December 13, 2009: Brandon Marshall Catches 21 Passes In a Game

December 13, 2009: The Indianapolis Colts host the Denver Broncos at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is expected to be the star of the game. He is far from his best, completing just 20 of 42 passes, for 220 yards. Although he throws for 4 touchdowns, he also throws 3 interceptions.

The Broncos' Kyle Orton, returning to the State where he had played his college ball, at Purdue University, had had a better game, completing 29 of 41 for 277 yards, including 2 touchdowns and an interception.

The true star of the game turned out to be Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall. He set a new NFL record, catching 21 passes, for 200 yards, including touchdowns of 5 yards in the 2nd quarter, and 5 yards again in the 4th quarter.

The problem was, Manning got the Colts out to a 21-0 lead before Marshall's, and the Broncos', 1st touchdown, and cruised from there.

The Colts won, 28-16, and advanced to 13-0 on the season. They made it to 14-0... and lost their last 2 games, finishing 14-2. They got to Super Bowl XLIV, 3 years after winning Super Bowl XLI, and lost it to the New Orleans Saints.

The Broncos did not reach another Super Bowl until the 2013 season, and then won it in the 2015 season, each time quarterbacked by... Peyton Manning.

What happened to Brandon Marshall? In a career that lasted from 2006 to 2018, playing for 7 teams, including both New York teams, he caught 970 passes for 12,351 yards and 83 touchdowns. But he never appeared in a Playoff game, and, through the 2022 season, those 12,351 yards are the most yards of any player who never played in the Playoffs. He will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the election of 2024. In spite of his lack of a postseason resumé, he should be in.

As of the election of 2022, there are 5 receivers eligible for the Hall with more career catches than Marshall who are not in: Anquan Boldin, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, Steve Smith and Hines Ward. There are 7 receivers eligible for the Hall with more career receiving yards than Marshall who are not in: Smith, Wayne, Johnson, Boldin, Henry Ellard, Torry Holt and Irving Fryar. And there are 4 receivers eligible for the Hall with more receiving touchdowns than Marshall who are not in: Ward, Fryar, Mark Clayton and Andre Rison.

(UPDATE: Andre Johnson was elected in 2024, leaving 4 receivers eligible for the Hall but not in with more catches than Marshall, 6 with more receiving yards, and 4 with more receiving touchdowns.)

Prior to this game, the record for most catches in a game was 20, by Terrell Owens of the San Francisco 49ers, in a December 17, 2000 win over the Chicago Bears. Before that, Tom Fears of the Los Angeles Rams had held the record since November 12, 1950, with 18 in a win over the Green Bay Packers.

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December 13, 2009 was a Sunday. These other games were played in the NFL that day:

* The New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 45-38 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 26-3 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The New England Patriots beat the Carolina Panthers, 20-10 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Detroit Lions, 48-3 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 14-10 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Stadium).

* The New Orleans Saints beat their arch-rivals, the Atlanta Falcons, 26-23 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Tennessee Titans beat the St. Louis Rams, 47-7 at LP Field (now Nissan Stadium) in Nashville.

* The Green Bay Packers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bears, 21-14 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 30-10 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 16-10 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 20-17 at Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Houston Texans beat the Seattle Seahawks, 34-7 at Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium) in Houston.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Oakland Raiders, 34-13 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* The preceding Thursday, the Cleveland Browns beat their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, 13-6 at Cleveland Browns (now named Huntington Bank Field).

* And the next night, on Monday Night Football, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 24-9 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

Baseball was out of season. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 130-107 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Miami Heat, 118-90 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami. Rudy Gay scored 41 points.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Houston Rockets, 101-88 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 102-89 at the Oklahoma City Arena (now the Paycom Center). LeBron James scored 44 points.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 115-90 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-0 at the United Center in Chicago. And the Colorado Avalanche beat the Calgary Flames, 3-2 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

December 8, 2013: A 64-Yard Field Goal

December 8, 2013: The Denver Broncos wallop the Tennessee Titans, 51-28 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver. (It is now named Empower Field at Mile High, although, scoring 51 points, the Broncos didn't need any more empowerment that day.)

The Titans actually led 21-10 late in the 2nd quarter, before the Broncos took over the game. Peyton Manning completed 39 of 59 passes for 397 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions.

Most notably, on the last play of the 1st half, with the Titans still leading 21-17, head coach John Fox sent kicker Matt Prater, who had already kicked a 25-yard field goal, in to attempt a 64-yard field goal. At first, this looked like a bad idea, for 2 reasons: The NFL record was 63 yards, and Fox had missed the preceding 3 games recovering from a heart issue. Fox did not need this kind of pressure.

But 63 yards had been done 3 times before, twice at altitude, in Denver, and to close the 1st half each time: By Jason Elam of the Broncos, on October 25, 1998, against the Jacksonville Jaguars, at the old Mile High Stadium; and Sebastian Janikowski of the Oakland Raiders, on September 12, 2011, against the Broncos, at the new stadium. The 1st time it was done, it was by Tom Dempsey of the New Orleans Saints, on November 8, 1970, a game-winner against the Detroit Lions at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans -- actually below sea level.

Prater converted it, and a new NFL record was set. Perhaps inspired by this, the Broncos scored 14 points in the 3rd quarter, and 17 in the 4th quarter, including a 19-yard field goal by Prater. Prater also went 6-for-6 on points-after-touchdowns. The Broncos won the AFC Championship, but got clobbered in Super Bowl XLVIII by the Seattle Seahawks.

Two years later, they won Super Bowl 50 -- but with Brandon McManus as their placekicker. On January 2, 2022, against the Los Angeles Chargers, not far above sea level at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, he kicked a 61-yard field goal. Through the 2022 season, with him still kicking for the Broncos, that remains his career high. So the Broncos' fine kicking tradition, going back to former Jet Jim Turner helping get them into Super Bowl XII in the 1977-78 season, and Rich Karlis kicking them into 3 Super Bowls in the 1980s before Elam helped them win 2 in the 1990s, continues.

On September 28, 2008, at the end of a 1st half, Janikowski was sent in for the most ridiculous field goal attempt ever: 76 yards, on grass, into the wind, at the Oakland Coliseum, just 43 feet above sea level. It flew 58 yards, still a great kick under any circumstances, but it was 18 yards short, and wide right.

