December 15, 1996: The End of the Houston Oilers

Barron Wortham and Reggie Lewis, after the last game at the Astrodome

December 15, 1996: The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Houston Oilers, 21-13 before just 15,131 fans at the Astrodome. Team founder/owner Bud Adams had already announced the team's move to Tennessee, and the fans took it out on him by not going.

The following Sunday, December 22, 1996, they played their final game as the Houston Oilers, beating the Ravens, 24-21 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

Kenneth Stanley Adams Jr. was a 36-year-old executive with Phillips Petroleum in Oklahoma when he became a charter team owner in the American Football League, taking the Houston Oilers. They won the 1st 2 AFL Championships, in 1960 and 1961, and lost the AFL Championship Game in 1962 and 1967. They went into a down period that included the 1970 merger with the NFL, but by 1978, they were a Playoff team again, turning home games at the Astrodome into nationally-televised parties.

A.O. "Bum" Phillips, Oilers head coach from 1975 to 1980, compared the Oilers to the much more nationally-popular Dallas team, and said, "The Cowboys are America's Team, but the Oilers are Texas' Team."

But they couldn't get past the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders into the Super Bowl, and the team was broken up. In 1987, Adams told the Houston city government that he would move the Oilers to Jacksonville if they didn't improve the Astrodome, including raising seating capacity and putting in more of what the place practically invented: Luxury boxes. He got his wish: In 1990, it was expanded from 50,000 to 62,439 seats, including 65 luxury boxes, and the Oilers stayed.

The expansion did not improve the lousy sightlines: The seats near the 50-yard line were the furthest from the playing field, while the closest ones were in the end zone. And as the Astros were the stadium's primary tenant, whenever there was a scheduling conflict, or any dispute between the Astros and the Oilers, the Astros would always win out. Hard to believe, considering that Texas is the football State.

By 1995, the Oilers' radio network, which had been statewide, had been reduced to 1 station in Houston. As a result, Harris County, owners of the Astrodome, agreed to let the Oilers out of their lease, to enable the move to Tennessee after the 1996 season, instead of 1997 as had been planned.

In 2002, the Houston Texans debuted. In the interim, the Tennessee Titans went to a Super Bowl, but lost. Since then, the Texans have been contenders more regularly than the Titans, so maybe Houston was better off.

Adams died in 2013, the next-to-last of the original AFL owners still involved with his team. (Ralph Wilson of the Buffalo Bills was the last, and died the next year.)

UPDATE: The Oilers had a team Hall of Fame. From their 1960 and '61 AFL Champions, they have inducted founding owner Kenneth "Bud" Adams, quarterback George Blanda, and safety and punter Jim Norton. From their 1967 AFL Finalists: Adams, Blanda, Norton, and safety Ken Houston.

From their 1978 and '79 AFC Finalists: Adams, head coach O.A. "Bum" Phillips, running back Earl Campbell, receiver Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, defensive end Elvin Bethea, and linebacker Robert Brazile.

From their teams that made the AFC Playoffs every season from 1987 to 1993: Adams, executives Mike Holovak and Floyd Reese, quarterback Warren Moon, guard Mike Munchak, and tackle Bruce Matthews. The franchise now known as the Tennessee Titans has also honored coach Jeff Fisher, quarterback Steve McNair, running back Eddie George, and tight end Frank Wycheck, who were with the team at the time of the move.

Adams, Phillips, Campbell, Bethea, Brazile, Moon, Munchak, Matthews have also been inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. So have 1970s receiver Mike Renfro and 1980s and '90s defensive lineman Ray Childress.

Running back Ken Hall, "The Sugar Land Express," of Texas A&M, quarterback Don Trull and receiver Larry Elkins of Baylor University, and defensive tackle Lewis "Bud" McFadin of the University of Texas were also elected, and played for the Oilers in their founding days of the 1960s. Jack Pardee starred as a linebacker for Texas A&M, the Los Angeles Rams and the Washington Redskins, before serving as a head coach in Houston, for both the USFL's Gamblers and the Oilers.

*

December 15, 1996 was a Sunday. Ukrainian soccer player Oleksandr Zinchenko was born.

 

These other games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants lost to the New Orleans Saints, 17-3 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The Carolina Panthers beat the Baltimore Ravens, 27-16 at Ericsson Stadium (now Bank of America Stadium) in Charlotte.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-27 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Seattle Seahawks, 20-13 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Stadium).

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 25-15 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions, 31-3 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 21-10 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 24-19 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the New England Patriots, 12-6 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders, 24-19 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Washington Redskins, 27-26 at Sun Devil Stadium (now Mountain America Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* The day before, the New York Jets lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 21-20 at Giants Stadium.

* Also the day before, the Chicago Bears beat the San Diego Chargers, 27-14 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* And the night after, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Miami Dolphins beat the Buffalo Bills, 16-14 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Baseball was out of season. There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Boston Celtics, 99-89 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 103-84 at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Golden State Warriors, 110-102 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center). The Warriors played there that season, while the Oakland Coliseum Arena was being renovated. Latrell Sprewell scored 43 points in defeat for them.

* And Houston fared better in the NBA that day: The Houston Rockets beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 99-89 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

And there were 6 games in the NHL:

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins, 6-0 at the new CoreStates Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-0 at the Miami Arena.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-0 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues, 8-0 at the Kiel Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

December 13, 1996: "Jerry Maguire" Premieres

December 13, 1996: Jerry Maguire premieres, directed by Cameron Crowe. Tom Cruise plays, the title character, an athletes' agent. Being an agent -- in either sports or show business -- is not a good way to make yourself look sympathetic. Then again, by the 2020s, neither was being Tom Cruise.

Jerry writes a mission statement for his firm, about perceived dishonesty in business and his desire to work with fewer clients to produce a better, more caring personal relationship with them. In response, the firm sends Bob Sugar (played by Jay Mohr), Jerry's protégé, to fire him. This spurs both men to race to call every one of Jerry's clients to retain them.

