December 29, 1940: President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Arsenal of Democracy" Speech

December 29, 1940: The Nazis' Luftwaffe carries out a massive incendiary bombing raid on London, starting 1,500 separate fires. Many famous buildings, including the Guildhall and Trinity House, are either damaged or destroyed. It becomes known as the Second Great Fire of London. (The first was in 1666.)

Hours later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaks from the White House, and his radio speech is broadcast around the world. He leaves no doubt that the fate of America is tied in with the fate of Britain. He used a phrase which had been hinted at before.

In 1918, Doubleday publishing executive Herbert S. Houston analyzed the soon-to-end World War I with an article titled "Blocking New Wars." He wrote that American business was the "Protector of Democracy," while the American free press was "one of the most effective weapons in the arsenal of democracy."

Writing in German, Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels useed the expression "arsenal of democracy" on April 30, 1928, in his newspaper Der Angriff (The Attack) to refer to using democratic institutions against themselves: "We enter the Reichstag to use the arsenal of democracy in order to assault it with its own weapons."

The concept of America as an actual arsenal came from the American playwright Robert E. Sherwood, who had written speeches for FDR. He who was quoted in the May 12, 1940 edition of The New York Times, as saying, "This country is already, in effect, an arsenal for the democratic Allies." Although the French economist Jean Monnet had used the phrase later in 1940, he was urged by Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, another longtime FDR ally, not to use it again, so FDR could make use of it in his speeches.

Which he did:

This is not a "fireside chat" on war. It is a talk on national security; because the nub of the whole purpose of your President is to keep you, now, and your children later, and your grandchildren much later, out of a last-ditch war for the preservation of American independence, and all the things that American independence means to you and to me and to ours...

The Nazi masters of Germany have made it clear that they intend not only to dominate all life and thought in their own country, but also to enslave the whole of Europe, and then to use the resources of Europe to dominate the rest of the world.

It was only three weeks ago that their leader stated this: "There are two worlds that stand opposed to each other." And then in defiant reply to his opponents, he said this: "Others are correct when they say: With this world we cannot ever reconcile ourselves... I can beat any other power in the world." So said the leader of the Nazis.

In other words, the Axis not merely admits, but the Axis proclaims that there can be no ultimate peace between their philosophy, their philosophy of government and our philosophy of government...

Some of our people like to believe that wars in Europe and in Asia are of no concern to us. But it is a matter of most vital concern to us that European and Asiatic war-makers should not gain control of the oceans which lead to this hemisphere.

One hundred and seventeen years ago, the Monroe Doctrine was conceived by our Government as a measure of defense in the face of a threat against this hemisphere by an alliance in Continental Europe. Thereafter, we stood guard in the Atlantic, with the British as neighbors. There was no treaty. There was no "unwritten agreement."

And yet, there was the feeling, proven correct by history, that we as neighbors could settle any disputes in peaceful fashion. The fact is that during the whole of this time the Western Hemisphere has remained free from aggression from Europe or from Asia.

Does anyone seriously believe that we need to fear attack anywhere in the Americas while a free Britain remains our most powerful naval neighbor in the Atlantic? Does anyone seriously believe, on the other hand, that we could rest easy if the Axis powers were our neighbors there?

If Great Britain goes down, the Axis powers will control the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia, and the high seas -- and they will be in a position to bring enormous military and naval resources against this hemisphere. It is no exaggeration to say that all of us, in all the Americas, would be living at the point of a gun, a gun loaded with explosive bullets, economic as well as military...

Some nations of Europe were bound by solemn non-intervention pacts with Germany. Other nations were assured by Germany that they need never fear invasion. Non-intervention pact or not, the fact remains that they were attacked, overrun; thrown into modern slavery at an hour's notice, or even without any notice at all. As an exiled leader of one of these nations said to me the other day, "The notice was a minus quantity. It was given to my Government two hours after German troops had poured into my country in a hundred places."

The fate of these nations tells us what it means to live at the point of a Nazi gun.

The Nazis have justified such actions by various pious frauds. One of these frauds is the claim that they are occupying a nation for the purpose of "restoring order." Another is that they are occupying or controlling a nation on the excuse that they are "protecting it" against the aggression of somebody else.

For example, Germany has said that she was occupying Belgium to save the Belgians from the British. Would she then hesitate to say to any South American country, "We are occupying you to protect you from aggression by the United States"?

Belgium today is being used as an invasion base against Britain, now fighting for its life. And any South American country, in Nazi hands, would always constitute a jumping-off place for German attack on any one of the other Republics of this hemisphere.

In the election that FDR won a few weeks earlier, it was thought -- incorrectly, as it turned out -- that he might lose States in the Northeast where the Irish-American and Portuguese-American votes might turn on him, because the Irish hate the British and Portugal was neutral. So FDR went on to address the status of their ancestral homelands, to win their support:

Analyze for yourselves the future of two other places even nearer to Germany if the Nazis won. Could Ireland hold out? Would Irish freedom be permitted as an amazing pet exception in an unfree world? Or the Islands of the Azores which still fly the flag of Portugal after five centuries? You and I think of Hawaii as an outpost of defense in the Pacific. And yet, the Azores are closer to our shores in the Atlantic than Hawaii is on the other side.

There are those who say that the Axis powers would never have any desire to attack the Western Hemisphere. That is the same dangerous form of wishful thinking which has destroyed the powers of resistance of so many conquered peoples. The plain facts are that the Nazis have proclaimed, time and again, that all other races are their inferiors and therefore subject to their orders. And most important of all, the vast resources and wealth of this American Hemisphere constitute the most tempting loot in all the round world.

Let us no longer blind ourselves to the undeniable fact that the evil forces which have crushed and undermined and corrupted so many others are already within our own gates. Your Government knows much about them and every day is ferreting them out.

Their secret emissaries are active in our own and in neighboring countries. They seek to stir up suspicion and dissension to cause internal strife. They try to turn capital against labor, and vice versa. They try to reawaken long slumbering racial and religious enmities which should have no place in this country. They are active in every group that promotes intolerance. They exploit for their own ends our own natural abhorrence of war. These trouble-breeders have but one purpose. It is to divide our people; to divide them into hostile groups and to destroy our unity and shatter our will to defend ourselves.

There are also American citizens, many of them in high places, who, unwittingly in most cases, are aiding and abetting the work of these agents. I do not charge these American citizens with being foreign agents. But I do charge them with doing exactly the kind of work that the dictators want done in the United States.

These people not only believe that we can save our own skins by shutting our eyes to the fate of other nations. Some of them go much further than that. They say that we can and should become the friends and even the partners of the Axis powers. Some of them even suggest that we should imitate the methods of the dictatorships. But Americans never can and never will do that.

