December 23, 1995: Snowballs at the Meadowlands

December 23, 1995: The New York Giants close their season in ignominious fashion -- and the result is far from the worst of it.

They were playing the San Diego Chargers, at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. It's important to note that the Giants have no rivalry with the Chargers. This was only the 7th time the 1925-established NFL mainstays and the 1960-established original AFL team had played each other in the regular season. The Giants had won at Yankee Stadium in 1971, at Shea Stadium in 1975, at Giants Stadium in 1986, and at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego in 1989. The Chargers had won at The Murph in 1980 and at Giants Stadium in 1983.

None of those games had been particularly contentious. Indeed, even this game had no incidents between the Giant players and the Charger players.

For the Giants, it was a bad season, by any measure. They started out 0-3, closed to within 3-5, fell to 3-9, got up to 5-9, and went into this game 5-10. The Chargers had started 4-7, but had won 4 straight, and had a chance to make the Playoffs if they beat the Giants and other games went their way.

There had been significant snowfall the day before, and only 50,243 fans, out of a possible 78,000+, showed up. While the seats at Giants Stadium had been cleared of snow, there was still a lot of it lying around, waiting for angry -- or, at least mischievous -- fans to turn them into snowballs. At least in the 1st half, they only threw them at each other, because they were pleased with the product on the field: The Giants went into the locker room up 17-3.

This score was understandable: There was snow all around, and the temperature was 34 degrees, 24 with the wind chill. The New York-based team was used to this kind of weather. The San Diego-based team was not.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Giants giving their fans a Merry Christmas: They ended up giving their fans a big lump of coal instead. The Chargers scored a touchdown, but it was still 17-10 Giants after 3 quarters.

By this point, the snowballs were flying from the stands, then onto the field. Bob Sheppard, who had been the Yankees' public address announcer since 1951 and the Giants' since 1956, put his best "Voice of God" to work on the crowd, telling them that the game could be forfeited if the barrage continued.

On the 1st play of the 4th quarter, referee Ron Blum called time-out. He went over to the Charger sideline to call up to the booth, and ask for a repeat of the threat. A fan threw a snowball in his direction. Except it wasn't a snowball: It was an iceball, much harder. And it didn't hit Blum: It hit Sid Brooks, the Chargers' equipment manager, right in the face, knocking him out.

The game should have been forfeited right there. Maybe it would have been, if Charger head coach Bobby Ross had spoken up at that moment. But he didn't, and it wasn't.

The Chargers completed their drive with a touchdown, and the game was tied. On their next drive, Junior Seau hit Giant quarterback Dave Brown, whose throw had been intended for the end zone. Instead, Shaun Gayle -- now with the Chargers, he had been an All-American sprinter in college and a member of the Chicago Bears' 1985-86 "Super Bowl Shuffle" team -- intercepted it, and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown. Well before he reached the end zone, fans sitting there began throwing snowballs at him. Many got as far as him, but none hit him.

The Giants fumbled on their next possession, and John Carney kicked a field goal for the final score: Chargers 27, Giants 17. It was one thing for the Giants to humiliate their fans, which had happened before. It was another thing for the fans to humiliate each other, and the players.

Giants management announced that any snowball-thrower who could be identified would be banned from the Meadowlands Sports Complex for life, even if that meant revoking his season ticket. Six such spectators were identified, including one who ended up on the back page of the New York Daily News. Giants management also bought a full-page ad in the next day's San Diego Union-Tribune -- the Sunday edition -- apologizing to the people of San Diego for the incident.

By a quirk in the NFL schedule, the New York Jets were scheduled to play at Giants Stadium the very next day. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, operator of the stadium, went into overdrive to get all the snow removed from the stadium before kickoff. Given that the Jets were going in 3-12 under the already-much-maligned head coach Rich Kotite, a 2nd angry fanbase was possible. But the snow was cleared, there were no incidents, and the Jets lost to the New Orleans Saints, 12-0.

The Chargers did end up making the Playoffs. Since then, they've played the Giants 6 times. The Giants won in San Diego in 1998. The Chargers won in San Diego in 2005 and 2013, at the Meadowlands in 2009 and 2017, and, following their move back to Los Angeles, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California 11 days ago.

None of those games had any incidents, either. Only the one on Christmas weekend 1995.

*

December 23, 1995 was a Saturday. There were 2 other NFL games played that day, instead of the next day, Sunday, Christmas Eve:

* The Detroit Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 37-10 at Tampa Stadium. No danger of snowballs in Florida.

* And the Indianapolis Colts beat the New England Patriots, 10-7 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. No danger of snowballs in a dome.

There were 12 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the expansion Toronto Raptors, 103-91 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 98-85 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Miami Heat, 87-75 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Indiana Pacers, 97-97 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Detroit Pistons, 94-79 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz, 100-86 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 115-111 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Dallas Mavericks, 111-98 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Houston Rockets, 110-95 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Denver Nuggets, 107-92 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 102-99 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Washington Bullets, 118-100 at the KeyArena in Seattle.

There were 11 games played in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Florida Panthers, 2-1 at the Miami Arena.

* The New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals, 3-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 1-0 in one of the last games played at the Montreal Forum.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 7-5 at the Fleet Center (now the TD Garden).

* The Philadelphia Flyers played the Hartford Whalers to a tie, 3-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-2 at the Ottawa Civic Centre (now the TD Place Arena).

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Dallas Stars, 2-0 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The Colorado Avalanche played the Los Angeles Kings to a tie, 2-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Vancouver Canucks, 1-0 at General Motors Place in Vancouver (now the Rogers Arena).

Also, Arsenal went to Anfield, and lost to Liverpool, 3-1. 

December 10, 1995: The Eagles Stop Emmitt Smith On 4th & 1 -- Twice

December 10, 1995: A cold night at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys. This is a rivalry that defies geography, due to the oddity of a Dallas team being in the NFC Eastern Division, along with Philadelphia, the New York Giants, and the team then known as the Washington Redskins. (From 1970 to 2001, the Division would also, strangely, including the team that began the period as the St. Louis Cardinals, and ended it as the Arizona Cardinals.)