Jerry speaks to Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell, a smaller client who is disgruntled with his pay. This was the 1st time that Cuba Gooding Jr. played a football player, eventually playing O.J. Simpson. Rod gets Jerry to promise him that he will get a team to "Show me the money!" As a result, Rod remains the only client he keeps, as Bob gets all the others.

Jerry tells his ex-colleagues that he's starting his own agency, but only Dorothy Boyd (Renée Zellweger), a single mother, agrees to join him. Jerry breaks up with his fiancée, Avery (Kelly Preston), after she becomes emotionally unsupportive. He turns to Dorothy, becoming closer to her young son Ray (Jonathan Lipnicki).

Jerry can't negotiate a good deal with the Cardinals for Rod. Without any money coming in, Dorothy knows that Jerry cannot afford payroll, so she decides to move to San Diego for a more secure job offer with health benefits. Afraid of losing Dorothy, Jerry proposes marriage to share health benefits, and she agrees.

Over the next several months, Rod and Jerry grow closer through a series of open and difficult conversations as they struggle to secure him a contract; Rod tells Jerry that he wants him to be honest, while Jerry tells Rod, "Help me, help you," convincing him to stop complaining and start playing with his heart. Rod takes Jerry's advice, playing well and advancing the Cardinals. Jerry's marriage with Dorothy struggles, however, so she suggests they amicably separate before losing too much of their lives to each other.

During a Christmas Day Monday Night Football game between the Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys, Rod catches a winning touchdown that secures the playoffs for the Cardinals, but appears to receive a serious in the process. After a few minutes, he regains consciousness and does a celebratory dance. Jerry and Rod embrace in front of the media, and show how their relationship has progressed from strictly business to a close personal one, which was a point Jerry made in his mission statement.

Triggering a realization, Jerry immediately flies home, finding Dorothy in a meeting of her sister Laurel's divorcee support group. The group watches as Jerry gives an impassioned speech telling Dorothy he needs her, to which she responds, "Shut up: You had me at 'Hello.'"

The film was nominated for 5 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor for Cruise, Best Supporting Actor for Gooding, Best Film Editing for Joe Hutshing, and Best Screenplay -- but not Best Director -- for Crowe. At the Oscar ceremony 3 months after the film's release, host Billy Crystal noted Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient, Woody Harrelson in The People vs. Larry Flynt, Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade, Geoffrey Rush in Shine, and Cruise, and said, "Look at the nominees for Best Actor: They're all damaged guys! Burned guy, paralyzed guy, mentally handicapped guy, mentally abused guy, agent! And four of the five are treatable!" But only Gooding won, as Rush won Best Actor, and The English Patient won Best Picture.

Art imitated life, twice: The Cardinals really did play the Dallas Cowboys on Christmas Day and on ABC Monday Night Football in 1995, at Arizona State's Sun Devil Stadium (now Mountain America Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe. But, in real life, the Cowboys won, 37-13. And on Coach, also on ABC, the fictional Orlando Breakers avoided a winless season by beating the Cardinals on Christmas and on MNF.

*

December 13, 1996 was a Friday. Baseball player Gleyber Torres was born.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 8 games in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Chicago Bulls, 113-92 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands. Michael Jordan scored 32 points.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Denver Nuggets, 108-104 at the US Airways Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 84-75 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors, 101-87 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Boston Celtics, 97-94 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Phoenix Suns, 108-105 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 120-119 in overtime at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Shaquille O'Neal scored 34 points for the Lakers, while Kenny Anderson scored 34 for the Blazers.

* And the Vancouver Grizzlies beat the Orlando Magic, 95-93 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

And there were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-0 at the Marine Midland Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-2 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-1 at the Kiel Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim beat the Washington Capitals, 5-4 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).

* And the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-0 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

November 27, 1996: The Biggest Comeback In NBA History

November 27, 1996: A pair of arch-rivals play each other in the NBA. It turns out to be a historic game.

The Utah Jazz were hosting the Denver Nuggets, at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Jazz came in having won 10 of their 1st 12 games of the season, but the Nugs were struggling, having lost 10 of their 1st 15. Nevertheless, the Nugs led 37-19 at the end of the 1st quarter. Late in the 2nd quarter, it was 70-34 Denver. The Jazz trailed by 36 points, before closing it to 70-36 at the half.

With 9 minutes left in the 3rd, the Nuggets still led 74-41. But the Jazz scored the next 16 points, to close to 74-57 with 4:25 left in the 3rd. By the end of the quarter, it was 85-72 Denver. Still a ways to go, but now, victory for Utah looked plausible.

Over the 1st 1:35 of the 4th quarter, the Jazz went on a 16-3 run to get within 2 points. With 4:41 left in regulation, Chris Morris hit a 3-point shot to tie the game at 91. With 3:02 to go, Jeff Hornacek made 2 free throws to give the Jazz their 1st lead, 95-94.

The Nuggets weren't done, and Bryant Stith hit a 3-pointer with 1 minute left to make it 101-100 Denver. But a Hornacek 3-pointer gave the Jazz the lead again, and they never gave it up. Final score: Jazz 107, Nuggets 103. It remains the biggest come-from-behind win, meaning also the biggest blown lead, in NBA history.

Stith scored 31 points for the Nuggets. Karl Malone had 31 points and 17 rebounds for the Jazz, Hornacek 29 points, John Stockton only 9 points but 10 assists.

The Nuggets finished the season 21-61, well out of the Playoffs. The Jazz went on to win the NBA Western Conference title, but lost the NBA Finals to the Chicago Bulls in 6 games.

*

November 27, 1996 was a Wednesday. There were 9 other games played in the NBA that night:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Phoenix Suns, 99-77 the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 110-94 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Atlanta Hawks, 79-75 at the Orlando Arena.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Charlotte Hornets, 92-88 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 87-78 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 92-75 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 106-98 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 120-109 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

* And the Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 98-82 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

Baseball was in the off-season. Football was in midweek. There were 11 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-2 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The New York Islanders beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Dallas Stars, 3-2 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Hartford Whalers, 6-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Washington Capitals, 2-1 at the US Airways Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-0 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins played to a tie, 2-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Edmonton Oilers, 5-1 at the Edmonton Coliseum (as the Northlands Coliseum was then known).