The experience of the past two years has proven beyond doubt that no nation can appease the Nazis. No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb. We know now that a nation can have peace with the Nazis only at the price of total surrender...

In a military sense Great Britain and the British Empire are today the spearhead of resistance to world conquest. And they are putting up a fight which will live forever in the story of human gallantry.
There is no demand for sending an American Expeditionary Force outside our own borders. There is no intention by any member of your Government to send such a force. You can, therefore, nail, nail any talk about sending armies to Europe as deliberate untruth...

He began his closing with the use of the key phrase:

As planes and ships and guns and shells are produced, your Government, with its defense experts, can then determine how best to use them to defend this hemisphere. The decision as to how much shall be sent abroad and how much shall remain at home must be made on the basis of our over-all military necessities.

We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us this is an emergency as serious as war itself. We must apply ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war.

We have furnished the British great material support and we will furnish far more in the future.

There will be no "bottlenecks" in our determination to aid Great Britain. No dictator, no combination of dictators, will weaken that determination by threats of how they will construe that determination.

The British have received invaluable military support from the heroic Greek army, and from the forces of all the governments in exile. Their strength is growing. It is the strength of men and women who value their freedom more highly than they value their lives.

I believe that the Axis powers are not going to win this war. I base that belief on the latest and best of information.

We have no excuse for defeatism. We have every good reason for hope—hope for peace, yes, and hope for the defense of our civilization and for the building of a better civilization in the future.

I have the profound conviction that the American people are now determined to put forth a mightier effort than they have ever yet made to increase our production of all the implements of defense, to meet the threat to our democratic faith.

As President of the United States I call for that national effort. I call for it in the name of this nation which we love and honor and which we are privileged and proud to serve. I call upon our people with absolute confidence that our common cause will greatly succeed.

Given the preceding decade of English "football," FDR's use of the term "Arsenal" had greater resonance for the British than he could have realized.

At one point in this process, FDR called for the building of 50,000 airplanes to aid the Allied cause. In the end, twice as many were built: Over 100,000.

*

December 29, 1940 was a Sunday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet.

There were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at the old Madison Square Garden. And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. 

December 27, 1915: English Football's 1st Betting Scandal

Sandy Turnbull

December 27, 1915: English football (soccer) has its 1st betting scandal, a result of a game played the previous season, on Good Friday.

On April 2, 1915, Manchester United hosted Liverpool at Old Trafford in Salford, outside Manchester. United were struggling to avoid relegation from the Football League's Division One to its Division Two. Liverpool, on the other hand, were in mid-table, and neither challenging for honors nor facing the threat of relegation themselves. In other words, they had little to play for other than pride.

Liverpool were willing to accept a loss: Man United were only 33 miles away, and, with transportation costs being what they were, the Scousers didn't want to lose a cheap roadtrip. Imagine Liverpool giving the club that has become their most hated opponents a break that saves them from relegation. Better yet: Imagine Man United being in position to be relegated. A wonderful thought.

The effects of "the Great War" (which we now know as World War I) provided further motivation to perpetrate a fix: Although the season had begun on time on September 1, 1914, a month after the war began, the war did not live up to the expectation -- held on both sides -- that it would "be over by Christmas." By the end of the following March, there was no end in sight.

So the decision by the Football Association to suspend Football League operations after the season was already being predicted by nearly everyone. Since no one knew how long the war would last, it was presumed that would be not merely interrupting, but possibly ending, the footballing careers of everyone then playing in the league: Presuming they survived the war, most players would be too old to resume, and all teams would have to start over with younger players. (It didn't quite work out that way.) Also, the players perhaps thought that the diversion of the conflict would lessen the attention that would normally be paid to a dubious match result.

Old Trafford, shortly after its 1910 opening

The match ended in a 2–0 win to United, with George Anderson scoring both goals. However, the match referee and some observers noted Liverpool's lack of commitment during the game. They had missed a penalty that had been awarded to them, and when Fred Pagnam hit the Manchester United crossbar late in the match, his teammates publicly yelled at him for trying too hard.

On April 24, Middlesex team Tottenham Hotspur -- a redrawing of boundaries for 1965 meant that they were now in North London -- lost 5-0 away to North-East team Sunderland, clinching 20th and last place in Division One, meaning they were to be relegated to Division Two. West London team Chelsea finished 19th, and were also relegated. United finished 18th, and stayed up. The season thus ended, the FA then did indeed suspend League play, and FA Cup play, for the duration of the war.

At first, this relegation for Tottenham Hotspur, a.k.a. "Spurs," wouldn't seem to matter to anyone but them and their fans. But it would. 

Handbills started to appear, alleging that a large amount of money had been bet at odds of 7/1 (or "7-1," as we would write in the U.S.) on a 2–0 win to United over Liverpool. The FA investigated, and found that players from both sides had been involved in rigging the match: For Liverpool, Jackie Sheldon (a former United player, and the man found to be the ringleader), Tom Miller, Bob Pursell, and a man both aptly and inaptly named, Thomas Fairfoul; for United, Sandy Turnbull, Arthur Whalley and Enoch West.

Jackie Sheldon

Anderson, who scored both goals, and Pagnam, who hit the crossbar, knew about the fix, but refused to take part. Had Pagnam scored, that would have made the score 2-1, and ruined the bets: They weren't just for United to win, but specifically for them to win 2-0.

Pagnam willingly testified against his crooked teammates. Billy Meredith, one of the top players of the era, who had previously played for Manchester City and had won the FA Cup with both Manchester teams (as had Turnbull), testified that he didn't know about the fix, but that he had gotten suspicious during the match, when nobody would pass to him.

On December 27, 1915, the FA banned all 7 players for life. They found no evidence that any official from either team had participated in the fix. Neither team was fined, or had points deducted, or was relegated, which United would have deserved to be had there been no fix. West protested his innocence, and sued the FA, but lost.

Four of the players were from Scotland, and returned there to play non-league ball, as that country had also suspended its league, and did not recognize England's ban. Eventually, though, all 7 players ended up serving in the war. Turnbull, one of the Scottish players, was killed at the Battle of Arras in France on May 3, 1917.

After the war, in recognition of their military service, all of the players except West were reinstated, including a posthumous reinstatement for Turnbull. Because the war ended on November 11, 1918, it was too soon to start a 1918-19 season, so the next League season didn't start until August 30, 1919. And Fairfoul retired. So West was the only one who actually missed any League play. His ban, which also covered working for any team in the League, in any capacity, ended up being lifted in 1945, after World War II. At least he was still alive to receive his reinstatement.