The Cowboys had won Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII, and lost the 1994 NFC Championship Game. The Eagles had been in contention throughout, and both were in Playoff contention again: The Cowboys were 10-3; the Eagles, 8-5.

Late in the 2nd quarter, the Cowboys led, 17-3, and blew it. With about 9 minutes left in the 4th quarter, the score was tied, 17-17. The Cowboys had a 4th & 1 on their own 26-yard line. The Eagle defense, including William Fuller, Danny Stubbs, Mike Mamula, William Thomas, and the man then ripped as the dirtiest player in the game, Bill Romanowski, knew they had one job: Stop the man the Cowboys were obviously going to give the ball, Emmitt Smith, then the best running back in the game, from gaining one yard.

If Smith got that yard, the Cowboys would have a new set of downs, and plenty of time to get within range of a game-winning field goal. If he didn't, the ball would be turned over on downs, and the Eagles would have the ball inside Cowboys territory.

Sure enough, Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman gave the ball to Smith, and the Eagles stopped him. The Vet erupted in cheers.

Except... Ed Hochuli, not one of the NFL's most-respected referees, ruled that time-out had been called before the snap. It was the kind of thing that had led many NFL fans over the last 25 years to believe that the officials fixed games for the Cowboys. Regardless of whether that was true, the Cowboys got another chance. So the Eagles had to do it again.

Eagles radio announcer Merrill Reese had the call: "They give it to Smith, and they stop him again! They stop him again! And this time, they can't take it away from the Eagles!"

It became known as "The Groundhog Day Game," after the "time loop" movie starring Bill Murray, 2 years earlier.

The Eagles tried to run down the clock as best they could. Three running plays by Rickey Watters gained a total of 4 yards. With 3 minutes left, Gary Anderson kicked a 42-yard field goal, putting the Eagles up, 20-17.

Out of timeouts, with only the 2-minute warning to help them, the Cowboys got no closer than the Eagles' 47-yard line, and the 20-17 lead held. The Eagles had won, and 66,198 fans went wild.

The Eagles finished 10-6, made the Playoffs, and won in the 1st round, beating the Detroit Lions, 58-37. Alas, the Cowboys finished 12-4, won the NFC Eastern Division, and got their revenge in the Playoffs, beating the Eagles, 30-11 at Texas Stadium, before winning Super Bowl XXX.

*

December 10, 1995 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played that day:

Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Tampa Bay

* The New York Giants beat the Washington Redskins, 20-13 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets lost to their arch-rivals, the New England Patriots, 31-28 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Carolina Panthers, 31-10 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina. The Panthers played this, their expansion season, at Clemson University's stadium, then moved into what's now Bank of America Stadium in downtown Charlotte the next season.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat their arch-rivals, the New Orleans Saints, 19-14 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 41-35 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Stadium).

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Green Bay Packers, 13-10 in overtime at Tampa Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Chicago Bears, 16-10 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the St. Louis Rams, 45-27 at the Trans World Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Houston Astros, 24-17 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos, 31-27 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders, 29-10 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* The day before, Saturday, December 9, the Minnesota Vikings beat the Cleveland Browns, 27-11 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* Also on the Saturday, the San Diego Chargers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 28-25 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

* And on Monday, December 11, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 13-6 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

There were 7 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs, 118-112 in double overtime at Madison Square Garden. David Robinson led all scorers on the day with 45 points in defeat. John Starks led the Knicks with 25 points.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Boston Celtics, 108-103 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 111-104 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Rik Smits scored 44 points.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons, 87-82 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The Sacramento Kings beat the Miami Heat, 110-90 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Houston Rockets, 103-101 in double overtime at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

* And the 2 expansion teams of that season, both based in Canada, played each other: The Toronto Raptors beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 93-81 at General Motors Place in Vancouver. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001, and GM Place became the Rogers Arena in 2010.

And there were 4 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Winnipeg Jets, 6-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-1 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).

December 7, 1995: The Tino & Nellie Trade

December 7, 1995: The New York Yankees send pitcher Sterling Hitchcock and 3rd baseman Russ Davis to the Seattle Mariners for 1st baseman Constantino "Tino" Martinez and pitchers Jeff Nelson and Jim Mecir.

Davis and Mecir were incidental. Hitchcock pitched well for the Mariners, and then pitched against the Yankees for the San Diego Padres in the 1998 World Series. Nelson turned out to be a key reliever for the Yankees over the next few years.

The key was Martinez. He had already become a star for the Mariners, and was a big reason why they beat the Yankees in the 1995 American League Division Series. And, with Don Mattingly retiring, the Yankees needed a new 1st baseman.

December 7, 1995 was Martinez's 28th birthday -- and his daughter, Victoria, was born the same day. He had started his career wearing Number 14, in honor of Lou Piniella, a former Yankee star and a friend of the family in their shared hometown of Tampa, Florida. But when Piniella became the Mariners' manager, Martinez knew he had to give the number up. He switched to 23. When he became a Yankee, that was the number worn by the outgoing Mattingly. He knew he didn't want the backlash that would have come from wearing 23. He saw that 24 was available, and that the next-lowest number was much higher, so he took 24.

Broadcaster John Sterling called the lefty slugger "The Bamtino." He did far more for the Yankees than Donnie Baseball. Blasphemy, you say? No, it's not, and I'll give you 4 reasons why: 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. In 1997 -- oddly, not one of the Yanks' Pennant years -- he had 141 RBIs, and his 44 homers were the most by a Yankee between Roger Maris (and Mickey Mantle) in 1961 and Alex Rodriguez in 2005.

The Tampa native hit 339 home runs in his career, 192 as a Yankee. And he hit 2 of the most dramatic homers in Yankee history, the grand slam that won Game 1 of the 1998 World Series, and the homer that sent Game 4 of the 2001 Series to extra innings.

Tino was the 1st player of the Joe Torre Dynasty to get a Monument Park Plaque, although his Number 24 remains in circulation. As much as anyone else, he was one of the player who got the Yankees over the hump in 1996, and kept them there into the dawn of the 21st Century.