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-2 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

* And the Boston Bruins, the Calgary Flames, the Phoenix Coyotes were not scheduled.

Also, actress Hailey Bieber, daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin and wife of singer Justin Bieber, was born on this day.

November 5, 1996: President Bill Clinton Is Re-Elected

November 5, 1996: President Bill Clinton is re-elected, winning 379 Electoral Votes to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole's 159. Clinton wins 49.2 percent of the popular vote, while Dole wins 40.7, and Reform Party candidate Ross Perot wins 8.4 percent but no Electoral Votes.

Clinton went over the necessary 270 Electoral Votes with the States that closed at 9:00 PM, Eastern Time.

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. Dole, from Russell, Kansas -- always mentioning his hometown, not just his State -- had first been elected to Congress in 1960, and to the U.S. Senate in 1968. He was nominated for Vice President under Gerald Ford in 1976. He ran for President in 1980, but didn't get far. He became Senate Majority Leader after the election of 1984, but the Democrats regained the Senate in 1986, making him the Minority Leader.

He ran for President again in 1988, and finished 2nd in delegates to Vice President George H.W. Bush, who was elected. In 1992, Clinton beat Bush to become President-elect. The next morning, mere hours after Clinton clinched victory in a 3-man race in which Perot got 19 percent of the popular vote (but no Electoral Votes), Dole pointed out, "57 percent of Americans did not vote for Bill Clinton, and I intend to represent that majority on the floor of the U.S. Senate. If Bill Clinton has a mandate, then so do I."

Clinton was now 1-0 in Presidential elections. Dole was 0-2, 0-3 if you count 1976. Clinton got just under 45 million votes for President. Dole got 2.3 million votes in the 1988 Republican Primaries. Dole himself had just been re-elected to the Senate in 1992, with 244,000 votes. And he then represented a caucus of 43 Senators. He was in no position to claim any majority, especially against a man who had just gotten almost 45 million votes. The 57 percent of American voters who chose someone other than Clinton? As far as I know, not one of them voted for Bob Dole for President, not even as a write-in candidate.

But the '94 election restored Dole to the post of Majority Leader. And Newt Gingrich, a Pennsylvania native who moved to 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 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. That is, "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": 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 continuing resolution that ran until November 13. But the Republicans refused to pass a new one by November 14. So, at midnight on November 13, the government shut down.

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, but angering many in his own party, Clinton 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. Their approval rating plummeted. Finally, on November 19, they 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.

Having been the Republican nominee for Vice President in 1976, and having run for the Republican nomination for President in 1980 and 1988, Dole had practically been running for President in the 1996 election since the day after the 1992 election ended. Politically-themed comedian Mark Russell, who was 10 years younger than Dole, and specialized in rewriting pre-rock-and-roll songs for political issues of the time, wrote for one of his periodic TV specials on PBS:

This old man, Robert Dole

has the White House as his goal.

For 20 years, there in his eye, a glint.

This old man can't take a hint.

And yet, Russell followed this song by saying, "I'm thinking of voting for Bob Dole. I figure it'll be the last chance to have a President who's older than I am!" (UPDATE: He turned out to be right, living to see the Presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, all younger.)

Dole officially announced his candidacy on April 10, 1995. Despite losing the New Hampshire Primary to Pat Buchanan, an archconservative journalist who had previously worked for Presidents, Nixon, Ford and Reagan, he won enough Delegates to secure the nomination on March 19, 1996.

He traveled the country on a plane he named, after his position in the Senate, Leader Ship. Then he rolled the dice, and resigned from the Senate on June 11, to show the American people he was focused only on the election: "I have nowhere to go, except the White House, or home." He changed his plane's name to Citizen Ship.

(Dole was succeeded as Majority Leader by his Majority Whip, Trent Lott of Mississippi. He remains the highest-ranking native of that State in American politics.)

At the Republican Convention, at the San Diego Convention Center, Dole chose a real running mate: Jack Kemp, former pro quarterback, former Congressman from Buffalo, New York, a 1988 Presidential candidate like Dole, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bush. Kemp had long been the darling of the conservative tax-cut movement, and boosted Dole in the polls.

In his acceptance speech, on August 15, Dole said, "Let me be the bridge to an America that only the unknowing call myth. Let me be the bridge to a time of tranquility, faith, and confidence in action." This was a blunder: In his acceptance speech, at the United Center in Chicago, Clinton said, "We do not need to build a bridge to the past. We need to build a bridge to the future, all the way to the 21st Century!"

After that, Clinton and his running mate, Vice President Al Gore, solidified their lead, and Dole and Kemp never really got close to them. Near the end of the campaign, Dole tried to make a big deal about Clinton's "scandals," but nobody could pin anything on him. And Clinton seemed to be handling his role as Commander-in-Chief well. And, just as in 1992, the issue of "the economy, stupid" helped him: This time, he was in charge, and it was doing well.

Dole didn't run a bad campaign, but once Clinton won the battle over the budget, Dole never had a chance.

Comedian Mort Sahl, closing in on half of century of joking about politicians of both parties, said, "There were 4 million people in the American colonies, and we had Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Franklin. Now, we have over 200 million, and the top 2 guys are Clinton and Dole. What can you draw from this? Darwin was wrong!"

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 the biggest crisis of his Presidency: Among the volunteers working in the White House during the government shutdown, and was among the young staffers welcoming him back to the White House with a hug the day after the election, was a young woman named Monica Lewinsky.

The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics was established at the University of Kansas in 2003, on the occasion of Dole's 80th birthday. It performs some of the same functions as a Presidential Library, but it is not the same thing. Dole died in 2021, at the age of 98.

*

November 5, 1996, like all modern U.S. Election Days, was a Tuesday. The baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. But there were 10 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, 98-92 at Madison Square Garden. Shaquille O'Neal scored 26 points.

