October 30, 1978: "Turkeys Away" on "WKRP in Cincinnati"

Left to right: Gordon Jump, Frank Bonner, Gary Sandy

October 30, 1978: WKRP in Cincinnati airs the episode "Turkeys Away." Why they aired a Thanksgiving-themed episode on the night before Halloween, I don't know.

The situation comedy, which had debuted on CBS on September 16, was created by Hugh Wilson (who also wrote the opening theme song, sung by Steve Carlisle, and directed the Police Academy movies), and was based upon his experiences working in advertising sales at an Atlanta Top 40 station, with the Gary Sandy character of Andy Travis based on himself. (This was before the country singer Randy Travis became famous.)

Andy has been hired to revitalize a struggling AM radio station, by its general manager, Arthur Carlson (played by Gordon Jump), known to the station's smarmy advertising director, Herb Tarlek (Frank Bonner), as "Big Guy." As program director, Andy changed the station's format from what had been known as "beautiful music" (or, to its detractors, "elevator music") to rock and roll -- to the great dismay of the station's actual owner, Carlson's fabulously wealthy and incredibly stodgy mother Lillian, a.k.a. "Mama Carlson" (Sylvia Sidney in the pilot, Carol Bruce thereafter).

She really messed Arthur up: Her domineering way of raising him left him indecisive, and, while reasonably intelligent, and certainly good-natured, was as unsuited to running a big-city radio station in the rock and roll era as M*A*S*H's Henry Blake, a good doctor, had been to running an Army hospital during a war. This was emphasized in the show's 2nd season, when, in an episode built around a real life concert tragedy in Cincinnati, he mentioned that he'd never been to a rock concert before, and, then, in the aftermath, not yet knowing about the tragedy, told his employees he was amazed at the energy of it.

The fact that he always wore three-piece suits and had a wood-paneled office deepened this impression of hopeless squareness. So he heavily depended on Andy, Herb, and the station's receptionist, the surprisingly smart blonde bombshell Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson), whom Herb constantly hits on, to no avail.

The news director is Les Nessman (Richard Sanders). He was the kind of man that made Mark Twain say, 100 years earlier, "When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati, because it's always 20 years behind the times." Les is not a good journalist, but he has perfect diction (which matters for radio), he dresses neatly (which doesn't), and he is enthusiastic about delivering the farm reports (which matters for the Midwest). There are no offices, except for Arthur's. But, in the bullpen where everyone has their desks, Les has put masking tape around his desk, to simulate an office, and insists that visitors knock on an imaginary door before he says, "Come in."

If Arthur is a square, then Les is so square, he's a cube. Les is Mama Carlson's kind of guy. The disc jockeys are not. Les and Herb refer to themselves and Mr. Carlson as "the suits," and to Andy and the rest as "the dungarees." One of "the dungarees" was Bailey Quarters (Jan Smithers), originally in charge of billing, but, with a journalism degree, she becomes an on-air reporter, and turns out to be better than Les. Les is smart enough to know it, behind the times enough to hate it, but enough of a gentleman to treat her well.

While some of the other deejays are mentioned, two are featured on the show. John Caravella (Howard Hesseman) is the morning host, a rocker using the stage name Dr. Johnny Fever. Along with Anderson's Jennifer, he became the show's breakout character. Gordon Sims (Tim Reid) is the smooth-talking, soulful evening DJ, using the name Venus Flytrap. Despite being at the opposite end of the day as Johnny, they are often seen together. Despite their racial and stylistic differences, they are close friends, and sometimes broadcast together.

Not seen often are Arthur's wife Carmen (Allyn Ann McLerie), their son Arthur Jr. (Sparky Marcus), and Herb's wife Lucille (Edie McClurg) and their children Herb III (N.P. Schoch) and Bunny (Stacy Heather Tolkin).

The show didn't start off with good ratings, but, as with policemen and ABC's Barney Miller, real-life radio business people spread the word that WKRP was the 1st TV show that told about what their business was really like.

"Turkeys Away," the 7th episode, is the episode that really got people to watch. Mr. Carlson wants to be more involved in promoting the station. So he and Herb come up with what they think is a great idea for Thanksgiving Day. They have Les do a live report from a local shopping center, not knowing what he's going to be reporting on. They have set things up with the shopping center's manager, and a helicopter hovers overhead. Arthur and Herb are inside, and they begin dropping turkeys out.

Not frozen turkeys, for free, which would get those who got to them to be grateful to the station and listen to them. Live turkeys. Spoiler alert: Wild turkeys can fly, but domesticated, farm-produced turkeys, bred for human consumption and loaded with fat, can't. (Even if they had dropped wrapped-up frozen turkeys out, they would have bruised upon landing, and probably wouldn't have been edible.)

And so, the live turkeys went splat on the asphalt of the parking lot. Except for those who got sucked into the copter's rotor, spreading feathers and giblets everywhere. Shocked at all this, Les uses Herbert Morrison's line from the Hindenburg disaster broadcast of 41 years earlier, which he would have been old enough to remember: "Oh, the humanity!"