*

December 7, 1995 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Atlanta Hawks, 104-102 at The Omni in Atlanta. David Robinson had 31 points and 17 rebounds.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 112-103 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Vin Baker had 32 points and 15 rebounds.

* The Denver Nuggets beat their arch-rivals, the Utah Jazz, 124-119 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf scored 51 points.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the expansion Toronto Raptors, 96-88 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland, Oregon.

* And the Detroit Pistons beat the other expansion team, the Vancouver Grizzlies, 93-84 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001.

And there were 8 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 7-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Florida Panthers and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played to a tie, 3-3 at the Miami Arena.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 7-5 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars, 3-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-2 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-3 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

December 2, 1995: The Curse of St. Patrick

December 2, 1995: In an NHL "Original Six" matchup, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 11-1 at the Montreal Forum. Vyacheslav Kozlov scored 4 of those Detroit goals. Mark Recchi had the lone tally for the Habs.

This was the game in which Canadiens' goalie Patrick Roy was infamously hung out to dry by Canadiens management. General manager Réjean Houle told head coach Mario Tremblay to leave Roy in the net. He left Roy there until 11:57 of the 2nd period, after the Canadiens' defense, strong enough to win the Stanley Cup 2 1/2 years earlier, had collapsed to the point where he'd allowed 9 goals in that time.

Roy skated over to where team president Ronald Corey was sitting, and said, "It's my last game in Montreal." Roy was suspended, and, 4 days later, came "Le Trade": Roy and team Captain Mike Keane, a right wing who had also been feuding with Tremblay, were traded to the Colorado Avalanche for goaltender Jocelyn Thibault, left wing Martin Ručinský and right wing Andrei Kovalenko.

Ironically, until the season before, the Avalanche had been the Quebec Nordiques. Roy was from Quebec City, and had grown up loving the Nords and hating the Habs, before winning 3 Vezina Trophies and helping them win 3 Stanley Cups. 

He helped the Avs win the Cup that season, and again in 2001. In addition to the '96 Cup with the Avs, Keane would win the Cup again with the Dallas Stars in 1999. What did the Habs get? Not much, although Kovalenko did score the last goal at the Forum, as the team was preparing to move into the new Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre).

Canadien fans took Roy's side in the dispute. They let their displeasure be known all season long, including into the move, with the new arena having room for an additional 3,300 fans. It took until 2008 for Roy and the team to reconcile enough to get him to come for the retirement of his Number 33.

The winningest team in hockey history took until 2021 to return to the Stanley Cup Finals, losing it to the Tampa Bay Lightning. It is known as "The Curse of St. Patrick," even if, as he has proven in his subsequent coaching and management career, Roy is no saint. He had helped them win their 23rd and 24th Stanley Cups. They are still looking for their 25th.

*

December 2, 1995 was a Saturday. These 9 other games were played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-2 at the Ottawa Civic Centre (now the TD Place Arena).

* The New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-4 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Hartford Whalers, 5-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played to a tie, 4-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Chicago Blackhawks and the Winnipeg Jets played to a tie, 2-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Edmonton Oilers, 7-3 at the Edmonton Coliseum (formerly the Northlands Coliseum).

* The Dallas Stars and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 2-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Washington Capitals, 5-3 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

* And the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Vancouver Canucks, the Calgary Flames, the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning were not scheduled.

The University of Texas, America's Number 9-ranked college football team, defeats their arch-rivals, Texas A&M University, ranked Number 16. The score is Longhorns 16, Aggies 6, at A&M's home, Kyle Field in College Station.

Elsewhere in Texas, the University of Houston beat crosstown rival Rice University, 18-17 at Rice Stadium. These would be the last 2 football games ever played in the Southwest Conference. I have a separate entry for the league's end.

These other college football games were played that day:

* Number 2 Florida beat Number 23 Arkansas, 34-3, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.

* Army beat Navy, 14-13 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* And Oklahoma State beat the University of Hawaii, 24-20 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

Nebraska won the National Championship defeating Florida in the Fiesta Bowl. Texas lost the Sugar Bowl to Virginia Tech. Texas A&M beat Michigan in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. The last Cotton Bowl of the SWC era had no Texas-based team: Colorado beat Oregon, 38-6. Southern California beat Northwestern in the Rose Bowl, and Florida State beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.

Baseball was out of season. There were 10 NBA games on this day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 94-85 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 79-78 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Boston Celtics, 135-107 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks, 104-96 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 113-98 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.") Clyde Drexler scored 41 points. 

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns, 101-93 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. David Robinson scored 37 points.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 109-105 at the McNichols Area in Denver.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 104-98 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Michael Jordan scored 37 points.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Indiana Pacers, 100-97 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* The Sacramento Kings beat the Orlando Magic, 109-106 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to Birmingham, and played Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw at Villa Park.

December 2, 1995: The End of the Southwest Conference

December 2, 1995: The University of Texas, the nation's Number 9-ranked college football team, defeats their arch-rivals, Texas A&M University, ranked Number 16. The score is Longhorns 16, Aggies 6, at A&M's home, Kyle Field in College Station.

Elsewhere in Texas, the University of Houston beat crosstown rival Rice University, 18-17 at Rice Stadium. These would be the last 2 football games ever played in the Southwest Conference.

It was appropriate that the SWC's finale was between the two biggest teams in its now one-and-only State. Someone once said that, if football is a religion in Texas, then Longhorns vs. Aggies is a holy war.

The SWC was founded in 1914, and played its 1st football season in 1915, with these founding members: The University of Arkansas, Baylor University, the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma A&M University, Rice University, Southwestern University, the University of Texas, and Texas A&M University.

Southwestern University, in Georgetown, Texas, left after only 2 seasons. Oklahoma left after the 1919 season. Oklahoma A&M left after 1925, and changed their name to Oklahoma State in 1958.

Southern Methodist University (SMU), in Dallas, joined in 1918. Their Fort Worth rivals, Texas Christian University (TCU), joined in 1923. Texas Tech University joined in 1956, and the University of Houston joined in 1972. 

Arkansas left after the 1991 season, leaving the SWC as a Texas-only league. They joined the Southeastern Conference, in what turned out to be a foreshadowing of the SWC's end.

