December 15, 17, 18 & 19, 2022: The Craziest Weekend In NFL History

December 15, 2022 was a Thursday. It was the beginning of the craziest weekend in NFL history.

The "weekend" began on the Thursday, with the San Francisco 49ers beating the Seattle Seahawks, 21-13 at Lumen Field in Seattle. The 49ers thus clinched the NFC Western Division, while the Seahawks lost at home to the team they consider to be their arch-rivals (but not vice versa, as the Niners' main rivals are the Los Angeles Rams), and probably ruined any chance they had at making the Playoffs. But that was one of the least remarkable games on the weekend.

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

* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 142-101 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.

* The Miami Heat beat the Houston Rockets, 111-108 at the Toyota Center in Houston. Tyler Herro scored 41 points.

* The Utah Jazz, who used to be the New Orleans Jazz, beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 132-129 in overtime at the Vivint Arena (now again named the Delta Center) in Salt Lake City. Jordan Clarkson scored 39 points.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 111-95 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

There were 12 games in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1 at the Prudential Center.

* The Anaheim Ducks beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 in a shootout at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Washington Capitals, 2-1 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Seattle Kraken, 3-2 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-1 at the Amalie Arena (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Florida Panthers, 4-2 at the FLA Live Arena in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida. (It's now named the Amerant Bank Arena.)

* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Nashville Predators, 2-1 at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg. Kyle Connor won the game with a goal with 1:29 left in overtime.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-2 at the Ball Arena in Denver.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3 in a shootout at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

* And the New York Islanders, the Detroit Red Wings, the Vancouver Canucks, the Calgary Flames, the San Jose Sharks, the Ottawa Senators, the Arizona Coyotes and the Minnesota Wild were not scheduled.

*

December 16, 2022 was a Friday. There were no NFL games that day. There were 2 bowl games in college football. In the Bahamas Bowl, the University of Alabama at Birmingham beat Miami University of Ohio, 24-20 at Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau. (Robinson was a Bahamian sprinter in the 1950s and '60s, and while he won Gold Medals at sub-Olympic tournaments, he never won a medal at the Olympics.)

And in the Cure Bowl -- sponsored by Cure Auto Insurance, not anything medicine-related -- Troy University, based in Troy, Alabama and ranked Number 23, beat the University of Texas at San Antonio, 18-12 at Exploria Stadium in Orlando (home of Orlando City SC).

There were 10 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls, 114-91 at the United Center.

* The Brooklyn Nets beat the Toronto Raptors, 119-116 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Kyrie Irving scored 32 points for the Nets, Fred Van Vleet 39 for the Raptors.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Boston Celtics, 117-109 at the TD Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Golden State Warriors, who used to be the Philadelphia Warriors, 118-106 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia. Joel Embiid scored 34 points.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 125-106 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 130-110 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 112-110 at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Indiana Pacers, 118-112 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland. Donovan Mitchell scored 41 points.

* The Sacramento Kings beat the Detroit Pistons, 122-113 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets, 126-108 at the Crypto.com Arena. LeBron James scored 30 points.

And there were 3 games in the NHL:

* The Islanders lost to the Coyotes, 5-4 at the Mullett Arena, the new arena on the campus of Arizona State University, in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona. It seats only 4,600 people, making it by far the smallest venue in North America's big five sports. At least they're selling it out.

* The Blackhawks beat the Wild, 4-1 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* And the Blues beat the Flames, 5-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

*

December 17, 2022 was a Saturday. There were 3 NFL games. The new version of the Cleveland Browns beat the Baltimore Ravens, who were the old version of the Browns, 13-3 at FirstEnergy Stadium (now named Huntington Bank Field) in Cleveland.

In a snowstorm at the original Highmark Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium and Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York, the Buffalo Bills trailed the Miami Dolphins, 29-21 with 12 minutes left in regulation. But the weather favored Buffalo, not Miami, and the Bills came from behind, and Tyler Bass kicked a 25-yard field goal as time ran out, giving the Bills a 32-29 victory. This clinched a Playoff berth for the Bills.

But neither game could match what went on at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Indianapolis Colts led the Minnesota Vikings 33-0 with 9 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Up by 33 with 24 minutes to go. It was shaping up to be one of the upsets of the season. The Vikings needed about a touchdown every 5 minutes to avoid it.

Then the Vikings came back, outscoring the Colts 36-3 the rest of the way. With 2:15 left in regulation, Kirk Cousins threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to Dalvin Cook, and the 2-point conversion was successful. That sent the game to overtime, and with 3 seconds left in that period, Greg Joseph kicked a 40-yard field goal to win it: Vikings 39, Colts 36.

The 33-point erasure was the biggest comeback in NFL history -- and the biggest blown lead. It surpassed the Bills' 35-3 comeback to beat the Houston Oilers 41-38 in overtime in a Playoff game in the 1992-93 season.

The Colts' quarterback was Matt Ryan. Ryan had also been the Atlanta Falcons' quarterback when they built a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI in 2017, only to lose, 34-28 in overtime. Ryan has now been part of the biggest blown leads in regular-season and Super Bowl history. He is the anti-Frank Reich: Reich had been part of what were once (but both records have since been broken) the biggest comeback in college football history and, in the aforementioned Bills-Oilers game, the biggest comeback in NFL history (and still the biggest in NFL Playoff history).

There were 6 bowl games that day:

* I don't know whose idea it was to stage a bowl game at Fenway Park, since Boston is usually very cold at this time of year. But the University of Louisville beat the University of Cincinnati, 24-7 in the Fenway Bowl. Both teams were once members of the Big East Conference, but now, Louisville are in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and Cincinnati are in the American Athletic Conference (AAC).

* In the Lending Tree Bowl, the University of Southern Mississippi beat Rice University, 38-24 at Hancock Whitey Stadium in Mobile, Alabama, home field of the University of Southern Alabama.

* In the Frisco Bowl, Boise State beat North Texas, 35-32 at Toyota Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas. Toyota Stadium is usually the home of Major League Soccer team FD Dallas.

* In the New Mexico Bowl, Brigham Young University beat Southern Methodist University: BYU 24, SMU 23, at University Stadium in Albuquerque, home of the University of New Mexico.

* In the Las Vegas Bowl, Number 17 Oregon State beat Florida, 30-3 at Allegiant Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada, home of the Las Vegas Raiders.

* The LA Bowl isn't quite held in Los Angeles, but at SoFi Stadium in adjoining Inglewood. Fresno State beat Washington State, 29-6.

There were 7 games in the NBA:

* The Cavs beat the Mavs, 100-99 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

* The Bucks beat the Jazz, 123-97 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

* The Thunder beat the Grizzlies, 115-109 at the Paycom Center.

* The Blazers beat the Rockets, 107-95 at the Toyota Center.

* The Heat beat the San Antonio Spurs, 111-101 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.

* The Suns beat the Jazz, 118-114 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. Devin Booker scored 58 points.

* And the Clippers beat the Wizards at the Crypto.com Arena.

There were 13 games in the NHL:

* The Rangers beat the Flyers, 6-3 at the Wells Fargo Center.

* The Islanders beat the Golden Knights, 5-2 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise.

* The Devils lost to the Panthers, 4-2 at the Prudential Center.

* The Lightning beat the Canadiens, 5-1 at the Bell Centre.