On September 9, 2012, David Akers, then with the San Francisco 49ers, hit a 63-yarder against the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay is 581 feet above sea level.

On October 7, 2018, in Charlotte, North Carolina, 761 feet above sea level, Graham Gano did something no kicker had done since Dempsey: Kick a game-winning field goal 63 yards or more. He kicked one from 63 yards out, to give the Carolina Panthers a 33-31 win against the New York Giants.

On September 26, 2021, Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens, at Ford Field in Detroit, 656 feet above sea level, kicked a 66-yard field goal, for a new record. It was well above sea level, on turf, indoors. But, like Dempsey, it was a game-winner. Also like Dempsey, it gave his team a 19-17 win over the Lions.

Before kicking tees were outlawed by the NCAA, 3 college players had kicked 67-yard field goals. The national high school record is 69 yards.

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December 8, 2013 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants lost to the San Diego Chargers, 37-14 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* The New York Jets beat the Oakland Raiders, 37-27 at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The New England Patriots beat the Cleveland Browns, 27-26 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Detroit Lions, 34-20 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Minnesota Vikings, 29-26 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Washington Redskins, 45-10 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Buffalo Bills, 27-6 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Carolina Panthers, 31-13 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 34-28 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Indianapolis Colts, 42-28 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 22-21 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the St. Louis Rams, 30-10 at the University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. The Cardinals had played in St. Louis from 1960 to 1987, and the Rams left Los Angeles to play in St. Louis from 1995 to 2015, before moving back to L.A.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Seattle Seahawks, 19-17 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The Niners played 1 more game at Candlestick, before moving down the Peninsula to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara the next season.

* The next night, on Monday Night Football, the Chicago Bears beat the Dallas Cowboys, 45-28 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago.

* And the preceding Thursday night, the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Houston Texans, 27-20 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville.

Baseball was out of season. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 114-73 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Miami Heat beat the Detroit Pistons, 110-95 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Orlando Magic, 98-88 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers, 118-94 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena (now the Paycom Center) in Oklahoma City. Kevin Durant led all scorers on the day with 36 points.

* And the Toronto Raptors beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 106-94 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

And there were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Washington Capitals, 4-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Florida Panthers, 6-2 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-1 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-1 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

November 28, 1974: The Clint Longley Game

November 28, 1974: For the last time, a football game is played at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Detroit Lions lose, 31-27 to the Denver Broncos. The Lions' 2 remaining regular-season games will be on the road. They split them, to finish 7-7, but, even if they'd won both, they still wouldn't have qualified for the Playoffs, much less gotten a home Playoff game.

The next season, the Lions began playing out in the suburbs, at the Silverdome in Pontiac. They move back into the city in 2002, at the new Ford Field.

But this milestone game is quickly forgotten by everyone outside Michigan. What happened that day at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas is still talked about.

The rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders -- known from 1937 to 2019 as the Washington Redskins, and in the 2020 and '21 seasons as "The Washington Football Team" -- began in 1960, with the Cowboys' debut. The reason was personal. It wasn't based on proximity, that's for sure: The distance between the teams' respective stadiums is currently 1,367 miles. No, essentially, it is personal. And it's mostly Washington's fault.

But when Clint Murchison, leading the group that owned the Cowboys franchise, wanted entry into the NFL, a unanimous vote of the owners was required to admit them. The Redskins' owner, George Preston Marshall, refused. He also owned the team's radio network. (The NFL was already negotiating TV rights separately.) As the Southernmost team in the League at the time, he was marketing the 'Skins as the South's team. The Redskins were also the last NFL team that hadn't yet racially integrated. These facts are connected. Marshall didn't want to give up his Southern status.

So Murchison pulled a dirty trick: He bought the rights to the fight song, "Hail to the Redskins." He told Marshall that if he wanted the right to ever play the song at his games again, he would have to vote to admit the Cowboys. Certainly, as an oilman, Murchison could not be bought with mere money. (Marshall was rich, but not that rich.) Not wanting to lose the NFL's best-known fight song (even more than "Bear Down, Chicago Bears,"), Marshall caved.

In 1971, George Allen was named head coach of the Redskins. He knew that, in the newly-merged-and-realigned NFL, the Cowboys were well-positioned to dominate the NFC East -- in which, at least geographically, they didn't even belong. And, as a former coach of the Los Angeles Rams, he was already sick of the Cowboys for their success since 1966. So he made it his mission to beat the Cowboys, more than to win a title.

He made his players hate the Cowboys as much as he did. As Cowboy defensive end Harvey Martin said in an interview about the rivalry -- with some irony, given that the Cowboys played in the city where John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and that the Redskins' stadium was now named for JFK's assassinated brother, Robert F. Kennedy, "When you go to play the Redskins, you better have your guns on." The apotheosis of this was the Redskins' win over the Cowboys on New Year's Eve 1972, in the NFC Championship Game.

The biggest individual rivalry within the matchup was Allen vs. Cowboys head coach Tom Landry. Landry was always described as stoic, never using his face to betray his emotions. Allen was one of the most emotional head coaches in NFL history. In contrast, Landry and Joe Gibbs, who went on to coach the Redskins to 3 Super Bowl wins, 2 of them before Landry was finally forced out of the Cowboys' job, had a healthy respect for each other.

In the 1974 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals drafted Howard Clinton "Clint" Longley, a quarterback from Abilene Christian University in Texas (now an NCAA FCS school). Seeking a backup to his All-Pro quarterback, Roger Staubach, Landry had the Cowboys trade for Longley.

The Cowboys went into their game on Thanksgiving Day 1974 at 6-5, while the Redskins went in at 8-3. Two Sundays earlier, the Redskins had beaten the Cowboys, 28-21 at RFK Stadium. In the Turkey Day rematch, the Redskins led 16-3 in the 3rd quarter, and Staubach, who already looked like he was headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (and he was), left the game with an injury. Longley had to step in. Redskin fans were feeling very confident.

Before that quarter could end, Longley threw a touchdown pass to Billy Joe DuPree, and led another drive that ended with a touchdown run by Walt Garrison, giving them a 17-16 lead.

The Redskins retook the lead in the 4th quarter, on a run by, oddly enough, Duane Thomas, who had been a Super Bowl hero for the Cowboys 3 seasons earlier, but had worn out his welcome. But with 28 seconds left, no timeouts remaining, and the ball on the Cowboys' 44-yard line, Longley made up a play in the huddle, something Landry would not allow Staubach to do. (Years later, in his media career, Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who beat the Cowboys in 2 Super Bowls, proudly said that his head coach, Chuck Noll, allowed him to call his own plays, but Landry wouldn't let Staubach do that.)

