December 28, 2006: Rutgers Wins a Bowl Game for the 1st Time

Ray Rice, holding the cowboy hat that served

as the game's MVP trophy

December 28, 2006: For the 1st time, the football team at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, wins a postseason "bowl game." And they didn't even have to make it up themselves.

In 1978, frustrated over not having been selected for bowl games despite some fine seasons -- 8-1 in 1958, 8-1 in 1960, 9-0 in 1961, 8-2 in 1968, 7-4 in 1972, 7-3 in 1974, 9-2 in 1975, 11-0 in 1976, 8-3 in 1977 and finally 9-3 -- mainly due to a weak schedule, Rutgers started its own bowl, the Garden State Bowl, at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey.

The Scarlet Knights invited Arizona State, which had faced a similar level of disrespect, because they had dominated the weak Western Athletic Conference, and had just joined the Pacific-8, making it the Pac-10. Maybe they should've invited a weaker team than Frank Kush's Sun Devils: They lost, 34-18.

That was a badge of dishonor: The Scarlet Knights couldn't even win a bowl on their secondary home field. So, again, they weren't invited to bowls, despite going 8-3 in 1979, 7-4 in 1980, 7-3 in 1984, 6-4 in 1986, and 7-4 in 1992. In '92, a loss to Boston College really stung, not just because their quarterback, future New York Jet Glenn Foley, had been a Jersey Boy, from Cherry Hill, but because he told the postgame media, "The only bowl Rutgers is going to is the one I just got off of."

The new Rutgers Stadium (now SHI Stadium) opened in 1994, but, having joined the Big East Conference, RU was not putting up bowl-worthy seasons. Greg Schiano was hired in 2001, and it took him until 2005 to put up a winning season, 7-4.

Finally, a bowl came calling. It wasn't a major bowl. It was the Insight Bowl, named for an Internet company. As fate would have it, Rutgers again played Arizona State, so it was like the tables were turned: Their opponent was the home team. Rutgers led 33-31 in the 4th quarter, but lost 45-40.

In 2006, Rutgers went 10-2, finishing 2nd in the Big East Conference. They were invited to the Texas Bowl, at what's now NRG Stadium in Houston. It wasn't the biggest bowl in the State -- that was still the Cotton Bowl in Dallas -- but at least it was the biggest bowl in its own metropolitan area, replacing the former Bluebonnet Bowl at the Astrodome.

The opponent was Kansas State University, who were 7-5, and finished 3rd in the Big 12 Conference North Division. Oddly for a college football game, it was broadcast on the NFL Network. Bad news for me, since my cable system didn't carry it at the time. I had to do what I had done for 90 percent of the Rutgers games of my lifetime to that point: Listen to it on the radio, on "WCTC, AM 1450, New Brunswick, Central Jersey's information leader."

But it was mostly good news thereafter. Mike Teel threw 2 touchdown passes to Tim Brown (not the Notre Dame and Raiders Hall-of-Famer) in the 1st quarter. Kansas State came back with a field goal and a touchdown, but a Jeremy Ito field goal in the last minute of the 1st half sent the Scarlet Knights into the locker room with a 17-10 lead.

Josh Freeman had a decent pro career, and had been an All-American for Kansas State. But on the 1st play from scrimmage in the 2nd quarter, Rutgers linebacker Quintero Frierson intercepted his pass, and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown. The Wildcats never threatened again. Ray Rice scored on a 46-yard touchdown run. Ito kicked 2 field goals in the 4th quarter, and the game ended 37-10 to Rutgers.

Rice rushed for 170 yards, and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. In 6 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, he rushed for 6,180 yards, before a moment of madness led to the end of his playing career.

This was the 1st of 4 straight seasons in which Rutgers won a bowl game. In the 2007 season, they won the International Bowl in Toronto; in 2008, the PapaJohns.com Bowl in Birmingham; in 2009, the St. Petersburg Bowl. After a sub-.500 season in 2010, they got to the 2011 Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium. They lost the 2012 Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando and the 2013 Pinstripe Bowl, before winning the 2014 Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit. That remains Rutgers' most recent bowl game appearance.

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December 28, 2006 was a Thursday. There were 2 other bowl games played that day. Oklahoma State beat Alabama, 34-31 at the Independence Bowl, at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. And the University of California beat Texas A&M, 45-10 at the Holiday Bowl, at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

There were 3 games played in the NBA that night:

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Phoenix Suns, 101-99 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz, 106-83 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. (It's now named the Frost Bank Center.)

* And the Denver Nuggets beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 112-98 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. (It's now named the Ball Arena.) Allen Iverson scored 44 points for the Nugs.

There were 5 games played in the NHL. None of them involved any of the New York Tri-State Area teams:

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-1 at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo. (It's now named the KeyBank Center.)

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 7-4 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. (It's now named the Benchmark International Arena.)