* The Bruins beat the Blue Jackets, 4-2 at the TD Garden.

* The Leafs beat the Caps, 5-2 at the Capital One Arena.

* The Stars beat the 'Canes, 5-4 at the PNC Arena. Martin Necas scored the winning goal with 2:41 left in overtime.

* The Senators beat the Red Wings, 6-3 at the Little Caesars Arena.

* The Avalanche beat the Predators, 3-1 at the Ball Arena.

* The Sabres beat the Coyotes, 5-2 at the Mullett Arena.

* The Ducks beat the Oilers, 4-3 at Rogers Place.

* The Kings beat the Sharks, 3-2 in a shootout at the Crypto.com Arena. (The Sharks consider the Kings their arch-rivals, but the Kings' are the Ducks.)

* The Jets beat the Canucks, 5-1 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

* And the Blackhawks, the Penguins, the Blues and the Kraken were not scheduled.

*

December 18, 2022 was a Sunday. There were 10 NFL games. I'll work my way up from least to most interesting.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Arizona Cardinals, 24-15 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. The Cards led 9-3 in the 3rd quarter and blew it, but that's about the only interesting thing about this game.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons, 21-18 at the Superdome in New Orleans. Aside from each team being the other's arch-rival, this one wasn't very interesting.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Carolina Panthers, 24-16 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. About all I can say about this one is that the Steelers' Chris Boswell and the Panthers' Eddy Pineiro each kicked a field goal of at least 50 yards.

* The New York Giants beat the Washington Commanders, 20-12 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. The Giants' Graham Gano hit 2 50-yard field goals, while the Commanders' Joey Slye kicked one 51 yards. The Giants moved to within 1 win of a Playoff berth, while the Commanders still have a chance.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chicago Bears, 25-20 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago. The Eagles clinched a Playoff berth, although quarterback Jalen Hurts got, well, hurt, and might end up missing the next game, against potential Playoff opponent Dallas.

* The Detroit Lions beat the New York Jets, 20-17 at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands. Jared Goff threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Brock Wright with 1:49 left. Both teams were 7-7 after the game, but the Lions had been surging, while the Jets, as usual, had been crashing.

* The Los Angeles Chargers beat the Tennessee Titans, 17-14 at SoFi Stadium. The Titans tied it on a Ryan Tannehill touchdown run with 48 seconds left in regulation, but the Chargers had enough time to get within field goal range, and Cameron Dicker kicked one 43 yards with 4 seconds left. The Titans remained in 1st place in the AFC South Division, while the Chargers stayed in the Playoff hunt.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 34-23 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The Bucs blew a 17-0 lead, despite having Tom Brady at quarterback. I guess the cheating isn't working anymore. The Bucs still lead the NFC South, while the Bengals lead the AFC North.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Houston Texans, 30-24 at NRG Stadium (as Reliant Stadium was then known) in Houston. The Texans, with the worst record in the NFL, 1-11-1 coming into the game, actually led 14-7 late in the 2nd quarter, and 21-16 early in the 4th. But Jerick McKinnon won it with a 26-yard touchdown run with 5:13 left in overtime. The Chiefs clinched the AFC West, while the Texans will get the top pick in a draft that doesn't have a player that currently stands out -- although history may end up saying otherwise.

(UPDATE: As it turned out, the 1st pick went to the Chicago Bears, and the Texans got the 2nd pick. The Bears traded their pick to the Carolina Panthers, and got quarterback Bryce Young. The Texans made a trade with the Cardinals, and thus had the 2nd and 3rd picks, using them on quarterback C.J. Stroud and linebacker Will Anderson Jr.)

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Dallas Cowboys, 40-34 at TIAA Bank Field (now EverBank Stadium) in Jacksonville. The Cowboys led this one 21-7 with 11 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, and thought they had it won when Dak Prescott threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Noah Brown with 3:02 left, to make it 34-31.

But Riley Patterson kicked a 48-yard field goal on the last play of regulation. And with 6:52 left in overtime, Rayshawn Jenkins intercepted a Prescott pass, taking it 52 yards for a game-winning touchdown. The Jags kept their slim Playoff hopes alive, while the Cowboys still clinched a Playoff berth due to losses by other teams.

* Then there was the game between the New England Patriots and the Las Vegas Raiders, at Allegiant Stadium. Whether the Raiders play in Las Vegas, Los Angeles or Oakland, they have priors with the Patriots, with strange occurrences benefiting each team. But Patriot coach Bill Belichick didn't have Brady to save him this time.

The Raiders led 17-3 at the half. But the Patriots scored 21 unanswered points to take a 24-17 lead with 3:43 to go. With 32 seconds left, Derek Carr threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Keelan Cole, and it was 24-24.

The Raiders kicked off, and the result was a touchback. The Patriots got to their own 45-yard line with 3 seconds left. The smart thing to do would have been to take a knee, run out the clock, and go to overtime. The gutsy thing to do would have been to attempt a 62-yard field goal, and hope that, if it missed, their defense prevented the Raiders from returning it for a touchdown.

Instead of doing either of these things, quarterback Mac Jones handed off to Rhamondre Stevenson, who gained a few years as time ran out, enough for a 1st down, but not nearly enough for a touchdown. So he lateraled the ball to Jakobi Meyers. It was reminiscent of "The Play," the six-lateral play that the University of California used to beat Stanford in 1982; and "The Music City Miracle," the single-lateral play that the Titans used to beat the Bills in a Playoff game in 2000. Reminding everyone of the Cal-Stanford play, an announcer told the TV audience, "No sign of the Stanford Band!"

Just as he said that, Meyers tried a 2nd lateral, passing the ball back, possibly intending it for quarterback Jones. Instead, it was caught by Raider linebacker Chandler Jones at the Patriots' 48-yard line, and he ran it into the end zone for a touchdown. Ballgame over: Raiders 30, Patriots 24.

It was as if the Patriots had forgotten that the game was tied, and that their chances in overtime were better than their chances of a last-play win. Announcers, studio analysts, and fans all over the country were thinking of similar boneheaded plays: The wrong-way run of Jim Marshall of the Vikings in 1964, the fumble by Joe Pisarcik of the Giants that led to an Eagles win in "The Miracle in the Meadowlands" in 1978, the Cowboys' Leon Lett messing up a missed field goal to give the Dolphins a win on Thanksgiving Day in 1993, and Mark Sanchez's "Butt Fumble" that embarrassed the Jets against the Patriots on Thanksgiving 2012.

All those men, if they weren't already, are now off the hook: This was the dumbest play in NFL regular-season history. (Pete Carroll calling a pass at the end of Super Bowl XLIX remains the all-time standard.) It kept the Raiders' slim Playoff hopes alive, and seriously damaged the Pats' hopes. And the Colts and their fans were probably saying, "Yeah, we looked bad, but at least we didn't do that!"

There were 7 games in that NBA that day: 

* The Knicks beat the Pacers, 109-106 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

* The Nets beat the Pistons, 124-121 at the Little Caesars Arena.

* The Magic beat the Celtics, 95-92 at the TD Garden.

* The Warriors beat the Raptors, 126-110 at the Scotiabank Arena.

* The Timberwolves beat the Bulls, 150-126 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Nuggets beat the Hornets, 119-115 at the Ball Arena.

* And the Lakers beat the Wizards, 119-117 at the Crypto.com Arena.

