October 1, 2017: Philadelphia Fans Take Over "Los Angeles"

October 1, 2017: The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Los Angeles Chargers, 26-24 at what's now named Dignity Sports Health Park in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. Only 25,374 people got into the stadium, and most of them seemed to be rooting for the Eagles.

Having failed to get the City of San Diego or the County of San Diego to build a new stadium to replace what had usually been known as Jack Murphy Stadium, team owner Alex Spanos reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Rams to share the new SoFi Stadium once it opened for the 2020 season.

But finding an interim home proved difficult. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum already had the Rams and the University of Southern California, and wasn't willing to give the Chargers at least 10 home dates (2 preseason, 8 regular-season, possibly including Playoffs) for the next 3 seasons. Angel Stadium in Anaheim had been renovated, and was no longer suitable for football. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, where UCLA plays home games, didn't have enough luxury boxes for Spanos' taste.

In spite of its small size, making it the smallest NFL stadium since the Rams left League Park in Cleveland after the 1945 season, and despite being 13 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, DHSP had those luxury boxes. So Spanos made a deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer, the stadium's usual occupant, and agreed to play there for 3 seasons, sacrificing 3 years of any attendance of 26,000 or higher so that he could make considerably more money than he was making in San Diego.

For the 3rd straight week, the sellout crowd at the Chargers' temporary home stadium had a healthy contingent of fans supporting the visiting team. The Philly faithful roared for the Eagles and booed the Bolts, although both fan bases, hating the Dallas Cowboys, joined together before the game to chant, "Dallas sucks!"

The Eagles led 10-0 after the 1st quarter, 16-10 at the half, and 19-10 after 3 quarters. Early in the 4th quarter, Austin Ekeler ran the ball in from 35 yards for a touchdown, closing the Chargers to within 19-17.  Wendell Smallwood ran the ball in from 3 yards, and it was 26-17 Philadelphia. Philip Rivers tried to bring the Chargers back, and with 6:44 to play, he threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Henry, to make it 26-24. But the Eagles held the ball for the rest of the game, and the Chargers got no chance for a game-winning score.

The Chargers fell to 0-4. They had begun the season by losing away to the Denver Broncos, then lost at "home" to the Miami Dolphins, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Eagles. They won the next week, beating the New York Giants at the Meadowlands, 27-22.

On October 22, they beat the Broncos at home, 21-0. On November 19, they beat the Buffalo Bills at home, 54-24, in spite of well-traveled Bills fans having "taken over the stadium" as much as Miami, Kansas City, Philly and Denver fans had done. On December 3, they beat the Cleveland Browns, 19-10, despite all the "barking" from the traveling "Dawg Pound." On December 10, they beat the Washington Redskins, 30-13, although most of the fans seemed to be singing, "Hail to the Redskins." And on New Year's Eve, against the Oakland Raiders -- who had played at the Coliseum from 1982 to 1994, and still had a strong fanbase in Southern California, and whose fans traveled well at any rate -- they won, 30-10, in front of their largest "home" crowd of the season, 25,430.

The Chargers finished 9-7. Average home attendance: 25,336. If they'd had just won just 1 of those 1st 3 "home games," they would have made the Playoffs. In 2018, they went 12-4,a nd did make the Playoffs. In 2019, their last season in Carson, they crashed to 5-11.

The Eagles started off the 2017 season 10-1, before starting quarterback Carson Wentz got hurt. Nick Foles stepped in, led them to a 13-3 record, and took them to win Super Bowl LII, their 1st NFL Championship in 57 years. The Chargers, AFL Champions in 1963 and AFC Champions in 1994, still haven't won a Super Bowl.

*

October 1, 2017 was a Sunday. Also on this day, the largest mass shooting in American history took place on the Las Vegas Strip: 471 people shot, 60 of whom died, all of whom had been attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival. I have a separate entry for this event.

The day was a Sunday, before the start of the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League seasons The NHL's new expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights, hung a banner in memory of the victims in their new arena, the T-Mobile Center.

It was the last day of Major League Baseball's regular season, and there was a full slate of games:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1 at the new Yankee Stadium. Jordan Montgomery was the starting pitcher for the Yankees, but it was Domingo German in relief who turned out to be the losing pitcher. The only Yankee run came on a home run to Matt Holliday.

* The New York Mets got clobbered by the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-0 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

* The Houston Astros beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Washington Nationals, 11-8 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-0 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins, 8-5 at Marlins Park in Miami.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-1 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-1 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-1 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Kansas City Royals, 14-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 5-2 at Globe Life Park (now Choctaw Stadium) in Arlington, Texas.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-3 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-2 at Angel Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, California.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4 at what's now named Oracle Park in San Francisco.

