August 30, 1997: The 1st WNBA Championship

Left to right: Cynthia Cooper, Tina Thompson, Sheryl Swoopes

August 30, 1997: The 1st WNBA Championship is awarded. Instead of a series, as it is today, it is a single game, at the Compaq Center -- formerly The Summit -- in Houston, and the Houston Comets beat the New York Liberty, 65-51.

Despite having such stars as Rebecca Lobo, Teresa Weatherspoon, Kym Hampton and Rutgers graduate Sue Wicks, the Libs couldn't keep up with Sheryl Swoopes and Cynthia Cooper -- "Swoopes to the Hoop" and "Coop to the Hoop." Cooper led all scorers with 25 points, and was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

Under head coach Van Chancellor, the Rockets won the WNBA's 1st 4 Championships. In comparison, Houston's other teams combined have won 5: The Rockets 2, MLS' Dynamo 2, the Astros 1, the Texans none and the Oilers none. (This does not count the AFL Championships won by the Oilers in 1960 and '61, or the WHA Championships won by the Aeros in 1974 and '75, as those were not World Championships.) In contrast, the Liberty have gone 0-for-4 in Finals. But the Liberty are still in business, while the Comets folded in 2008.

When the Rockets and the Comets left The Summit for the Toyota Center in 2003, Dr. Joel Osteen bought the old arena, and turned it into Lakewood Church Central Campus, the base of his “megachurch.” He will never recover from the knowledge that the most popular person ever to speak in that building is a black Muslim immigrant whose first language was not English, Hakeem Olajuwon.

The WNBA title roll: The Comets 4, the Minnesota Lynx 4, the Seattle Storm 4, the Los Angeles Sparks 3, the Detroit Shock 3 (they moved in 2009, are now the Dallas Wings, and haven't won another), the Phoenix Mercury 3, the Sacramento Monarchs 1 (they folded in 2009), the Indiana Fever 1, the Washington Mystics 1, and the Chicago Sky 1.

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August 30, 1997 was a Saturday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Montreal Expos, 7-2 at Yankee Stadium. It was foreshadowing for darker things for the Yankees: Pedro Martínez outpitched David Wells.

* The New York Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles, 13-6 at Camden Yards. Bernard Gilkey hit a home run in support of Brian Bohanon. Cal Ripken went 0-for-2 with a walk.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Boston Red Sox, 15-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-1 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-4 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Matt Beech went 7 2/3rds innings, and Ricky Bottalico finished the 8-hit shutout.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Houston Astros, 9-2 at the new Comiskey Park (now Guaranteed Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-1 at the Metrodome.

* The Kansas City Royals beat their cross-State rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 16-5 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Mark McGwire was making his 1st serious run at the home run record. He didn't hit any. The Royals hit 5: Dean Palmer, Chili Davis, Jermaine Dye, Jeff King and Shane Halter.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-3 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Texas Rangers, 4-1 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Seattle Mariners, 11-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-3.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the team then known as the Anaheim Angels, 7-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. J.T. Snow hit 2 home runs. Barry Bonds went 1-for-3 with a walk.

This was also the opening weekend of the college football season. Some notable games from the day:

* Number 2 Florida beat Southern Mississippi, 21-6 at Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. (Penn State began the season ranked Number 1, but did not open their season until the following Saturday.)

* Number 5 Tennessee beat Texas Tech, 52-17 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.

* Number 6 Nebraska beat the University of Akron, 59-14 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

* Number 13 Syracuse was upset by North Carolina State, 32-31 in overtime at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. The Carrier Dome was recently renamed the JMA Wireless Dome.

* Number 14 Miami beat Baylor, 45-14 at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, Texas.

* Number 16 Alabama beat the University of Houston, 42-17 at Legion Field in Birmingham.

* In a cross-State rivalry, West Virginia beat Marshall, 42-31 at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia.

* In another, Kentucky beat Louisville, 38-24 at Commonwealth Stadium (now Kroger Field) in Lexington, Kentucky.

* In another, Utah State beat Utah, 21-14 at Rice Stadium (now Rice-Eccles Stadium) in Salt Lake City.

* The University of Mississippi, a.k.a. Ole Miss, beat Central Florida, 24-23 in overtime at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in oxford, Mississippi. This was the only other game that went to overtime that day.

* And in a game I actually attended, Michael Vick led Virginia Tech to a 59-19 win over Rutgers, 59-19 at the new Rutgers Stadium (now SHI Stadium) in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Also on that day, there was a North London Derby at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury. Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur played to a 0-0 draw.