan had won, 1-0.
If this is not the biggest upset in FA Cup Final history, that's only because the people deciding such things haven't yet had 10 years to have this one sink in. Clive Tyldesley, broadcasting for ITV, called it "the biggest upset since the Crazy Gang!" meaning Wimbledon FC over Liverpool FC in 1988, 25 years earlier.
Gary Caldwell, Wigan's usual Captain, was injured and unable to play, with Emmerson Boyce wearing the armband. Caldwell received the Cup from the outgoing chairman of the Football Association, David Bernstein.
Ironically, Bernstein had previously been chairman of Man City. In 1999, both teams were stuck in the 3rd division. Bernstein and Whelan had both brought their clubs back from the brink of financial disaster, stabilized them, built new stadiums, and gotten them into the Premier League. Bernstein sold City to the royal family of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, who completed the process of turning them into League Champions and Cup winners -- but not on this day.
Games like this have the English speak of "the magic of the Cup." Then Arsenal won the next 2, 3 of the next 4, and 4 of the next 7, and that made people speak of how "the Cup has been devalued." Give me a break.
It was particularly sweet for Wigan's chairman of the board, Dave Whelan: He had played for Lancashire team Blackburn Rovers in the 1960 Final, but broke his leg late in the 1st half, forcing them to play the entire 2nd half with 10 men -- substitutes were not allowed until 1968 -- and they lost to Birmingham-area team Wolverhampton Wanderers, 3-0. Now, Whelan, who had taken Wigan from the 3rd division to the 1st, and built their new stadium, had a major trophy.
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May 11, 2013 was, like all FA Cup Final days, a Saturday. In American soccer, the New York Red Bulls and the New England Revolution played to a 1-1 draw at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.
American-style football was out of season. Two games were played in the NBA Playoffs. The New York Knicks lost to the Indiana Pacers, 82-71 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis. And the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 87-81 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
One game was played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Islanders, 4-3 at the Nassau Coliseum. Brooks Orpik scored the winning goal, 7:49 into overtime.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Andy Pettitte outpitched James Shields. Vernon Wells hit a home run. Derek Jeter did not play, but Jayson Nixon went 2-for-3 with a walk in his place at shortstop.
* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-2 at Citi Field. Jon Niese, the pitcher born the day the Mets last won the World Series, October 27, 1986, didn't get out of the 5th inning.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Washington Nationals, 8-2 at Nationals Park in Washington.
* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the San Diego Padres, 8-7 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 13-7 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-6 at Comerica Park in Detroit.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-5 at Target Field in Minneapolis.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies, 3-0 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Adam Wainwright pitched a 2-hit-1-walk shutout.
* The Texas Rangers beat their newly-installed, due to a League switch, cross-State rivals, the Houston Astros, 8-7 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-1 at Chase Field in Phoenix.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Miami Marlins, 7-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 10-1 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-3 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.
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