Drew Pearson took off, and got through the Redskins' talented defensive backfield including Hall-of-Famer Ken Houston and All-Pros Brig Owens, Mike Bass and Pat Fischer. Longley threw long, and Pearson caught it, for a 56-yard touchdown. Efren Herrera kicked the extra point to win it: Cowboys 24, Redskins 23.

Having just made his professional debut, and having played just a quarter and a half, Longley threw for 203 yards -- 147 yards even without the last bomb. Like former Oakland Raiders All-Pro quarterback Daryle Lamonica, he became known as "The Mad Bomber." That nickname would also later be given to San Diego Chargers Hall-of-Famer Dan Fouts.

The Cowboys missed the Playoffs anyway, the only time they did so between 1966 and 1983. Longley started only 2 games in his career, the 1975 regular-season finale, to give Staubach a rest before the Playoffs; and a game in 1976. That start would not be for the Cowboys: In their 1976 training camp, after nearly 2 years of telling Cowboy management, and Staubach, that he, rather than Staubach, should be the starter, Longley sucker-punched Staubach. Longley was traded, that very day, to the Chargers, for draft picks, one of whom turned out to be Heisman Trophy-winning and eventual Hall-of-Fame running back Tony Dorsett. 

Longley played 8 games with the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts in 1977, and was released. He was signed by the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals for 1978, but was cut in preseason camp. He played that season for the semi-pro Shreveport Steamer (no S on the end). He was not signed by anyone for the 1979 season. In 1980, he went back to Canada, signed by the Hamilton-Tiger Cats. They released him after 12 days.

Longley sat for an NFL Films interview with Steve Sabol about the Cowboys-Redskins rivalry in 1991, and talked about his sucker-punch of Staubach. Years after that, interviewed for an NFL Network special on "One-Shot Wonders," Sabol said that the last he'd heard of Longley, he was "selling carpet remnants out of the back of a van in Marfa, Texas," in the State's Big Bend region. As of November 28, 2022, all I can tell you about Longley's current situation is that he is listed as still being alive, at the age of 70.

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November 28, 1974 was, like all Thanksgiving Days, a Thursday. This was also the day of the Elton John concert at Madison Square Garden where John Lennon made his last concert appearance, and I have a separate entry for this event.

The Cowboys' Drew Pearson had played at South River High School in New Jersey. Ironically, as a sophomore there, his quarterback was future Redskin Joe Theismann. South River played New Brunswick at Rutgers on Thanksgiving every year from 1919 to 1976, first at Neilson Field, and then at Rutgers Stadium. The schools no longer play each other, due to New Brunswick now having a much higher enrollment. My Alma Mater, East Brunswick, next-door to South River (and to New Brunswick), did not play on Thanksgiving in 1974.

Also, 1974 was the 1st year that the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association played State Playoffs, and this would end up breaking up several longstanding rivalries.

Baseball was in the off-season. In recent times, the NBA and the NHL avoid scheduling games on Thanksgiving, to avoid trying to compete with football for television viewers.

But there were 2 games in the NBA that day. The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 110-103 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio. And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Phoenix Suns, 88-85 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. And there was 1 game in the American Basketball Association: The Kentucky Colonels beat the Virginia Squires, 108-95 at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.

There was 1 game in the NHL: The Buffalo Sabres beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. There were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Vancouver Blazers beat the Toronto Toros, 6-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Indianapolis Racers, 7-5 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Houston Aeros beat the Edmonton Oilers, 2-0 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

* And the Chicago Cougars beat the San Diego Mariners, 3-2 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

November 22, 1962: The Detroit Lions' Thanksgiving Day Massacre

Bart Starr, with Roger Brown (76) and Alex Karras (71)

bearing -- or lion-ing -- down on him.

November 22, 1962: The Detroit Lions host the Green Bay Packers at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Lions had won the NFL Championship in 1952, 1953 and 1957, and had been a good team since, but had fallen behind the Packers, who had revived under Vince Lombardi, and won the title the season before.

On October 7, the Packers had beaten the Lions, 9-7. It was a strong performance from the Lions' defense, led by their line, the 1st defensive line to be known as "the Fearsome Foursome": Tackles Alex Karras and Roger Brown, and ends Darris McCord and Sam Williams. They were backed by linebackers Joe Schmidt, Carl Brettschneider and Wayne Walker; and defensive backs Dick "Night Train" Lane, Dick LeBeau, Yale Lary and Gary Lowe.

(There would be other "Fearsome Foursomes." The Los Angeles Rams had the best-known one, with Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, Rosey Grier and Lamar Lundy. In the AFL, the San Diego Chargers had Ernie Ladd, Henry Schmidt, Earl Faison and Bob Petrich.)

But the Lions didn't really have the offense to match. Their quarterback was Earl Morrall, a few years before his big successes (reaching 3 Super Bowls, winning 2 of them) and his big failure (losing the other). Running back Ollie Matson was getting old, and Morrall didn't have great receivers to throw to.

But they would have a rematch with the Packers on Thanksgiving Day. And they were really up for it. They ended up sacking Packer quarterback Bart Starr 11 times. The Lions won, 26-14 in front of a national audience on CBS.

It becomes known as the Thanksgiving Day Massacre, and it turns out to be the only game the Packers lose all year, as they repeat as NFL Champions. The Lions finished 11-3, which would have been good enough to make the Playoffs after the 1970 merger with the AFL. But in that era, only the Division Champions made the Playoffs. Since 1957, the Lions have had their moments, but have never appeared in another NFL Championship Game, under that name or under the name of the Super Bowl.

Karras, Schmidt, Lane, LeBeau and Matson made the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So did the defensive coordinator who built that Lions defense, who was hired as head coach by the Baltimore Colts the next season: Don Shula.