Richard Sanders as Les Nessman

Back at the station, "the dungarees" are listening, and there's little they can say, and nothing they can do. When Arthur and Herb return, covered in feathers -- a 1970s sitcom didn't dare show them with blood and guts on them -- there's little they can say, either. Finally, the Big Guy says, "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!"

The show lasted for 5 years, and is still fondly remembered. A sequel series, The New WKRP in Cincinnati, ran in syndication from 1991 to 1993. It featured some of the original characters, while the others were each brought back as guest stars at least once.

Cincinnati did have, and still has, a radio and a TV station with the call letters WKRC. CBS owns it now, but didn't when WKRP was running. (WKRC's AM frequency is 550.) In 2008, an unrelated independent TV station in Cincinnati, WBQC-LD, took advantage of local nostalgia for the sitcom, promoting its conversion to digital broadcasting by rebranding as "WKRP-TV in Cincinnati."

After WKRP was canceled, Gordon Jump went against type, and played a child molester on a "very special" two-part episode of Diff'rent Strokes, replaced Jesse White as the "lonely" repairman in commercials for Maytag dishwashers, and returned to star on The New WKRP. He died in 2003.

Frank Bonner played, of all things, a priest, teaching at a Catholic high school on New York's Long Island, on the sitcom Just the Ten of Us. He was part of the main cast of The New WKRP, and then turned to directing. He died in 2021. Howard Hesseman went on to star as a high school history teacher in Brooklyn in the ABC sitcom Head of the Class, and died in 2022.

As of October 30, 2022, Gary Sandy, Loni Anderson, Richard Sanders, Tim Reid and Jan Smithers are still alive. Sandy has mostly done stage work since. Anderson paired up with former Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter for the series Partners in Crime, and was part of the main casts of the sitcoms Easy Street and Nurses.

Sanders was part of the main cast of The New WKRP, and has been a "character actor" since. Reid starred on Sister, Sister and, with his wife Daphne Maxwell, Frank's Place; and played recurring characters on Simon & Simon and That '70s Show. Smithers has not acted since 1987, although she attended a reunion of the surviving WKRP actors in 2014.

UPDATE: Loni Anderson died in 2025.

*

October 30, 1978 was a Monday. Actor Matthew Morrison, famed for his starring role on Glee, was born.

Baseball season had ended 13 days earlier, when the New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Atlanta Falcons, with a defense known as "The Gritz Blitz," beat the Los Angeles Rams, 15-7 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

The NBA, NHL and World Hockey Association seasons were underway, but, since they were all then struggling for attention, and didn't want to compete for TV ratings with Monday Night Football, no games were scheduled by any of them.

September 26, 2004: Morten Andersen Breaks the NFL Record for Games Played

Andersen with the Saints

September 26, 2004: The Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears, 27-22 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis. For the Vikings, Morten Andersen kicked field goals from 42 and 24 yards, and missed one from 46. He went 3-for-3 on points after touchdowns.

He was 44 years old. That's unusual for an NFL player, but less so for placekickers. It was also the 341st game of his career, breaking the record of 340, set by quarterback and kicker George Blanda from 1949 to 1976. Andersen would raise the record to 382. As of the start of the 2022 season, it still stands. He also holds the record of consecutive games played with a score, 360.

Born in 1960 in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, he visited America as an exchange student in 1977, and tried out as a placekicker for Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, making the team. That school also produced NFL players Asmar Bilal, Tandon Doss, Chris Evans, MarQueis Gray, Corey Harris, Dawand Jones, Esezi Otomewo and Reese Taylor; NBA player and coach Randy Wittman; and Olympic Gold Medal-winning soccer player Lauren Holiday.

Andersen kicked at Michigan State University, and for the New Orleans Saints from 1982 to 1994, the Atlanta Falcons from 1995 to 2000, the New York Giants in 2001, the Kansas City Chiefs in 2002 and 2003, the Vikings in 2004, and the Falcons again in 2006 and 2007. He appeared in Super Bowl XXXIII with the Falcons, played in 7 Pro Bowls, and was elected to MSU's Athletics Hall of Fame, the Saints' Ring of Honor, the NFL's 1980s and 1990s All-Decades Teams. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

*

September 26, 2004 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the Cleveland Browns, 27-10 at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Arizona Cardinals, 6-3 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Miami Dolphins, 13-3 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans, 15-12 at The Coliseum (now Nissan Stadium) in Nashville.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-9 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Detroit Lions, 30-13 at Ford Field in Detroit.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Green Bay Packers, 45-31 at the RCA Dome (formerly the Hoosier Dome) in Indianapolis.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the St. Louis Rams, 28-25 at the Edward Jones Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.

* The Houston Texans beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 24-21 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers, 23-13 at Invesco Field at Mile High (now Empower Field at Mile High) in Denver.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 30-20 at the McAfee Coliseum (as the Oakland Coliseum was then known).