In 1994, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor reached a deal to join the Big Eight Conference, to form the Big Twelver Conference. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State would join them in a South Division, while the remaining Big Eight teams would form the North Division: Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State and Colorado. The remaining SWC teams -- SMU, TCU, Houston and Rice -- joined other leagues.

Texas A&M left the Big 12 for the SEC in 2011. Texas no longer had the revenue from that rivalry, but didn't want to give up the revenue from their rivalry with Oklahoma. So the Longhorns talked the Sooners into joining the SEC with them, and they will do so for the 2024 season.

*

December 2, 1995 was a Saturday. These other college football games were played that day:

* Number 2 Florida beat Number 23 Arkansas, 34-3, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.

* Army beat Navy, 14-13 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* And Oklahoma State beat the University of Hawaii, 24-20 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

Nebraska won the National Championship defeating Florida in the Fiesta Bowl. Texas lost the Sugar Bowl to Virginia Tech. Texas A&M beat Michigan in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. The last Cotton Bowl of the SWC era had no Texas-based team: Colorado beat Oregon, 38-6. Southern California beat Northwestern in the Rose Bowl, and Florida State beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.

Baseball was out of season. There were 10 NBA games on this day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 94-85 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 79-78 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Boston Celtics, 135-107 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks, 104-96 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 113-98 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.") Clyde Drexler scored 41 points. 

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns, 101-93 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. David Robinson scored 37 points.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 109-105 at the McNichols Area in Denver.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 104-98 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Michael Jordan scored 37 points.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Indiana Pacers, 100-97 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* The Sacramento Kings beat the Orlando Magic, 109-106 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento.

There were 10 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-2 at the Ottawa Civic Centre (now the TD Place Arena).

* The New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 11-1 at the Montreal Forum. Vyacheslav Kozlov scored 4 of those Detroit goals. Mark Recchi had the lone tally for the Habs.

This was the game in which Canadiens' goalie Patrick Roy was infamously hung out to dry by Canadiens management, leading to him being traded 4 days later, leading to "The Curse of St. Patrick.," I have a separate entry for that event.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-4 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Hartford Whalers, 5-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played to a tie, 4-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Chicago Blackhawks and the Winnipeg Jets played to a tie, 2-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Edmonton Oilers, 7-3 at the Edmonton Coliseum (formerly the Northlands Coliseum).

* The Dallas Stars and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 2-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Washington Capitals, 5-3 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

* And the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Vancouver Canucks, the Calgary Flames, the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to Birmingham, and played Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw at Villa Park.

November 21, 1995: The Dayton Agreement

November 21, 1995: The Dayton Agreement is reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, outside Dayton, Ohio, ending the Bosnian Civil War. It was signed there on December 14.

It took the leadership of the President of the United States to stop it. A President who, just hours earlier, was fighting to get his own government reopened.

Taking down Slobodan Milošević and Newt Gingrich in the same week is a very impressive feat, and Bill Clinton simply doesn't get the credit he deserves.

Among the Republican politicians opposing the agreement were Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, a bigot who hated anyone who wasn't white and, by his definition, "Christian"; and Representative Robert Dornan of California, a Korean War bomber pilot who so loved war that he was known as "B-1 Bob," but suddenly became a pacifist when it was a liberal Democrat enforcing a peace.

What does it say about Helms and Dornan that they were less reasonable than Slobodan Milošević? A man who killed more people in 5 years than Saddam Hussein killed in 25 years, more than Fidel Castro killed in 50 years?

Just in this war, about 31,000 soldiers died, and an equal number of civilians, many of them in concentration camps, because of their religion -- in this case, Eastern Orthodox Catholic Serbs killing Bosnians for being Muslims. It had been half a century since the Holocaust, and "Never again" had happened again, on the same continent.

Finally, after 3 years of being begged to do something, and remembering how he did nothing to end the Rwandan Genocide in Africa the year before, President Clinton met with his fellow NATO leaders, and united them, and convinced President Boris Yeltsin of Russia to stay out of it. On August 30, Operation Deliberate Force began, with NATO planes bombing "Bosnian Serb" artillery positions. On November 1, Milosevic realized he could beat the Bosnians, but he couldn't beat NATO, and let peace talks begin.

As of November 21, 2022, the peace still holds. The Nobel Committee has given the Nobel Peace Prize to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama -- but not, as yet, Bill Clinton.

*

November 21, 1995 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The expansion Toronto Raptors beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 102-97 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Dallas Mavericks, 108-102 in overtime at the Reunion Arena in Dallas. Michael Jordan led all scorers on the night with 36 points.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 107-99 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 109-108 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And there were 7 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 9-4 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Florida Panthers, 4-3 at the Miami Arena.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-4 at the brand-new FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-2 at The Spectum in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Capitals beat the San Jose Sharks at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* And the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim beat the Calgary Flames, 3-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

November 20, 1995: The Death of Sergei Grinkov

"Kayta" & Sergei

November 20, 1995: Sergei Grinkov dies of a heart attack, while practicing with his wife and figure skating partner, Ekaterina Gordeeva, in Lake Placid, New York. He was 28 years old, and an autopsy showed that he had severely clogged coronary arteries.

Sergei Mikhailovich Grinkov was born on February 4, 1967 in Moscow. Ekaterina Alexandrovna Gordeeva was born on May 28, 1971, also in Moscow. Sergei and "Katia" were paired up in 1981, at ages 14 and 10, respectively, by coach Vladimir Zaharov.

Together, competing for the Soviet Union, they won the Gold Medal in pairs skating at the European Championships in 1988 and 1990; at the World Championships in 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1990; and at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

They were married on April 20, 1991, and began touring in Stars On Ice, in America. They had to drop out when Katia was found to be pregnant. On September 11, 1992, their daughter, Daria, was born -- in America, in Morristown, New Jersey. Two months later, Katia began training again. By this point, the Soviet Union had fallen, and professionals were allowed to compete in formerly all-amateur events such as the Olympics. Competing for the Russian Federation, they won both the Olympics (in Lillehammer, Norway) and the European Championships in 1994.

