October 15, 1999: "Fight Club" Premieres

Brad Pitt (left) and Edward Norton

October 15, 1999: The film Fight Club premieres, based on the 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk, and starring Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter.

Norton plays the never-named Narrator, who meets Tyler Durden, played by Pitt, who lifts him out of his dreary existence by enrolling him in a secret fight club. The club has 8 rules: "The first rule of Fight Club is, 'You do not talk about Fight Club.' The second rule of Fight Club is, 'You do not talk about Fight Club!'"

Soon, the Narrator realizes that Durden isn't just inspiring local men to engage in fights to deal with their masculinity issues. He's planning a terrorist attack to destroy tax and insurance records, to free people from debt. Of course, this would cause chaos. The twist is that Durden is an alternate personality of his, and he shoots himself to free himself of Durden. But it's too late: The bombs go off, and the buildings containing the records are destroyed.

The 1st rule of Fight Club should be, "Take everything you see in this film with a grain of salt, or a pinch of salt, or maybe even an entire salt mine."

*

October 15, 1999 was a Friday. It was a travel day in the American League Championship Series, with the New York Yankees leading the Boston Red Sox, 2 games to none. The Yankees would win the series in 5 games.

Game 3 was played in the National League Championship Series, at Shea Stadium in Queens. The Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets, 1-0, to take a 3 games to none lead in the series. Tom Glavine pitched 7 shutout innings.

John Rocker pitched the last 2 innings, to complete the 7-hit shutout. In the preceding days, he had expressed sentiments that I had shared: "I hate the Mets. How many times do you have to beat a team before their fans shut up?" Met fans booed him in this game, and he said, "I would say the majority of Met fans aren't even humans. They're more like Neanderthals." The Yankees ended up doing what the Mets couldn't: In the World Series, they beat him.

It didn't stop Rocker, though: In the off-season, he gave an interview to Sports Illustrated, spewing bigoted thoughts about New Yorkers. Most of baseball turned on him. This got into his head, and he was never the same pitcher. Years later, it was discovered that he'd been using steroids. He later had a right-wing radio talk show.

The NBA season wouldn't start for another 18 days. There were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Boston Bruins and the Dallas Stars played to a tie, 2-2 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Calgary Flames, 4-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.