 

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 83-81 at the new CoreStates Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Dallas Mavericks, 100-96 at the SkyDome in Toronto. (It's now named the Rogers Centre.) Walt Williams scored 34 for the Raptors.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 74-68 at the Gund Arena in Cleveland. (It's now named the Rocket Arena.)

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 96-73 at the United Center in Chicago. Michael Jordan led the scoring with 22 points.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Denver Nuggets, 82-78 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Phoenix Suns, 98-95 at the AmericaWest Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors, 111-93 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* The Houston Rockets beats the Sacramento Kings, 102-80 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento. (It's now named the Sleep Train Arena.) Hakeem Olajuwon matched his uniform number by scoring 34 points.

* And the Atlanta Hawks beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 117-95 at the KeyArena in Seattle.

Only 1 NHL game was played, and it wasn't in the country holding the election: The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. 

November 3, 1996: Jerry Rice's 1,000th Catch

November 3, 1996: The San Francisco 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints, 24-14 at the Superdome in New Orleans. In the 2nd quarter, Steve Young threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Rice. And with about 12 minutes left in regulation, Rice catches a pass from Young for 9 yards. These are the 999th and 1,000th receptions of Rice's NFL career. He becomes the 1st NFL player to catch 1,000 passes.

At age 34, at which most players relying on speed -- especially receivers, running back, and defensive backs -- tend to slow down, Rice caught just 3 passes on the day, but 108 for the season, leading the NFL. The previous 2 seasons, he had caught 112 and 122 passes, but neither total led the League. It was a golden age for receivers, but he was ahead of all of them.

Jerry Rice played for the 49ers from 1985 to 2000, then for the Oakland Raiders until 2004, and closed his career with 11 games for the Seattle Seahawks in the 2004 season. He finished his career with 1,549 receptions, 22,895 receiving yards, 23,546 all-purpose yards, 197 receiving touchdowns, and 208 overall touchdowns, all still records.

It must be pointed out that Montana and Young both made Rice better. It must also be pointed out that he did the same for them. Montana and Rice won Super Bowls XXIII and XXIV together. Young and Rice won Super Bowl XXIX together.

In 1999, while Rice was still with the 49ers, The Sporting News ranked him Number 2 on their list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. Jim Brown was Number 1. At Number 3 was the 49ers quarterback who helped launch Rice's career, Joe Montana. The next-highest-ranked receiver was Don Hutson, Green Bay Packers star of the 1930s and '40s, at 6, who set most of the NFL receiving records before Rice's generation. At Number 63 was Young.

In 2010, the year Rice was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the NFL Network ranked the 100 Greatest Players. Rice was ranked Number 1, Brown Number 2, 1980s New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor Number 3, Montana Number 4, 1960s San Diego Chargers star Lance Alworth the next-highest receiver at Number 38, Minnesota Vikings star Randy Moss as the best receiver since Rice at Number 65, and Young at Number 81.

A case can be made that Jerry Rice is the greatest player in the history of American football.

*

November 3, 1996 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Giants beat the Arizona Cardinals, 16-8 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. I was at this game, the 1st NFL game I'd ever seen live. It was a miserably cold day, with the Meadowlands wind blowing hard, holding attendance down to 68,282. The Giants led only 3-0 midway through the 3rd quarter, and it seemed like a poor investment. But they took a 16-0 lead with 6 minutes left in regulation.

Norman Julius "Boomer" Esiason, Long Island native and former Jets quarterback, led the Cards on a comeback, and got some applause from people who were obviously not so much Giant or Jet fans as they were people who went to Giants Stadium games when they had the chance, and appreciated him for his play rather than for his team. He got the Cards a touchdown and a 2-point conversion with 40 seconds to go, but the Giants recovered the onside kick to seal it.

* The New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins, 42-23 at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Yes, the name of the stadium and the name of the town were officially spelled differently.)

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens, 24-21 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Carolina Panthers, 20-17 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys, 31-21 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Washington Redskins, 38-13 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the St. Louis Rams, 42-6 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Indianapolis Colts, 26-19 at the RCA Dome (formerly the Hoosier Dome) in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 13-10 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions, 28-18 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Minnesota Vikings, 21-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Houston Oilers, 23-16 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

* The following night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders, 22-21 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the New York Jets and the Jacksonville Jaguars had the week off.

Baseball season had ended 8 days earlier, when the New York Yankees beat the Atlanta Braves to win the World Series. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 113-86 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 88-79 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 91-85 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Shaquille O'Neal had 35 points and 19 rebounds.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 105-95 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

And there were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Dallas Stars, 6-3 at the Kiel Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* The Montreal Canadiens and the Phoenix Coyotes played to a tie, 4-4 at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix.

* And the Colorado Avalanche and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played to a tite, 1-1 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).

October 26, 1996: The Yankees' Return to Glory

October 26, 1996: New York Yankees 3, Atlanta Braves 2, clinching the Yankees' 23rd World Championship, their 1st in 18 years, at the original Yankee Stadium. The Yanks scored all 3 runs in the bottom of the 3rd, including a triple off Greg Maddux by catcher Joe Girardi.

Now that Girardi has come and gone as the Yankee manager, it's easy to forget what kind of a player he was. He was a good defensive catcher, Maddux won more games than any pitcher alive through the 2022 season, 355, including more games in the 1990s than any other pitcher, 176. Girardi hitting a triple off Maddux in a World Series game was really unexpected. It wasn't quite the U.S. college kids beating the "amateur" hockey players in their 30s put up by the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics, nor was it quite Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson in 1990. But it was a shock. A beautiful shock.

When Mariano Rivera, then the "bridge" reliever, was on the mound in the 8th, Fox announcer Tim McCarver said, "There's not a lot of secret as to what you're gonna get from Mariano Rivera: A lot of high gas." It would be the next year, when Mo succeeded John Wetteland as the closer, that he developed the cut fastball that made him the greatest relief pitcher of all time.