On November 20, 1995, they were training for the next round of Stars On Ice, in Lake Placid, on the rink where Gold Medals were won at the 1980 Winter Olympics by Robin Cousins of Britain, Anett Pötzsch of East Germany, and 2 Soviet duos, Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev in paris and Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponossov in ice dancing -- and also won there by the U.S. hockey team, beating the Soviets and then Finland for the Gold Medal.

During a practice, Grinkov collapsed, having suffered a massive heart attack. Doctors found that he had severely clogged coronary arteries, to the point where his arterial opening was reportedly the size of a pinhole. Later testing revealed that he also had a genetic risk factor linked with premature heart attacks. The risk factor is called the PLA-2 variant, and is also known as the "Grinkov Risk Factor." He was 28 years old. His wife was 24, and their daughter was only 3.

Katia, along with an all-star cast, skated a tribute in his honor titled "Celebration of a Life" in February 1996, which was later televised. She also wrote a book about their life and partnership titled My Sergei: A Love Story, which was later turned into a television movie.

Katia later married and divorced another Russian skating champion, Ilia Kulik, had another daughter, Liza, and ran a skating rink in the suburbs of Los Angeles. In 2020, she married to another Gold Medal-winning skater, David Pelletier of Canada, and they run a rink in Edmonton.

*

November 20, 1995 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. On ABC Monday Night Football, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins, 44-20 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Utah Jazz, 105-79 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Boston Celtics, 98-93 at the new FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Golden State Warriors, 101-95 at the Orlando Arena.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 113-94 at the new Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-3 at the Montreal Forum. Turner Stevenson scored the winning goal, with 1:48 left in overtime. And the Colorado Avalanche and the Edmonton Oilers played to a tie, 3-3 at the Northlands Coliseum (then known as the Edmonton Coliseum).

November 16, 1995: The Gingrich Tantrum

November 16, 1995: President Bill Clinton's victory in the federal government shutdown is sealed when the New York Daily News prints a front-page cartoon, showing the Speaker of the House, and the leader of the Republican Party's move to make drastic cuts in the federal budget, as a "cry baby."

After the failure of his health care initiative in 1994, Clinton saw his Democratic Party battered in the midterm elections, with the Republicans taking both houses of Congress. Bob Dole, from Russell, Kansas, regained the office of Senate Majority Leader that he had held in 1985 and 1986, having been the Minority Leader from 1987 to 1994.

And Gingrich, a Pennsylvania native who moved to the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, Georgia to teach at a college, and was first elected to Congress in 1978 and used fiery rhetoric to get into the Republican Party's leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1989, became the Speaker of the House.

Dole was considered mean, a reputation he got in his 1976 Vice Presidential debate with Walter Mondale, and deepened in his 1988 Presidential run. But, politically speaking, he was still a center-right candidate, willing to compromise for the greater good of the country. Gingrich was not: He was frequently called a "firebrand" and a "bombthrower."

Like most politicians, especially Republicans, he wanted to balance the federal budget. But his plan severely cut social services -- and also seriously cut taxes, especially on the wealthy. This didn't work when Ronald Reagan was President in the 1980s, and actually created the harsh economic conditions that led to Clinton's election in 1992. As we have since seen, it didn't work in 2001, and it didn't work in 2017. It would not have worked in 1995.

Every year, the federal budget takes effect on October 1. To put it another way: "Fiscal Year 1996" ran from October 1, 1995 to September 30, 1996. If no deal between Congress and the President is in place by October 1, they can pass a "continuing resolution," or "CR": For the length of the resolution, the proportions of the previous fiscal year continue.

But Clinton and the Republicans controlling Congress couldn't reach a deal by September 30. So they passed a CR that ran until November 13. But the Republicans refused to pass a new budget or a new CR by November 14. So, at 12:00 Midnight on November 13, the federal government shut down, because it was not legally permitted to spend any more money. People were still working for it, but without pay.

And the Republicans went before the media and said it was Clinton's fault. Except Clinton also went before the media, and pointed out that he was still willing to make a deal, and the Republicans weren't. Finally, he called Dole and Gingrich into the Oval Office. So often willing to compromise on things, seemingly desperate to get re-elected, not wanting to be a one-term President like 3 of the last 4 (Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush), but angering many in his own party, Clinton stiffened his spine, and told them, "I don't care if I go down to 5 percent in the polls. If you want that budget signed into law, you're going to have to get somebody else behind this desk."

For once, Clinton held his ground. And polls showed that more people supported his stance than the Republicans' stance. Once the Daily News printed that front page, and blow-ups of it were displayed on the floor of the very House of which Gingrich was Speaker -- by a Representative from Brooklyn, later to be Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer -- their approval rating plummeted. It has never again reached its 1995 height.

Clinton had invited Dole and Gingrich to go with him to the funeral of the assassinated Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin -- certainly, a gesture of respect, if not reconciliation. But the article accompanying the cartoon alleged that, on the flight back, Gingrich wanted to talk about the budget impasse, Clinton didn't, and Clinton made Gingrich get off Air Force One at the back entrance, and Gingrich got upset about these developments.

As comedian Dick Gregory told Clinton at an NAACP convention the following year, "He got upset because you made him a Negro!" Everybody in the audience laughed at the reference to black people being segregated to the backs of buses up until 1955. Clinton couldn't have made that joke himself, but Gregory could.

Did Clinton "make" Gingrich get off at the back of the plane? Was it true? Only Clinton and Gingrich know for sure. The problem was, given Gingrich's own actions over the 17 years he'd served in Congress to that point, the story was completely believable. He had lived by the persona of a guy who tapped into people's emotions, and now, politically, he was dying by them.

Leading an opposition and leading a majority are two very different things, and while some skills cross over, some do not. Gingrich's tantrums had worked pretty well when he was in the opposition to House Democrats like his predecessors as Speaker, Jim Wright of Texas and Tom Foley of Washington State. They did not work when he had a position of power, and they certainly didn't work against a political talent like Clinton. It was like, "Welcome to the major leagues, Newt."