And there were 5 games played in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Rangers beat the Blackhawks, 7-1 at the United Center. The Rangers pulled off the unusual feat of having 7 different scorers: Filip Chytil, Artemi Panarin, Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba, Vincent Trochck, Vitali Kravtsov and Jonny Brodzinski.

* The 'Canes beat the Pens, 3-2 at the PNC Arena.

* The Wild beat the Senators, 4-2 at the Xcel Energy Center.

* The Flames beat the Sharks, 5-2 at the SAP Center in San Jose.

* And the Kraken beat the Jets, 3-2 at the Canada Life Centre.

Oh, yes, there was also a soccer game on this day. The World Cup Final, played at Lusail Iconic Stadium in Lusail, Qatar. This event was also crazy. I have a separate entry for it.

*

Finally, December 19, 2022 was a Monday. The week's Monday Night Football game was comparatively tame, as the Green Bay Packers beat the Los Angeles Rams, 24-12 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In spite of the time of year, which could well have heavily favored the Packers over the Rams, the weather was unremarkable, the Packers kept their slim Playoff hopes alive, while the Rams' ended.

There was a college football bowl game that night, the Myrtle Beach Bowl: Marshall University beat the University of Connecticut, 28-14 at Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina, home field of Coastal Carolina University.

There were 9 games in the NBA:

* The 76ers beat the Raptors, 104-101 in overtime at the Wells Fargo Center. Pascal Siakam scored 38 for the Raptors, while Embiied led the Sixers with 28.

* The Hawks beat the Magic, 126-125 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Trey Young scored 37 points.

* The Bucks beat the Pelicans, 128-119 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 42 points.

* The Spurs beat their arch-rivals, the Rockets, 124-105 at the Toyota Center.

* The Thunder beat the Blazers, 123-121 at the Paycom Center.

* The Cavs beat the Jazz, 122-99 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

* The T-Wolves beat the Mavs, 116-106 at the Target Center.

* The Suns beat the Lakers at the Footprint Center.

* And the Hornets beat the Kings at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. D'Aaron Fox scored 37 for the Kings.

And there were 8 games in the NHL:

* The Islanders lost to the Avalanche, 1-0 in a shootout at the Ball Arena.

* The Bruins beat the Panthers, 7-3 at the TD Garden.

* The Caps beat the Wings, 4-3 at the Capital One Arena. Dmitri Orlov scored the winning goal with 22 seconds left in overtime.

* The Predators beat the Oilers, 4-3 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Alexandre Carrier scored the winning goal with 2:48 left in overtime.

* The Stars beat the Jackets, 2-1 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The Canadiens beat the Coyotes, 3-2 at the Mullett Arena. Mike Hoffman scored the winning goal with 3:52 left in overtime.

* The Sabres beat the Knights, 3-2 at the T-Mobile Arena.

* And the Blues beat the Canucks, 5-1 at the Rogers Arena.

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.

*

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.

November 25, 2001: Don't Talk to Jim Mora About Playoffs

November 25, 2001: The Indianapolis Colts lose to the San Francisco 49ers, 40-21 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. It's the team's 3rd straight loss, and they fall 4-6.

The Colts' coach, Jim Mora is rightly upset. He was 66 years old, a football lifer, from the Los Angeles area. He'd been the head coach at Occidental College in L.A., and served on Dick Vermeil's staff at UCLA and Don James' staff at Washington. He coached the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars to all 3 USFL Championship Games, winning 2 of them. He coached the New Orleans Saints for 11 seasons, including the franchise's 1st 4 Playoff berths. He was now in his 4th season as head man in Indianapolis, having made the Playoffs the preceding 2 years.

He had seen it all. He now acted like he'd seen enough, and launched into one of the press conference tirades he was known for occasionally giving:

Well, I'll start off by saying this: Do not blame that game on the defense, okay? I don't care who you play, whether it's a high school team, a junior college team, a college team, much less an NFL team: When you turn the ball over 5 times, 4 interceptions, 1 for a touchdown, 3 others in field position to set up touchdowns, you ain't gonna beat anybody I just talked about, anybody. All right?

And that was a disgraceful performance in my opinion. We threw that game. We gave it away by doing that. We gave 'em the friggin' game. In my opinion, that sucked.

Uh, you know, you can't turn the ball over 5 times like that. Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think we are, when we do something like that. Unbelievable. Five turnovers. One of 'em for -- We threw 4 interceptions for touchdowns this year. That might be an NFL record. That's pitiful. I mean, it's absolutely pitiful, to perform like that. Pitiful.

At this point, Tim Bragg of WRTV-Channel 6, the ABC affiliate in Indianapolis, asked Mora if he thought his team could still make the Playoffs. His response might be the most famous coach's press conference rant of all time:

What's that? Ah -- Playoffs? Don't talk about -- Playoffs? You kiddin' me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game! Another game!"

Mora was right to worry: The Colts won only 2 of their last 6 games, finishing 6-10, and missing the Playoffs. The Colts averaged 30.4 points per game, more than any team in the NFL. So, maybe he should have blamed the defense.

Mora was fired, and has never coached again. Although his regular-season record was an impressive 125-106, and he won a Division title with New Orleans and another in Indianapolis, he went 0-6 in the... Playoffs!

The Colts replaced him with Tony Dungy. He was able to get more out of Mora's former quarterback, Peyton Manning. But, as a defensive back who played on the Pittsburgh Steelers' Super Bowl teams of the 1970s, Dungy also built a better defense. As a result, he coached them for 7 years, and, every season, made the Playoffs, including the 2006 season, which ended with him leading them to win Super Bowl XLI.

Mora's son, usually listed as Jim L. Mora, served on his father's staff in New Orleans, and as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and the Seattle Seahawks, and at UCLA, winning an NFC South Division with the Falcons and a Pac-12 South Division with UCLA. As of November 25, 2022, Jim Mora is still alive, age 87; and Jim L. Mora, 61, is the head coach at the University of Connecticut.

On September 17, 2013, while writing my original blog, Uncle Mike's Musings, I discovered that, if you Google just that one word, "playoffs," the first thing that came up was Mora's rant. Not a link to any sport's postseason. I checked again while writing this post, and found that that was no longer the case. Still, it held up for at least 12 years.

*

November 25, 2001 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Giants lost to the Oakland Raiders, 28-10 at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 13-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Carolina Panthers, 10-7 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-21 at Alltel Stadium (now EverBank Stadium) in Jacksonville.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Tennessee Titans, 34-24 at the Adelphia Coliseum (now Nissan Stadium) in Nashville.

* The New England Patriots beat the New Orleans Saints, 34-17 at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Buffalo Bills, 34-27 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 18-0 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now named Huntington Bank Field).

* The Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 13-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the San Diego Chargers, 20-17 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Seattle Seahawks, 19-7 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

* Three days earlier, on Thanksgiving Day, the Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions, 29-27 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* Also on Thanksgiving, the Denver Broncos beat the Dallas Cowboys, 26-24 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the St. Louis Rams, 24-17 at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis. (That stadium has gone through some name changes, but now has that name again.)

* And, in this last of 3 seasons between the arrival of the reborn Cleveland Browns and that of the Houston Texans, when the NFL had 31 teams, the New York Jets had a bye week.

The Grey Cup, the championship game of the Canadian Football League, was played at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Calgary Stampeders beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 27-19.