* The Seattle Seahawks beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, 34-0 at Qwest Field (as Lumen Field was then known) in Seattle.

 

* The next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat their arch-rivals, the Washington Redskins, 21-18 at at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* And the New York Jets, the Buffalo Bills, the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots had a bye week.

September 20, 1999: “Relic Hunter” Premieres

September 20, 1999: Relic Hunter premieres in syndication. Tia Carrere plays Dr. Sydney Fox, a professor of history at fictional Trinity College, who introduces each episode by saying, "Welcome to Ancient Studies. I’m not a real stickler for attendance. Sometimes, I’m called away from the classroom myself."

(There are several schools named Trinity College throughout the world, the best-known ones being the one that's part of Cambridge University in England, and the one in Dublin, Ireland. There's even one in the city of Sydney, in Australia. However, since the show was a Canadian production, it was likely filmed at Trinity College in Toronto.)

Sydney, whose late mother was Hawaiian and whose father (played in 2 episodes by football player-turned-actor Fred Dryer) was an archaeologist before her, makes the occasional reluctant admission that she's viewed as "a female Indiana Jones." But she's also a martial arts expert, not just a street brawler like Indy; and proficient with multiple weapons, not just a pistol and a whip like Indy.

Among the relics Sydney ends up finding, in chronological order (to each other, not in episode sequence): A diamond belonging to Pharoah Thutmose III, Pandora's Box, Buddha's bowl, an urn containing the ashes of Confucius, the breastplate from Julius Caesar's armor, the first Christian Cross jewelry, the crown of Ireland, Anne Boleyn's wedding ring, an idol stolen from Hawaii by Captain James Cook, the crown jewels of France, Al Capone's handgun, a guitar that once belonged to Elvis Presley, and a supposedly magical baseball glove.

While her British teaching assistant Nigel Bailey, played by English actor Christien Anholt, was vital on her missions, they were never a couple. There was occasional banter between Nigel and Sydney's secretaries -- first Claudia, played by Lindy Booth, then Karen Petruskey, played by Tanja Reichert -- but no evidence he got together with either of them, either. (Anholt is English, while both Booth and Reichert are Canadian. Booth would later play an archaeologist on The Librarians.)

The show often aired back-to-back in the 2000-01 season with Queen of Swords, starring Tessie Santiago as Maria Teresa Alvarado, a female version of Zorro. I had hoped that both shows could be wrapped up with a descendant of the Queen, also played by Santiago, seeking out Sydney's help to prove her ancestor was real, and a heroine instead of a villainess; but a descendant of the Queen's nemesis, Colonel Montoya, played by Valentine Pelka, would stand in the way.

*

September 20, 1999 was a Monday. If you were watching ABC Monday Night Football instead of Relic Hunter, you saw the Dallas Cowboys beat the Atlanta Falcons, 24-7 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

And these 10 Major League Baseball games were scheduled and played:

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Juan Encarnación singled Gregg Jeffries home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 7-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Mark McGwire hit his 59th home run of the season, and would finish with 65*. Sammy Sosa went 1-for-3 with a walk, but did not hit a home run, and would finish with 63*.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros, 11-5 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 12-7 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 12-1 at Qualcommn Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-3.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 10-5 at Edison International Field of Anaheim (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 6-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Barry Bonds went 1-for-5.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. Jason Ryan allowed 5 hits and 3 walks, but no runs, over 5 innings, and 4 relievers completed a 7-hit shutout.

* And the Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners, 10-9 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. went 3-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Alex Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

And on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Atlanta Falcons, 24-7 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

September 3, 1995: Jacksonville & the Carolinas Go Major League

September 3, 1995: The Jacksonville Jaguars play their 1st game, at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Field). Ironically, it's against a team that had, in the late 1980s, threatened to move to Jacksonville, the Houston Oilers. The Oilers win, 10-3. After starting 0-4, the Jags won their 1st game on October 1, away to the Oilers, 17-16.

The irony was deepened when, after the Oilers did move to become the Tennessee Titans, the 2 franchises developed a regional rivalry, and played each other in the 1999 AFC Championship Game, which the Titans won.

Jacksonville is far from the most famous city in the State of Florida, but it is by far the most populous, with just under 1 million people according to the 2020 Census, to Miami with 442,000, Tampa with 403,000, Orlando with 308,000, St. Petersburg (part of Tampa Bay) with 258,000. But in terms of metropolitan areas, it's Miami 6.5 million, Tampa Bay 3.4 million, Orlando 2.9 million, Jacksonville 1.8 million. Meaning Jacksonville is the 4th-largest market in its own State. It's also the smallest market in the AFC South Division, compared with Houston at 7.8 million, and Indianapolis and Nashville both at 2.1 million.

This comparatively small size carries over to other sports. Jacksonville has only had minor-league teams: They have Class AAA in baseball, only recently promoted from AA; they have the ECHL, generally considered to be a 2nd-class team even by the standards of minor-league hockey; and in basketball, they recently lost their NBA G-League team. In college sports, Jacksonville University only moved up to what would now be classified as NCAA Division I in 1969, and the University of North Florida only got there in 2009, with both schools being in what's known as "mid-major" conferences.