That front page became the Daily News' 2nd-best-known ever, trailing only the October 30, 1975 front page concerning another budget mess, that of New York City, when President Gerald Ford refused to use federal money to bail the City out. The News' front page read, "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD." That headline probably cost Ford the State of New York in the 1976 election, and thus the election itself. Having brought down a President, now, 20 years later, the News was bringing down a Speaker. Not yet, though: Time magazine would name Gingrich its Man of the Year for 1995.

Finally, on November 19, the Republicans caved. And when the general election campaign got underway, the Democrats aired commercials showing Dole and Gingrich together so many times, it began to look like Gingrich was Dole's running mate, instead of his actual choice, Jack Kemp, former pro quarterback and Congressman from New York.

Once the Democrats had their convention, Clinton and his running mate, Vice President Al Gore, solidified their lead, and Dole and Kemp never really challenged them. Dole didn't run a bad campaign, but once Clinton won the battle over the budget, Dole never had a chance, unless there was a new "Clinton scandal" bigger than anything that had happened to that point.

What no one yet knew was that the government shutdown, at the same time that it was securing Clinton's win, was also setting the stage for such a scandal: Among the volunteers working in the White House during the government shutdown was a young woman named Monica Lewinsky.

But the public's backlash against the Republicans' effort to impeach Clinton led to the Democrats gaining seats in the 1998 Congressional elections. Gingrich's marital infidelities had been at least as notorious as Clinton's, and the Republicans didn't care. But now, they cared: To the conservative movement, everything is acceptable except losing, and Gingrich was forced to step down, not just from the Speakership but from Congress.

*

November 16, 1995 was a Thursday. The baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. There were 5 games played in the NBA that night:

* The New York Knicks beat the Golden State Warriors, 120-97 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Indiana Pacers, 89-80 at the Orlando Arena.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 115-87 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Robert Horry led all NBA players on the night, with 40 points.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies, 103-98 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. (The Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001.)

* And the Sacramento Kings beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 105-102 at the Rose Garden in Portland. (It's now named the Moda Center.)

There were 7 games played in the NHL, and all 3 of the New York Tri-State Area teams were in action:

* The New Jersey Devils, the Stanley Cup holders, played the Boston Bruins to a tie, 2-2 at the new FleetCenter in Boston. (It's now named the TD Garden.) The Meadowlands Marauders came from 2-0 down in the 3rd period, to salvage a point thanks to goals from Ricard Persson and Valeri Zelepukin.

* The New York Rangers weren't so lucky: They lost to the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The New York Islanders weren't even that lucky: They lost to the Los Angeles Kings, 9-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Wayne Gretzky only got 1 of the Kings' goals.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-4 at the ThunderDome in St. Petersburg, Florida. (It's now named Tropicana Field. The following season, the Lightning moved into what's now named the Amalie Arena.) Former Islander Benoit Hogue scored the winner, just 32 seconds into overtime.

* The Florida Panthers and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 2-2 at the Miami Arena.

* And the St. Louis Blues beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-1 at the Kiel Center in St. Louis. (It's now named the Enterprise Center.) 

November 6, 1995: The Cleveland Browns Are Moved

November 6, 1995: Art Modell announces that he's moving the NFL's Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, where they later announced that they will become the Baltimore Ravens.

He does so because the City of Cleveland, the County of Cuyahoga and the State of Ohio refused to listen to his pleas to either build him a new stadium, or at least give him a better lease at the existing Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

Modell owned the Browns/Ravens franchise from 1961 to 2004, then maintaining a minority ownership until his death in 2012. His ownership produced 2 NFL Championships: In Cleveland in 1964, and in Baltimore in the 2000-01 season. The former title is the last World Championship won by a Cleveland-area football team, a drought now reaching 57 years; and was the last won by a Cleveland-based team in any sport until the 2016 Cavaliers, a drought that reached 52 years.

In between, the Browns had lots of close calls, losing the NFL Championship Game to the Baltimore Colts in 1968 and the Minnesota Vikings in 1969; losing a 1980-81 AFC Playoff Game at home that they probably should have won, to the Oakland Raiders; and the AFC Championship Games for the 1986, 1987 and 1989 seasons, all to the Denver Broncos, the 1st at home, and the 1st 2 in traumatic fashion: "The Drive" and "The Fumble."

The Browns and their fans also had to endure their last coach, Bill Belichick, prove, why, yes, he could coach, winning 6 Super Bowls with the New England Patriots... until it was revealed that he'd cheated, suggesting that the Cleveland Belichick may have been the real one, not the Foxborough Belichick.

Modell had been deeply involved in charities in Northern Ohio, and had struggled for years to get a new stadium for his team, or to at least get a better lease on Cleveland Municipal Stadium, which was right on Lake Erie and subject to nasty weather, and was then 64 years old and not in good shape. A mile inland and still susceptible to Great Lakes weather, but a bit less so, right next-door to each other, new buildings were built for baseball's Indians and basketball's Cavaliers.

The City, the County and the State were not willing to build, or to help him build, a new stadium for the Browns. The Maryland Stadium Authority, which had recently built Oriole Park at Camden Yards to prevent the Orioles from moving (most likely down the Parkway to Washington, D.C.), was willing to build a stadium at the Camden Yards site. It did: The facility now known as M&T Bank Stadium opened in 1998, after the Ravens spent 2 years at the old Memorial Stadium, and is generally regarded as one of the best stadiums in the NFL.

There were people to blame for the move, other than Modell. The local authorities could have listened to his calls to help with the stadium situation. Baltimore, which had its Colts taken from them by a greedy owner in 1984, should have known better: Yes, they had been shafted by the NFL expansion of 1993 (for the 1995 season), but stealing another city's team, when your own had been stolen just a few years earlier? That was not right.

And Modell's fellow NFL team owners, who normally roll over for each other, could have stood up and said, "Not this time: The history and the fan base of the Browns needs to be respected." But Art was too good a friend to most of them, and they were all too happy to allow the move.

And the owners did rule that, while the business that ran the team and all its contracts -- players, coaches, executives, etc. -- could be moved to Baltimore, an expansion franchise would be established in 1999, and it would carry the Cleveland Browns name, and that team's trademarks (including its uniforms) and history. Municipal Stadium would be torn down, and a new stadium built on the site.