UPDATE: The Lions don't have a team Hall of Fame, but they named an All-Time Team in 2019, in connection with the NFL's 100th season. From their 1962 team, they honored running back Nick Pietrosante, receiver Gail Cogdill, defensive tackles Alex Karras and Roger Brown, linebacker Joe Schmidt, cornerbacks Dick "Night Train" Lane and Dick LeBeau, and safety Yale Lary. Karras, Lane, LeBeau, receiver Terry Barr and linebacker Wayne Walker were elected to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

After their 1957 NFL Championship, the Lions didn't make the Playoffs again until winning the 1st-ever NFC Wild Card berth in 1970. From that team, their All-Time Team includes Karras, LeBeau, tight end Charlie Sanders, center Ed Flanagan, linebacker Mike Lucci, and cornerback Lem Barney. Their Michigan Sports Hall of Fame inductees from that year are Karras, LeBeau, Sanders, Walker, Barney, and team owner William Clay Ford Sr.

They didn't make the Playoffs again until another Wild Card berth in 1982, and won the NFC Central Division in 1983. From that team, their All-Time Team includes running back Billy Sims, defensive tackle Doug English, and defensive end Al "Bubba" Baker.

In 1991, they won the NFC Central, and reached the NFC Championship Game. From that team, their All-Time Team includes running back Barry Sanders, receiver Herman Moore, kick returner Mel Gray, center Kevin Glover, offensive tackle Lomas Brown, linebacker Chris Spielman, and safety Bennie Blades. They won the NFC Central again in 1993, and won a Wild Card berth in 1994, with all of those, plus defensive end Robert Porcher and kicker Jason Hanson.

They made the Playoffs again in 1995, with Sanders, Moore, Glover, Brown, Spielman, Blades, Hanson and running back Cory Schlesinger. They made the Playoffs again in 1997, with Sanders, Moore, Glover, Hanson and Schlesinger. They made it again in 1999, with Moore, Hanson and Schlesinger. Their Michigan Sports Hall of Fame inductees from the 1990s are Ford, Sanders, Moore, Spielman, Brown and Porcher.

They didn't make the Playoffs again until 2011, with only Hanson still around, adding quarterback Matthew Stafford, receiver Calvin Johnson and safety Don Muhlbach from their all-time team. They made it again with Stafford, Johnson and Muhlbach in 2014; and with Stafford and Muhlbach in 2016. Of those, only Johnson has yet been named to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. They have since won the NFC North in 2023 and 2024.

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November 22, 1962, like all Thanksgiving Days, was a Thursday. The Dallas Cowboys didn't start playing home games on Thanksgiving until 1966, so this was the only NFL game on the day. One game was played in the AFL: The New York Titans won a shootout with the Denver Broncos, 46-45 at Bears Stadium in Denver. The next year, the Titans were renamed the Jets. In 1968, Bears Stadium was renamed Mile High Stadium.

There were 7 college football games that day:

* In a major rivalry, Number 4 Texas beat Texas A&M, 13-3. Texas won the Southwest Conference Championship, but lost the Cotton Bowl to Louisiana State (LSU).

* In a minor rivalry, the University of Richmond beat the College of William & Mary, 15-3 at Cary Stadium in Williamsburg, Virginia.

* In a minor rivalry, the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) beat Virginia Tech, 14-9 at Victory Stadium in Roanoke, Virginia.

* North Carolina State beat Wake Forest, 27-3 at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

* The University of Tulsa beat Wichita State, 21-6 at Skelly Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

* Texas Western University beat Trinity University, 21-0 at Kidd Field in El Paso, Texas. In 1966, just a few months after winning the National Championship in basketball in a big step forward for civil rights, TWU changed their name to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Trinity, in San Antonio, now compete in NCAA Division III.

* And Montana beat Colorado State, 16-15 at Colorado Field in Fort Collins.

The National Championship was won by the University of Southern California (USC), who played on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, beating UCLA, 14-3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and then beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

In more recent times, so as not to compete with football for television viewers, the NBA and the NHL usually do not play on Thanksgiving Day. This time, there were 3 NBA games played:

* The Syracuse Nationals beat the Boston Celtics, 130-120 at the Boston Garden. The next season, the Nats moved, becoming the Philadelphia 76ers.

* The St. Louis Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons, 106-91 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Cincinnati Royals, 134-110 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

And the NHL's entire "Original Six" were in action:

* The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 7-1 at the Boston Garden. (Yes, it hosted the Celtics and the Bruins on the same day.) Earl Ingarfield and Larry Cahan each had 2 goals.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-0 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 1-0 at the Chicago Stadium. Pierre Pilote had the game's only goal.

In hindsight, since Canada has its Thanksgiving on the 2nd Monday in October, when America holds Columbus Day, both of the Canadian teams, Montreal and Toronto, should have been at home on America's Thanksgiving Day, thus maximizing attendance.

November 11, 1985: Pelle Lindbergh Is Killed

November 11, 1985: Pelle Lindbergh is killed in a drunken driving crash, ending his life and his hockey career at the age of 26.

Göran Per-Eric Lindbergh was born on May 24, 1959 in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. He starred as the goaltender for hometown hockey teams Hammarby and AIK, and helped his country win the Bronze Medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. (It gets forgotten in the wake of the wins over the Soviet Union in the Semifinal and Finland in the Final, but Sweden actually came closer to beating the U.S. team than any other, with a tie in the opening game.)

In 1979, Pelle became the 1st European-born goalie to be selected in the NHL Entry Draft, by the Philadelphia Flyers. He made his NHL debut toward the end of the 1981-82 season, and was selected to the NHL All-Rookie Team and the NHL All-Star Game the following season.

The Flyers won the Stanley Cup in 1974 and 1975, and reached the Finals in 1976, with Hall-of-Famer Bernie Parent in goal. They remained strong through 1978-79, but late in that season, Parent took a stick through the eyehole in his mask, permanently damaging his vision, and he never played again.

And, ever since, the Flyers have had some talent, but they haven't found that lockdown goalie. With Pete Peeters, they reached the Finals in 1980, but lost. Lindbergh looked like the answer, especially in 1985, when he made his 2nd All-Star Game, became the 1st European to receive the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie, and helped get the Flyers into the Finals again, losing to the Edmonton Oilers' dynasty.

While the Oilers seemed to have a hammerlock on the Clarence Campbell Conference (now the Western Conference), the Prince of Wales Conference (now the Eastern Conference) looked wide-open. The Montreal Canadiens' dynasty of 1976-79 had gotten old, and the New York Islanders' dynasty of 1980-84 was already starting to break up due to injury.