Baseball was in the off-season. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Golden State Warriors, 101-85 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (then named The Arena in Oakland).

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 107-88 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* There was a doubleheader at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. In the opener, the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Houston Rockets, 90-83.

* In the nightcap, the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets, 105-98. Nick Van Exel led all scorers on the day with 34 points.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Indiana Pacers, 99-88 at the KeyArena in Seattle.

And there were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Vancouver Canucks lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-0 at the Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena (now the Lenovo Center).

* The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings, arch-rivals, played to a 4-4 tie at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* And the Dallas Stars beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-3 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Manchester United, 3-1 at Highbury in North London.

May 11, 2015: Deflategate

May 11, 2015: The New England Patriots became the 1st major league sports team ever to break the power of its league's Commissioner.

The Pats had already flouted the law before, with "Sypgate." Surely, quarterback Tom Brady had benefited from the cheating of his head coach, Bill Belichick. But when "Deflategate" happened, it appeared to be only on Brady, not Belichick.

On January 18, 2015, the AFC Championship Game was played, at Patriots' home field, Gillette Stadium, in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. The game was no contest: The Pats won, 45-7. So any accusation of cheating seemed petty. (Of course, they went on to win Super Bowl XLIX, beating the Seattle Seahawks because coach Pete Carroll called a pass on 3rd & goal at the 1.)

But after the game, claims emerged that the Patriots had used under-inflated footballs, presumably to Brady's advantage. The results of the NFL's investigation, and possible sanctions against the Patriots, concluded on May 11, with Commissioner Roger Goodell suspending Brady for the 1st 4 games of the 2015 season, and the Patriots forfeiting their 1st and 4th round draft picks in the 2016 and 2017 NFL Drafts, respectively.

Four games, for cheating your way into the Super Bowl. That day, I wrote the following on Facebook:

Roger Goodell is a coward. Four games was the absolute minimum he could have given Tom Brady and still looked like he was doing his job.

In college football, we've seen teams stripped of conference and even national championships, and made ineligible for subsequent ones, for cheating to win them.

I expected milquetoast reactions toward cheating teams, coaches and players from Bud Selig (ex-MLB), David Stern (ex-NBA) and Gary Bettman (still making a mockery of the NHL). The NFL is supposed to be different. The NFL is a league where you get a big fine if you so much as wear your socks wrong. But cheat to win a championship, and you get FOUR GAMES? Where's Kenesaw Mountain Landis when you need him?

It's like I said the other day, when the Rangers got caught by the cameras, but not the officials, with too many men on the ice for a key goal: What's the point of having a rule if you're not going enforce it when you've got proof it's been broken? Especially when you consider who the Pats beat: Pete Carroll, who had a national championship taken away for cheating. Since when are a bunch of college presidents more dangerous to cross than the commissioner of the National Football League?

It got worse. On May 14, the players' union, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), filed an appeal on Brady's behalf. That's understandable: The union has to stand up for its players as best it can. On May 26, Patriots fans held a "Free Brady" rally at Gillette Stadium. This was also understandable: Fans do tend to stand up to their players when they believe their players have been wronged. But it was unacceptable: It meant that Pats fans were okay with cheating.

On June 23, Brady appealed his suspension before Goodell at the NFL office in New York. On July 28, Goodell announced that the 4-game suspension would stand. On July 29, the NFLPA announced that it had filed an injunction that would prevent the NFL from enforcing the suspension.

On September 3, just 7 days before the start of the Patriots' regular season, Judge Richard M. Berman overturned Brady's suspension, citing a lack of fair due process for him. The NFL announced that it would appeal the decision. Until it was decided, Brady could play. Brady played the entire 2015 regular season, and he got the Patriots into the AFC Championship Game, which they lost to the Denver Broncos.

On April 25, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated Brady's 4-game suspension, starting with the start of the 2016 regular season. With Jimmy Garoppolo as quarterback, the Pats won their 1st 3 games, before losing their 4th. Then Brady came back, and they finished 14-2, and won Super Bowl LI.

So the suspension ended up being meaningless: It was minor; it got delayed; the Patriots won a Super Bowl, anyway; and it all combined to make Goodell look like the weakest Commissioner in memory in any sport.

It also deepened the message sent by other sports: Cheating is okay if a New England team does it.

Now, you can argue that the Patriots would have won those games anyway. But think of it this way: We have more investigated-and-proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have investigated-and-proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?

UPDATE: On February 16, 2024, it was announced that Garoppolo, by then with the Las Vegas Raiders, would miss the 1st 2 games of the next season, for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing drug policy.

Brady's backup, caught cheating. Gee, what a surprise. And yet, Brady's suspension for stealing a Super Bowl berth, and thus also the Super Bowl win, was only twice as long as Garoppolo's suspension for PEDs. Where's the fairness? I stand by everything I wrote in 2015, and I stand by what I wrote in this update.

*

May 11, 2015 was a Monday. Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were underway, but no games were scheduled. There were 2 games in the NBA Playoffs. The Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Wizards, 106-101 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington. And the Golden State Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 101-84 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.

And these 10 Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 11-5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was CC Sabathia's 1st win of the season, after losing his 1st 5 decisions. He was supported by home runs from Alex Rodriguez, Chase Headley, Carlos Beltrán, Brett Gardner and Mark Teixeira.

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Jon Lester was the winning pitcher. Jacob deGrom only lasted 5 innings.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-7 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-2 at Globe Life Park (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 11-1 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Miami Marlins, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-4 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the O.co Coliseum). Pablo Sandoval was a bust signing for the BoSox, but he won this game with a home run leading off the top of the 11th inning.

April 18, 1998: Manning Or Leaf?

April 18, 1998: The NFL Draft is held at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden (formerly known as the Felt Forum) in New York. The Indianapolis Colts had the 1st pick and San Diego Chargers had the 2nd pick.

Ryan Leaf was an All-American quarterback at Washington State University, and was projected to be 1 of the 1st 2 picks. The other man projected to be 1 of those picks was Peyton Manning, the quarterback at the University of Tennessee.

The Colts chose Manning. Still needing a quarterback, the Chargers chose Leaf. At the time, most observers thought both teams had found a winner.

Manning played 13 seasons for the Colts. The 1st was rough, 3-13. But after that, he got them to the Playoffs 11 times, winning 8 Division titles, 2 AFC Championships, and Super Bowl XLI. Their new stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, could be called The House That Peyton Built. He closed his career with the Denver Broncos, again winning a Super Bowl and losing another, and he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility.

The Chargers' 1st season after drafting Leaf wasn't as bad as the Colts' 1st after drafting Manning: 5-11. Bad, but hardly a disaster, given that the quarterback was a rookie, and plenty of quarterbacks who went on to have good careers, including Manning, had worse rookie seasons, at least in terms of wins and losses.

In the 24 full seasons since drafting Leaf, the Chargers have made the Playoffs 7 times, winning their Division 5 times. Doesn't sound so bad. But look more closely: After that 1998 Draft, the Chargers didn't make the Playoffs in any of the next 6 seasons. They've only made 1 AFC Championship Game, losing it.

In 2004, they drafted Eli Manning, Peyton's brother. But he refused to play for the Chargers, so a deal was arranged with the New York Giants: The rights to Eli were traded to New York, for the Giants' pick, Philip Rivers. Rivers was the quarterback who got them to those Playoff berths, but he couldn't get them into the Super Bowl.