The name of the stadium was established as Cleveland Browns Stadium, not a corporate name. Sadly, that ended in 2013, when it became FirstEnergy Stadium. And while there were 3 seasons without a team, and the team was horrible at first, it did make the Playoffs in 2002, year 4. Of course, they didn't make the Playoffs again until 2020, 18 years.

In 2005, ESPN used their series The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... to explain why Modell should not be blamed for moving the team. Here were their reasons:

5. Bill Belichick. Suggesting that, if he'd coached the Browns better, Modell would have kept the team there.

4. Al Davis and Bob Irsay. Or, more accurately, The Other NFL Team Owners. Davis moved the Oakland Raiders to Los Angeles in 1982 and back to Oakland in 1995, just before Modell's move. And Irsay moved the Colts from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984. The NFL tried to stop Davis the first time, but not hard enough. They didn't lift a finger to stop Irsay, or Davis the second time (although that second time was righting a wrong). Since these moves had established the precedent, the NFL owners bear some responsibility for the Modell move.

3. The Cleveland Indians. Or, more accurately, The Government of the City of Cleveland. The Indians' new ballpark and their new success starting in 1994 turned Cleveland into a baseball town. Modell wondered why the far less successful team, which had nearly moved a few times due to desperate finances, and the even less successful basketball team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, both got new venues, while the Browns weren't getting one.

2. Modell's Finances. He was going broke.

1. Rock and Roll. Or, more accurate, the city's building of things like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Great Lakes Science Center, the International Women's Air & Space Museum -- all of these within a 10-minute walk of Municipal Stadium. As well as, as previously mentioned, Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) and Gund Arena (now Rocket Arena).

Makes sense, doesn't it? There was a problem: That ESPN series ran with the intention of making sports fans see controversial actions and in-game blunders in a new light, but had the air of an exoneration project. And it shouldn't have been. It should have been like a trial, with a verdict at the end: Yes, you can still blame the person or franchise in question, at least first and foremost, while the others you blamed were secondary causes at best; or, no, you're right, we should let the accused off the hook.

Letting Modell off the hook for the Browns' move is wrong. The man was guilty as sin.

Belichick winning with the Browns wouldn't have mattered. That franchise took the place of the Cleveland Rams, who won the NFL Championship in 1945, and moved to Los Angeles the next season anyway. The Raiders won the Super Bowl in the 1980-81 season, but Davis moved the team a year later anyway.

This also holds for other sports: Walter O'Malley moved the Brooklyn Dodgers just 1 year after Walter Alston led them to a Pennant and 2 years after he led them to win the World Series. In 1968, former Knicks All-Star Richie Guerin coached the St. Louis Hawks to the NBA's regular-season Western Division title, but new owner Tom Cousins moved them to Atlanta anyway. In 1973, Gene Shue coached the Baltimore Bullets to an NBA Central Division title, just 2 years after coaching them into the NBA Finals, but owner Abe Pollin moved them to Washington anyway.

And earlier in 1995, Marc Crawford led the Quebec Nordiques to a regular-season division title, and Terry Simpson led the Winnipeg Jets to the Playoffs the next year. Yet both of those teams were moved.

As for Davis and Irsay, you'd think the NFL would have learned: Two wrongs -- or three -- don't make a right. And using the Indians as an excuse is weak: Like Baltimore itself, Cleveland is a football town first and a baseball town second.

Modell's finances? This excuse is a joke. The NFL has revenue sharing. It has better licensing than any of the other North American sports leagues. It has higher TV ratings than any of the other leagues. And it has better attendance than any of the other leagues: While Municipal Stadium held 85,703 for football at its peak, and still held over 80,000 at the time, it wasn't hitting that mark for every home game. But, despite going 5-11, the Browns were averaging 66,772 for their home games before the November 6 announcement. It all should have been enough to cover Modell's expenses.

And even if it wasn't, where were Modell's good friends to help him out with the stadium issue? A few NFL owners are also lawyers. At the very least, they all know great lawyers and great accountants. All Modell had to do was go up to Wellington Mara of the New York Giants, or Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, or even Dan Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Browns' arch-rivals, and say, "Hey, old buddy, old pal, I could use some help here. Can you give me a hand?" As far as we know, he didn't do it.

Put these factors together, and you've got to come to an unpalatable conclusion: You've got to be a damn fool to lose money operating a National Football League team. And yet, we're supposed to believe that Art Modell was losing money operating a National Football League team.

And if the City, or the County, or the State had the money for those other building projects, how much harder would it have been to add one more? Remember, this was 1995, the Clinton years. The economy was booming. And after years of "Cleveland jokes," and "the Cleveland Comeback" being one of them, the comeback was real: The city was doing better than ever.

"I had no choice," Art Modell said about moving the Browns. That is complete and utter bullshit. He had a choice. Hell, the likeliest scenario that would have helped him is the one that sports team owners had already been using since at least O'Malley in the mid-1950s: "Build me a new stadium, or I'll move my team."

He never even seriously threatened to move before he actually announced that he was doing it. Unlike O'Malley, Davis, Irsay, and many others, he never put the gun to their head. But if he had, and they'd caved in, he would still have been more honorable than he was when he moved the team.

Like Davis, Irsay, O'Malley, Bob Short, Jeffrey Loria, Marcel Aubut, Peter Karmanos and Clayton Bennett, all the good Modell did -- including restoring the NFL to Baltimore, which was clearly going to happen anyway -- is secondary to his despicable act.

He had a choice. The people of Northern Ohio no longer have that particular knife in their back, but the wound is still bleeding.

UPDATE: FirstEnergy Stadium again became Cleveland Browns Stadium in 2023, then was renamed Huntington Bank Field in 2024. In 2025, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam managed to do what Modell couldn't do, and got the State of Ohio to build him a new stadium, in suburban Brook Park, adjacent to Hopkins International Airport. It will keep the Huntington Bank Field name, with the intent on opening in the 2029 season. The Browns will give the City money to tear down the current stadium and make infrastructure improvements around the airport.