There was room for a new dominant team in the East, and with Lindbergh in goal; Mark Howe, Brad Marsh, Brad McCrimmon and Ed Hospodar as defensemen; and forwards like Dave Poulin, Peter Zezel, Brian Propp, Tim Kerr, Dave Brown, Rick Tocchet, and the twins Ron and Rich Sutter, the Flyers looked like they could become that team.

On November 9, 1985, the Flyers hosted a team party at the Coliseum, their practice facility in Voorhees, Camden County, New Jersey. Part of the stereotype of hockey players is that they like to drink, and Lindbergh drank a lot that night. Unfortunately, he got into his car, a customized Porsche 930 Turbo, and headed back toward his apartment across the Delaware River in Philadelphia.

He didn't even make it 2 miles: He crashed into a wall in front of Somerdale Park School, damaging his brain stem and his spinal cord. His blood-alcohol content was .24, and the legal limit in New Jersey was then .10. He had 2 passengers, not easy in a 2-seater, not players but friends of players: Edward Parvin had a fractured skull, and Kathy McNeal had a broken pelvis, a ruptured liver and a ruptured spleen.

They both survived. Lindbergh was brain-dead. His family was brought in from Sweden, and he was kept on life support long enough for them to arrive and say their goodbyes. The machines were turned off on November 11, and his parents gave their permission to have his organs harvested for donation.

Lindbergh received the most votes in the fan balloting for the 1986 NHL All-Star Game. It was the 1st time an athlete was posthumously voted to an All-Star Game. It's only happened once since, with Sean Taylor of the Washington Redskins being selected to the 2008 Pro Bowl.

Given his early death, the Flyers have never again given out his uniform Number 31. But, given the cause of his death, they can't officially retire it. They have instituted the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy, given to their most improved player. He hasn't been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, but he has been elected to the Swedish Hockey Hall of Fame.

The Flyers played the rest of the season in a daze. But they made Ron Hextall their new starting goalie, and he got them into the Stanley Cup Finals in 1987. They reached the Finals again in 1997 and 2010. But they've never won another Cup. Given Hextall's performance in the 1987 Finals, it's hard to say Lindbergh would have made the difference that time. But in 1997, when they got swept by the Detroit Red Wings, Lindbergh would have been 38 years old, which is hardly too old to be a Cup-winning goalie.

UPDATE: In 1988, the Flyers established a team Hall of Fame. As of the 2025-26 season, from their 1985 and '87 Stanley Cup Finalists, they have elected Tim Kerr, Brian Propp, Mark Howe, Dave Poulin and Ron Hextall. Kerr, Propp, Howe, Hextall were also elected to the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. Pelle Lindbergh has been elected to neither. Nor has he been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

*

November 11, 1985 was a Monday. The baseball season was over. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Denver Broncos beat the San Francisco 49ers, 17-16 at Mile High Stadium in Denver. And there was 1 game played in the NBA: The New Jersey Nets lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 111-104 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

And there were 2 games scheduled for the NHL that night, neither of them involving the Flyers. In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers lost to the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-4 at Madison Square Garden. Bob Murray scored the winner for the Hawks, 53 seconds into overtime. And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-0 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

October 6, 1968: Marlin the Magician

October 6, 1968: Marlin Briscoe starts at quarterback for the Denver Broncos, after coming in as an injury replacement for Steve Tensi in the 4th quarter the week before. This makes the 23-year-old native of Omaha the 1st black man to start at quarterback in a professional football game. He leads the Broncos to a 10-7 win over the expansion Cincinnati Bengals at Mile High Stadium.

This was the 1st season that the Broncos wore blue helmets with an orange D logo with a charging horse inside. They would wear them through the 1996 season, including 4 AFC Championships. This was also the season that the former minor-league ballpark, formerly known as Bears Stadium, was sold to the City of Denver, which renamed it Mile High Stadium, and expanded it to 50,567 seats.

This ended rumors that the Broncos, Denver's 1st major league sports team (unless you count the original Nuggets, who briefly played in the NBA's early says), might move to Chicago, Atlanta, or Birmingham.

But 1968 would not be a good season for the Broncos, as they finished 5-9 under head coach Lou Saban, who had led the Buffalo Bills to 2 AFL Championships, and would later lead them to the Playoffs again. He was also the father of college coaching superstar Nick Saban.

"Marlin the Magician" started 5 games, winning 2 of them. After the 1968 season, he was traded to the Bills, was moved to wide receiver, made the Pro Bowl at that position in 1970, won 2 Super Bowl rings with the Miami Dolphins, and played in the NFL through 1976. He then moved to Los Angeles, became a financial broker, and ran the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach, California, outside Los Angeles. He died on June 27, 2022, of pneumonia, at age 76.

He wasn't quite the 1st black quarterback in the NFL. In fact, while the NFL now counts all AFL stats as NFL stats, the 1st starting black quarterback in the NFL proper was Joe Gilliam, with the 1974 Pittsburgh Steelers, who got the job after Chuck Noll stopped trusting Terry Bradshaw. But Gilliam didn't do well, Noll went back to Bradshaw, and the rest is history.

Officially, Fritz Pollard had played the position of quarterback in the league's 1st season of 1920. The aptly-named Willie Thrower played 2 games for the Chicago Bears in 1953, coming on in relief of George Blanda, but never started.

And George Taliaferro, the 1st black man drafted by an NFL team, the Bears in 1949, was a Pro Bowl running back for the team that was the New York Yanks (not "Yankees") in 1951, the Dallas Texans in 1952, and the Baltimore Colts in 1953. He played quarterback in the NFL, but never started at the position.

Gilliam, his health ruined by a long battle with drugs, died in 2000, not quite 50. Thrower died in 2002, at 71. Pollard died in 1986, at 92. Taliaferro died in 2018, at 91.

*

October 6, 1968 was a Sunday. These other games were played in the AFL:

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Houston Oilers, 24-7 at the Astrodome.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Boston Patriots, 41-10 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* The day before, the New York Jets beat the San Diego Chargers, 23-20 at Shea Stadium; and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills, 18-7 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo.

In the NFL:

* The New York Giants beat the New Orleans Saints, 38-21 at Yankee Stadium.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 17-14 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. The stadium would be renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium the next year. The Redskins would be renamed the Washington Commanders in 2022.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the Chicago Bears, 28-7 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 38-7 at Atlanta Stadium (later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium).