Like the Colts, the Chargers decided they needed a new stadium. Unlike the Colts, their city wouldn't give it to them, and, after the 2016 season, they left San Diego for Los Angeles.

So what happened? Ryan Leaf happened. He made a lot of mistakes, but blamed his teammates. He developed a bad work ethic. He preferred to play golf instead of studying game film. He got into an argument with a sportswriter, and it was caught on camera. He was 22 years old, going on 12.

Rodney Harrison, a safety not yet in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but regarded well enough to be voted by fans into the 50th Anniversary Teams of both the Chargers and the New England Patriots, called the 1998 season with Leaf as quarterback of the Chargers, "A nightmare you can't even imagine." He also said, "If I had to go through another year like that, I'd probably quit playing."

Just 20 minutes into the Chargers' 1st training camp of the 1999 season, Leaf got hurt, and had to miss the entire season. Former Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie, about to turn 37, was signed as the starter. Later in the season, the injured Leaf got into a shouting match with general manager Bobby Beathard.

Leaf got off to a bad start in 2000, missed half the season due to injury, lied about a new injury to get out of practice. was caught playing golf later that day, and played poorly the rest of the season.

The Chargers released him. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed him. They ended up not being impressed by him, and was told he would be the 4th string quarterback, and would have to accept a lower salary. He refused, and was released. He was signed by the Dallas Cowboys. He failed his 1st physical, and was released before the 1st game. When Quincy Carter was injured, Leaf was brought back. He played 4 games in 2001, and was awful in all 4. The Cowboys released him again.

The Seattle Seahawks signed him for 2002, and it was thought that head coach Mike Holmgren, himself a former quarterback who had helped develop Joe Montana and Steve Young as a San Francisco assistant, and Brett Favre as head coach in Green Bay, could help him. After all, he was only 26: A few quarterbacks didn't come into their own until after that. Y.A. Tittle, George Blanda, Jim Plunkett and Vinny Testaverde come to mind.

But just before the start of training camp, Leaf retired. He gave no explanation. He never tried again: Not in the NFL, not in the CFL, not in Arena Football. Career statistics. 4-17 as a starting quarterback, 48.4 percent completion percentage, 3,666 yards, 14 touchdowns, 36 interceptions.

Rodney Harrison again: "He took the money and ran... Normally, in this game, you get back what you put into it. And he pretty much got back what he put into it."

It is true that Leaf had injuries. Some college football stars get hurt before they can become NFL stars, and are regarded as "busts," but shouldn't be: Blair Thomas, Steve Emtman, Ki-Jana Carter, Courtney Brown. Even Brian Bosworth, the patron sinner for bad attitudes among football players until Leaf came along, had his career ended by injury rather than personality: When he could play, he played well, and he did help the Seattle Seahawks win a Division title.

Timm Rosenbach, one of Leaf's predecessors as Washington State quarterback, was another guy whose career is regarded as a bust, but shouldn't be, due to a nasty injury, in his case a broken leg that limited him to spot duty in his 1st season, a mediocre 2nd season, and barely playing after that.

But it wasn't just injuries that hurt Leaf's career. He did it to himself.

And the Chargers did it to themselves, too. They look like idiots for drafting him. Why did they do it? Surely, there must have been reasons why, at the time, drafting Leaf made sense. There must have been, right?

Well, in 1990, the NFL changed their rule, and allowed redshirt juniors, players who had been in a college's football program for 4 years but had played only 3, to enter the Draft. Maybe if this rule hadn't been in place, the extra year in school would have done Leaf a lot of good. He might have matured a little. He might have been more ready to enter the NFL in 1999 than he was in 1998.

In 1999, the 1st pick belonged to the Cleveland Browns. They took Tim Couch, quarterback of Kentucky. He was a bust, based on performance alone, not on attitude. Actually, 7 quarterbacks were taken in the 1st 3 rounds that year, and, of those, only Donovan McNabb (of Syracuse, the 2nd pick, by the Philadelphia Eagles) could even remotely be called a success. Maybe Leaf would still have been a bust. But maybe not. Maybe he would have been a good fit in Cleveland.

In 1997, the Buffalo Bills beat the Colts 37-35 in Orchard Park, and 9-6 in Indianapolis. Had the Colts won either of those games, the Chargers would have had the top pick, and would have been able to draft Peyton Manning.

Once again, a Bills kicker changed history: While Steve Christie made the field goal that won that legendary 1992-93 Playoff game with the Houston Oilers, had he not missed field goals in either of the '97 Bills-Colts games, the Colts would have had the 2nd pick in the draft, and would have had to choose between Ryan Leaf and the field.

Maybe Leaf would have fit in better with the Colts, and then had a good career. After all, the Atlanta Falcons drafted Brett Favre, and he was a terrible fit for them, but they traded him after just 1 season, and he was a great fit for the Green Bay Packers. Maybe if the Chargers had traded him after that 1st year...

But he and the Colts never got that chance to see what they could do together. He and the Chargers did, and it was a disaster. One more Indianapolis score in either of 2 games against Buffalo could have made a tremendous difference.

The Colts did seriously consider drafting Leaf, before taking Manning. If they had taken Leaf, maybe they would have gone nowhere -- and then gone somewhere, not getting the new stadium. With the arrival of the Ravens, they couldn't have gone back to Baltimore. But maybe they, rather than the Chargers, would be the team now playing in a 25,000-seat soccer stadium in the Los Angeles suburbs, waiting for the new Hollywood Park stadium to open so they could share it with the Rams.

There are 5 men in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who were elected on the basis of being team executives, without also being head coaches: Gil Brandt, Jim Finks, Bill Polian, Ron Wolf and Bobby Beathard.

Beathard's record is amazing. As a scout for the Kansas City Chiefs, he helped build a team that reached Super Bowl I and won Super Bowl IV. As director of player personnel for the Miami Dolphins, he helped build a team that won Super Bowls VII and VIII. As general manager of the Washington Redskins, he helped build a team that won Super Bowls XVII, XXII and XXVI, and reached Super Bowl XVIII. As general manager of the Chargers, he had already built a team that reached Super Bowl XXIX. That's 9 Super Bowls, winning 6.

He was a man who usually knew what he was doing. If Bobby Beathard thinks a player is going to have a good pro football career, then it's usually good to believe him. This time, he was wrong.

At the time, Leaf looked like a good choice. In 2 1/2 seasons as Washington State's starting quarterback, he passed for 7,433 yards, 59 touchdowns and 24 interceptions, a good ratio. He also rushed for 14 touchdowns. In 1997, he led the Cougars to their 1st Pacific-10 (now Pacific-12) Conference Championship. They lost the Rose Bowl, but he hardly disgraced himself in it, getting "Wazzu" to within 21-16 against Michigan, which shared the National Championship with Nebraska.

The NFL now invests more in psychological evaluations of players. Maybe the Chargers wouldn't have drafted Leaf if they'd been able to check him out this way. But, based on what they saw in college, he didn't look like a bad choice.

Washington State University had a history of producing good quarterbacks. Jack Thompson in the late 1970s. Timm Rosenbach in the late 1980s. Drew Bledsoe in the early 1990s. Drafting a Wazzu quarterback looked like a good idea. As it turned out, drafting that one wasn't.