Turnbull was survived by a wife and 4 children. Two of Turnbull's sons, Alexander Jr. and Ronald, signed amateur forms with Manchester United in 1932, but neither made a senior appearance for them, equivalent to making the major leagues in North American sports.

There was a weird postscript to this scandal. On March 10, 1919, the Football League held a meeting to reorganize. In the leadup to this meeting, it was suggested -- as it turned out, correctly, even more than they suspected -- that the postwar market for football would be insatiable, and that Division One should be expanded from 20 to 22 teams.

This would seem to have been great news for Chelsea, which had finished 19th in Division One; and for Tottenham, which had finished 20th. Now, in spite of each team's grand ineptitude, they could keep their spaces in Division One and not be relegated, while the top 2 teams from Division Two in the last completed season, 1914-15, Derby County of Derbyshire and Preston North End of Lancashire, could still keep their hard-earned promotions.

But Man U were already one of the biggest clubs in the North of England, and a lot of people didn't want them kicked out. And many other teams' owners liked that they were close, and saved them money on travel costs.

It worked: Chelsea rightly got the 21st spot, and Arsenal got the 22nd, even though they had finished 6th in Division Two in 1915. (A later check of the results showed they should have been listed as 5th, but that doesn't matter now.)

But the subject of the 1915 fix was brought up. By all rights, Chelsea were screwed out of 18th place and safety, regardless of how the 1919 reorganization meeting panned out. By all rights, Man U should have been kicked out of the League. After all, it's not as though people in the Manchester area would be without a team: Manchester City, Manchester Central, Bolton Wanderers, Oldham Athletic,

Bury, Rochdale and Stockport County were all already in business. (Wigan Athletic would come later, in 1932, replacing Manchester Central, who went out of business due to the Great Depression.)

So Sir Henry Norris, chairman of North London team Arsenal, knighted for his work supporting the war effort, had a plan: He would bring several clubs in to vote to keep Man U in the League... if Man U and their allies would vote to bring Arsenal into Division One.

This election would seem to have screwed not only Tottenham Hotspur, but Barnsley (a Yorkshire club that had finished 3rd in Division Two), Birmingham-area team Wolverhampton Wanderers (a.k.a. Wolves, 4th) and Birmingham City (officially 5th) out of that 22nd place. Yet all 3 of those clubs have been in the Premier League in recent years, and while their fans don't particularly like Arsenal (many fans admire Arsenal, but few genuinely like them), they never bring up the fact that "You screwed us out of the first division in 1919!"

Only Tottenham fans do that. To this day, Tottenham fans claim that there must have been bribery, that Norris must have paid off some club chairmen to vote Arsenal into Division One.

It has been over a century. Not one shred of evidence has ever been publicly produced that Norris bribed anyone to make it happen.

Norris' move might have been sneaky, devious, and underhanded, but it was not corrupt. Not until 1987 would the League make a team's promotion be automatic: Until then, it was always by election. Granted, those elections nearly always turned a rightful promotion into a formality and a reality. But not always. Sometimes, it was based on other factors, such as convenience for the clubs' business managers. This was one of the times that it was decided based on something other than finishing position, and, while it may have been odd, it was done within the rules of the time.

Indeed, there is more evidence that Tottenham bribed their way into the League at all in 1908 than there is that Arsenal bribed their way into Division One in 1919. Certainly, no one at the time publicly suggested that Norris had bribed anyone.

Besides, as the team that finished last in the last season, Tottenham had far less right to gripe about Arsenal screwing them over than did Barnsley, Wolves or Brum. Spurs were last, and on merit, too.

It's also worth pointing out that, whatever Norris' motivations at the time, Tottenham had nothing to do with it. He never cared who the opponent was, as long as he made money and Arsenal won.

Yet the story persists, and fans of other clubs who hate Arsenal are more than happy to pass the lie along.

Tottenham did rightly win promotion to Division One at the end of the 1919-20 season. You would think that, since (presuming that they were screwed at all) they were only screwed for 1 year, they would have gotten over it by then. Or at any time in the intervening century.

But since they can't claim to be a more successful club than Arsenal, or a bigger one, or a more admired one around the world, Tottenham fans hang onto this myth that Arsenal were corrupt in 1919 and cheated them, and that all their success since is illegitimate. (Which doesn't explain their own many failures over the same period.)

It makes me wonder why Spurs fans never blame Man United for screwing them over. After all, if United hadn't fixed that game in 1915, Spurs would have been 19th, and thus, after the 1919 reorganization meeting, entitled to remain in Division One, and Arsenal wouldn't have been able to make arrangements, legal or otherwise, to get that 22nd spot. So why don't Spurs fans hate United?

*

December 27, 1915 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. Football season was over. Professional basketball barely existed. There was professional hockey, but neither the National Hockey Association in the east nor the Pacific Coast Hockey Association in the west scheduled any games.

While England had suspended Football League play for the duration of World War I, there was still competition, including the London Combination. In this, on this day, Arsenal hosted East London team West Ham United at Highbury, and won, 3-2.

December 26, 1913: The Disappearance of Ambrose Bierce

December 26, 1913: Ambrose Bierce disappears in Mexico, covering that country's Revolution. He was never seen again.

Born on June 24, 1842 in Horse Cave Creek in southeastern Ohio, worked at an abolitionist newspaper in Indiana, and was decorated for heroism by the Union Army for his actions at the Battle of Rich Mountain in what's now West Virginia, before sustaining a head wound at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain outside Atlanta.

After the American Civil War, he wrote for several magazines, and was noted for his crime reporting for the San Francisco News Letter. He lived in London from 1872 to 1875, and it was there that his 1st book was published, a compilation of his articles titled The Fiend's Delight. He went back to San Francisco, and in 1881, he joined the staff of the San Francisco Examiner, becoming the 1st high-profile hire of its ambitious young publisher, William Randolph Hearst. He would continue to work for Hearst until 1909.

He wrote 25 stories based around his Civil War service, which, collectively, would be called "the greatest anti-war document in American literature." Among these was "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," in 1890. This story about a condemned Confederate who thinks he's escaped being hanged by the Union Army became his most popular work, and has been filmed several times, including by French director Robert Enrico, winning Best Short Subject at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival, and the Academy Award for Best Short Subject in 1963. Rod Serling, creator, head writer, and narrator of The Twilight Zone, a show that specialized in twist endings, made that film the only one he ever bought for an episode of the show. It cost $25,000, whereas putting together a new episode from scratch usually cost his production company about $65,000.