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions, 24-10 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 27-10 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, 24-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* The day before, Cleveland Browns beat their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-24 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

Also on this day, Game 4 of the World Series was played at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. In attendance are Vice President and Democratic Presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey, and Baseball Hall-of-Famer and reintegrator Jackie Robinson.

Before the game, Detroit's own (well, Motown Records' own, since he's actually from Washington, D.C.) Marvin Gaye sings the "The Star-Spangled Banner." An overtly sexy black man singing the National Anthem? In 1968, the year of Martin Luther King's assassination and the accompanying race riots? The man who chose Detroit's anthem singers must have had some real guts.

The man chosen to choose the anthem singers for the Tiger Stadium games had guts, all right. He was a World War II Marine. True, he never saw combat, but he was still a Marine. He was also an ordained minister. And a published songwriter. And a Tiger broadcaster, so he was qualified on any level to choose the Tigers' anthem singers. He was Ernie Harwell.

Marvin sings the Anthem straight, gets a nice hand, and no one seems to object. That will not be the case with tomorrow's singer, José Feliciano. When Marvin, in the midst of an ill-fated comeback, sings the Anthem before the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, it will be a very different performance. 

As for the game: Bob Gibson of the Cardinals earns his 7th straight Series win: After losing Game 2 to the Yankees in 1964, he then won Games 5 and 7; and Games 1, 4 and 7 in 1967, before his 17-strikeout masterwork in this year's Game 1, and now this. He has lived up to the hype of his 1.12 ERA regular season.

Denny McLain of the Tigers, however, has not lived up to the hype of his 31-6 season, having now been beaten by Gibson twice. Lou Brock misses the cycle by a single, and his stolen base gives him 7 in the 1st 4 games. 

Eddie Mathews, formerly the Hall of Fame 3rd baseman for the Milwaukee Braves, goes 1-for-2 with a walk for the Tigers. It is his last major league appearance.

The Cardinals win 10-1, and need 1 more win to wrap up the Series. If they can't do it in Game 5 in Detroit tomorrow, Games 6 and 7 will be at home in St. Louis. (Spoiler Alert: The Tigers took 3 straight, including the last 2 in St. Louis, to win it.)

September 29, 1975: The Tragedy of Jackie Wilson

September 29, 1975: "Dick Clark's Good Ol' Rock and Roll Revue" is held at the Latin Casino, in the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. In the middle of the song that launched him to stardom in 1959, "Lonely Teardrops," Jackie Wilson sings the line, "My heart is crying, crying... " and collapses onstage.

Like Elvis Presley and James Brown, both of whom had copied him to an extent, Wilson was known for his onstage histrionics, earning him the nicknames "Mr. Excitement" and "The Guy With a Tear in His Eye." He was also known to take salt tablets before going onstage, because he thought women liked to see men sweating when they sang onstage. All this, and an all-around wild lifestyle, had given him a heart attack.

What's worse, his onstage reputation was such that, at first, nobody realized that this collapse wasn't part of the act. By the time the paramedics got to him, his brain had been deprived of enough oxygen to leave damage. He never recovered, spending the rest of his life in hospitals and nursing homes. One of the greatest R&B singers of all time, Jackie was forcibly retired at age 41, and died at 49, on January 21, 1984.

Later that year, singer Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father. Gaye had been one of the big stars of Motown Records, founded by Berry Gordy Jr., who got his start writing songs for Jackie Wilson. Another Motown group, The Commodores -- Lionel Richie had gotten his start as their lead singer, but had since gone solo -- recorded "Nightshift," a song that saluted both Gaye and Wilson. It hit Number 3 early in 1985.

It wasn't the 1st song to salute Wilson: In 1972, while he was still alive and performing, Irish singer Van Morrison had a hit song titled "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)."

Also on this day, Casey Stengel died of cancer in his adopted hometown of Glendale, California, in the Los Angeles suburbs. "The Ol' Perfesser" was 85. He first wore a major league uniform in 1912, and last did so in 1965. In between, in those 54 seasons, as a player and a manager, he had been a part of 14 Pennant winners and 9 World Championships. He had last appeared in a major league ballpark on June 28, for the Mets' Old-Timers Day.

Jim Murray, the great sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times, wrote, "Well, God is certainly getting an earful tonight."

*

September 29, 1975 was a Monday. Baseball's regular season had ended the day before. The NBA, ABA, NHL and WHA seasons would start in the next few weeks. The only score on this day was a game on ABC Monday Night Football: The Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers, 23-13 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

September 21, 1969: The 98-Yard Punt

September 21, 1969: The New York Jets lose to the Denver Broncos, 21-19 at Mile High Stadium in Denver. The Jets led 13-0 after the 1st quarter, but they blew it.

Eight months earlier, led by quarterback Joe Namath and a terrific defense, the Jets had stunned the world by beating the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. They won their new season's opener, 33-19 away to the Buffalo Bills. But they lost this one.

The Jets' Steve O'Neal had a 98-yard punt, the longest in the history of American football, at any level. Despite it taking place in an AFL game, the NFL recognizes it as the NFL record.

There was a 6 mile-an-hour wind, so that wasn't an issue. But Denver did have the highest elevation in either the AFL or the NFL, so that had something to do with it.

"I don't think we ran at all that particular series. Joe dropped back three times to pass and got sacked three times," said O'Neal, who was playing in only his second game. "I thought I was going out maybe to punt after a safety. And the closer I got to it, I realized they're putting the ball inside the 1-yard line. So, I thought, 'This is going to be tight.'

O'Neal's punt, from about 5 yards deep in his own end zone, landed at the Broncos' 33, so it went 67 yards in the air. It bounded down to the goal line, where Denver's Bill Thompson grabbed the ball and ran laterally before being tackled a step from the goal line by Wayne Stewart.

"They did announce before I got over to the sideline that it was a new record. I didn't think that much about it, I just wanted to stay focused on what I was doing," O'Neal said. "The biggest mistake I made was not going and getting the football, but they didn't do that sort of stuff back then.

"Nobody seemed to make a big deal out of it. Weeb Ewbank, the coach at that time, three days later, congratulated me on the punt."

A 23-year-old native of Hearne, Texas, O'Neal had played at Texas A&M, and was a pro rookie. The Jets needed a new punter because Curley Johnson had a knee injury. O'Neal lasted 4 seasons with the Jets, and played the 1973 season with the New Orleans Saints, who cut him before the 1974 season. He became a dentist, and moved to Bryan, Texas, near the A&M campus, where he practiced before retiring in 2015. As of September 21, 2022, he is still alive.