Then there was the Chargers' previous quarterback. Stan Humphries led the Chargers to the 1992 AFC Western Division title, and then the 1994 AFC Championship. It certainly wasn't his fault the Chargers lost Super Bowl XXIX to the 49ers.

But after the 1997 season, he retired due to having sustained concussions. It was for the best: We've seen what happens to players who hang on too long. And, for all we know, he still did: He's 57, and may yet show symptoms of damage.

But he was 32 when he quit. If he had sustained 1 fewer concussion, he might have felt more able to play, and the Chargers wouldn't have needed to draft a quarterback in 1998. Maybe they would have ended up drafting McNabb in 1999. Maybe they would have drafted Tom Brady in 2000 -- who, although on the bench, was on the other side of the field from Leaf in that 1998 Rose Bowl.

Or maybe Humphries would still have been able to play through the 2000 season. And then the Chargers could have drafted the guy they did draft in 2001: Drew Brees. If Leaf had "worked out," would the Chargers have been appreciably better than they were with Brees? Maybe not: In his 4th season as the starter, 2004, Brees got the Bolts to 12-4 and the AFC West title.

But then they drafted Philip Rivers in 2005, after trying and failing to get Eli Manning. Now, you could argue that drafting Rivers, and thus undermining Brees, and thus leading him to refuse offers of a new contract after the one he had with the Chargers ran out, allowing him to become a legend and a Super Bowl winner with the New Orleans Saints, was an even bigger mistake than drafting Leaf. But that's a whole other debate.

The reason that Leaf turned out to be a bust, his immaturity, was not immediately apparent when he was drafted. And there were reasons why a player with his skills and record deserved a chance to become an NFL quarterback. Blame Leaf for being a bad choice, not the Chargers for choosing him. They didn't know. Nobody knew.

Postscript: At first, Leaf looked like he was, well, turning over a new leaf. He went back to WSU, got his degree, and become a collegiate assistant coach. But that didn't work out. He became a financial consultant, based on his degree. But, in dealing with the residual effects from his injuries, he became addicted to painkillers, and it led to a brief prison term.

He is approaching his 46th birthday, is about to get married for the 2nd time, hosts a radio show, works with rehab centers, and runs a foundation to aid high school and college students in avoiding the pitfalls that lead to addiction, and to help those who did not to get clean.

*

April 18, 1998 was a Saturday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. David Cone was the winning pitcher. Derek Jeter went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

* The New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati. In the top of the 10th inning, Jim Tatum hit a grounder to 3rd, where Willie Greene threw the ball away, allowing Rich Becker to score the winning run. Bret Boone went 4-for-4 with an RBI for the Reds.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-4 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-4 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-5 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. In the top of the 10th inning, in a play similar to the one that described the Mets-Reds game, Quilvio Veras grounded to 3rd, but Doug Strange threw the ball away, allowing allowing Greg Vaughn and Ed Giovanola to score.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Sammy Sosa went 0-for-3 with a walk. It would be June before he went from "good player" to "superstar" -- with steroids, of course.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Barry Bonds went 0-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Mark McGwire went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-4. Alex Rodriguez went 4-for-4 with a solo home run.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 10-8 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Cal Ripken went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Houston Astros beat the Montreal Expos, 4-3 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Colorado Rockies, 11-4 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Florida Marlins, 7-5 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Anaheim Angels, 8-1 at Edison International Field of Anaheim (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Network Associates Coliseum). Rickey Henderson went 0-for-3 with a walk.

There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Chicago Bulls, 111-109 at the United Center in Chicago. Michael Jordan scored 44 points.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Boston Celtics, 112-95 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Indiana Pacers, 96-92 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 111-109 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Ray Allen scored 40 in defeat for the Bucks.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Sacramento Kings, 83-77 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 112-100 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (then named The Arena in Oakland).

There were 12 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils, 2-1 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Montreal Canadiens and the Buffalo Sabres played to a tie, 3-3 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3 at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers, arch-rivals, played to a 2-2 tie at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Boston Bruins, 5-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-4 at the America West Arena in Phoenix.

*The Edmonton Oilers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3 at the Skyreach Centre (as the Northlands Coliseum was then known) in Edmonton.

* The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Calgary Flames, 4-1 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

* And the Vancouver Canucks and the Ottawa Senators were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, Arsenal F.C. beat Wimbledon F.C., 5-0 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.

March 29, 1984: The Baltimore Colts Are Moved

March 29, 1984: Baltimore Colts owner Bob Irsay moves the team to Indianapolis, with Mayflower moving vans infamously getting loaded up with equipment, and driving out of their training camp in suburban Owings Mills, Maryland overnight and in the early morning. Thus ended an American sports institution.

The Baltimore Colts played at Municipal Stadium, in the All-America Football Conference in 1947, 1948 and 1949, and were admitted to the NFL in 1950. But they were terrible, and folded. But Municipal Stadium was converted from a 70,000-seat football stadium built in 1922 into a 54,000-seat stadium capable of hosting baseball as well, and in 1953, the Colts returned, with the baseball Orioles getting promoted from minor league to major league the following Spring.

The Colts won the NFL Championship in 1958 and 1959, beating the New York Giants in the NFL Championship Game both times. They were good through most of the 1960s, losing the 1964 NFL Championship Game to the Cleveland Browns, then tying the Green Bay Packers for the 1965 Western Division title before losing to them in a controversial Playoff game.

In 1967, they lost only 1 regular-season game, but lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the Playoffs. In 1968, they went 13-1, losing only to the Browns, then beat the Browns in the Championship Game -- and then lost Super Bowl III to the New York Jets.

They rebounded to win Super Bowl V for the 1970 NFL Championship. They got old and bad, but rebounded, winning the AFC Eastern Division in 1975, 1976 and 1977, but couldn't get past the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders to get back to the Super Bowl.

In the strike-shortened 1982 season, they didn't win a game, going 0-8-1. On December 18, 1983, they beat the Houston Oilers 20-10, to finish 7-9. Attendance at Memorial Stadium: 20,418. Average attendance that season: 38,336.

The Baltimore Colts have become thought of as the Brooklyn Dodgers of the NFL, the "working man's team" that made the nation fall in love with them in the 1950s, but got pushed out of town by an evil owner, only in it for the money, with the complicity of the league's powers-that-be. Bob Irsay became the Walter O'Malley of the NFL.

And he looks like the kind of guy who played a secondary villain

on Dallas. You know, the kind of guy who made us say,

"J.R. Ewing sure is an asshole, but at least he's not that guy!"

But does he deserve that title? The truth is a bit more complicated. In 1980, Irsay asked Governor Harry Hughes of Maryland for $25 million in State funds to renovate Memorial Stadium, to extend the upper deck and replace the seats with wider ones, expanding football capacity from 60,020 to 64,124. It would also have improved the plumbing, and given both the Orioles and the Colts sufficient office space.

The plan's approval was contingent on both the Colts and the O's signing long-term leases. The Orioles challenged the requested football improvements, thinking it would've provided too much short-term inconvenience and not enough long-term benefit, and refused to sign anything more than a 1-year lease. Irsay also refused to sign long-term. As a result, the State legislature dropped the plan.

In hindsight, both the Orioles and the current football team are better off at Camden Yards, at the western edge of downtown, next to Camden Station and the light rail and a short walk from the subway, than the Orioles and the Colts would have been at even an expanded and improved Memorial Stadium, 4 miles north of downtown, unless there had been a subway or light rail extension to 33rd Street. But the Orioles did do as much to kill this project as Irsay and the Maryland legislature did.