In 1906, Bierce published The Cynic's Word Book. He re-published it in 1911, under the title The Devil's Dictionary, and it is by that title that it is better remembered. It is a darkly comic glossary. Some examples:

* Air (n.) A nutricious (that's how he spelled it) substance supplied by a bountiful providence for the fattening of the poor.

* Cannon (n.) An instrument employed in the rectification of national boundaries.

* Conservative (n.) A statesman who is enamoured of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.

* Egotist (n.) A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.

* Lawyer (n.) One skilled in circumvention of the law.

* Love (n.) A temporary insanity curable by marriage.

* Marriage (n.) A household consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two.

* Positive (a.) Mistaken at the top of one's voice.

* Religion (n.) A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.

Critic William Dean Howells said, "Mr. Bierce is among our three greatest writers." Bierce responded, "I am sure Mr. Howells is the other two."

In October 1913, Bierce departed from Washington, D.C. for a tour of his Civil War battlefields. Then, despite being 71 years old, he went to Mexico, at the height of its Revolution -- really, another civil war. The San Francisco-based journalist Blanche Partington, a friend and possibly girlfriend of the divorced Bierce, received a letter from him, dated December 26, 1913. He mentioned that he had joined the army of Pancho Villa as an observer, and witnessed Villa's victory at the Battle of Tierra Blanca on November 25. He closed his letter by saying, "As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination."

No American ever heard from him again. It was suggested that he had been in the city of Chihuahua in January 1914. Another theory said that he'd gone back across the border, went to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and committed suicide. Another said that he'd been captured by government forces in Sierra Mojada, and was executed by firing squad there.

If this last theory is true, it appears that he wouldn't have minded it. In one of his last letters, he wrote, "Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico -- ah, that is euthanasia!"

*

December 26, 1913 was a Friday. Frank Swift was born on this day. A star goalkeeper for English soccer team Manchester City, he became a journalist writing about the sport, and was killed in the Munich Air Disaster of 1958, covering Manchester United in the European Cup.

Baseball was out of season. Football season was over. Professional basketball barely existed. There was no hockey, either: The National Hockey Association season began the next day.

Being the day after Christmas, Boxing Day, there were soccer games played in England. At their brand-new home of Highbury in North London, Arsenal defeated Yorkshire team Bradford Park Avenue, 2-0. Manchester City defeated Liverpool, 1-0 at Anfield in Liverpool. And Everton FC defeated Manchester United, 5-0 at Goodison Park in Liverpool.

December 25, 1954: The Death of Johnny Ace

December 25, 1954: Johnny Ace dies, because somebody shouldn't have had access to a gun: Himself.

John Marshall Alexander Jr. was born on June 9, 1929 in Memphis. In 1951, Ike Turner, already a music-business veteran but still years away from meeting the woman who would become Tina, hired him to play piano on recording sessions for blues guitarist B.B. King. In 1952, now calling himself Johnny Ace, apparently after the vocal group The Four Aces, he began singing his own songs, mostly ballads.

By 1954, he was one of the biggest-selling singers in America, regardless of race or style. He had already recorded "Pledging My Love," and was booked for the City Auditorium in Houston on Christmas Day. Among the other performers booked for the show was Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, the 1st performer to record "Hound Dog." If you only know this song, by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, from Elvis Presley's version, you'll be surprised at how different it is. Nevertheless, she topped the rhythm & blues chart with it in 1953.

Between sets, Johnny was drinking with Big Mama and her band. Suddenly, he pulled out a .32 caliber revolver, and started playing with it. Thornton later told police that he pointed it at a few people (not at her), but didn't fire. But she also said, contrary to what was later reported, that it was not a game of "Russian roulette." Nor was it a suicide: Johnny had just bought a brand-new Oldsmobile, and was looking forward to driving it.

Curtis Tillman, Thornton's bass player, told what happened next:

I will tell you exactly what happened! Johnny Ace had been drinking, and he had this little pistol he was waving around the table, and someone said, "Be careful with that thing!" And he said, "It’s okay! Gun’s not loaded! See?" And pointed it at himself with a smile on his face, and "Bang!" Sad, sad thing. Big Mama ran out of the dressing room yelling, "Johnny Ace just killed himself!"

Johnny Ace was only 25 years old, and was really just starting to become a star. Not surprisingly, "Pledging My Love" hit Number 1 on the R&B charts. But it also hit Number 17 on Billboard magazine's pop chart, making him the 1st performer to debut on it only after his death.

Some people consider Johnny Ace to be "the first dead rock star." His death came nearly 2 years after that of Hank Williams, who has also received that distinction. Neither man had really performed rock and roll as that term would later be used, though. Maybe they would have.

In 1983, Paul Simon wrote and recorded "The Late Great Johnny Ace." It tells of a boy who had never known Johnny Ace was alive until he knew that he was dead, and became a fan of his. Years later, the song has the boy growing up to be a fan of 2 other "Johnny Aces" who died from gunshot wounds: John F. Kennedy and John Lennon.

But maybe rock and roll broke even this day: Annie Lennox, lead singer of Eurythmics, was born.

*

December 25, 1954 was a Saturday. In England, North London's Arsenal hosted West London's Chelsea at Highbury, and won, 1-0, on a goal by former Everton star Tommy Lawton. But Chelsea went on to win the League title for the 1st time in their 50-year history. They did so the 1st man ever to win the League as both a non-managing player and a non-playing manager. And he's an Arsenal man: Ted Drake.

Four games were played in the NBA. The New York Knicks beat the Syracuse Nationals, 109-101 at the old Madison Square Garden. The Rochester Royals beat the Fort Wayne Pistons, 80-73 at the Edgerton Park Arena in Rochester. The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Hawks, 108-99 at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena. And the Minneapolis Lakers beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 99-91 at the Minneapolis Auditorium.

For the 1st time in 5 years, the entire NHL played on Christmas. The New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1 at the Montreal Forum. The Boston Bruins and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a 3-3 tie at the Boston Garden. And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

December 23, 1978: Arsenal's Lampoon Christmas Vacation

Liam Brady, after scoring that goal

December 23, 1978: A North London Derby is played at White Hart Lane. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club host their arch-rivals, Arsenal FC.

Arsenal were by far the more historically successful team, while Tottenham -- or "Spurs" -- were the team whose fans had a chip on their shoulders. I've often compared the relationship to that between New York's baseball teams, but that's a bit unfair -- to the Mets. The Mets began play in 1962, a year after Spurs won their most recent Football League title. They've won the FA Cup (England's national soccer tournament) 6 times since then, but the last of those was in 1991, and they haven't even reached a Final since.

