September 27, 2009: A very weird and nice day for me. Having seen Rutgers beat Maryland in college football the day before, I had spent the night in Washington, D.C. In the morning, I took Amtrak down to Williamsburg, Virginia.
Reading Michael Wilbon's column in The Washington Post, he predicted that the troubled Washington Redskins would lose to the Detroit Lions, which would have ended a 19-game losing streak that included the entire 2008 season.
The further the column went on, the more I believed Wilbon: The Redskins were going to lose. And the Lions did win, 19-14 at Ford Field in Detroit, a terrible embarrassment for the D.C. area's favorite sports team.
Jason Campbell passed for 340 yards for Washington, compared to 241 for Matthew Stafford for Detroit, coached by Jim Schwartz. But Kevin Smith ran for 101 yards, the Lions had nearly 37 minutes of possession, and they were 10-for-18 on 3rd downs, while the 'Skins were just 2-for-10.
The Lions' last win had been on December 23, 2007, 25-20 over the Kansas City Chiefs, also at Ford Field.
I was visiting Williamsburg for reasons I won’t explain here, other than to say that the Historic District holds special meaning for my family. While I was there, surrounded by reminders of the 1770s and 1780s, standing on a street of dirt, I took out my 2000s cell phone, and found out that, 396 miles away at Yankee Stadium II, the Yankees had beaten their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, 4-2, thus clinching the American League Eastern Division title. Melky Cabrera and Mark Teixeira hit home runs in support of Andy Pettitte. Mariano Rivera has to work out of a jam in the 9th, but does.
It was a partial revenge for 2004 and 2007, but I guess full revenge for all that the Sox have done to the Yanks from 2004 onward won’t come until we beat them in a Playoff series. This year, we did our part, but they didn’t do theirs.
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September 27, 2009 was a Sunday. Above and beyond Detroit vs. Washington, these NFL games were played:
* The New York Giants beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 24-0 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
* The New York Jets beat the Tennessee Titans, 24-17 at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands.
* The New England Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons, 26-10 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.
* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 34-14 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
* The Baltimore Ravens beat the team they used to be, the Cleveland Browns, 34-3 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
* The New Orleans Saints beat the Buffalo Bills, 27-7 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.
* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 23-20 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.
* The Minnesota Vikings beat the San Francisco 49ers, 27-24 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Green Bay Packers beat the St. Louis Rams, 36-17 at the Edward Jones Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.
* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Houston Texans, 31-24 at Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium) in Houston.
* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Arizona Cardinals, 31-10 at University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.
* The San Diego Chargers beat the Miami Dolphins, 23-13 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium).
* The Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders, 23-3 at the Oakland Coliseum.
* The Chicago Bears beat the Seattle Seahawks, 25-19 at Qwest Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.
* And the next night, on ESPN Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Carolina Panthers, 21-7 at Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
And in Major League Baseball, in addition to the Yankees' win over the Red Sox, these games were played:
* The New York Mets beat the Florida Marlins, 4-0 at Land Shark Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals, 6-3 at Nationals Park in Washington. Nats reliever Mike MacDougal melted down in the top of the 10th inning, with a walk, hitting a batter, and mishandling 2 grounders, neither of which was scored as an error, the latter of which giving Brian McCann a cheap RBI, before allowing a 2-run single to Omar Infante.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-4 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-5 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-0 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. David Huff pitched 8 innings of 5-hit shutout ball, and Jess Todd pitched a perfect 9th. Kell Shoppach and Matt LaPorta hit home runs for the Tribe, and Asdrúbal Cabrera went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-4 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-5 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee. Jimmy Rollins went 3-for-5 with a solo home run and a walk, while Chase Utley and Ryan Howard each went 2-for-5, with Howard adding an RBI.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Texas Rangers, 7-6 at Rangers Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.
* The Colorado Rockies, 4-3 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres, 7-4 at Chase Field in Phoenix.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-4 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-1 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.
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