When Mo got a strikeout to end the 8th, McCarver and Joe Buck wisely didn't say a word, and let the roar of the crowd be what took them to commercial. Those cheers seemed to contain not a word, but they spoke volumes. Some who were there said that the old Yankee Stadium actually shook at that moment.

An inning later, Wetteland, who became the 1st reliever ever to save all 4 of his team's wins in a World Series (and remains the only one) and was named MVP, got Mark Lemke to pop up to 3rd base, and Charlie Hayes caught it. As John Sterling said on WABC (the Yankees' radio station at the time), "Hayes... makes the catch! Yankees win! Theeeeeeee Yankees win!" He didn't start adding "Ballgame over!" until the next year, and didn't start adding "(name of series) over!" until the next.

Derek Jeter was the last active player from the 1996 Yankees, playing until 2014.

UPDATE: Among the Yankees' many traditions is Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. From the 1996-2001 team that won 5 American League Pennants, including 4 World Series, they have given a Monument to team owner George Steinbrenner; and Plaques to manager Joe Torre, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, 1st baseman Tino Martinez, shortstop Derek Jeter, center fielder Bernie Williams, right fielder Paul O'Neill, pitchers Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera; and public address announcer Bob Sheppard.

General manager Bob Watson has not yet been honored. Nor has his predecessor, and still overall Yankee executive at this point, Gene "Stick" Michael. Nor has his successor, Brian Cashman.

Phil Rizzuto retired as a broadcaster after the 1996 season. They have retired the uniform numbers of Jeter, 2; Posada, 20; O'Neill, 21; Rivera, 42; Pettitte, 46; and Williams, 51.

*

October 26, 1996 was a Saturday. There were no NFL games played that day, but there were college football games of note:

* Number 1-ranked Florida did not play. Nor did Notre Dame, having been Number 8 the week before, but losing at home to the Air Force Academy.

* Number 2 Florida State did play, beating Number 14 Virginia, 31-24 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida. On November 3, Florida State beat Florida in Tallahassee, only to have the AP and UPI poll give in to Florida's "God Wants a Rematch" campaign. Florida got their revenge in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, 50-25, to win the National Championship.

* Number 3 Ohio State beat Number 20 Iowa, 38-26 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. Ohio State blew their shot at the National Championship, and essentially forced the "God Wants a Rematch" title game, by losing to Michigan 4 weeks later.

* Number 6 Tennessee beat Number 7 Alabama, 20-13 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. This was in a rare stretch in which Tennessee dominated this rivalry, taking 9 out of 10. But Alabama has now beaten Tennessee every year since 2007, including 2021.

* Number 17 Penn State beat Indiana, 48-26 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.

* Rutgers beat Temple, 28-17 at the new Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. In their season opener, Rutgers beat Villanova at home. In games that were against teams in Philadelphia's "Big 5," RU were 2-0. In all other games, they were 0-9.

* And Princeton lost to Harvard, 24-0 at Palmer Stadium. Opened in 1914, Palmer Stadium hosted its final game on November 23, and Princeton lost to Dartmouth, 24-0. The stadium was then demolished, and Powers Field at Princeton Stadium opened in 1998.

In 1997, Princeton played a "home game" at Giants Stadium, and another on the campus of The College of New Jersey -- ironically, using the original name of Princeton University. That school, in Ewing, had previously been known as Trenton State College. Otherwise, the Tigers played all official away games.

The NBA season didn't start for another 5 days. But 11 NHL games were played:

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa. The Devils got goals from Bobby Carpenter, Randy McKay, Dave Andreychuk and Bill Guerin.

* The New York Islanders played the San Jose Sharks to a tie, 2-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-5 at the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre) in Montreal.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Hartford Whalers, 6-3 at the Marine Midland Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens.

* The Washington Capitals beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-4 at the Kiel Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-1 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 at the Northlands Coliseum (then known as the Edmonton Coliseum).

* The Calgary Flames played the Los Angeles Kings to a tie, 0-0 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1 at GM Place (now Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

Also, Arsenal beat Leeds United, 3-0 at Highbury in North London. 

October 23, 1996: The Jim Leyritz Game II

October 23, 1996: Game 4 of the World Series, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Atlanta Braves rock New York Yankees starter Kenny Rogers, and lead 6-0. The Yankees close to within 6-3, but in the top of the 8th, they are 4 outs away from being down 3 games to 1 in the Series, their great season coming to a very disappointing close.

But they get 2 runners on, and backup catcher Jim Leyritz comes to bat against Braves closer Mark Wohlers. After throwing 98- and 99-mile-per-hour fastballs that Leyritz can only foul off, Wohlers hangs an 86-mile-per-hour slider. Leyritz, a postseason hero for the Yankees a year earlier with his 15th-inning walkoff homer in the Division Series against Seattle, knocks it over the left-field fence to tie the game.

The Yankees load the bases in the 10th, and Hall of Fame 3rd baseman Wade Boggs, whom Torre had benched in favor of Charlie Hayes due to his usual magnificent hitting having failed him, is sent up to pinch-hit. Boggs draws one of the most important walks in baseball history, and it's 7-6 Yanks. An error makes the final score 8-6 Yanks.

Not since the 1929 Cubs, going from 8-0 up to 10-8 down in the 7th inning of Game 4, had a team blown a 6-run lead in a Series game. The Yankees were in serious trouble, but now the Series is tied, and anything can happen. In this 1996 season, lots of "anythings" have already happened for the Yankees.

The next night, Game 5 was, regardless of result, the last event at Fulton County Stadium, as the Braves were moving into the next-door Turner Field the next season. The Yankees won, 1-0. Two nights later, they won Game 6 at Yankee Stadium, 3-2, completing their remarkable comeback, and winning their 23rd World Series.