A foolish backpass by Spurs' John Pratt fell into the path of Alan Sunderland, allowing him to score, just 43 seconds into the game. Spurs never got going, even their much-heralded midfielder Glenn Hoddle making the kind of mistakes that had John Motson, calling the game for Match of the Day on the BBC, saying, "Oh, dear me!" In the 38th minute, Sunderland scored again.

This Arsenal team was known as the Irish Connection.  Midfielder Liam Brady and forward Frank Sfapleton had grown up together in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland. Manager Terry Neill was from Belfast, Northern Ireland, as were right back and team Captain Pat Rice, the last holdover from Arsenal’s team that won "The Double," both the Football League and the FA Cup, in 1971; left back Sammy Nelson, a reserve on that 1971 team; and goalkeeper Pat Jennings, once a star for Spurs, but they let him go, and Arsenal picked him up for free.

Just after the hour, Brady picked up the ball, dribbled down the touch line with the most famous left foot in Arsenal history, got nearly to the corner, and sent a hellacious cross into the box. Stapleton was waiting, threw himself forward, and sent a diving header into the net.

It was 3-0 to The Arsenal. With Christmas just 2 days away, the 5,000 or so Arsenal fans in White Hart Lane began to sing:

Jingle bells, jingle bells

jingle all the way!

Oh, what fun it is to see

The Arsenal win away!

Just 4 minutes later, there was a scramble on front of Spurs' net. Brady began one of the most fondly-remembered sequences in Arsenal history, sliding in to steal the ball cleanly, then dribbling while looking for a shot, finding one, and sending it curling in. 4-0. Motson said, "Look at that! Oh, look at that! What a goal by Brady!" Brady ran over to celebrate in front of a group of Spurs fans, and there was nothing he could do, for it was 4-0 to The Arsenal.

Sunderland really wanted a 3rd goal. He had several attempts that came to nothing. Only 1 Arsenal player had ever scored a "hat trick" against Spurs: Ted Drake, in 1934. (Only 1 Tottenham player has ever done it against Arsenal: Terry Dyson in 1961.) Finally, in the 82nd minute, he got a breakaway, and got his 3rd. In stoppage time, Stapleton got the ball and got loose, and launched a shot that hit the corner of the goal. Motson said, "Well! That could have been six!" Instead, it ended Tottenham 0-5 Arsenal.

The BBC's postgame graphic

(UPDATE: In 2025, Eberechi Eze became the 3rd Arsenal player to score a hat trick against Tottenham.)

Arsenal fans who were there claimed that, on the way out, Spurs hooligans were assaulting anyone they saw wearing red, even if they hadn't been to the game. But Arsenal were on their way to a Merry Christmas (or, as they would say in England, a Happy Christmas) and that season's FA Cup; while Spurs were on their way to another trophyless season.

Soon, Spurs signed 2 superstars from Argentina's recent World Cup win: Osvaldo "Ossie" Ardiles and Ricardo "Ricky" Villa. This later led to a joke among Arsenal fans: Alan Sunderland never played for Sunderland, Ricky Villa never played for Aston Villa, and Danny Shittu never played for Tottenham. (A few years earlier, Tottenham had a player named Mike England, but he was from Wales, and played his international football for Wales. In the 2000s and 2010s, there was a player named Stephen Ireland who played his international football for the Republic of Ireland.)

*

December 23, 1978 was a Saturday. Venezuelan baseball player Víctor Martínez and Canadian actress-model Estella Warren were born.

Baseball was out of season. Although NFL Playoff games are usually played on Saturdays, it didn't happen this time. There were 3 college football bowl games played that day:

* Number 14 Texas beat Number 13 Maryland, 42-0 in the Sun Bowl, at the stadium of the same name in El Paso, Texas.

* Number 16 Pittsburgh lost to North Carolina State, 30-17 in the Tangerine Bowl, at the stadium of the same name in Orlando.

* And Number 18 Missouri beat Louisiana State (LSU), 20-15 in the Liberty Bowl, at the stadium of the same name in Memphis.

There were 6 games played in the NBA that day:

* New York Knicks lost to the Houston Rockets, 129-107 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 109-91 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the New Orleans Saints, 127-103 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Detroit Pistons, 130-126 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Kansas City Kings beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 122-117 in overtime at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Washington Bullets, 114-109 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

There were 7 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat their arch-rivals, the New York Rangers, 9-4 at the Nassau Coliseum. Bryan Trottier scored 5 goals and 3 assists.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Colorado Rockies, 3-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-4 at the Boston Garden.

* The Detroit Red Wings and the Washington Capitals played to a tie, 2-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-3 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-1 at the Checkerdome, as the St. Louis Arena was then known.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-0 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

* And the Atlanta Flames and the Colorado Rockies were not scheduled.

And there were 2 games played in the World Hockey Association. The New England Whalers beat the Birmingham Bulls, 4-3 at the Springfield Civic Center (now the MassMutual Center) in Springfield, Massachusetts, where they were playing during repairs on the Hartford Civic Center. And the Cincinnati Stingers beat the Quebec Nordiques, 6-2 at the Riverfront Coliseum (now the Heritage Bank Center).

December 15, 1900: The Rusie-Mathewson Trade

December 15, 1900: The New York Giants trade Amos Rusie to the Cincinnati Reds for Christy Mathewson.

Known as the Hoosier Thunderbolt, for his Indiana origin and the best fastball in the game at the time, Rusie was 28 years old, and had already won 246 games in the major leagues, striking out 1,944 batters, then the all-time record. He had led the National League in strikeouts 5 times, wins twice, and earned run average once. In 1894, he led in all 3, "the Triple Crown of Pitching."

"It took a lot of pitching to strike a man out in those days," Rusie explained years later. "The foul strike rule hadn't come in. A guy had to miss three of 'em clean before he was out."

Not only had he continued to pitch well following the 1893 move of the distance between the pitcher's mound and home plate from 50 feet to 60 feet 6 inches -- some pitchers did not, and dropped off dramatically -- but it didn't seem to have any effect on him at all. Indeed, some observers thought that his speed was the reason for the move: 50 feet was too close for a batter to get out of the way of a pitch that might hit him. Maybe Rusie realized he didn't have to worry as much, and gained some confidence.

Connie Mack, who played in the major leagues from 1886 to 1896, and then managed in them until 1950, saw every great fastball pitcher in that time. He batted against Cy Young, managed Rube Waddell and Lefty Grove, and managed against Walter Johnson and Bob Feller. "Rusie was the fastest, without a doubt," he said. "They looked like peas as they sailed by me. All I saw of them was what I heard when they went into the catcher’s mitt."

