December 23, 2022: A major Winter storm hits the United States and southern Canada. It was a rapidly-deepening extratropical cyclonic low-pressure area, commonly known as a "bomb cyclone." It ends up killing 106 people.
Because of its location between 2 of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, the city of Buffalo, New York frequently gets hit with Winter storms. This was one of the worst they'd ever gotten, with 56 inches of snow being measured in nearby Snyder. The city was virtually paralyzed over the Christmas holiday.
The storm also wrought havoc with airline flights during Christmas week, one of the biggest travel periods of the year. Southwest Airlines, America's 2nd-largest airline by domestic passenger volume, canceled more than 60 percent of its flights over a 2-day stretch. Overall, U.S.-based airlines canceled more than 15,000 flights, the largest in history.
The storm combined with a computer glitch in Southwest's system, stranding thousands of people. Congressional investigations were begun, and lots of people at the airline lost their jobs.
As if the people of Buffalo hadn't suffered enough, having previously dealt with a racism-inspired mass shooting on May 14, 10 days after the storm, Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin nearly died on the field during a game, although he did recover.
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December 23, 2022 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was in midweek. There were 2 college football bowl games played. The University of Houston beat the University of Louisiana, 23-16 in the Independence Bowl, at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. And Wake Forest beat Missouri, 27-17 in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
There were 14 games in the NBA, with every team playing except for the Golden State Warriors and the Utah Jazz:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Chicago Bulls, 118-117 at Madison Square Garden. Zach LaVine scored 33 points for the Bulls, while RJ Barrett (no periods for his initials) scored 44 for the Knicks.
* The Brooklyn Nets beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 118-100 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 121-109 at the TD Garden in Boston. Jaylen Brown scored 35 points for the Celtics.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 119-114 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia. Joel Embiid scored 44 for the Sixers.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons, 130-105 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
* The Orlando Magic beat the San Antonio Spurs, 133-113 at the Amway Center in Orlando. (It's now named the Kia Center.)
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Heat, 111-108 at the FTX Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami. Tyrese Hailburton scored 43 points for the Pacers.
* The Toronto Raptors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 118-107 at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.
* The New Orleans Hornets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 128-125 in overtime at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 44 in defeat for the Thunder.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat their arch-rivals, the Houston Rockets, 112-106 at the Toyota Center in Houston. Luka Dončić scored 50 points for the Mavs.
* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Phoenix Suns, 125-100 at the Footprint Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 120-107 at the Ball Arena in Denver. Damian Lillard scored 34 in defeat for the Blazers.
* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 134-130 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. LeBron James scored 34 points in defeat for the Lakers.
* And the Washington Wizards beat the Sacramento Kings, 125-111 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. Kyle Kuzma scored 32 for the Wiz.
And there were 11 games in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders beat the Florida Panthers, 5-1 at the UBS Arena.
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the Prudential Center.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-1 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.
* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-5 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh.
* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Nashville Predators, 3-2 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Samuel Girard scored the winning goal with 43 seconds left in overtime.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-2 at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Dallas Stars beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
* The Arizona Coyotes beat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1 in a shootout at the Mullett Center in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.
* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-4 in a shootout at the T-Mobile Center in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada.
* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Edmonton Oilers, 5-2 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
* The Calgary Flames beat the Anaheim Ducks, 3-2 at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Rasmus Andersson scored the winning goal with 2:36 left in overtime.
* And the New York Rangers, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Detroit Red Wings, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Buffalo Sabres, the San Jose Sharks, the Ottawa Senators, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Minnesota Wild and the Seattle Kraken were not scheduled.
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