Haslam made a deal to keep the Browns in the Cleveland metropolitan area, if not in the city, because he would have looked like a bit of a hypocrite if he hadn't: He had bought Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew to keep them from moving to Austin, Texas. His brother, Bill Haslam, owns the NHL's Nashville Predators.

*

November 6, 1995 was a Monday. The baseball season was over. But on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 34-12 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

There were 2 games played in the NBA: The Orlando Magic beat the Washington Bullets, 105-95 at the Orlando Arena; and the Utah Jazz beat the Atlanta Hawks, 105-96 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

And 1 game was played in the NHL: The New York Rangers beat the Calgary Flames, 4-2 at Madison Square Garden. Mark Messier scored a hat trick, including his 500th career goal, with Adam Graves getting the other Blueshirt goal. 

November 4, 1995: Yitzhak Rabin Is Assassinated

November 4, 1995: I got home from watching the football team at my Alma Mater, East Brunswick High School, defeat neighboring Sayreville, 36-29, at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey. I turned on the TV, to ABC, and began watching a college football game: Michigan State ended up defeating arch-rival Michigan, then ranked Number 7 in the country, 28-25 in East Lansing.

At around 5:00 PM, U.S. Eastern Time, the game was interrupted by a Special Report from ABC News. There was no music over the announcement. I knew from experience that such a report was not going to be one of good news.

The announcer, Kevin Newman -- apparently, anchor Peter Jennings hadn't yet gotten to the studio -- announced that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel had been assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

Rabin, a 73-year-old native of Jerusalem, was one of the founding fathers of the State of Israel in 1948. He was Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces during the 1967 Six-Day War. Levi Eshkol was Prime Minister, Abba Eban was Foreign Minister, Moshe Dayan was Minister of Defense, and the leading General was Ariel Sharon.

Rabin then served as Israel's Ambassador to the United States, and as Minister of Labor. In 1974, upon the retirement of Golda Meir, he was named to succeed her as Leader of the Labor Party, and thus as Prime Minister, but fell into a corruption scandal, and lost the 1977 election as a result.

Slowly but surely, he returned to influence. He was named Minister of Defense in 1984, serving until 1990, and then became Labor's leader again. In 1992, he led them to victory, and returned to the Premiership. He served as his own Minister of Defense, and negotiated the Oslo Accords with Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat in 1993. The following year, he negotiated a peace treaty with King Hussein I of Jordan, ending an official status of war (though not a continuous shooting) between those nations that had lasted from Israel's independence.

The process of implementing the Oslo Accords was not going well in 1995, so he called the rally in Tel Aviv, hoping to show the nation that the peace process should be supported. But at 9:30 PM -- 2:30 PM, U.S. Eastern Time -- he was shot by Yigal Amir, a 25-year-old extremist who was part of a right-wing movement that considered any concession to the Palestinians, no matter how small, to be treason. He remains in prison 30 years later, serving a life sentence, and both he and the leaders of the movement remain unrepentant.

Israel has never fully recovered. Most of its governments since have been conservative and belligerent. There is some justification for this, but not nearly as much as the conservative parties would have you believe.

*

November 4, 1995 was a Saturday. The baseball season was over. In addition to the Michigan vs. Michigan State game I mentioned, these other noteworthy college football games were played:

* Number 1 Nebraska beat Iowa State, 73-14 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. They won the Big Eight Conference title -- the last one, before the league took on half the Southwest Conference and became the Big Twelve -- and went on to win their 2nd straight National Championship.

* Number 3 Florida beat Northern Illinois, 58-20 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. They went on to beat Number 6 Florida State, which had played 2 days before the Rabin assassination, and lost, but still went on to win the Atlantic Coast Conference title. Florida then beat Georgia in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, rising to Number 2 in the country, but got walloped by Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl, 62-24.

* Number 4 Ohio State beat Minnesota, 49-21 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. But they blew the Big Ten title by losing to Michigan, and then lost the Citrus Bowl to Tennessee..

* Number 6 Northwestern beat Number 12 Penn State, 21-10 at Dyche Stadium (a.k.a. Ryan Field) in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern won their 1st Big Ten title since 1936, and made their 1st Rose Bowl since the 1948 season.

* Number 8 Notre Dame beat Navy, 35-17 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. They ended up losing to Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

* Number 13 Texas beat Number 23 Texas Tech, 48-7 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. They won the last Southwest Conference title.

* Number 14 USC beat Stanford, 31-30 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC went on to win the Pac-10 title, and beat Northwestern in the Rose Bowl.

* Number 16 Alabama beat Louisiana State, 10-3 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

* Virginia Tech beat Number 20 Syracuse, 31-7 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia. This got Tech into the Top 20, and they won the Big East Conference Championship, and then beat Texas in the Sugar Bowl.

* Rutgers lost to West Virginia, 59-26 at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia.

* And Princeton beat Penn, 22-9 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. They went on to win the Ivy League title.

There were 10 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 84-71 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Detroit Pistons, 100-89 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 119-108 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Orlando Magic, 124-91 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Miami Heat beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 85-71 at the Miami Arena.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Golden State Warriors, 99-84 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the expansion Toronto Raptors, 97-89 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Boston Celtics, 107-85 at the United Center in Chicago. Michael Jordan only played 21 minutes and scored 15 points, while Scottie Pippen led all scorers with 21.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets, 116-108 at the McNichols Arena in Denver. Sean Elliott scored 32.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 103-89 at the KeyArena in Seattle.

And there were 9 games played in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, outside Los Angeles. The Stanley Cup holders got 2 goals from Neal Broten, and 1 each from Mike Peluso and Captain Scott Stevens. Stevens, Martin Brodeur, and the rest of the New Jersey defense held Wayne Gretzky to an assist and no goals.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 in one of the last games at the Montreal Forum. Within a few weeks, it was replaced with what's now named the Bell Centre.

* The Hartford Whalers beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-4 at the Corel Centre in Ottawa. (It's now named the Canadian Tire Centre.)

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars, 5-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 4-4 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers played to a tie, 3-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-3 at the San Jose Arena. (It's now named the HP Pavilion at San Jose.)

Also, Arsenal beat Manchester United, 1-0 at Highbury in North London, on an early goal by new signing Dennis Bergkamp.