So why would the Giants trade the man who, along with Cy Young and Kid Nichols, was probably the best pitcher in baseball at the time, and at what should have been his physical peak? Because he was a headache for them. After the 1895 season, he got into a contract dispute with Giants owner Andrew Freedman. He ended up holding out for the entire 1896 season.

Freedman settled just before the 1897 started, because Rusie threatened to take the National League to court and get the reserve clause overturned. Keeping the reserve clause was more important than the money, because there's one thing a rich person values more than money, and that's control.

Rusie was once again a great pitcher in 1897 and most of 1898. But on August 12, he injured his shoulder making a pickoff throw against the team that would, in 1903, be renamed the Chicago Cubs. "My arm felt dead," he said. "I finished the game throwing floating curves. The following day saw the start of a parade of doctors. Each examined my arm. Each had a different diagnosis. The X-ray was unknown then, so their job wasn't an easy one."

He took a month off, and was fine after that: "For the rest of the season, everything was fine. But the following spring, when I tried to pitch, my arm felt dead." On top of that, he and his wife May split up, and he tried to patch things up with her. Between his arm and his personal issues, he didn't pitch at all in the 1899 and 1900 regular seasons.

So, in spite of his earlier greatness, Rusie was now a liability, from the neck up and from the neck down. So Freedman, having had enough of him, traded him to the Reds. It's not that the Reds didn't know about his issues. The Giants didn't put one over on him. They were willing to take a risk on him coming back, and trading away a 20-year-old pitcher who'd appeared in all of 6 major league games, winning exactly none of them.

That pitcher's name was Christy Mathewson. The Giants had bought his contract the preceding July, from the Norfolk team in the Virginia-North Carolina League. They loaned him back to Norfolk, and then he was chosen by the Reds in the 1900 Rule 5 Draft. They decided they didn't want him, anyway, and traded him back to the Giants.

Over the next 16 years, Mathewson became the best pitcher that baseball had ever seen to that point, winning 373 games against 188 losses, with a career ERA of 2.13, an ERA+ of 136, and a WHIP of 1.058. In 1916, he was traded back to the Reds, along with Bill McKechnie and Edd Roush, for Buck Herzog and Red Killefer. This trade was a bit more even: Mathewson was done, but Roush became a Hall-of-Famer. So do McKechnie, but as a manager. And Herzog helped the Giants win the Pennant in 1917.

Mathewson died of lung problems in 1925. In 1936, he was one of the 1st 5 players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Having reconciled with May, Rusie tried pitching for the Reds in 1901, but could only manage 3 appearances, 22 innings, and an 0-1 record. He was done at 30. Interviewed late in life, he said, "Even today, I'm often bothered by twinges of pain." He died in 1942. In 1977, he, too, was elected to the Hall of Fame.

Despite their long history, which includes 14 postseason appearances, 10 Pennants and 5 World Series wins, the Reds have only 9 players who are in the Baseball Hall of Fame mainly due to their performance with them. Only 1 is a pitcher, Eppa Rixey, and if the Hall ever had to remove 10 players from its ranks, he might be 1 of them.

*

December 15, 1900 was a Saturday. Baseball was in the off-season. The college football season had ended. Basketball was in its infancy, and while there was hockey, it was all-amateur.

There were scores on this historic day, if you count England's Football League. In one of their games, Leicester Fosse beat Woolwich Arsenal, 1-0 at Filbert Street. Woolwich Arsenal moved from Plumstead, then in Kent but now in Southeast London, to North London, in 1913, and dropped the locality from their name, becoming simply "Arsenal." In 1919, Leicester Fosse changed their named to Leicester City, although they are still nicknamed the Foxes.

December 14, 1935: Ted Drake Scores 7 Goals

December 14, 1935: Arsenal Football Club, of North London, travel to Birmingham, and defeat Aston Villa F.C., 7-1 at Villa Park. Forward Ted Drake scores all 7 of Arsenal's goals.

Drake did this despite a nagging knee injury; despite having Alex James, the little Scottish dynamo who usually served as Arsenal's Captain, out with an injury; and despite Villa, having struggled but invested heavily in recent days, signing 6 players for national teams (England, Scotland, Wales, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), earning them the nickname "The Bank of England Club."

Drake scored 3 goals in the 1st half, reached 6 by the hour mark, and then saw the newly-acquired Jack Palethorpe score Villa's only goal. Drake thought he had a 7th when his shot hit the crossbar and bounced down, but the referee ruled that it had not crossed the line. In the game's last minute, he got his 7th. He had one other shot, which was saved.

At the time, this was believed to have tied the record for most goals scored in a Football League game, set back in the League's 1st season, 1888-89, when Jimmy Ross of Preston North End, the Lancashire team that went on to win the title and the FA Cup, English football's first "Double," scored 7 in a game against Staffordshire team Stoke City. Years later, research discovered that Ross had scored "only" 4 goals, and Drake had the record all to himself.

Just 12 days later, on December 26, Robert "Bunny" Bell scored 9 goals -- and missed a penalty that could have made it 10 -- for Merseyside team Tranmere Rovers against Manchester-area team Oldham Athletic. But this was in the Football League's Division Three North. Drake's record of 7 remained untouched for the remainder of the League's Division One. Nor has it been matched in the Division's successor, the Premier League, since its institution in 1992.

Drake helped Arsenal win the League in 1934, 1935 and 1938; and the FA Cup in 1936. In 1955, he managed West London team Chelsea to win the League title. This made him the 1st man to win the League as both a non-managing player and a non-playing manager. He died in 1995, at the age of 82.

*

December 14, 1935 was a Saturday. Actress Lee Remick was born on this day. So was actor Lewis Arquette, son of actor Cliff Arquette, and father of actors Patricia, Alexis, Rosanna, David and Richmond; making him the former father-in-law of actors Courteney Cox, Thomas Jane and Nicolas Cage, and composer James Newton Howard.

In America, baseball season was over, and the NBA hadn't been founded yet. There were no NFL games played, but the NFL Championship Game was played the next day: The Detroit Lions beat the New York Giants, 26-7 at Titan Stadium on the campus of the University of Detroit.

Three college football games were played:

* The University of Pittsburgh beat the University of Southern California, 12-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This intersectional matchup wasn't officially a bowl game, but it may have felt like one to Pitt, more so than to USC.

* The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) beat St. Mary's, 13-7 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

* And Hawaii beat Utah, 21-20 at Honolulu Stadium.

And 2 games were played in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Maroons, 6-2 at the Montreal Forum. And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

December 1, 2012: The Tragedy of Jovan Belcher

December 1, 2012: The life of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher comes to a shocking end. He was 25 years old.