If you don't count O'Neal's 98-yarder because it was in the AFL, or because it was at altitude, the 2nd-longest punt in NFL history went 93 yards, by Shawn McCarthy of the New England Patriots, in a 22-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills on November 3, 1991.

*

September 21, 1969 was a Sunday. Actor Billy Porter was born.

Elsewhere in the American Football League:

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Boston Patriots, 31-0 at Alumni Stadium in the Boston suburb of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

* The Houston Oilers beat the Buffalo Bills, 17-3 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo.

* And the Cincinnati Bengals beat the San Diego Chargers, 34-20 at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati.  

These NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the Minnesota Vikings, 24-23 at Yankee Stadium.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-20 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Baltimore Colts, 27-20 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the San Francisco 49ers, 24-12 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium).

* The Washington Redskins beat the New Orleans Saints, 26-20 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 24-3 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions, 16-13 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* And the Green Bay Packers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bears, 17-0 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Mets swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 and 6-1 at Shea Stadium. Jerry Koosman outpitched Dock Ellis in the opener. Art Shamsky hit a home run. Roberto Clemente went 2-for-4 with an RBI, then sat out the nightcap, in which Don Cardwell outpitched Steve Blass. Over the 2 games, Willie Stargell went 2-for-8 with a home run and 2 RBIs.

Three days later, the Mets clinched their 1st-ever 1st-place finish, winning the 1st-ever National League Eastern Division title. They went on to win the World Series.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies. 7-6 at Jarry Park in Montreal.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 4-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Mike Kilenny pitched a 3-hit shutout. Al Kaline went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs. Norm Cash went 3-for-4 a walk and 2 RBIs. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Fergie Jenkins outpitched Chuck Taylor. Randy Hundley hit a home run. Ernie Banks went 1-for-3.

* The Seattle Pilots beat the Minnesota Vikings, 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. John Kennedy hit a home run in the top of the 9th inning, to give the Pilots the win. Harmon Killebrew went 3-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 4-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Pete Rose went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Johnny Bench went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 8-2 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Hank Aaron hit his 583rd career home run.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the California Angels, 12-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Reggie Jackson went 4-for-6 with 3 RBIs, but did not hit any of his 47 home runs that season in this game. Dave Duncan did hit a home run for the A's in this game, his 2nd of the season, and 1 of 109 he would hit in his career.

* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Jim Davenport hit a ground ball to short, and Maury Wills made an error that allowed Willie McCovey to score the winning run.

* And the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles were rained out at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. As the O's were running away with the American League Eastern Division, the game was never made up.

The NBA and the ABA hadn't yet started their seasons. The NHL had begun preseason exhibition games, including the St. Louis Blues beating the Boston Bruins, 5-1 at the Ottawa Civic Centre (now the TD Place Arena). That game featured a fight between the Blues' Wayne Maki and the Bruins' Ted Green that resulted in a head injury that knocked Green out for the entire season. I have a separate entry for this event.

September 13, 1999: Hurricane Floyd Hits the Northeast

September 13, 1999: This was the date in the opening of the TV show Space: 1999, when, in the show's chronology, an explosion of nuclear waste left on the Moon rips the satellite out of Earth's orbit.

Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov pointed out that any explosion strong enough to knock the Moon out of Earth orbit would also be strong enough to destroy the Moon entirely.

So, it's good that this has never happened. On the other hand, it's 2022, and we still don't have anything like Moonbase Alpha or the Eagle spacecraft.

In real life, 2 bad things happened on this day. Pioneering New York radio station WNEW-FM abandoned its 32-year-old rock and roll format for talk radio, a sad day for fans of what had come to be called "classic rock."

But a genuine tragedy on this day was that Hurricane Floyd had hit the Northeast, killing 85 people on the Atlantic Coast. This included 6 people in New Jersey, 3 of them in the small Somerset County town of Bound Brook, where 4 branches of the Raritan River come together and occasionally cause flooding, as seen in the photo above.

At the time, Bound Brook (shown above, during the flood) was home to about 10,000 people. The media descending on the town seemed to double the population.

I was then living in East Brunswick, on high ground, despite being just a block's worth of distance from another tributary of the Raritan. My house was safe, and we didn't even lose power. With a nor'easter in 2010, we lost power for 4 days, and our sump-pump broke. As a result, our basement got flooded. With Hurricane Sandy in 2012, we sustained no damage, but we were without power for 7 days.

That day, after the rain stopped, I went to the Morris Goodkind Bridge, which carries U.S. Route 1 over the Raritan, between New Brunswick and Edison. There's a small marina on the Edison side of the bridge, and half the boats in it had been ripped out of their moorings, and some of them were halfway across the river.

That season, the Somerset Patriots minor-league baseball team began play at what is now named TD Bank Ballpark, in Bridgewater, about a mile west of downtown Bound Brook. The brand-new ballpark was flooded, but their season was already over, so they didn't lose any games. That would not be the case in 2021, when Hurricane Ida hit the Northeast, and the ballpark was flooded again. Luckily, the waters receded, and they were able to have the ballpark ready to host baseball again in just 3 days.

*

September 13, 1999 was a Monday. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Miami Dolphins beat the Denver Broncos, 38-21 at Mile High Stadium in Denver. It was Dan Marino's last season with the Dolphins. And John Elway had retired, so it was the Broncos' 1st game without him as their hoped-for starting quarterback since 1982. That starter was Brian Griese, son of Bob Griese, the only quarterback ever to lead the Dolphins to a Super Bowl win.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1 at the SkyDome (now named the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Once-and-future Yankee David Wells outpitched Orlando "El Duque" Hernández, allowing only 4 hits: A double to Shane Spencer, and singles to Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Chad Curtis. Vernon Wells hit a home run for the Jays.

* The New York Mets beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-5 at Coors Field in Denver. Mike Piazza, not the swiftest of men, scored the winning run in the top of the 9th, on a wild pitch by Dave Veres with Darryl Hamilton at bat. Rickey Henderson hit a home run for the Mets.