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Edmonton Oilers, 7-4 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. (That was its first, last, and best-known name. In 2006, it was named Rexall Place.)

* And the Phoenix Coyotes beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-2 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. (It's now named the SAP Center.)

October 4, 1902: The Flying Dutchman and the Record-Setting Pirates

Honus Wagner

October 4, 1902: The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 11-2 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. Shortstop Honus Wagner goes 1-for-5 with an RBI, while 1st baseman William "Kitty" Bransfield goes 3-for-5 with an RBI. Charles "Deacon" Phillippe goes the distance, for his 20th win against 9 losses.

The Pirates finish the season with a record of 103 wins and 36 losses. That's a winning percentage of .741, and it's still a record. They win the National League Pennant by 27 1/2 games, also a record 1st-place finish to this day. They clinched the Pennant on September 2, yet another record. (The American League record is September 4, by the 1941 New York Yankees.)

Pitching, as it so often is for a championship team, was the key. In addition to Phillippe going 20-9 with a 2.05 ERA, Jack Chesbro went 28-6 with 2.17, Jesse Tannehill went 20-6 with 1.95, Ed Doheny went 16-4 with 2.53, and Sam Leever went 15-7 with 2.39.

The team as a whole batted .286. Center fielder Clarence "Ginger" Beaumont led them with a .357 average, while Wagner batted .330, and right fielder-manager Fred Clarke batted .316. Wagner led the team with 91 RBIs, and 3rd baseman Tommy Leach had 85.

A Pittsburgh native, John Peter Wagner was the son of German immigrants, and so "John" was often reverted to the German name "Hans," which became "Honus." Despite his bowed legs, he was very fast, allowing him to steal bases, and play just about any position well, but especially shortstop, the most difficult position in the infield. He was known as "The Flying Dutchman" -- "Dutch" meaning "Deutsch," as in "German," not "Dutch" as we now understand that term, meaning "from the Netherlands."

At the time, Wagner was 28 years old, and was regarded as the best player in baseball -- at the least, one of the top two, along with Napoleon Lajoie, of the team that would, the next season, actually be named for him, the Cleveland Naps.

John McGraw, himself a pretty good player in the 1890s, and newly installed as manager of the New York Giants, called Wagner "the nearest thing to a perfect ballplayer." And Chicago sportswriter Hugh Fullerton once wrote, "If a man with a voice loud enough to make himself heard all over the United States should stand on top of Pike's Peak, and ask, 'Who is the greatest ball player?' the name he'd hear shouted back would be, 'Wagner.'"

He helped the Pirates win 3 straight NL Pennants: 1901, 1902 and 1903. The Pirates lost the 1st World Series, in 1903, to the team now known as the Boston Red Sox. By the start of the next decade, he would be surpassed by Ty Cobb, center fielder for the Detroit Tigers. But in 1909, Wagner's Pirates beat Cobb's Tigers in the World Series, and Wagner outplayed Cobb. Both men would be among the 1st 5 players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson.

*

October 4, 1902 was a Saturday. These other baseball games were played that day:

* A doubleheader was split at the South End Grounds in Boston. The Boston Beaneaters won the opener, 5-2. John Malarkey (yes, that was his name) outpitched Christy Mathewson. The New York Giants won the nightcap, 5-1. Joe McGinnity (21-18) outpitched Vic Willis (27-20).

* And the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out after 7 innings at Robison Field in St. Louis, with the game tied, 7-7.

It was also a day for college football. The University of Kansas and Kansas State University play each other in football for the 1st time. The Kansas Jayhawks beat the Kansas State Wildcats 16-0, at McCook Field on the Jayhawks' campus in Lawrence. Through the 2021 season, the Jayhawks lead the all-time series in the "Sunflower Showdown," 64-49-5. (UPDATE: Through 2023, it's 65-51-5. The Jayhawks haven't won it since 2008.)

In other notable games:

* Army beat Tufts, 5-0 on The Plain in West Point, New York.

* Navy lost to Princeton, 11-0 at Worden Field in Annapolis, Maryland.

* Harvard beat Bates College, 23-0 at Soldiers' Field in Boston. (Unlike the later stadium in Chicago, this one was, and is, named "Soldiers' Field," not "Soldier Field.)

* Massachusetts beat Boston College, 30-0 at Alumni Field in Amherst, Massachusetts.

* Yale beat Amherst, 23-0 at Yale Field in New Haven, Connecticut.

* The University of Pennsylvania beat Penn State, 17-0 at the original Franklin Field in Philadelphia. The schools haven't played each other since 1958, when Penn embraced its Ivy League status, and accepted that they couldn't be as big as Penn State then was, even with Joe Paterno just an assistant coach under Rip Engle.

* Michigan, defending and upcoming National Champions, beat Case, 48-6 at Regents Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

* The University of Chicago beat Knox College, 5-0 at Marshall Field in Chicago.

* Nebraska beat Colorado, 10-0 at Gamble Field in Boulder, Colorado.