The Yankees traded Leyritz in 1997. He helped the San Diego Padres reach the World Series in 1998 -- against the Yankees. In 1999, the Yankees reacquired him, and he helped them with another World Series, hitting what turned out to be the last home run of the 20th Century in Game 4. This led NBC's Bob Costas to say, "You could send this guy to a resort in the spring and summer, as long as he comes back for October." His career ended in 2000 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Leyritz has had his ups and downs since. In 2006, he admitted that he'd used amphetamines while playing -- legal at the time, and not nearly as performance-enhancing as steroids. (So if you want to invalidate the Yankees' 1996 and 1999 World Championships because of this, you shouldn't.) In 2007, he killed another driver in a drunken crash. He ended up serving 10 days in jail and a year's probation. In 2009, he was charged with domestic violence for hitting his wife, although she later dropped the charges (but also dropped him through divorce -- they had 4 children).

In 2011, he was a coach for the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League. In 2012, he worked for the Yankee front office. He lives in the Orange County suburbs of Los Angeles, with his new wife, Michelle, his 3 kids and her 2. He co-hosts a radio show in Los Angeles for SB Nation Radio.

*

October 23, 1996 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek. The NBA season started 9 days later. There were 4 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-2 at the Miami Arena.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars, 4-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

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

October 20, 1996: The 1st MLS Cup

October 20, 1996: The 1st Major League Soccer season comes to a climax with the 1st MLS Cup Final, held on neutral ground at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts, home of the NFL's New England Patriots and MLS' New England Revolution.

MLS was then divided into Eastern and Western Conferences. The Tampa Bay Mutiny ran away with the East, with D.C. United, the league's Washington team, 12 points back. But in the 1st round of the Playoffs, DCU beat the New York Tri-State Area's team, the NY/NJ MetroStars in a shootout.

This started a rivalry known as the Atlantic Cup. Despite Metro's 2005 rebranding as the New York Red Bulls, the chance to jump on the traditional New York vs. New England rivalry from the outset, and the establishments of the Philadelphia Union and New York City F.C., DCU remain the team that Metro/Red Bull fans most want to beat: "The D.C. Scum."

DCU went on to eliminate the Mutiny in the Conference Final. In the West, the Los Angeles Galaxy won by 8 points over the Dallas Burn, and then, in the Playoffs, beat the San Jose Clash and the Kansas City Wiz to make the Final. (Respectively, those teams are now named F.C. Dallas, the Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City.)

Boston and Washington had never previously played in a major league sports final. Due to the NBA and the NHL being split into geographic conferences, it hasn't been possible in those leagues.

It had been possible in Major League Baseball only from 1903, when the World Series began, until 1952, when the Boston Braves moved, and could no longer play the Washington Senators in the World Series. It became possible again with the 2005 arrival of the Washington Nationals, but they have never played the Boston Red Sox in a World Series.

It was, and remains, possible for the Patriots to play the Washington Football Team (who actually started out in Boston, from 1932 to 1936) in the Super Bowl, but it hasn't happened.

Foxboro Stadium, replaced by Gillette Stadium in 2002, seated 61,000, but the stadium operators were surprised that over 40,000 tickets were sold, so they had to open the upper deck. But Hurricane Lili swept through the Northeast, postponing Game 1 of the World Series in New York the night before. A tarp wasn't enough, as the natural grass field got soaked. A postponement was considered, but rejected. Out of 42,368 people who bought tickets, 34,643 showed up, including 7,000 DCU fans who made the trip north.

Dan Calichman, a defender from Huntington, Long Island, New York, who was ordinarily the Galaxy's Captain, had to sit the match out, suspended 1 game due to yellow card accumulation. So another defender, Miami native Robin Fraser, wore the armband on this occasion.

Their lineup also included Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos, Ecuadoran forward Eduardo Hurtado, U.S. national team stars Cobi Jones and Chris Armas, and, oddly for an American team, a player from Iran, defender Arah Noamouz. Their manager was German, Lothar Osiander.

DC was managed by Bruce Arena, who had built the great soccer program at the University of Virginia, and would go on to become MLS' greatest manager, winning 5 Cups -- 2 with D.C., 3 with L.A. His Captain was midfielder John Harkes, a native of one of the places that could legitimately be called Soccertown, U.S.A.: Kearny, Hudson County, New Jersey.

Also in the lineup: Mark Simpson, who, oddly for a goalkeeper, wore Number 2; American defenders Eddie Pope and Jeff Agoos; a pair of Bolivians, midfielder Marco Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno; and forward Raúl Díaz Arce, who would go on to become the El Salvador national team's all-time leading scorer.

ABC broadcast the match. In only the 5th minute, Hurtado scored on a header to put L.A. ahead. He celebrated by doing a belly-flop on the soaked grass. It remained 1-0 to L.A. through halftime. In the 56th minute, Armas made it 2-0 to L.A.

With rain coming down and the wind getting worse, it was beginning to look like the Galaxy had the game in the bag. Arena rolled the dice, bringing on American midfielders Tony Sanneh and Shawn Medved as substitutes. It worked: Sanneh headed in an Etcheverry free kick in the 73rd.

In the 78th, Jones tried to put it away for the Galaxy, but hit the crossbar. In the 81st, United were awarded another free kick. Etcheverry took it, and Campos was able to punch it away. But Medved scored on the rebound, and the game was tied.

According to league rules at the time, overtime would be sudden death. The 1st team to score would have a "Golden Goal," and be Champions. In the 94th minute, Etcheverry took a corner, and Pope scored it. D.C. United had won, 3-2. Etcheverry, who assisted on all 3 goals, was named Man of the Match.

D.C. United would win 3 of the 1st 4 MLS Cups, and 4 of the 1st 9. L.A. wouldn't win their 1st until 2002, but have now won 5, and remain the league's leader in titles. Here are the Final records of all MLS teams to have played in the Final:

Los Angeles Galaxy, 5-4

D.C. United, 4-1

Seattle Sounders, 2-2

Houston Dynamo, 2-2

Columbus Crew, 2-1

Sporting Kansas City, 2-1

San Jose Earthquakes, 2-0

Toronto F.C., 1-2

Chicago Fire, 1-2

Portland Timbers, 1-2

Real Salt Lake, 1-1

Colorado Rapids, 1-1

Atlanta United, 1-0

New York City FC, 1-0

F.C. Dallas, 0-1

New York Red Bulls, 0-1

New England Revolution, 0-5

Of the 10 charter MLS teams from 1996, the Tampa Bay Mutiny folded without reaching a Final; among the other 9, only the MetroStars/Red Bulls have failed to win at least 1 Cup.