Jovan Henry Allen Belcher was born on July 24, 1987 in West Babylon, Long Island, New York. One of the few University of Maine football players to reach the NFL, he was not selected in the 2009 NFL Draft, but the Chiefs signed him as a free agent.

He became a regular starter in the 2010 season, had a good year in 2011, and had started 10 of the Chiefs' 11 games to that point in 2012. So he must have been doing something right on the field. He had a girlfriend and an infant daughter. Professionally and personally, things seemed to be looking up for him. There appeared to be no sign that he was unhappy.

But on the morning of December 1, he shot and killed his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, 22 -- in the presence of her mother. Then he drove to the Chiefs' practice facility at Arrowhead Stadium, and, in front of head coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli, whom he thanked for giving him a chance to play pro ball, he used his gun again, this time on himself.

A medical examiner's report revealed that Belcher had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a.k.a. CTE, the brain damage caused by repeated head contact in football.

The Chiefs have had a sad history. In 1963, running back Stone Johnson was killed when he broke his neck in a preseason game. He was only 23, and had yet to play a regular-season game in the NFL (or the AFL, in which the Chiefs were playing at the time).

In 1965, Mack Lee Hill, essentially drafted to fill the hole left by Johnson's death, died on the operating table during what should have been routine knee surgery. He was only 25.

In 1980, former All-Pro offensive tackle Jim Tyrer, going through business failures, did what Belcher later did: He shot and killed his wife, and then killed himself. He was 41.

In 1983, running back Joe Delaney, having played 2 All-Pro seasons, drowned in a failed attempt to save 2 drowning boys. He was 24.

In 2000, Derrick Thomas, then one of the best linebackers in the game, crashed his car, was paralyzed, and died a few days later of a blood clot, at 33.

In 2012, Jovan Belcher was added to the list. I don't know what the Chiefs did to bring all this on, but it seems like the club is cursed. In 2020, they won Super Bowl LIV, their 1st World Championship in 50 years. But their history is still tragic.

*

December 1, 2012 was a Saturday. The Chiefs were scheduled to play at home the next day, against the Carolina Panthers. The game went on as scheduled, following discussions between the NFL, Crennel, and the Chiefs' team captains. No formal mention was made of the shooting at the game, although there was a moment of silence for "victims of domestic violence and their families." The Chiefs defeated the Panthers, 27–21.

It was the last full week of the college football season. These games were among those played:

* Number 2 Alabama beat Number 3 Georgia, 32-28 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.

* Number 7 Kansas State beat Number 23 Texas, 42-24 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas. While the Big Twelve Conference did not have a Championship Game that season, this win by KSU gave them a share of the league's title, and their earlier defeat of Oklahoma gave them the tiebreaker.

* Number 13 Florida State beat Georgia Tech, 21-15 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game.

* Number 14 Nebraska were not merely upset, but blown away by Wisconsin, 70-31 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, in the Big Ten Conference Championship Game.

* The University of Tulsa beat Central Florida, 33-27 at Skelly Stadium in Tulsa, in the Conference USA Championship Game.

* The University of Cincinnati beat Connecticut, 34-17 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut. This forged a 4-way tie at the top of the Big East Conference: Cincinnati, Louisville, Syracuse and Rutgers.

* The night before, Number 8 Stanford beat Number 17 UCLA, 27-24 at the new Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California, in the Pacific-Twelve Conference Championship Game.

In the major bowls, Stanford beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, Florida State beat Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl, Louisville upset Florida in the Sugar Bowl, Oregon beat Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl, and Texas A&M beat Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl. And, in the Bowl Championship Series' National Championship Game, in Miami Gardens, Florida, Number 2 Alabama beat Number 1 Notre Dame.

Baseball was in the off-season. The NHL team owners had locked the players out, and the season didn't start until January 19, 2013. But there were 10 games played in the NBA that day:

* The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Miami Heat, 102-89 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami. Dwyane Wade scored 34 points.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 118-117 in double overtime at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 93-88 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Boston Celtics, 91-88 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the New Orleans Hornets, 100-79 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Detroit Pistons, 92-77 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Utah Jazz, 124-116 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 99-95 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Sacramento Kings, 116-81 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Indiana Pacers, 103-92 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (then named the Oracle Arena).

And in English soccer, Arsenal lost to Welsh team Swansea City, 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in North London. Both goals were scored by Spanish striker Michu: One in the 88th minute, the other in stoppage time. Many Arsenal fans, unhappy with losing striker Robin van Persie in the off-season and with his replacement, Olivier Giroud, demanded that the team sign Michu, based on this one performance. It turned out to be the highlight of his career, as he never amounted to anything.

November 21, 1945: Dynamo Moscow Kicks Off Sports' Cold War

Yes, the fog was that thick.

November 21, 1945: The most-hyped game of the 1st visit of a Soviet soccer team to England, the sport's traditional birthplace, takes place. In hindsight, it can be called the event that kicked of the sports division of the Cold War.

In Communist countries, sports clubs, and the teams they fielded, were sponsored by state-owned industries. The countries' armies sponsored teams named "Central Club of the Army," or "CSKA" in Slavic languages. The national railroads sponsored teams named "Lokomotiv." The auto industry sponsored teams named "Torpedo." The teams most hated by the citizens, but with the most funding from the government and the most favorable decisions from government-appointed officials, were named "Dynamo."

Football Club Dynamo Moscow won the Soviet Top League in 1936, 1937, 1940 and 1945; and were regarded, along with Spartak Moscow, as the best team in the Soviet Union. So when World War II came to an end, Dynamo wanted to test themselves against what was seen as the best competition in the world: The British.

This was the age of radio. Television existed, but it hadn't yet done much to cover sports. Most of what people knew about sports was what they read in newspapers. So there was very little information on Dynamo for the British teams they would be facing, and their fans -- and vice versa: Dynamo knew very little about their opponents.

Interviewed for a 2001 documentary, Dynamo forward Konstantin Beskov said, "Until those games, we only knew that England was the motherland of football, that English football was the best in the world." One of Britain's national newspapers, The Evening Standard, wrote, "Don't expect much from Dynamo. They are only beginners, blue-collars, amateurs." They would regret that dismissive derision.

On Tuesday, November 13, Dynamo visited Chelsea Football Club, at Chelsea's West London stadium, Stamford Bridge. Officially, the crowd was 75,000 people. It was probably much more than that, given English "footie" fans' propensity to jam themselves into those vast "standing terraces." It's a wonder there weren't more disasters like Ibrox in 1971 and Hillsborough in 1989.