And, being a Sunday, there was a full slate of National Football League games:

* The New York Giants lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 25-23 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The New York Jets beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 23-20 at MetLife Stadium in the New York suburb of East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey. Chandler Catanzaro kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Miami Dolphins, 20-0 at Wembley Stadium in London.

* The Carolina Panthers beat the New England Patriots, 33-30 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. Take that, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Baltimore Ravens, 26-9 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Cleveland Browns, 31-7 at FirstEnergy Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field) in Cleveland.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Atlanta Falcons, 23-17 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

* The Houston Texans beat the Tennessee Titans, the team that used to be the Houston Oilers, 57-14 at NRG Stadium (as Reliant Stadium was then known) in Houston. And the Titans weren't a bad team, either: They went 9-7, and not only ended up making the Playoffs, but winning a Playoff game, beating the Chiefs at Arrowhead.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions, 14-7 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Dallas Cowboys, 35-30 at AT&T Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders, 16-10 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the San Francisco 49ers, 18-15 in overtime at what's now named State Farm Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* And the Seattle Seahawks beat the Indianapolis Colts, 46-18 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.

The next night, on ESPN Monday Night Football, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Washington Redskins, 29-20 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers had a bye.

Also on October 1, 2017, Arsenal beat Brighton & Hove Albion, 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in North London.

August 14, 1959: The American Football League Is Founded

AFL Founder Lamar Hunt

August 14, 1959: The founding meeting of what was soon named the American Football League is held in Chicago. That city would not have a team in this league, the 4th to assume the name. (Previous AFLs operated in 1926, 1936-37 and 1940-41.)

The 8 founding teams that would begin play in September 1960 were, in alphabetical order:

* The Boston Patriots, founded by Billy Sullivan. With their move to suburban Foxborough, Massachusetts in 1971, they were renamed the New England Patriots.
* The Buffalo Bills, founded by Ralph Wilson. A team with that name had played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949.
* The Dallas Texans. They were moved and renamed the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963. The team was owned by the League's founder, Lamar Hunt. Today, the AFC Championship trophy is named for him.
* The Denver Broncos, founded by Bob Howsam.
* The Houston Oilers, founded by Bud Adams. They were moved to Memphis and renamed the Tennessee Oilers in 1997, moved to Nashville in 1998, and renamed the Tennessee Titans in 1999.
* The Los Angeles Chargers, founded by Barron Hilton. They were moved to San Diego in 1961, and back to the Los Angeles market in 2016.
* The New York Titans, founded by Harry Wismer, before being taken over by Sonny Werblin and Leon Hess. They were renamed the New York Jets in 1963.
* The Oakland Raiders, founded by Wayne Valley, before being taken over by Al Davis. They were moved to Los Angeles in 1982, moved back to Oakland in 1995, and moved to Las Vegas for the 2020 season.

In 1966, the AFL would add the Miami Dolphins. In 1968, it would add the Cincinnati Bengals. From 1966 to 1970, having made peace in their wild war with the established National Football League, the process of merging the 2 leagues into the modern NFL was undertaken.

The 1960s AFL was the most successful "rebel league" in U.S. sports history. You could argue that the NHL was, but it was an all-Canadian league at the start. In baseball, the National League wasn't really a "rebel league." The American League did get to make peace with the National League in 1902.

But people didn't really think of "Major League Baseball" as a single entity at that time. It can be argued that MLB didn't become such an entity until the establishment of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball in 1920, or even until 2000, when the AL and the NL were rendered team groupings only, with a single baseball and a single set of umpires for both Leagues.

Compare the number of teams that were absorbed into the established league:

* 1926 AFL: None.
* 1936-37 AFL: 1, the Cleveland (later Los Angeles) Rams.
* 1940-41 AFL: None.
* 1946-49 AAFC: 3, the Cleveland Browns, the San Francisco 49ers, and the original Baltimore Colts, who soon failed.
* 1960-69 AFL: 10, all of them.
* 1961-62 American Basketball League: None. It had 8 teams, including in 6 cities that didn't then have NBA teams. Cleveland, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington would get NBA teams; Kansas City had one, but lost it.
* 1967-76 American Basketball Association: 4, the New York (now Brooklyn) Nets, the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs. It had 12 franchises in all. Of these cities in which those teams played, the following now have NBA teams, in addition to the preceding: Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Salt Lake City and Washington. Kansas City and San Diego got teams, but lost them.
* 1972-79 World Hockey Association: 4, the Edmonton Oilers, the original Winnipeg Jets (now the Arizona Coyotes), the Quebec Nordiques (now the Colorado Avalanche) and the Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes). Besides the preceding, the NHL would also put teams in Calgary, Cleveland (failed), the Miami area, New Jersey, Ottawa and Phoenix.
* 1974-75 World Football League: None. It had teams in 8 cities that did not then have NFL teams. Only 2 of those cities now have them: Charlotte and Jacksonville.
* 1983-85 United States Football League: None. It had teams in 10 cities that did not then have NFL teams. 3 of those cities would get NFL teams long-term: Baltimore, Jacksonville and Phoenix; 2 others would get them temporarily: Memphis and Oakland.
* 2001 XFL: None.
* 2019 Alliance of American Football: None.