*

October 20, 1996 was a Sunday. MLS probably shouldn't have scheduled its 1st Final on an NFL gameday, especially since Game 2 of the World Series was also supposed to be played. But the only other real options were the day before, a college football gameday when Game 1 of the World Series was supposed to be played, or wait a week, when it would still conflict with football, either college or pro, and still might conflict with the World Series, either Game 6 or Game 7. Or wait another week, and still conflict with football?

At any rate, because Game 1 of the World Series was delayed by rain, it was played at the same time as the MLS Cup. The defending World Champions, the Atlanta Braves, pounded the New York Yankees, 12-1 at Yankee Stadium. Andy Pettitte was chased by 2 runs in the 2nd inning and 6 runs in the 3rd. Andruw Jones hit 2 home runs, his 1st making him the youngest home run hitter in Series history. John Smoltz was the beneficiary pitcher. The Braves also took Game 2, but the Yankees won the next 4 straight.

These were the NFL games played that day: 

* The New York Giants lost to the Washington Redskins, 31-21 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. This was the 'Skins last season of 36 at RFK, before moving to a new stadium in the Maryland suburbs; and DCU's 1st season of 22 there, before moving to Audi Field in 2018.

* The New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills, 25-22 at Giants Stadium. This was the Jets' 1-15 year under head coach Rich Kotite.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Miami Dolphins, 35-28 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Carolina Panthers beat the New Orleans Saints, 19-7 at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte. (It's now Bank of America Stadium.)

* The New England Patriots beat the Indianapolis Colts, 27-9 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The Pats being on the road made Foxboro Stadium available.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 17-14 at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis. (It's now The Dome at America's Center.)

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Atlanta Falcons, 32-28 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Houston Oilers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 23-13 at the Astrodome. The Oilers would play out this season in Houston, and then move to Tennessee the next year.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Baltimore Ravens, 45-34 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 13-9 at Sun Devil Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 28-21 at Candlestick Park (then named 3Com Park at Candlestick Point) in San Francisco.

* The next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Oakland Raiders beat the San Diego Chargers, 23-14 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* And the Chicago Bears, the Dallas Cowboys, the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks had a bye.

The NBA Season didn't start until November 1. But there were 6 NHL games played on this day:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-2 at the Ice Palace in Tampa. This was the 1st regular-season game at the building, now named the Benchmark International Arena.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the Kiel Center in St. Louis. (It's now the Enterprise Center.)

* The Florida Panthers and the Phoenix Coyotes played to a tie, 1-1 at the AmericaWest Arena in Phoenix.

* In a Battle of Alberta, the Calgary Flames beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Boston Bruins beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 5-1 at the Arrowhead Pond in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, California.

October 16, 1996: The Guatemala City Football Disaster

October 16, 1996: A crowd of 47,000 people attempts to squeeze into the 36,000-seat Estadio Nacional Doroteo Guamuch Flores in Guatemala City, for a 1998 World Cup qualifying match between Guatemala and Costa Rica. As many as 84 people are killed (the number varies, depending on the source, but 84 is the highest figure quoted), and 180 injured. Álvaro Arzú, President of Guatemala, orders that the match be postponed.

Built in 1950, and named for a runner, who won the 1952 Boston Marathon and the 1955 Pan American Games Marathon, Estadio Flores still stands, and remains home to the national team and local club Municipal. Its capacity is now listed at 26,000, and is rigidly enforced. Arzú, who had previously been Mayor of Guatemala City, became its Mayor again, but died in 2018.

*

October 16, 1996 was a Wednesday. Game 6 of the National League Championship Series was played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1, and tied up the series. The Braves won the Pennant the next day. The American League Championship Series had already been wrapped up, with the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles in 5 games.

Football was in midweek. The NBA season didn't start for another 16 days. There were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 8-1 at Madison Square Garden. Alexei Kovalev scored a hat trick.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Calgary Flames, 4-2 at the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre) in Montreal.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 4-3 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).

* And the Florida Panthers and the San Jose Sharks played to a tie, 3-3 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

October 9, 1996: The Jeffrey Maier Game

October 9, 1996: Game 1 of the American League Championship Series is held at the original Yankee Stadium. The Yankees trail the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 in the bottom of the 8th. The big, scowling, fearsome Armando Benitez is on the mound for the Orioles. He does not yet have a reputation as a pitcher who chokes in the clutch. He is about to get one.

He pitches to Derek Jeter, the Yankees' rookie shortstop. Jeter, as later fans might guess, uses an inside-out swing to send the ball to right-center field. Oriole right fielder Tony Tarasco goes back, stands at the fence, and holds up his glove.

Tarasco is a fool. Take a look at the tape: His glove wasn't lined up right. He played it totally wrong. Instead of falling into his glove, it would have hit the fence above him and to his right -- or from the view of the TV fan, "back and to the left." It's baseball's "Zapruder Film." The ball would have gone for at least a double, possibly a triple, putting the tying run in scoring position.

See? Back, and to the left.

Except that’s not what happened. Jeffrey Maier, a 12-year-old fan from Old Tappan, Bergen County, New Jersey, ran over, and reached out with his glove. The ball hit his glove, and as he tried to pull it into the stands, he lost control of it. That's right: He didn't even get the ball.

Umpire Rich Garcia ruled it a home run, tying the game. Tarasco was furious. Oriole manager Davey Johnson -- at that moment, still the last man to manage a New York team to a Pennant, the 1986 Mets -- runs out to protest. To no avail.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, Randy Myers, who had pitched for Johnson on the '86 Mets and had won a World Series under Lou Piniella for the 1990 Cincinnati Reds, pitched to Bernie Williams, the star of the Yanks' AL Division Series win over the Texas Rangers. On radio station WABC, John Sterling said this:

Theeee pitch, swung, and it's driven to deep left! It is high! It is far! Iiiiiiiit… is gone! Yankees win! Theeeeeeeeeeee Yankees win!