Amazingly, none of the MLB teams in the Northeast got postponed due to the hurricane, partly because, the way the schedule worked out, Baltimore was the only one playing at home:

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-4 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. David Bell hit a 2-run homer in the 9th to tie it for the M's, but the O's won it in the bottom of the 10th, when Mariner reliever José Mesa threw away Jeff Conine's grounder, allowing B.J. Surhoff to score the winning run. Cal Ripken Jr. went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and 3 RBIs. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-5, and Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-5, but Edgar Martinez went 3-for-3 with a walk.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 8-3 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 11-7 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Florida Marlins, 7-4 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-5 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Mark McGwire went 0-for-1 with a walk, and was then substituted off.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-4 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The Rangers scored 4 runs in the top of the 10th inning, partly due to a wild pitch and an error.

* The Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 13-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-1 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-0 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium). Woody Williams pitched 8 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, and Trevor Hoffman completed the 4-hit shutout. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 12-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants were not scheduled.

September 9, 1960: The 1st American Football League Game

Action from the 1st AFL game

September 9, 1960: The 1st game of the new American Football League was played. It is a Friday night, so as not to conflict with the college games on Saturday and the NFL games on Sunday.

It was played at Boston University Field, which was renamed Nickerson Field in 1963, and still stands. The home stand used to be the right field pavilion of Braves Field, home of baseball's Boston Braves from 1915 to 1952. The host Boston Patriots played the Denver Broncos, and the Broncos won, 13-10.

There had been Boston teams in the NFL before, but none lasted long. Denver had never had an NFL team. And the one they had now wore uniforms that made their later combination of blue helmets and orange jerseys look tame by comparison: Dark brown helmets with white numbers, white jerseys with dark brown numbers, dark brown pants, and socks with dark brown and gold vertical stripes. These uniforms were so mocked that they switched to the blue and orange ones in 1962.

Patriots running back and placekicker Gino Cappelletti scored the League's 1st points, a 35-yard field goal in the 1st quarter. In the 2nd quarter, Frank Tripucka, former quarterback at Notre Dame and with the Chicago Cardinals, threw a 59-yard touchdown pass to Al Carmichael, with Gene Mingo adding the extra point.

In the 3rd quarter, Mingo returned a punt 76 yards for a touchdown. The Patriots closed to within 3 points when Butch Songin threw a touchdown pass to Jim Colclough, followed by Cappelletti's extra point. But there would be no scoring in the 4th quarter, as Goose Gonsoulin intercepted a late Songin pass at the Denver 2-yard line, and the Broncos won.

An oddity about the photo above: It's allegedly from the 1st game, yet the ballcarrier for the Patriots wears Number 46, and there's no Number 46 listed on their roster for the season. Yet there are 2 players listed as Number 45: Tight end Jerry Green, and tight end and defensive back Thomas Stephens. Green was white, and was wearing 45 in the official team photo. Stephens was also white. The ballcarrier in the photo is definitely black, but it doesn't give us a good look at his face, to make him easier to identify. So who is he?

No attendance figure was listed for this 1st game, but Nickerson Field's capacity has never been over 20,000, and the game was far from a sellout. I guess the choice to play on Friday night didn't help.

On Saturday, September 10, the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Dallas Texans, 21-20 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

On Sunday, September 11, the New York Titans beat the Buffalo Bills, 27-3 at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan. And the Houston Oilers beat the Oakland Raiders, 37-22 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

The Oilers ended up winning the 1st AFL Championship, beating the Chargers in the Championship Game.

The AFL's logo

The AFL struggled in its 1st 3 seasons, but, by 1963, was on solid footing. In 1966, with the NFL tired of its rosters being raided and its draft picks being signed, a truce and a merger were negotiated, and the AFL's teams were brought into the NFL for the 1970 season.

All 8 of the original AFL teams are still playing today -- but it's a little more complicated than that:

* The Denver Broncos are the only former AFL team still playing in their original city. They also turned out to be the last former AFL team to still be playing in their original stadium, although the expansion of the 18,000-seat minor-league ballpark named Bears Stadium to the 77,000-seat football stadium named Mile High Stadium in 1977 rendered it unrecognizable to those who saw it before. They remained there until 2000, and opened what's now Empower Field at Mile High the following season.

* The Boston Patriots are still playing in their original metropolitan area, but not in their original city. They moved to the suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts in 1971, and changed their name to the New England Patriots.

* The Buffalo Bills are still playing in their original metropolitan area, but moved to the suburb of Orchard Park, New York in 1972.

* The New York Titans are still playing in their original metropolitan area, but not in their original city. They changed their name to the New York Jets in 1963, and moved to the Meadowlands of East Rutherford, New Jersey in 1984.

* The Los Angeles Chargers moved to San Diego in 1961, and back to the Los Angeles area in 2017. After 3 seasons in suburban Carson, California, they moved to a new stadium in Inglewood in 2020.

* The Dallas Texans became the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963.

* The Raiders didn't actually play a game in Oakland until the 1962 season. They moved to Los Angeles in 1982, back to Oakland in 1995, and to Las Vegas in 2020.

* The Houston Oilers moved to Memphis in 1997, becoming the Tennessee Oilers. They moved to Nashville in 1998, and became the Tennessee Titans in 1999. Hey, the Jets weren't using the Titans name.

* The AFL added the Miami Dolphins in 1966. They are still playing in their original metropolitan area, but moved to the suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida in 1987.

* The AFL added the Cincinnati Bengals in 1968. They are still playing in their original city.

*

September 9, 1960 was, as I said, a Friday. English actor Hugh Grant was born.

These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-1 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (The following season, it would be renamed Tiger Stadium.) Hector Lopez and Roger Maris hit back-to-back home runs in the 3rd inning. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-3 with a walk. Bill Stafford was the winning pitcher, and helped his own cause with an RBI single. Yogi Berra went 0-for-4, but had the Yankees' other RBI when he grounded into a force play. For the Tigers, Norm Cash hit a home run, and Al Kaline went 2-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia, in a game shortened to 5 innings due to rain. Stan Musial, approaching his 40th birthday, still managed to go 3-for-3 with an RBI.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-3 with a walk. Ernie Banks went 1-for-4.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* A doubleheader was split at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The San Francisco Giants won the opener, 4-2. Willie McCovey won it with a home run in the top of the 9th inning. The Cincinnati Reds won the nightcap, 3-2. Willie Mays went 0-for-7 with a walk in the doubleheader. Frank Robinson did not play.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves, 5-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* And the Kansas City Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.