Chelsea, prior to the 1960s rarely even a good team, much less a challenge for Dynamo, took a 2-0 lead. Just before the half, Dynamo were awarded a penalty. Leonid Solovyov hit the post with his shot, and the Soviet side went into the locker room embarrassed. Whatever was said to them in the locker room, it worked: They came back to tie the game, 2-2, fell behind 3-2, and then tied it again near the end of the game, to end it 3-3.

Tommy Lawton, the former star of Liverpool team Everton FC who had recently been signed by Chelsea, said, "Dynamo were one of the fastest teams I have ever seen in my life. They flash the ball from man to man in bewildering fashion, often while standing still." Chelsea Captain John Harris said, "At least two of Lawton's kicks were of such a type that no goalkeeper would catch, but Khomich jumped like a tiger and caught them." The Soviet goalie was known as Tiger Khomich from then on.

On Saturday, November 17, Dynamo visited Cardiff City Football Club. England's Football Association, of which City were then 1 of 3 Welsh members, refused to rearrange their schedule to accommodate Dynamo, so City were the only team available, and they were in Division Three, equivalent to Class AA in modern baseball.

Wales, full of coal mines, steel mills and dockworkers, was openly sympathetic to socialism, and welcomed the Soviet team with open arms. But City were completely overwhelmed, as Dynamo beat them, 10-1.

The team with which Dynamo were most familiar, and the team they truly wanted to test themselves against, was Arsenal Football Club, winners of the Football League in 1931, '33, '34, '35 and '38. Dynamo badly wanted to play Arsenal at their North London home, the Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its neighborhood.

Having made trips to the Continent, including an annual home-and-home series on Armistice Day, November 11, with Racing Club de France in London and Paris, Arsenal were happy to make themselves available for this soccer "summit." But they could not do the same for Highbury: It had been commandeered by the British government at the outset of World War II, as an Air Raid Precaution Centre, and had not yet been returned to the club's control. Since 1939, Arsenal had been playing home games at White Hart Lane, the home of their arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, a.k.a. Spurs, 4.7 miles to the north.

A dirty little secret had gotten out: Dynamo had "drafted" 4 star players from other Soviet teams, including Spartak Moscow and CSKA Moscow. So the FA made arrangements for teams to "loan" some players to Arsenal, including Stanley Matthews of Staffordshire team Stoke City, a winger known as "The Wizard of Dribble," and possibly England's best player at the time. Another loanee was Stan Mortensen of Lancashire team Blackpool. With massive hypocrisy, the Soviets complained.

(In 1953, Blackpool, having acquired Matthews, won the FA Cup Final, with Mortensen scoring the only hat trick in the history of the Final, but Matthews had put on such a show that it's still remembered as "The Matthews Final.")

The game was set for Wednesday, November 21, but, as so often happened in those days before environmental regulations were passed, leading to outsiders nicknaming London "The Smoke," a thick fog settled over White Hart Lane. Still, the place was sold out, 54,000 strong, and the FA didn't want to issue refunds, so the game went on. The Soviet officials insisted on a Soviet referee, Nikolay Latyshev, who had accompanied the team. The FA agreed.

Writer George Orwell, who had recently published Animal Farm (Nineteen Eighty-Four was yet to come), was in attendance, and called the match "War minus the shooting." The Soviet players, knowing Matthews was the best player on either side of the pitch, targeted him for rough treatment.

Both goalies, Khomich and Arsenal's Wyn Griffiths, took more physical assaults than shots with the ball. Griffiths sustained a concussion, and had to be replaced for the 2nd half. Harry Brown, goalkeeper for West London team Queens Park Rangers, was in attendance, and, since the Soviets had negotiated for the right to a substitution, something the FA wouldn't allow in League and cup ties until 1966, they allowed Brown to step in for Griffiths.

Dynamo scored first, but Ronnie Rooke equalized shortly thereafter. Shortly before the half, there were 3 goals within a span of 4 minutes: Mortensen put Arsenal up 2-1, then he took another Matthews feed to make it 3-1, and then Beskov put the ball past Griffiths to make it 3-2.

The 2nd half was a travesty. Solovyov scored to tie it up, but multiple witnesses claimed he was blatantly offside. Latyshev let the goal stand. A little later, Arsenal thought they should have been awarded a penalty, but Latyshev denied it. Shortly after that, he sent Arsenal midfielder George Drury off for throwing a punch. No one else claimed to see the punch.

Vsevolod Bobrov, who became one of the Soviet Union's first great hockey players as well, received a Solovyov pass while offside, and scored. The goal was allowed to stand. Rooke was nearly brought down by a rugby-style tackle by Dynamo Captain Mikhail Semichastniy, opening a cut on his forehead, but elbowed him out of the way, giving him a black eye, and driving a 25-yard shot that beat Khomich. But instead of rightly allowing the goal and sending Semichastniy off, Latyshev waved off the goal and called Rooke for a foul.

So instead of what it should have been, 4-2 to The Arsenal, with Arsenal having 11 players on the pitch and Dynamo having 10 at most, it was 4-3 to Dynamo, with Arsenal down to 10 and Dynamo fielding... no one was sure how many. Dynamo took advantage of the fog to put more players on, with some accounts saying it was now 15 against 10.

The match ended 4-3 to Dynamo. The Daily Mail wrote, "It was one of the most exciting games 54,000 people never saw." Unusually for the paper known in modern times as the Daily Fail, it was the truth.

The controversy threatened to cancel the 4th and final game on the tour. But the FA were making too much money to bow to the wishes of the fans, and the finale went on. On Wednesday, November 28, Dynamo were hosted by Rangers Football Club, Scotland's most successful team, at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow. Despite Bobrov scoring what The Daily Telegraph called "as perfect a goal as has ever been scored at Ibrox," Rangers held on for a 2-2 draw.

Dynamo had finished the tour with 2 wins, 2 draws, and no losses. But all the goodwill they had generated in their games against Chelsea and Cardiff City was thrown away by their actions against Arsenal. The game with Rangers did them no good in the eyes of the British, or European, sporting public.

Dynamo would win the Soviet Top League again in 1949, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1963 and 1976. But they never won it again. Nor have they won its replacement, the Russian Premier League. They have long since been surpassed as Moscow's top team by Spartak and CSKA, and St. Petersburg team Zenit have also surpassed them among Russia's teams.

Nikolay Latyshev, the referee for the Arsenal-Dynamo match, went on to officiate at the 1962 World Cup Final, which featured a team from what was then a Communist nation, Czechoslovakia. But none of his calls in the game were considered controversial, and Brazil defeated the Czechs.

*

November 21, 1945 was a Wednesday. Actress Goldie Hawn was born on this day.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. Only 1 game was played in the NHL: The Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-0 at the Boston Garden.