Despite being the son of oil baron H.L. Hunt and the brother of Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt, some real pieces of work, Lamar Hunt was universally admired. He was also a key figure in American soccer, having attended the 1966 World Cup in England. He helped to found the North American Soccer League in 1967, trying and failing to save it in 1985, helping to found Major League Soccer in 1996, and using his clout to save MLS in 2001. He was also a minority owner of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls from their 1966 founding until his death.

The American Football Conference’s championship trophy and the U.S. Open Cup, America's answer to England’s FA Cup, are named for him. He died in 2006, having been elected to the Pro Football, National Soccer and International Tennis Halls of Fame.

*

August 14, 1959 was a Friday. Basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson and actress Marcia Gay Harden were born. And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 11-6 at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees led 6-0 after 3 innings, but the Sox scored 9 runs in the top of the 8th, off Whitey Ford and then Ryne Duren. Vic Wertz and Gary Geiger hit home runs, while Ted Williams went 0-for-3 with 2 walks. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

This was the one season in his career that Williams did not bad at least .316, finishing at .254; and the one season between 1947 and 1964 in which the Yankees were out of the American League Pennant race before the 2nd week of September.

* The Cincinnati Reds swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 15-13 and 5-4 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Over the 2 games, Frank Robinson went 6-for-10 with a home run and 4 RBIs.

* The Washington Senators beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Harmon Killebrew went 3-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Braves, 2-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron both went 1-for-4, and Clemente also had an RBI.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 11-1 at Briggs Stadium (renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961) in Detroit. Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Harvey Kuenn went 3-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. For the Indians, Tito Francona hit a home run, and Rocky Colavito went 1-for-4. Just before the next season started, Kuenn and Colavito would be traded for each other.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks, Walt "Moose" Moryn and Dale Long hit home runs for the Cubs. For the Giants, Willie Mays went 2-for-5, and Willie McCovey went 3-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Athletics, 5-1 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1 at the 1st Busch Stadium (formerly the last Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Alex Grammas singled Bill White home with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning. This made a winning pitcher of Lindy McDaniel, in a game where the starting pitchers were Bob Gibson for the Cards and Don Drysdale for the Bums. Neither of them hit a batter. Stan Musial appeared only as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base. Duke Snider went 3-for-4, including a home run.

January 1, 2017: The End of the San Diego Chargers

January 1, 2017: The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Diego Chargers, 37-27 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. It is the last game for the Chargers, San Diego's 1st major league sports team.

After playing the 1st American Football League season, 1960, in Los Angeles, their owner, Barron Hilton, son of hotel magnate Conrad Hilton, and who had named the team after his credit card company, Carte Blanche, recognized that he was never going to take the market away from the NFL's Rams. So he moved them down the Coast to San Diego, where they reached the AFL Championship Game again in 1961, 1963, 1964 and 1965, winning in 1963.

In 1966, Hilton sold the team to car dealer Gene Klein. He presided over the team's aging and collapse, and its rebuild in the late 1970s, getting to the 1981 AFC Championship Game. He loved owning an NFL team, but he hated dealing with the business of pro football. In 1984, he got an offer of $48 million from real estate developer Alex Spanos. In his memoir, First Down and a Billion, he closed every chapter with the words, "Thank you, Alex." 

The Chargers won the AFC Championship in 1994, but lost Super Bowl XXIX. As Spanos' health declined, his son, Dean Spanos, gained control, and he wanted out of Qualcomm Stadium (known as San Diego Stadium from 1967 to 1981 and Jack Murphy Stadium from then until 1997). He kept threatening to move the team back to Los Angeles if he didn't get a new stadium. But the City of San Diego and the County of San Diego both refused to pay for it.

And so, having gotten permission from the other NFL team owners to make the move if he wanted to, the team's last game of the 2016 season seemed doomed to be the last home game for the San Diego Chargers.

