November 10, 1982: Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev dies of a heart attack in Zarechye, outside Moscow, 3 days after his last public appearance, at a parade commemorating the 65th Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution.
His health, like his government, had been failing for years. Soviet media tried to cover up his final illness, by saying that he had a cold. Hosting The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson made a lot of jokes about this, and did so again when Brezhnev’s successor, Yuri Andropov, died just 15 months later; and again when Andropov's successor, Konstantin Chernenko, died 13 months after that. Even President Ronald Reagan said, "How can I make peace with the Russians, when they keep dying on me?"
No one knew it at the time, but Brezhnev’s nearly "absentee boss" governance was the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Over the last 10 years of his dictatorship, roughly from the time he and President Richard Nixon signed their 1972 treaties, the Soviet Union had deteriorated almost as much as his health -- something ignored by fans of Reagan, who wanted us to believe that the Soviet state was never stronger than under its enabler (they alleged), Jimmy Carter.
His funeral was, typical for a totalitarian nation putting its leader to rest, over the top. Clips of it would be used on Saturday Night Live the next year, for the funeral of Buckwheat, assassinated by John David Stutts (both characters played by Eddie Murphy) -- with the Reagans and a sad-looking Princess Diana in attendance.
More notable to me in this photo of Brezhnev than his 5 "Hero of the Soviet Union" medals are his oversize glasses, like Chicago Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray, and singer-actor Dean Martin in his last few years, unable to hide just how bad he was looking.
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November 10, 1982 was a Wednesday. Actress Heather Matarazzo was born.
Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 8 games played in the NBA:
* The New Jersey Nets beat the New York Knicks, 99-90 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Chicago Bulls, 145-108 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Despite the high team point total, the Sixers' highest scorer was Moses Malone with 22 points.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Boston Celtics, 105-101 at the Boston Garden.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers, 115-91 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.
* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Dallas Mavericks, 94-91 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Denver Nuggets, 125-119 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. Adrian Dantley led all scorers on the night with 43 points.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Kansas City Kings, 106-100 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
* And the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors, 132-120 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Lloyd "World B." Free scored 38 points in defeat.
And there were 8 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-4 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Devils, in their 1st season, lost to the Washington Capitals, 3-0 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Hartford Whalers beat the Quebec Nordiques, 7-5 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 8-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Edmonton Oilers, 5-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* In another "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Montreal Canadiens, 6-3 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
* And the Boston Bruins, the Minnesota North Stars and the Winnipeg Jets were not scheduled.
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