* And Columbia beat Rutgers, 43-0 at Neilson Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

And in English soccer, Bristol City beat Woolwich Arsenal, 1-0 at St John's Lane in Bristol, in England's West Country. In 1904, City moved to Ashton Gate. Woolwich Arsenal would later move to North London, change their name to simply "Arsenal," and, decades later, become the team I support.

January 12, 1907: The Big Eight Conference Is Founded

January 12, 1907: The Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association is founded in Kansas City, Missouri. It eventually became known as the Big Eight Conference, or the Big 8.

The 5 original members were the University of Kansas, the University of Missouri, the University of Nebraska, Washington University of St. Louis, and the University of Iowa. Iowa only competed in the MVIAA for football and track, remaining in the league that would become the Big Ten Conference, and left the MVIAA entirely in 1911, leading to a split between Iowa and Iowa State that lasts to this day, and one between Iowa and neighboring Nebraska that lasted until 2011.

Iowa State University and Drake University of Des Moines, Iowa joined in 1908. Kansas State University joined in 1913. Grinnell College of Grinnell, Iowa was admitted in 1919, the University of Oklahoma in 1920, and Oklahoma State University (known as Oklahoma A&M until 1958) in 1925.

In 1928, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma left to form a new league. The remainders -- Drake, Grinnell, Oklahoma A&M and Washington University formed the Missouri Valley Conference. The 6 schools that left took on the MVIAA name, but began to informally call themselves the Big Six Conference. Both leagues traced their founding to the original MVIAA of 1907.

The University of Colorado was added in 1928, making the MVIAA a Big Seven. In 1957, Oklahoma State left the MVC and joined the MVIAA, making it the Big Eight. In 1964, the Big Eight name was made official.

From 1954 to 1995, the Orange Bowl in Miami usually invited the Big 8 football champion to participate. Of those 42 appearances: Oklahoma and Nebraska, the league's biggest football rivals, each made 15. In 1978, Nebraska beat Oklahoma in the regular season, then lost their last regular-season game, setting up a rematch in the Orange Bowl, which Oklahoma won.

Colorado appeared 5 times, Missouri 2, Kansas 1. Iowa State, Kansas State and Oklahoma State never made it. No Big 8 school appeared in the Orange Bowls of 1965, 1967, 1974 and 1975.

Kansas and Missouri, and to a lesser extent Kansas and Kansas State, would be heated rivals in basketball first, football second. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State would be college wrestling's greatest rivalry, but their "Bedlam" rivalry in football became heavily favored in OU's favor, and OU considers both Nebraska and Texas to be bigger rivals than OSU.

Iowa State also developed a great wrestling program, though not as great as Iowa, their Big 10 rivals. Kansas became, far and away, the league's greatest basketball program, and, to a lesser extent, in soccer; Oklahoma, its best in track & field; Oklahoma State, its best in baseball.

In the 1995-96 schoolyear, 4 schools from the Southwest Conference applied for, and received, membership to the Big 8: The University of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor University of Waco, Texas. The 4 remaining SWC schools -- Texas Christian, Southern Methodist, Houston and its crosstown rival Rice -- joined other leagues.

Thus did 2 of the great college sports leagues, the Big 8 and the SWC, come to an end, but a better league, the Big Twelve Conference, was formed. The 4 Texas schools and the 2 Oklahoma schools formed the South Division, the other teams the North Division.

But that league did not hold: Nebraska went to the Big Ten, Colorado went to the Pac-10, and Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma all left for the Southeastern Conference. The Big 12 resembled the old Big 8, but little remains of that Great Plains collegiate sports tradition.

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January 12, 1907 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. Professional basketball barely existed. There were no hockey games on this day, but, a few days later, the Kenora Thistles would beat the Montreal Wanderers for the Stanley Cup.

English soccer played the 1st Round Proper of its Football Association (FA) Cup. Teams winning that day were Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers, Bradford City, Brentford, Bristol City, Burslem Port Vale, Bury, Crystal Palace (beating eventual League Champions Newcastle United in a big upset), Everton, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Millwall, Norwich City, Notts County, Oldham Athletic, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton Sunderland and West Ham United.

Playing to draws, and requiring a replay: Woolwich Arsenal, 1-1 away to Grimsby Town at Blundell Park, winning the replay 3-0; Accrington Stanley over Crewe Alexandra; Barnsley over Nottingham Forest; Blackburn Rovers over Manchester City; Bristol Rovers over Queens Park Rangers, Derby County needing a 2nd replay to defeat Chesterfield; Fulham over Stockport County, Lincoln City over Chelsea; Luton Town over Gainsborough Trinity; New Brompton needing a 2nd replay to defeat Burton United; Portsmouth over Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur needing a 2nd replay to defeat Hull City; and West Bromwich Albion over Stoke City.

Sheffield Wednesday would go on to win the Final over Everton.