Carroll Rosenbloom, a Baltimore native, had owned the team from its 1953 revival until July 13, 1972, when he did something shocking: He sold the Colts to Bob Irsay, the owner of the Los Angeles Rams, who then sold the Rams to Rosenbloom.

Why would they do that? Rosenbloom didn't like Memorial Stadium any more than Irsay later would, and the City of Baltimore raised his rent in 1969. Rosenbloom asked the City to build him a new stadium, and, proud of their municipal venue (with some reason), they wouldn't do it. The lease ran out after the 1972 season, and Rosenbloom threatened to build a stadium on land in Baltimore County -- from which Baltimore City is separate.

Rosenbloom was also feuding with the Baltimore media. And his new wife, Georgia, hated Baltimore, a declining city with often rotten weather, and wanted to move to Los Angeles. So, realizing how much it would cost to build a new stadium (probably around $20 million at the time), and rather than move the team to L.A., he moved himself and his wife Georgia there. (After he died, Georgia remarried, and, as Georgia Frontiere, moved the Rams first down the freeway to Anaheim, then to her hometown of St. Louis. They have since moved back to the L.A. area.)

Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis moved his team to Los Angeles in 1982, and the NFL tried to stop him, and he took the League to court, and won. He got away with it. (Yes, he moved them back in 1995, and his son Mark has now moved them to Las Vegas, but that's not relevant to this discussion.) Irsay figured, "If Al can do it, I can do it. They can't stop me." He did it, and, perhaps weary from the fight with the man nicknamed Darth Raider, they didn't even try to stop him.

If Davis had worked out his differences with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, and the Raiders had stayed put, maybe Irsay would have started to think he could get a good deal from Baltimore anyway. Or, suppose the NFL succeeded in stopping Davis. Maybe Irsay would have thought twice about taking the NFL on. (At the very least, he would have been more conciliatory, giving the other owners more velvet glove, less iron fist than Davis did.)

At the time, Indianapolis was the 3rd-largest city in the Midwest, and now that Detroit has fallen below them in population, they're 2nd only to Chicago. They had a new domed stadium. They had a fan base used to watching football: Notre Dame, Indiana University, Purdue University, smaller schools like Indiana State and Ball State, and the Chicago Bears. They were ready for their own NFL team.

And in less than 30 years, the Colts have become as ingrained in the minds and hearts of Indiana sports fans as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Indiana Hoosiers and Purdue Boilermakers basketball teams, the Indiana Pacers, and the Indianapolis 500. If the Colts had to move, Indy was a good place in which to set up shop.

As with the legendary Brooklyn Dodger fans of the 1950s, the much-lauded Colt fans weren't selling out Memorial Stadium. Were they betrayed? Yes, but they weren't coming out in overwhelming numbers.

This was partly due to the success of the Washington Redskins. In the late 1950s and through the 1960s, the Colts were good and the Redskins were bad, and a lot of people in the suburbs between Baltimore and Washington, and a lot of people further away in Maryland, such as on the Eastern Shore and the western Panhandle, became Colt fans.

But in the early 1970s, the Redskins got good and the Colts got old and bad, and a lot more people became Redskin fans. The Colts' brief revival in the latter half of the 1970s didn't help, and when the Redskins won Super Bowl XVII in January 1983, after the Colts had finished the strike-shortened 1982 season without a win, the Redskin publicity machine went into overdrive, hyping running back John Riggins, the receivers known as the Fun Bunch, even making the least glamorous position on the field, the offensive line, famous: The Hogs.

With fans showing up in Indian headdresses and plastic pig masks (or at least rubber snouts), the 'Skins became more popular than ever, just as the Colts were bottoming out again, and taking suburban Maryland fans away. Never mind the Unitas-led NFL Championships of 1958 and '59: Super Bowl V, and even the AFC East titles of 1975, '76 and '77 now seemed a long way back.

The Colts were bad, and not the least bit interesting. The Redskins were great, and fun. It was the same combination that happened in New York baseball in the latter half of the 1960s, with the Colts in the Yankees' place and the Redskins in the Mets' place. It was probably the worst thing that could have happened to Baltimore football fans.

Memorial Stadium wasn't a bad stadium, but it was in a bad location. Not because of neighborhood crime, but because of access and parking. It also didn't have enough office space for either the Orioles or the Colts, much less both teams. It also didn't have enough luxury boxes, which is why a replacement for it was necessary for any team moving to Baltimore to take the Colts' place.

In 1973, the NBA's Baltimore Bullets moved to Washington, and O's owner Jerry Hoffberger wanted out, eventually selling the team to Redskins owner Edward Bennett Williams -- who, because of the NFL's rule at the time, prohibiting a majority owner from being a majority owner of a team in another sport, had to sell a majority stake in the 'Skins to Jack Kent Cooke. Now, the possibility of the Orioles moving to Washington, Williams' hometown, to take the place of the departed Senators, was real.

Irsay was willing to wait. But it's not like he didn't drop hints. The City of Baltimore and the State of Maryland didn't take Irsay's threat to move seriously. "It's not a matter of saying that there will be no stadium," he said. "It's a matter of getting the facts together, so everybody is happy when they build the stadium. I'm a patient man. I think the people of Baltimore are going to see those new stadiums in New Orleans and Seattle opening in a year or two around the country, and they are going to realize the need a stadium... for conventions, and other things besides football." This was in 1975, and he was referring to the Louisiana Superdome and the Kingdome, respectively.

He talked with city officials of Phoenix in 1976 -- and then, in 1977, Indianapolis, which, unlike Phoenix with Sun Devil Stadium in nearby Tempe, didn't yet have a suitable stadium, but was planning the Hoosier Dome.

By 1980, with Georgia Frontiere having taken the Rams out of the Los Angeles Coliseum, hard by the South Central ghetto, down the freeway to Anaheim, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission approached Irsay about moving the Colts to Los Angeles, which Carroll Rosenbloom had decided not to do with them in 1972. Memphis wanted the Colts for the Liberty Bowl. Jacksonville wanted the Colts for the Gator Bowl. It seemed like everybody without a team wanted the Colts, but the City of Baltimore -- at least, the City's government -- didn't.

In 1983, Mayor William Donald "Dud" Schaefer asked the State legislature for $15 million to renovate Memorial Stadium. But it took weeks to approve it. In January 1984, Schaefer said, "We're not going to build a new stadium... We don't have the voters or taxpayer who can support a $60 million stadium." The inflation of the 1970s was so bad (How bad was it?), the cost of a new stadium had gone up 3 times in just 11 years.

On February 23, Irsay visited the Hoosier Dome, which was scheduled to open in August, and was very impressed. On March 2, 8 days later, NFL owners gave Irsay permission to move the Colts. He talked to Indianapolis, Phoenix, Jacksonville and Memphis, all of which he'd talked to before, and also to Birmingham, Alabama, although their Legion Field was hardly a new stadium. He narrowed his choices down to Indianapolis and Phoenix.

(Indianapolis was also talking to John Mecom, then the owner of the New Orleans Saints, about a local buyer bringing the Saints there, even though the Superdome was still new. He ended up selling the Saints to Tom Benson, who kept them in N'Awlins.)