It wasn't the first time Sterling had used the line, but it was the first time I'd heard him drag it out that much. Final score: Yankees 5, Orioles 4.

After the game, the media asked Yankee manager Joe Torre about the fan-assisted Jeter home run. Without missing a beat, or changing his expression, The Man of One Face said, "Did anybody see Bernie's home run? That wasn't bad." Laughter in the press room.

The Orioles won Game 2. The series went to Baltimore, and the Yankees won 3 straight, and won the Pennant. Torre was in the World Series for the 1st time, having been a player from 1960 to 1977, and a manager since then. They lost the 1st 2 games of the World Series to the Atlanta Braves, then took the next 4 to dethrone them as the World Champions. The Yankees had won for the 1st time in 18 years.

The Orioles have since made the Playoffs in 1997, 2012, 2014 and 2016. But they still haven't won the World Series, or even a Pennant, since 1983.

Their fans still say they were robbed of a Pennant: If Garcia had made the correct call, interference, then Jeter would have been out, and the Orioles would have won Game 1, they still would have won Game 2, and would have been unstoppable in winning the Pennant, and would have beaten the clearly vulnerable Braves in the World Series.

But they didn't. It was all because of that kid.

The Top 5 Reasons You Can’t Blame Jeffrey Maier for the Baltimore Orioles losing the 1996 American League Pennant

5. Tony Tarasco. He blew the play. If he had tracked the ball properly, he would have gotten under it and jumped for it. Jeffrey Maier probably saved him from being the biggest goat in the history of Baltimore sports. Tarasco still owes Maier a steak dinner, in my opinion. At the very least, now that Maier is about to turn 39, he could buy him a beer.

4. Bernie Williams. He not only hit the Game 1 winner, but torched the O's in Games 3 and 4 in Baltimore as well.

3. The Bullpens. The Yankees had Graeme Lloyd, Jeff Nelson and a rookie named Mariano Rivera setting up John Wetteland. The Orioles had Benitez setting up Myers.

2. The Managers. Joe Torre kept his cool. Davey Johnson lost his cool. He got so upset over the call that his anger spread to his team. He could have calmed them down afterward and said, "Aw, forget it. We got screwed, but it's just one game. If we win Game 2 here tomorrow, we can come home with a tie, and we'll be in great shape to take this thing. Put it out of your minds and win tomorrow." He didn't.

This wasn't the first such example in postseason history, and it hasn't been the last. Frankly, I think the Mets won that 1986 in spite of Johnson, not because of any leadership he provided. A better manager, and the Mets might have won the Pennant in 1988, too, and at least won the National League East in 1985, 1987 and 1990.

1. The Yankees Were Better. Yes, they were. They did win the Division (the Orioles had won the Wild Card), they didn't need steroids (the Orioles had Rafael Palmeiro, who was caught, and Brady Anderson, who has never been publicly outed but whose season and career fit the profile), and they won all 3 games at Camden Yards.

The next season, the Cleveland Indians would win 2 of the 3 ALCS games in Baltimore. The Orioles have a record of 1-5 in ALCS games played at Camden Yards.

From their 1st postseason home game, Game 3 of the 1966 World Series, to Game 6 of the 1971 World Series, they were 13-2 in home postseason games. From Game 7 of the 1971 World Series to today, the Orioles' home record in postseason play is 13-18. That's at home.

Or, to put it another way, they have won just 1 home game in ALCS play in the last 38 years. And you can't say, "Curse of Camden Yards," because they were playing at Memorial Stadium for some of that. If you can't defend your home field in the Playoffs, you have no right to blame a kid in the stands at an away game.

The Yankees proved they were better going on to win that Pennant, a stretch of 6 Pennants and 4 World Championships in 8 years. The O's? Still looking for their 1st Pennant since Ronald Reagan's 1st term.

Jeffrey Maier went on to play baseball at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where he became the school's all-time hits leader. He served as an extra and assisted with baseball skills training for the actors in ESPN’s miniseries about the 1977 Yankees, The Bronx is Burning.

He now works with Internet LeagueApps in Manchester, New Hampshire. Yes, Jeffrey Maier (who now prefers to be called Jeff) lives and works in "Red Sox Nation." Beyond that, his wife Andrea is a Sox fan.  He says, "I've been able to look past that flaw in her character." They have 3 children, all boys.

Maier, with 2 of his sons,

interviewed by Sweeny Murti of WFAN

Come to think of it, the Orioles' last World Series win came on October 16, 1983. Maier was born on November 15, 1983, just 1 month later.

The Curse of Jeffrey Maier? Or the Curse of Tony Tarasco?

*

October 9, 1996 was a Wednesday. Game 1 was also played in the National League Championship Series. The defending World Champion Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Cards would take the next 3 games, and it looked like they would play the Yankees in the World Series. But the Braves won the next 3, setting up the 1st Yankees vs. Braves World Series since 1958, in Milwaukee.

It was midweek for football, and the NBA season hadn't started yet. But the NHL season had, and there were 6 games played, 1 involving a local team:

* The New York Islanders played the Ottawa Senators to a tie, 3-3 at the Corel Centre in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, Ontario. (It's now named the Canadian Tire Centre. Why Canada uses the British spelling "Centre," but not the British spelling "Tyre," I don't know.)

The Isles led 2-0 late in the 1st period, and 3-1 with 3 minutes left in regulation. But that's when Daniel Alfredsson scores, and an interference penalty on Scott LaChance with 36 seconds left gave the Senators a chance to pull their goalie and make it a 6-on-4. With 2 seconds left, Alexandre Daigle scored to send the game to overtime, where no winner could be found.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Los Angeles Kings, 6-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Edmonton Oilers, 2-0 at the Joe Louis Arena.

* The team then known as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-0 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Calgary Flames, 3-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Buffalo Sabres beat the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

Also, actress and model Bella Hadid was born on this day.