They took a 5-10 record into Qualcomm Stadium for their season finale, against the Kansas City Chiefs. They led 10-3 early in the 2nd quarter, and were within 20-17 early in the 3rd. But their defense couldn't hold, and when Philip Rivers threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Henry with 2:08 left, it was followed by an extra point from Josh Lambo, which served as the last scoring play in San Diego Charger history. The game ended, 37-27. to the Chiefs, who thus clinched the AFC Western Division title. Attendance in the 70,561-seat stadium: 54,915.

The opposing quarterbacks: Alex Smith of Kansas City,

and Philip Rivers of San Diego

Just 11 days later, on January 12, 2017, Dean Spanos made the move official. They spent 3 seasons at what's now named Dignity Health Sports Park in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California -- a 27,000-seat soccer-specific stadium, where the Chargers' new fans were usually outdrawn by fans of visiting teams, some of whom had moved to the L.A. area. The Rams, having played in St. Louis from 1995 to 2015, had beaten the Chargers to moving back by 1 year, gaining the upper hand in media coverage and fandom, costing the Chargers dearly. In 2020, both teams moved into SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

San Diego had lost the NBA's Rockets in 1971, the ABA's Conquistadors in 1975, the WHA's Mariners in 1977, the NBA's Clippers in 1984, and now the NFL's Chargers in 2017. They had nearly lost MLB's Padres in 1974, and had local voters not approved a bond issue for Petco Park in 1998, the Padres would have moved. By Spring 2017, the Padres were the only major league sports team left in San Diego.

Some people in San Diego County stuck with the Chargers. Some switched to the Rams, as a major middle finger to Dean Spanos. Some gave up on football altogether.

*

January 1, 2017 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Giants beat the Washington Redskins, 19-10 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills, 30-10 at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys, 27-13 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat their arch-rivals, the New Orleans Saints, 38-32 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. This was the last regular-season game there. The Falcons won 2 Playoff games there that season, before losing Super Bowl LI, and moved into Mercedes-Benz Stadium the next season.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Carolina Panthers, 17-16 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins, 35-14 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Tennessee Titans, who used to be the Houston Oilers, beat their successors, the Houston Texans, 24-17 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat their arch-rivals, the Cleveland Browns, 27-24 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens, 27-10 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions, 31-24 at Ford Field in Detroit.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-20 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears, 38-10 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders, 24-6 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Rams, 44-6 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* And the Seattle Seahawks beat the San Francisco 49ers, 25-23 at Levi's Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Santa Clara, California.

There was no Monday Night Football game that final week of the regular season. If it had been scheduled, it would have competed with the college bowl games. The NCAA usually doesn't let games, even bowl games, be played on Sundays, so the major bowls that would have been played on New Year's Day were moved around:

* December 30, Orange Bowl, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida: Number 11 Florida State 33, Number 6 Michigan 32.

* December 31, Peach Bowl, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Playoff Semifinal: Number 1 Alabama 24, Number 4 Washington 7.

* December 31, Fiesta Bowl, University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium), Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona, Playoff Semifinal: Number 2 Clemson 31, Number 3 Ohio State 0.

* January 2, Cotton Bowl, AT&T Stadium, Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas: Number 8 Wisconsin 24, Number 15 Western Michigan 16. WMU became only the 2nd team from the Mid-American Conference in a traditional New Year's Day bowl game, following Northern Illinois in the 2013 Orange Bowl.

* January 2, Rose Bowl, Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California: Number 9 Southern California 52, Number 5 Penn State 49.

* January 2, Sugar Bowl, Superdome, New Orleans: Number 7 Oklahoma 35, Number 14 Auburn 19.

* January 9, National Championship, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa: Number 2 Clemson 35, Number 1 Alabama 31.

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

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the San Antonio Spurs, 114-112 in overtime at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Miami Heat, 107-98 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Orlando Magic, 117-104 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 95-89 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. CJ McCollum led all scorers on the day with 43 points.

* And the Toronto Raptors beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 123-114 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. Kyle Lowry scored 41.

There were 3 games in the NHL:

* The Washington Capitals beat the Ottawa Senators, 2-1 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* In the NHL Centennial Classic, kicking off the League's 100th Anniversary calendar year with an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-4, outdoors in front of 40,148 fans at BMO Field in Toronto. The Leafs led, 4-1 with 7:55 left in regulation, but the Wings died it with 2 seconds to go, on a goal by Anthony Mantha. But with 1:20 left in overtime, Auston Matthews scored the winning goal for the Leafs. I have a separate entry for this event. 

* And the Anaheim Ducks beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3 in a shootout at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

The NHL Winter Classic, another game that usually gets played on New Year's Day, got moved back to January 2, due to January 1 being a Sunday. In that game, the St. Louis Blues beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-1 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. 

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat South London team Crystal Palace, 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in North London.