Which is not to say that Jacksonville doesn't have football tradition. The Gator Bowl has been played in the city since 1946, at the old Gator Bowl Stadium until 1993 and at the new stadium since 1995. The annual rivalry game between the universities of Florida and Georgia, a.k.a. "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party," has been played on the site since 1933. The exceptions were 1994, when both games were moved to UF's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium while the old stadium was torn down and the new one built on the site; and 1995, when, to be fair, the WLOCP was played at UGa's Sanford Stadium.

The Gator Bowl stadium previously had the Jacksonville Sharks in the World Football League in 1974, and the Jacksonville Bulls in the United States Football League in 1984 and 1985. Neither team made its league's Playoffs.

Not surprisingly, the Jags struggled in their 1st season, going 4-12. But in their 2nd, they went 9-7, and made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game. They've won Division Championships in 1998 and 1999 in the AFC Central, and in 2017 in the AFC South; and reached the AFC Championship Game in 1996, 1999 and 2017. But they have yet to reach a Super Bowl.

They hosted Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005, with the New England Patriots beating the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21. But complaints about insufficient hotel room capacity and poor access to the stadium made it a fiasco, and the city has never again been seriously considered as a Super Bowl host.

Attendance has been an issue, and the Jaguars have been convinced -- which might be a polite way of putting it -- to give up home games to play 9 games at the new Wembley Stadium in London. (UPDATE: Through the 2025 season, that number has grown to 14, and they are scheduled to play 1 more game there in both the 2026 and 2027 seasons.)

*

The Carolina Panthers made their regular-season debut on the same day as the Jaguars, against their newly-installed geographical rivals, the Atlanta Falcons, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. They lost, 23-20 in overtime, having blown a 10-0 lead. Blowing a big lead and letting the Falcons come back, can you believe that?

The Panthers played their 1st season's home games at Clemson University's Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina, and their st home game was on September 17, a 31-10 loss to the newly-moved St. Louis Rams. After starting 0-5, the Panthers won their 1st game on October 15, home to the New York Jets, 26-15, and were a surprisingly respectable 7-9 in their 1st season.

Opening Ericsson Stadium (now Bank of America Stadium) in downtown Charlotte the next season, their 1st regular-season home game there was a 29-6 win over the Falcons. Their 2nd season was a stunning success, winning their Division and beating the Dallas Cowboys to reach the NFC Championship Game, where they lost to the Green Bay Packers.

The Carolinas had previously had the Charlotte Hornets of the World Football League, the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association, and an NBA team borrowing the Hornets name starting in the 1988 season. That team moved to New Orleans in 2002, was replaced by the expansion Charlotte Bobcats in 2004, and the Hornets name was restored in 2014 after the New Orleans team gave it up, becoming the Pelicans.

Having an NBA team or an NHL team is one thing, but a city, a metropolitan area, or a region is generally not considered to be "major league" until it gets an MLB team, or at least an NFL team. So the NBA Hornets didn't raise Charlotte, or the Carolinas as a whole, to that level. The Panthers did.

The Hartford Whalers became the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997, playing 2 years at the Greensboro Coliseum before their arena in the State capital of Raleigh opened in 1999. They remain the only major league team in the Raleigh-Durham area.

Both Carolinas have long been home to multiple minor-league baseball teams, but no major-league team. Charlotte, which has become a major banking center, has about 900,000 people; Raleigh, about 500,000. In metro area terms, Charlotte has about 2.9 million; Raleigh, about 1.5 million. North Carolina has about 10.5 million; South Carolina, about 5.1 million. The total of around 15.6 million is enough of a market to sustain an NFL team 8 times a year, and an NBA team and an NHL team 41 times a year each; but not an MLB team 81 times a year.

Add in the fact that the Atlanta Braves seem to have a hammerlock on MLB fandom in South Carolina, and it seems unlikely that Charlotte, whose metro area stretches into South Carolina -- and whose Class AAA team, the Charlotte Knights, played over the State Line in Fort Mill from 1989 to 2013, before moving to downtown Charlotte, close to both Bank of America Stadium and the new Hornets' Spectrum Center -- will ever get an MLB team.

The Panthers have won Division titles in 1996, 2003, 2013, 2014 and 2015; reached the NFC Championship Game in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2015; and, unlike their expansion brethren in Jacksonville, they have reached the Super Bowl, losing Super Bowl XXXVIII to the New England Patriots and Super Bowl 50 to the Denver Broncos.

UPDATE: The Jaguars have a team hall of fame, called Pride of the Jaguars. Its members include quarterback Mark Brunell, running back Fred Taylor, receiver Jimmy Smith, offensive tackle Tony Boselli, founding owners Wayne and Delores Weaver, and head coach Tom Coughlin. Boselli and Coughlin have also been elected to the Florida Sports Hall of Fame.