On March 27, the Maryland State Senate passed legislation giving the City of Baltimore the right to seize ownership of the Colts franchise by eminent domain. And that's why Irsay took the team and its stuff out of Owings Mills in the moving vans in the middle of the night on March 28-29: He was, as the old saying goes, one step ahead of the law. He also had all 15 moving trucks take different routes, in case the Maryland State Police stopped one of them, so they couldn't stop all of them.

As the team's lawyer, Michael Chernoff, put it, "They not only threw down the gauntlet, but they put a gun to his head and cocked it, and asked, 'Want to see if it's loaded?' They forced him to make a decision that day." The metaphor of "putting a gun to our head" has been used to describe what team owners have done to cities and their fans. This time, it was the other way around.

That day, March 29, 1984, the lower house of the legislature, the House of Delegates, passed the eminent domain legislation, and Governor Hughes signed it. But it was too late: The Colts, lock, stock and jockstraps, were out of Maryland, and, legally, there was no longer anything that either the City or the State could do about it.

The only thing the franchise owned that stayed put was the uniforms of the Baltimore Colts Marching Band. They were being drycleaned at the time. Irsay agreed to let the bandmembers keep them, and the band stayed together, finally changing their name to the Marching Ravens in 1998, upon the move into the new stadium, keeping the old name while the Ravens were at Memorial Stadium in 1996 and '97.

It took a while before the Indianapolis Colts got good. But in their 1st 38 seasons, they've made the Playoffs 19 times, reached the AFC Championship Game 5 times, and reached 2 Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XLI and losing Super Bowl XLIV. Compare that to their 35 seasons in Baltimore: 10 Playoff berths, 7 times reaching the round of 4, 5 times reaching the World Championship game (under any name), and winning 3 titles.

No, they haven't been more successful in Indianapolis than in Baltimore -- yet. And the Ravens have done fairly well for themselves in their 1st 26 seasons: 13 Playoff berths, 4 AFC Championship Games, and 2 trips to the Super Bowl, winning both: XXXV and XLVII.

So, in spite of the 12-year interregnum, Baltimore hasn't done all that badly.

And, let's be honest: Bob Irsay tried to find a way to stay in Baltimore. He tried for over 11 years. He tried harder to keep his NFL team where it was than did Al Davis, Billy Bidwill, Art Modell or Georgia Frontiere with theirs. He certainly tried harder than did Walter O'Malley, Calvin Griffith, Bob Short and Jeffrey Loria in baseball; Short and Clay Bennett in basketball; and Norm Green and Peter Karmanos in hockey.

He was willing to make a deal. It was the politicians, Democratic and Republican alike, who didn't try hard enough. The people of Baltimore, the people of Maryland, got screwed out of their Colts, but it wasn't Irsay who did that.

The United States Football League tried to step into the breach: After the 1984 season, the Philadelphia Stars announced they were moving to Baltimore. But due to a legal technicality, the Indianapolis Colts still held veto power over another football team using Memorial Stadium, so the Baltimore Stars had to play their 1985 home games at the University of Maryland, closer to D.C. (which was possible because the Washington Federals had moved to Orlando), with the promise of playing at Memorial Stadium in 1986.

That didn't happen, because the idiot owner of the USFL's New Jersey Generals wanted the League go head-to-head with the NFL in the Autumn, and the League collapsed as a result. His name was Donald Trump.

A settlement was reached, and from 1986 onward, Irsay agreed to support a new team for Baltimore, either through a team's move or an expansion of the NFL. The Maryland Stadium Authority got serious, and, with Dud Schaefer having been elected Governor, got the Camden Yards projects approved. The Orioles moved in for 1992.

In 1985, Leonard Tose, bankrupt due to being a compulsive gambler, considered moving the Philadelphia Eagles -- not 100 miles down Interstate 95 to Baltimore, but to Phoenix. Instead, he sold them, and they stayed put. In 1987, Billy Bidwill moved the football Cardinals out of St. Louis -- not to Baltimore, but to Phoenix, where they became the Arizona Cardinals. In 1993, the NFL chose 2 new expansion cities, to begin play in 1995, but not Baltimore: Charlotte, with the Carolina Panthers; and Jacksonville, with the Jaguars.

During this period, the Sullivan family, bankrupted through their ownership of the New England Patriots, considered selling the team to people who might move them, and Baltimore was one of the cities being considered. Once Bob Kraft bought the team, it was going to be either going to Hartford, a stadium in downtown Boston, or (as actually happened) a new stadium next to the old one in Foxboro. But Kraft wasn't taking the Pats out of New England, and if he ever considered moving them to Baltimore, it was momentary at most.

In 1994, the Canadian Football League expanded into America, and put the Baltimore Stallions in Memorial Stadium. After 2 years, the experiment failed, through no fault of the Stallions, and they were moved to become the new Montreal Alouettes. In 1995, both the Rams and the Raiders moved out of Los Angeles -- but neither to Baltimore: Georgia Frontiere took the Rams to her hometown of St. Louis, and Al Davis took the Raiders back to Oakland.

Later that year, dissatisfied with how he was being treated by the City of Cleveland, and unable to fund improvements to Municipal Stadium himself, Art Modell moved the Browns to Baltimore, and they became the Ravens. They played in Memorial Stadium in 1996 and '97, moved to what's now named M&T Bank Stadium at Camden Yards in 1998, and surpassed the Orioles to become Baltimore's most popular sports team.

Johnny Unitas attended the 1st Ravens home game on September 1, 1996, handed the game ball to the officials, and watched as the Ravens beat Al Davis' Oakland Raiders 19-14 -- 19 being his number with the Colts, and 14 being the number he briefly had in the Pittsburgh Steelers' training camp before being cut in 1955, allowing him to become a Baltimore legend.

The Ravens erected a statue to Johnny U outside M&T Bank Stadium after his death in 2002, and hired his son, Chad Unitas, in their executive sales department.

Bob Irsay kept his word, and voted to permit the Browns to move to Baltimore. Baltimore fans still haven't forgiven him; and, now, Cleveland fans hated him, too. Shortly thereafter, he suffered a stroke, and his health never recovered. He lived long enough to see the NFL return to Baltimore, and died on January 14, 1997, at the age of 73. His son Jim Irsay now runs the team. He's not particularly popular in Maryland, either, or anywhere outside of Indiana.

The Colts' 1st game back in Baltimore was on November 29, 1998, at M&T Bank Stadium -- after the death of Bob Irsay. The Ravens won, 38-31. This was an outlier: Since the arrival of the Ravens, the Colts have a 10-4 record against them. This includes Playoff wins by Indianapolis in 2007 and 2010 (for the 2006 and 2009 seasons), and a Playoff win by Baltimore in 2013 (2012).

*

March 29, 1984 was a Thursday. Baseball was in Spring Training. The NFL was in its off-season, but the USFL had begun a new season. However, since it was midweek, and they didn't want to repeat the disastrous 1974-75 experience of the World Football League, they didn't play midweek games.

There were 5 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Detroit Pistons, 118-116 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Golden State Warriors, 124-119 in overtime at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Walter Davis led all scorers on the night with 37 points.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 106-96 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets, 115-109 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Kansas City Kings, 120-113 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

And there were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-4 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat their Provincial arch-rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Hartford Whalers lost to their regional rivals, the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the Boston Garden.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Calgary Flames, 6-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary.