November 9, 1989: After several weeks of civil unrest, the government of the German Democratic Republic (a.k.a. East Germany) announces that its citizens could visit the Federal Republic of Germany (a.k.a. West Germany) and West Berlin.
This renders the Berlin Wall, the 11-foot-9-inch high, 96-mile long concrete barrier surrounding West Berlin and symbolizing the "Iron Curtain" that had separated Communist Eastern Europe from capitalist Western Europe since its erection began on August 13, 1961, unenforceable and irrelevant. Crowds of East Germans climb over the wall, and through the various checkpoints between East and West Berlin, some taking chisels and sledgehammers to the Wall while the world watches on television.
Speaking in front of the Brandenburg Gate on June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev: "Mr. Gorbachev, dear down this wall!" While Gorbachev's reforms within the Soviet Union certainly inspired people, and even governments, throughout Eastern Europe, inspiring Time magazine to name him not just Man of the Year but Man of the Decade, he didn't lift a finger to make the Wall's irrelevance possible.
On Christmas Day, December 25, 1989, in a symbolic gesture of reunification and renewal, Leonard Bernstein conducted a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in Berlin, to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was his last major performance, as he died on October 14, 1990, at the age of 72.
The official demolition of the Wall began on June 13, 1990, and was officially completed in 1994. There are still pieces left in Berlin, and other pieces were bought and put on display as museum pieces. Some of America's Presidential Libraries, particularly those of Presidents who served during the Cold War, have pieces on display.
The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way from German reunification, which was formalized on October 3, 1990. The East still hasn't fully caught up with the West, but it's closer now.
Ironically, from a sports perspective, reunification hasn't helped the nation's combined sports teams all that much. While both West Germany and East Germany did very well at the Olympics, the combined team hasn't won more medals than the two separate countries' previous combined totals. Thought that may be due to the East Germans no longer having access to Communist-administered steroids.
And the German national soccer team, while still successful, hasn't been more successful. West Germany won the World Cup in 1954, 1974 and 1990. The combined nation has won it once, in 2014, and did so with a single player born and trained in East Germany: Toni Kroos. Given that a child born in East Germany on the morning of October 3, 1990 would be 32 years old when the 2022 World Cup gets underway, Kroos is likely to be the only East German who ever wins it.
There is one more postscript. One of the buildings in East Germany that was stormed by demonstrators was the Stasi headquarters in Dresden, where a 37-year-old KGB agent was stationed. He called Moscow for permission to defend it, and didn't get it, and had to flee. He felt betrayed by his country's government, and swore revenge. His name was Vladimir Putin.
Just as Hitler barely survived being killed in World War I, Putin had a narrow escape from being captured the night the Wall fell.
November 9 has become Germany's "Day of Destiny": On that date, in 1918, the Kaiser abdicated and the 1st German Republic was proclaimed; in 1923, the Beer Hall Putsch failed; in 1938, Kristallnacht was carried out by the Nazis; and in 1989, the Berlin Wall was rendered legally moot.
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November 9, 1989 was a Thursday. The baseball season had ended 12 days earlier, when the Oakland Athletics won the World Series against their fellow Bay Area team, the San Francisco Giants. Although Thursday night games are common in the NFL now, they weren't then, and so there was no NFL game on that day.
There were 4 NBA games played, including an intra-metropolitan one and an intra-State one:
* The New York Knicks beat the New Jersey Nets, 107-105 at Madison Square Garden. Charles Oakley led the Knickerbockers with 22 points, and Patrick Ewing scored 20. For the Nets, Chris Morris scored 21 and Dennis Hopson 20.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 155-154 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, in not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, but 5 overtimes. Ricky Pierce scored 36 for the Bucks.. For the Sonics, Dale Ellis scored 53, and Xavier McDaniel 37. (There has been a 6-overtime game in NBA history: January 6, 1951, before the institution of the 24-second shot clock: Indianapolis Olympians 75, Rochester Royals 73.)
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Houston Rockets, 128-127 in overtime at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.") Hakeem Olajuwon and Otis Thorpe each scored 33 points in a losing cause, while Danny Schayes led the Nugs with just 21.
* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors, 106-95 at what's now named the Oracle Arena in Oakland. A.C. Green led the Lakers with 24, while Chris Mullen netted 30 for the Dubs.
There were 6 NHL games played, only 1 involving a New York Tri-State Area team:
* The New York Islanders lost to the Quebec Nordiques, 7-5 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-2 at the Boston Garden. This turned out to be a preview of the Stanley Cup Finals, although the Oilers would win that.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* And the Montreal Canadiens and the St. Louis Blues played to a tie, 1-1 at the St. Louis Arena.
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