The Panthers also have a team hall of fame, called the Carolina Panthers Hall of Honor. They have honored quarterback Jake Delhomme, receivers Steve Smith Sr. and Muhsin Muhammad, tight end Wesley Walls, offensive tackle Jordan Gross, defensive end Julius Peppers, linebacker Sam Mills, original general manager Mike McCormack, and the Personal Seat License owners who made the building of Bank of America Stadium possible. Smith, Peppers and Mills have also been elected to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

*

September 3, 1995 was a Sunday. This was also the day that the Oakland Raiders played their 1st game back in their former city, after 13 seasons in Los Angeles. They beat the San Diego Chargers, 17-7 at the Oakland Coliseum. I have a separate entry for that event.

These other NFL games were played:

* The New York Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins, 52-14 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The New England Patriots beat the Cleveland Browns, 17-14 at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 21-6 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Arizona Cardinals, 27-7 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions, 23-20 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Indianapolis Colts, 24-21 at the RCA Dome (formerly the Hoosier Dome) in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 31-14 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Rams, representing St. Louis for the 1st time after 48 seasons representing Los Angeles, beat the Green Bay Packers, 17-14 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints, 24-22 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Buffalo Bills, 22-7 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Seattle Seahawks, 34-10 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants, 35-0 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Oakland Athletics, 10-9 at Yankee Stadium. So both outdoor Oakland teams won on this day. Rickey Henderson went 2-for-6 with the game-winning home run in the top of the 10th inning, a stolen base, and 2 RBIs. David Cone started for the Yankees, but John Wetteland gave up the homer. Tony Fernández went 4-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs for the Yankees. Don Mattingly went 3-for-6.

* The New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants, 11-6 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Carl Everett went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs for the Mets. Barry Bonds and Deion Sanders each hit home runs for the Giants.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the California Angels, 8-1 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-6 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Ken Griffey Jr. only appeared as a late defensive replacement, and did not come to bat. Alex Rodriguez, then a rookie, did not appear at all. Cal Ripken Jr. went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Jason Schmidt pitched 8 innings of 6-hit shutout ball, and Mark Wohlers completed the 6-hit shutout.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-8 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Omar Vizquel singled Wayne Kirby home with the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Joe Girardi singled Andrés Galarraga home with the winning run in the top of the 11th inning.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 8-5 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Houston Astros, 8-7 at the Astrodome in Houston. The Marlins scored 2 runs in the top of the 11th, and the Astros only 1 in the bottom of the 11th.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 6-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

July 17, 2007: Michael Vick Is Indicted

July 17, 2007: Michael Vick and 3 other men are indicted on federal felony charges of operating an unlawful interstate dog-fighting venture, Bad Newz Kennels, in Smithfield, Virginia, outside Vick's hometown of Newport News.

Vick was accused of financing the operation, directly participating in the fights, and even killing some of the dogs that lost.

Vick, a lefthanded quarterback (no longer such a rarity), had one of the best-ever combinations of passing and running. In the 1999 college football season, as a freshman, he led Virginia Tech into the National Championship game, and finished 3rd in the Heisman Trophy balloting, behind Ron Dayne of Wisconsin and Joe Hamilton of Georgia Tech, and ahead of Drew Brees of Purdue.

He left college after his redshirt sophomore season, and was taken as the 1st pick in the 2001 NFL Draft, by the Atlanta Falcons. In his rookie season, he improved them from 4-12 to 7-9. Over the next 5 seasons, he reached the Pro Bowl 3 times, and led them to 2 Playoff berths including a trip to the NFC Championship Game in the 2004 season, losing to the Philadelphia Eagles. It was only the 2nd NFC title game in Falcons history.

In 2006, he became the 1st quarterback to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season, joined with Warrick Dunn as the 1st quarterback and running back on the same team to both rush for 1,000 yards in a season, and set another record, for all NFL players, at any position, with 8.4 yards per carry.

As the 2007 season was about to begin, he was 27 years old, and widely regarded as the best all-around player in the NFL. Although the Falcons had only been 15-17 over the preceding 2 seasons, for Vick as an individual, the sky seemed to be the limit.

But he was arrested, and he knew the evidence against him was overwhelming. On August 20, he pleaded guilty, and admitted that his conduct was "not only illegal, but also cruel and reprehensible." Because gambling was also involved in the dog-fighting operation, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had to suspend him for the 2007 season, regardless of the result of the legal proceedings. So, even if he had been acquitted, or the judge had thrown the case out, he still would have missed a peak season.

Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison (a month short of 2 years), and was released on July 20, 1999. For the heinousness of his crime, Vick was now a pariah, and most football fans didn't want him to even be allowed to make a comeback. But, by the letter of the law, he had, as the saying goes, paid his debt to society, and had the right to try to make a living in the job of his choice. But no team was under any obligation to give him the chance.

The Philadelphia Eagles gave him the chance he was looking for, and, for once, the Eagles heard more booing on the road than at home. He backed up Donovan McNabb for most of the 2009 season, and was named the starter for 2010 after McNabb, the most statistically successful quarterback in Eagles history to this day, was traded to the Washington Redskins. Vick led the Eagles to the NFC Eastern Division title, was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year, was named to his 4th Pro Bowl, and finished 2nd to Tom Brady in voting for NFL Most Valuable Player.

In addition, he had paid off his creditors, and established charitable foundations to benefit animals and at-risk youth. He had become a model ex-con, even if some people were still not willing to accept that he had been fully punished for what he'd done.

The rest of his career was less successful. Although the Eagles won another NFC East title in 2013, Vick's injuries meant that Nick Foles won more games as their quarterback. Vick played for the New York Jets in 2014, and the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2015, and retired.

He finished his career with a 56.2 completion percentage, 133 touchdowns against 88 interceptions, 22,464 passing yards, 6,109 rushing yards (at the time, easily a record for a quarterback), 36 rushing touchdowns, and an all-time record of 7.0 yards per carry, breaking Jim Brown's record of 5.2.

In 2017, he served as an assistant coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, under his former Eagle head coach Andy Reid. In 2019, he was the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Legends of the short-lived Alliance of American Football.

In 2022, Vick is not actively involved in football at any level, but still runs his charities. The house that served as the headquarters of Bad Newz still stands, but, true to Vick's desire to redeem himself, is now an animal shelter named Good Newz Rehab Center.

It's worth noting that Vick played more seasons after getting out of prison than Ray Rice -- who, as far as we know, did one awful thing, one time -- played before his suspension. Vick got another chance, and made the most of it. Rice never got that chance.

UPDATE: Following the 2024 season, Vick was named head coach at Norfolk State University, a historically black college near his hometown. Having become a redemption story, he has even become a role model.

*

July 17, 2007 was a Tuesday. These games were played in Major League Baseball that night:

* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Robinson Canó won it with a single in the bottom of the 10th inning. Luis Vizcaino was the winning pitcher, in relief of Andy Pettitte.

* The New York Mets beat the San Diego Padres, 7-0 at Petco Park in San Diego. Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez and 2 relievers combined on a 3-hit shutout.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Houston Astros beat the Washington Nationals, 4-2 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-5 at Turner Field in Atlanta. (It's now named Center Parc Stadium.)

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Los Angeles Angels, 8-3 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Florida Marlins beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-0 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. (It's gone through several name changes since, and is now named Hard Rock Stadium.) It took 6 Marlin pitchers to pitch a 7-hit shutout. 

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-5 at Jacobs Field in Cleveland. (It was renamed Progressive Field the next season.) Ryan Garko won it with a single in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 1-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Nate Robertson and 2 relievers pitched a 3-hit shutout.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2 at Miller Park in Milwaukee. (It's now named American Family Field.)

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 15-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ryan Howard hit 2 home runs.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 11-4 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum).

* And the Baltimore Orioles beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-3 at Safeco Field in Seattle. (It was renamed T-Mobile Park in 2020.)

February 5, 2017: The Atlanta Falcons Blow a 28-3 Lead In a Super Bowl

Matt Ryan

February 5, 2017: The Atlanta Falcons had a fraction of one job, and they couldn't do it. To borrow an old expression, it was as if the condemned man had jumped out of the electric chair and executed the warden.

Super Bowl LI was played at NRG Stadium in Houston. With 2 minutes and 12 seconds left to play in the 3rd quarter, the Atlanta Falcons led the New England Patriots 28-3. After a scoreless 1st quarter, they got a 5-yard touchdown run from Devonta Freeman, a 19-yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan to Austin Hooper, and an interception of Tom Brady that Robert Alford returned 82 yards for a touchdown, all in the 2nd quarter, for a 21-0 lead, before Stephen Gostkowski kicked a field goal on the last play of the half. In the 3rd quarter, Ryan threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Tevin Coleman. It was Atlanta 28, New England 3.

In the 1st 50 Super Bowls, no team had ever blown a lead of more than 10 points and lost. With less than 18 minutes to play, the Falcons had a 25-point lead. They were in great shape to win the 1st World Championship in team history, 51 seasons, the entire Super Bowl Era.

Several sources said that the Falcons had a 99 percent chance of winning at that point. One source said it was 99.9 percent.

In a major "Perhaps I spoke too soon" moment, I posted on Facebook, citing a Boston-based police drama: "Somebody call Rizzoli & Isles, there's 11 Bostonians getting killed!"

With 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Brady threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to James White. Gostkowski missed the extra point. 28-9 Atlanta. With 9:44 left in regulation, Gostkowski kicked a field goal. 28-12 Atlanta. Still not exactly ominous.

With 5:56 left, Brady threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola. And White scored the 2-point conversion. Now, it was 28-20 Atlanta. Now, it was ominous.

With 57 seconds to play in regulation, White ran 1 yard for a touchdown. Now, it was 28-26 Atlanta. Brady passed to Amendola for the 2-point conversion. The Patriots tied the game, and we had the 1st Super Bowl that went to overtime.

The Patriots won the coin toss to start the overtime, and the Falcons never got the ball. With 11:02 left in the 1st overtime, White scored on a 2-yard touchdown run, and the Patriots had won the ballgame, 34-28.

Lost in all the fuss over Brady and the Falcons blowing it was the fact that White had joined Terrell Davis as the only men to score 3 touchdowns in 1 Super Bowl; and that, with the 2-point conversion, he had set a record, scoring 20 points in a Super Bowl.

Boston, and all of New England, were now the beneficiaries of "the greatest choke in baseball history" and "the greatest choke in football history."

And Tom Brady was certified as not merely the greatest quarterback, but the greatest player in the history of football.

How could the Falcons have blown it?

* The officials called 9 penalties on the Falcons, only 4 on the Patriots. They penalized the Falcons for 65 yards, the Patriots only 23. The Patriots gained 4 1st downs as a result of penalties, the Falcons only 1. A dubious pass interference call in overtime helped the Patriots.

It's been suggested that there were no bad calls in this game, and that the disparity in the penalties was due to the Patriots being sufficiently disciplined, and the Falcons not. Really?

* Lady Gaga's halftime show, while widely praised, was long. Maybe it threw the Falcons off their game. In the 1st half, Atlanta outscored New England 21-3. The rest of the way, New England outscored Atlanta 31-7.

* And, of course, there is the Patriots' proven legacy of cheating, which makes any claim of Brady as the greatest anything just plain dishonest. We don't actually know that the Patriots cheated at any point in the 2016-17 NFL season, including in the Super Bowl. We only know that they have been caught cheating multiple times. They have forfeited the presumption of innocence.

Did they cheat in this game? There has never been a serious accusation of it. But think of it this way: We have more proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have investigations of them cheating and being proven not to have done so. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games, including this one?

You can argue that, even with the Patriots having cheated, the Falcons should still have been able to hold onto a lead that was 25 points with a little over 17 minutes to go, 19 points with 10 minutes to go, 16 points with 6 minutes to go, and 8 points with 1 minute to go.

But they didn't. They were so close to forever eliminating their status as a joke franchise. Instead, they deepened it. They have gotten far more blame for losing this game than the Patriots got credit for winning it. The number "28-3" has been burned into sports fans' collective psyche.

Since then, Atlanta United have won the 2018 MLS Cup, and the Atlanta Braves have won the 2021 World Series. But, as some teams have proven, even winning a World Championship in their sport doesn't eliminate the pain of such losses. If the Falcons ever do win a Super Bowl, no matter how memorable it might be, people will always remember "28-3."

Clayton Trutor, a writer for the website SB Nation, published a book in 2021, shortly before the Braves won that year's World Series. Noting that the Braves had played 55 seasons in Atlanta and won just 1 World Series, the Falcons 55 and none, the NBA's Hawks 53 and none, and 2 NHL expansion teams granted and later moved without either having reached even the Conference Finals, he titled his book Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta -- and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports.

In 2019, a poll ranked this game 9th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.

UPDATE: In 2023, the film 80 for Brady was released, with this game as the focus. It starred Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda and Sally Field as old friends who went to this Super Bowl together, and Brady had a speaking part in it.

*

February 5, 2017 was a Sunday. There were no other football games played. Baseball was out of season. There were 3 NBA games that day:

* The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Toronto Raptors, 103-95 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 107-102 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* And the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 105-99 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena (now the Paycom Center) in Oklahoma City. Russell Westbrook scored 42 points for the Thunder.

There were also 3 NHL games that day:

* The New York Rangers beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 1-0 in a shootout at the Bell Centre.

* And the Washington Capitals beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-0 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

January 3, 2000: The Bobby Bonilla Deal

January 3, 2000: There aren't too many athletes who messed a team up, left, and was allowed to return to them, and ended up messing them up again. Bobby Bonilla is one of them.

In North American sports, July 1 means two things. One is Canada Day, the anniversary of Canadian independence, which means that Canada's one remaining team in Major League Baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays, not only plays an afternoon game at home, but, despite actually having "Blue" in their name, will wear red jerseys. The other is Bobby Bonilla Day.

Roberto Martin Antonio Bonilla was born on February 23, 1963 in The Bronx. Despite growing up there, in the home Borough of the New York Yankees, Bonilla was a New York Mets fan growing up, and became a star on the Pittsburgh Pirates' early 1990s near-dynasty, helping them to the 1990 and 1991 National League Eastern Division titles, and getting to Game 7 of the NLCS in '91. (They did it again without him in '92.)

He was about to turn 29 years old, and was one of the best players in baseball: An All-Star the last 4 seasons, top 3 in the NL Most Valuable Player voting the last 2 seasons, coming off a career-high .302 batting average and an NL-leading 44 doubles, and over the last 4 seasons had averaged 38 doubles, 24 home runs, 103 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 142. And he'd shown no behavioral issues that anyone knew of.

On December 2, 1991, the Mets threw money at him, and he took the deal. It was a disaster, as his hitting stats went way down, and the team had its 1st non-contending season in 9 years. The Mets had an even worse season in 1993, full of acts of carelessness that got people hurt, and, in 2 separate incidents, Bonilla threatened local reporters. 

On April 10, 1993, Bob Klapisch, then the Mets beat writer for the New York Daily News, and the author of The Worst Team Money Could Buy, a book about the previous Met season, tried to interview Bonilla in the Met locker room. Somebody grabbed a video camera, and showed Bonilla not merely taking exception to what Klapisch wrote, but telling him, "Make your move, 'cause I'll hurt you" and "I'll show you The Bronx." Instead of assaulting Klapisch, who stood his ground, Bonilla assaulted a microphone that was being held out, and walked away.

On August 11, 1994, the day before the Strike of '94 began, Bonilla tried to do the same thing to Art McFarland of WABC-Channel 7's Eyewitness News: Not only did he repeat the "Make your move" line, he said, "I'll shove that mike as far up your ass as I can stick it." McFarland, an older black man, wasn't having it: He not only stood his ground, but called Bonilla out, saying, "I'm a little more grown up than that."

The Mets finally traded him on July 28, 1995, to the Baltimore Orioles, along with a minor-league player named Jimmy Williams, for Damon Buford and Alex Ochoa. Neither Buford nor Ochoa did much for the Mets, and Williams never made the majors. A bad trade? Not really: Call it "addition by subtraction."

Bonilla helped the O's reach the Playoffs in 1996. Of course, it helped that he was a lefthanded hitter, now hitting toward the short right-field fence at Camden Yards, instead of in a pitcher's park like Shea Stadium.

But it turned out that nobody could stand Bonilla. After the 1996 season, the Orioles, who came within 3 wins of an American League Pennant, didn't lift a finger to sign him to a new deal. The Florida Marlins signed him, going all out to win the 1997 World Series, knowing that they would be broken up to save money afterward, leading to the title of Dave Rosenbaum's book about the '97 Marlins: If They Don't Win It's a Shame. They did win the Series.

On May 14, 1998, as part of their "fire sale," the Marlins sent 5 players, including Bonilla and Gary Sheffield, to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile. This made it possible for the Mets to get Piazza and Zeile shortly thereafter.

After the 1998 season, the Mets sent relief pitcher Mel Rojas to the Dodgers to reacquire Bonilla. Getting rid of Rojas was a plus, but Bonilla was 36 and done. Although they made the Playoffs in 1999, Bonilla had almost nothing to do with it, making just 141 plate appearances and batting .160 with 4 homers and 18 RBIs.

They wanted to release him, but they still owed him $5.9 million. His agent, Dennis Gilbert, offered the Mets a deal: He would defer payment for 10 years, and the Mets would pay him $1.19 million every year from 2011 to 2035 -- or, if he died before 2035, they would pay that sum to his heirs. On January 3, 2000, the Mets took the deal.

Bonilla played 2000 with the Atlanta Braves and 2001 with the St. Louis Cardinals, and retired -- with respectable career stats of a .279 average, a 124 OPS+, 2,010 hits, 287 home runs and 1,173 RBIs.

Because of the Wilpons' financial woes, there were seasons when Bonilla was the Mets' 3rd-highest-paid player, meaning they were paying him more to not play for them than they were paying each of 23 players to actually play for them.

And the team's 2020 purchase from the Wilpons by Steve Cohen, allegedly the richest team owner in baseball, has no effect at all on the Bonilla deal: It's an annuity, locked in, meaning that Cohen cannot, for either financial or public relations considerations, simply pay the whole damn thing off at once: Every year, until July 1, 2035, either Bonilla or his heirs is going to get that payment.

By which point, if he's still alive, he will be 72 years old, he will have been retired for 34 years, and the Mets will have paid him $29.8 million to not play for them.

When the Mets closed Shea Stadium in 2008, and when they opened Citi Field the next season, Bonilla was not among the former Met players invited to either ceremony. After all, as a Met, he was neither a great player nor a good person.

*

January 3, 2000 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Atlanta Falcons beat the San Francisco 49ers, 34-29 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 105-98 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston. Antoine Walker scored 32 points.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 124-120 in overtime at the First Union Center (now the Wells Fargo Center) in Philadelphia. Allen Iverson scored 45 points.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Golden State Warriors, 99-87 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic, 118-106 at the TD Waterhouse Center in Orlando. Grant Hill scored 42 points.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Chicago Bulls, 88-63 at the United Center in Chicago.

* And the Utah Jazz beat their arch-rivals, the Denver Nuggets. 109-89 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake city. Karl Malone scored 33 points.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-3 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa. Brendan Morrison scored the winning goal with 2:08 left in overtime. The Devils went on to win the Stanley Cup that season.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-2 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* And the Edmonton Oilers and the Colorado Avalanche played to a tie, 2-2 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.