December 24, 1994: The Rams and Raiders Abandon Los Angeles

December 24, 1994: The Kansas City Chiefs defeat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Raiders, 19-9, before 64,130 fans -- a big crowd, but hardly a sellout at the 93,000 seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The Coliseum had been the home of the Raiders since moving from Oakland before the 1982 season, and the home of the Los Angels Rams from 1946 to 1979. The Rams had moved 38 miles southeast to Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). On this same day, they played there, and lost to the Washington Redskins, 24-21. The crowd was 25,705, a pathetically small one for a stadium whose football capacity was 69,000.

Before the next season opened, the Los Angeles metropolitan area dropped from 2 NFL teams to none: Al Davis took the Raiders back to Oakland, and Rams owner Georgia Frontiere took the team to her hometown of St. Louis. The Rams' move also killed the famous Los Angeles-San Francisco rivalry with the 49ers, whose run of success the preceding few years hurt the Rams as much as anything: For about 15 years before it, the Rams had dominated the division that became the NFC West.

It took the Rams a while to get going in St. Louis, building "The Greatest Show on Turf," winning Super Bowl XXXIV, and losing Super Bowl XXXVI, before falling apart again. After the 2015 season, with Stan Kroenke having bought the team from Mrs. Frontiere's estate, the Rams moved back to Los Angeles, playing 4 seasons at the Coliseum before Kroenke's SoFi Stadium was built in Inglewood, on the site of the Hollywood Park racetrack, across from The Forum. The NBA's Los Angeles Clippers have begun building their new arena, the Intuit Dome, on the same campus.

The Raiders' return to Oakland was shaky. They fell victim to the Tuck Rule Game in the 2001 season, then won the 2002 AFC Championship, but lost Super Bowl XXXVII. Al Davis died in 2011, and his son Mark Davis inherited the team. He never liked Oakland, and tried to go back to Los Angeles, before making a deal to move to Las Vegas for the 2020 season.

With the Raiders having balked in their negotiations, it was the San Diego Chargers who moved for the 2017 season, spending 3 season at Dignity Health Sports Park in suburban Carson, California, before moving into SoFi as tenants of the Rams.

*

December 24, 1994 was a Saturday. No college football bowl games were played. Baseball was out of season. The NBA had no games scheduled. And the NHL team owners were locking out the players. So the only games played on the day were in the NFL.

At the time, the NFL preferred not to play games on Christmas Day, even when it fell on a Sunday. That changed the next year. This time, the only game played on Sunday, December 25 was the Miami Dolphins' 27-20 win over the Detroit Lions at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida, and that was in prime time. The next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Minnesota Vikings beat the San Francisco 49ers, 21-14 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The rest of the NFL slate, including the 2 L.A. farewells, was played on the afternoon of Saturday, December 24:

* The New York Giants beat the Dallas Cowboys, 15-10 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Arizona Cardinals, 10-6 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 34-19 at Tampa Stadium.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Denver Broncos, 30-28 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The New York Jets lost to the Houston Oilers, 24-10 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Seattle Seahawks, 35-9 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 33-30 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Buffalo Bills, 10-9 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.

* The New England Patriots beat the Chicago Bears, 13-3 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* And the San Diego Chargers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 37-34 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

December 13, 1981: The Raiders Play Their Last Game In Oakland -- The 1st Time

December 13, 1981: The Chicago Bears beat the Oakland Raiders, 23-6 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The game didn't mean much to the Bears, who finished the season a week later, at 6-10. It didn't mean much to the Raiders, either, as they finished 7-9.

But it meant a lot to the people of the City of Oakland, Alameda County, and the East Bay region of Northern California. It was the Raiders' last game in Oakland. Or so everyone thought.

It was a rough way for the Raiders to go out. The defending NFL Champions, and known as the toughest team in the NFL, they gave up 2 touchdown passes from future Raider quarterback Vince Evans to Rickey Watts, another from Evans to Ken Margerum, and a safety when Marc Wilson, substituting at quarterback for the injured Jim Plunkett, was sacked in the end zone. The last Raider scoring play came in the 1st quarter, a 27-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Bob Chandler.

The Raiders had made Oakland, always with an inferiority complex compared to the much more cosmopolitan city across the Bay, a major league city. They started with the Oakland name, but in San Francisco, at Kezar Stadium, in 1960, moved to Candlestick Park in 1961, then spent the next 4 seasons at the 18,000-seat Frank Youell Field, before the Coliseum opened in 1966.

The Raiders were followed by the Coliseum's Arena opening in 1967, becoming the home of the California Golden Seals, the Kansas City Athletics moving to the Coliseum in 1968, and the San Francisco Warriors moving to the Arena in 1971. The Seals moved out in 1976, but the A's won 3 straight World Series, the Warriors won an NBA title, and the Raiders won 2 Super Bowls. Oakland was a happening place in the 1970s.

But Raider boss Al Davis wanted improvements to the Coliseum, including luxury boxes. When he was told he wouldn't get them, he decided to move to Los Angeles, as the Rams had left the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to play in Anaheim. While it wasn't yet clear that this would be the last Raider game in Oakland, everyone pretty much knew it would be. Winning a court case in May 1982, Davis made the move official.

But he wasn't happy in L.A., either. He wanted improvements to the L.A. Coliseum. He didn't get them. He threatened to move the team to Irwindale, 20 miles east of downtown L.A., where the City Council was ready to build a stadium for him.

But Oakland decided to renovate their Coliseum, including building the bleacher section that would be nicknamed "Mount Davis," ruining the nice view of the foothills as seen from the infield seats. So, for the 1995 season, the Raiders moved back.

With the Rams also vacating the L.A. area for 1995, and other big cities without NFL teams jockeying for position, there was always the threat that Al Davis would move the Raiders out of Oakland again. He never did, dying in 2011. But his son Mark Davis moved the team to Las Vegas in 2020. With the Warriors having moved back to San Francisco in 2019, and the A's threatening to leave for Las Vegas themselves, Oakland's day in the Sun was coming to a close.

*

December 13, 1981 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 20-10 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the New England Patriots, 19-10 at Schaefer Stadium (later Sullivan Stadium and Foxboro Stadium) in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Washington Redskins, although they have no rivalry with them, beat their geographically closest opponents, the Baltimore Colts, 38-14 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 24-23 at Tampa Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-10 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 17-7 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the New Orleans Saints, 35-7 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 21-10 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Seattle Seahawks, 23-13 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Houston Oilers, 28-6 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The day before, the New York Jets beat the Cleveland Browns, 14-13 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* And the Detroit Lions beat the Minnesota Vikings, 45-7 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* And the night after, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Los Angeles Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons, 21-16 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

One college football game was played, and it was the last edition of the Garden State Bowl, at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands of East Rutherford, New Jersey. Tennessee beat Wisconsin, 28-21.

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

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 127-108 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors, 122-118 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 33 points.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Detroit Pistons, 105-99 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the San Diego Clippers, 98-74 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Edmonton Oilers , 4-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

* The Quebec Nordiques and the Buffalo Sabres played to a tie, 4-4 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Hartford Whalers, 8-3 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Winnipeg Jets, 2-1 at the Winnipeg Arena. (By a weird coincidence, when the Jets played their last game before moving, in 1996, it was also a home loss to the Red Wings.)

* And the Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks, 7-6 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

December 10, 1984: The Mets Trade for Gary Carter

December 10, 1984: Having made some awful trades in their history, both before and after this day, the New York Mets make perhaps the best trade in their history.

It was nearly a reverse of their 1977 trade, sending their signature player, pitcher Tom Seaver, to the Cincinnati Reds for 4 players. This one sent 4 players to the Montreal Expos: 3rd baseman Hubie Brooks, catcher Mike Fitzgerald, outfielder Herm Winningham, and pitcher Floyd Youmans.

Brooks was popular among Met fans, and would continue to hit well in Montreal, making 2 All-Star Games. The other players were journeymen at best, basically designed to flesh the trade out, so it looked like the Expos were getting some talent beyond Brooks for Carter.

Carter, whose big smile and infectious enthusiasm got him nicknamed "The Kid" -- and whose propensity for self-promotion had gotten him the nickname "Camera Carter" -- was already considered Johnny Bench's successor as the best catcher in the National League, and only Carlton Fisk was an American League rival to the title of the best catcher in all of Major League Baseball.

The Mets had won the World Series in 1969, and the National League Pennant in 1973. As recently as 1976, they had finished a decent 3rd in the NL Eastern Division. Then they collapsed, due to mismanagement. They were sold in 1980, to Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon, and the rebuilding began.

In 1983, Darryl Strawberry was Rookie of the Year, and they traded for Keith Hernandez. In 1984, they hired Davey Johnson as manager, and they benefited from several young players coming into their own, including Brooks, none more so than pitcher Dwight Gooden. They finished 2nd, and the acquisition of Carter was a huge upgrade at a key position.

On Opening Day of the 1985 season, one day after his 31st birthday, Carter hit a home run -- off Neil Allen, 1 of the 2 pitchers the Mets had traded to get Hernandez -- in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Mets a 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, before 46,781 rapturous fans at Shea Stadium. The love affair between the Met fans and the best catcher the franchise has ever had began.

As with Reggie Jackson, across town on the Yankees a few years earlier, he was in New York for only 5 seasons, but no one can say they were dull years. Most significantly, it was Carter's single that kept the Mets alive in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, leading to their 2nd title.

Gary Carter died in 2012. The Mets knew he was ill, and that he had already been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. They elected him to their team Hall of Fame. But they have never retired his Number 8. They gave it to Dave Gallagher in 1992, Carlos Baerga in 1997, and Desi Relaford in 2001, but no player since Relaford left that season. But it has not been officially retired.

*

December 10, 1984 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Los Angeles Raiders beat the Detroit Lions, 24-3 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

There was 1 game played in the NBA: The Atlanta Hawks beat the Indiana Pacers, 104-98 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at Madison Square Garden. And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-3 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

January 22, 1984: Apple's "1984" Commercial & The Introduction of the Macintosh

January 22, 1984: Just after halftime of the broadcast of Super Bowl XVIII on CBS, Apple airs a commercial, directed by Ridley Scott, tying in with George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, and fears that, now that calendar year 1984 had arrived, such a world might be happening.

"Big Brother" was played by English actor David Graham. He was best known for voicing the Daleks in Doctor Who, and later voiced Grandpa Pig on the British cartoon Peppa Pig. The narrator was Edward Grover, best known for playing Lieutenant Hal Brubaker on Baretta.

The hammer thrower was English athlete Anya Major, cast not for her appearance, but because she was the only woman who auditioned who could properly throw the hammer. She later played the title role in the video for Elton John's song "Nikita." Contrary to her appearance in the ad, she was never a Hooters waitress.

Two days later, on January 24, Apple held a press conference, at which Steve Jobs introduced their Macintosh 128K computer.

Yes, kids, this young guy with the long hair and no beard is Steve Jobs.

What would inevitably be abbreviated as "The Mac" was the first successful mass-market all-in-one desktop personal computer with a graphical user interface (GUI), built-in screen and mouse. It was pivotal in establishing desktop publishing as a general office function. 

Edward Grover lived until 1986, Steve Jobs until 2011. Contrary to urban legend, as of January 22, 2022, Anya Major is alive and well, 56 years old, and living in England, married with 3 children. David Graham and Ridley Scott are also still alive. (UPDATE: Graham died in 2024, at the age of 99.)

In a 2012 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Nice" Peter Shukoff played Steve Jobs, against "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist as Bill Gates.

*

January 22, 1984 was a Sunday -- obviously, since the Super Bowl was being played. The Los Angeles Raiders beat the defending Champions, the Washington Redskins, 38-9.

Baseball was out of season. Bowing to the reality of TV viewing, the NBA scheduled only one game for the day: The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 109-98 at the Boston Garden.

Likewise, there was only one game in the NHL, and it's an All-Canadian matchup, giving people of that country something to watch instead of a Super Bowl between the teams from America's entertainment and governmental capitals: The Winnipeg Jets beat the Vancouver Canucks, 6-4 at the Winnipeg Arena.

January 13, 1991: Bo Jackson Is Injured

January 13, 1991: The Los Angeles Raiders beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 20-10, in an AFC Divisional Playoff at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. But this game goes down in history for an unfortunate reason: Bo Jackson is injured, and never plays football again.

Vincent Edward Jackson, nicknamed Bo, born on November 30, 1962, outside Birmingham in Bessemer, Alabama, won the Heisman Trophy as a running back at Auburn University in 1984. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers chose him as the 1st pick in the 1986 NFL Draft, but insisted that he quit playing professional baseball. He chose not to sign with them, and their draft rights lapsed.

From 1986 to 1990, he played the outfield for the Kansas City Royals, making a little less money per year than the Bucs were offering him, hitting long home runs and making great catches. The highlight of his career came when he led off for the American League in the 1989 All-Star Game, and blasted a 475-foot home run to straightaway center field.

Bo was drafted again in 1987, this time by the Raiders, whose owner, Al Davis, had no problem with him trying to play both sports. At that point, 60 men had played in both Major League Baseball and the National Football League (or the 1960s American Football League). Among them: Football legends Jim Thorpe, George Halas, Paddy Driscoll, Ernie Nevers, Red Badgro, Ace Parker and 1950 Heisman Trophy winner Vic Janowicz; and future Brooklyn Dodger manager Charlie Dressen.

But none had played both since the 1960s, and none had pulled both off in the same calendar year since Janowicz played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Washington Redskins in 1954. Davis was willing to let Bo try it. It worked: He rushed for 545 yards in 1987, including 221 against the Seattle Seahawks in a spectacular performance on ABC Monday Night Football; 580 yards in 1988; 950 in 1989, making the 1990 Pro Bowl; and 698 in 1990, for a total of 2,782 yards. He had also caught 40 passes for 352 yards. He had scored 16 touchdowns rushing and 2 receiving.

In 1989, Nike launched its "Bo Knows" advertising campaign, featuring other athletes who had signed with them. Watching him take batting practice in his Royals uniform, Kirk Gibson, coming off his World Series heroics with the Los Angeles Dodgers, said, "Bo knows baseball." Watching him run in his Raiders uniform, Jim Everett, All-Pro quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams, said, "Bo knows football." No surprise there: We knew he knew both of those sports.

But then, he starts dunking in a gym, and Michael Jordan -- not yet having won an NBA Championship with the Chicago Bulls, and arguably a less famous athlete than Bo at that point, and he certainly turned out to be not nearly as good a baseball player -- said, "Bo knows basketball, too." Then he's on a tennis court, and John McEnroe says, with a shocked look, "Bo knows tennis?" Then he's running, and marathoner Joan Benoit says, "Bo knows running."

Then, in a segment that proved controversial, especially in Kansas City -- where the NFL's Chiefs had long considered the Raiders to be their arch-rivals, and still do -- he seems to be playing hockey, wearing a Los Angeles Kings uniform, checking a player wearing a jersey with "KC" on it into the boards. As a safety precaution, he wasn't actually on skates or ice: He had Nike sneakers on a regular floor made up to look like a hockey rink. And Wayne Gretzky, actually wearing a Kings uniform complete with skates, skates up to the camera, and simply says, "No."

Then he's riding a bicycle, and 3 women, never identified (presumably, they had competed for America in the 1988 Olympics), said, "Bo knows cycling." Then he's in a gym, and, at famed Muscle Beach in the Los Angeles suburb of Venice, 5 solidly muscled guys (one of them looks like Incredible Hulk star Lou Ferrigno) say, "Bo knows weights."

All this time, rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley has been cranking out a tune on one of his trademark homemade guitars. Diddley is shown laughing at Gretzky's line. Finally, Jackson stands alongside Diddley, and proves that he can't play guitar. Diddley says, "Bo, you don't know Diddley!"

It stands alongside Mean Joe Greene's 1979 Coke ad as maybe the best sports-related commercial ever, better than any other with Jordan in it. (A sequel ad said, "Six months later... " and showed that Jackson had learned guitar, and that the rocker had to admit, "Bo, you do know Diddley.")

It took until his 4th season, 1990, for the Raiders to make the Playoffs, and they beat the Bengals in the Divisional Round. But in the 3rd quarter, having already rushed for 77 yards, he was tackled by Kevin Walker. It wasn't a dirty play, and no penalty was called. It would have been routine, but Bo sustained an dislocation of his left hip, and had to leave the game. Without him, the Raiders got clobbered by the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game.

A later examination showed that Bo had avascular necrosis, and had lost all of the cartilage supporting the joint. His football career was over, and the Royals cut him before Spring Training. He signed with the Chicago White Sox, and played 23 games, but his batting average dropped from .272 the season before to .225.

On April 4, 1992, Bo Jackson had hip replacement surgery. He missed the entire 1992 season. He rehabbed like crazy, and Nike made a commercial showing him doing so, narrated by comedian Denis Leary. (He probably claimed credit for writing it.) At one point, as a result of bad editing, Leary can be heard to say, "In fact, he's in the pool, wearing the shoes."

In 1993, in his 1st game back with the White Sox, he hit a home run. He hit 16 home runs that year, but was only able to play 85 games, and batted .232. His contract ran out. After 1 more season with the team then known as the California Angels, playing just 75 games, batting .279 with 13 homers, he was done.

Overall, he batted .250, with an OPS+ of 112 and 141 home runs. He was averaging 27 homers a year for the Royals, but was 29 when he got hurt. If he hadn't, even if he'd stopped playing football to save the wear and tear on his body, and stayed relatively healthy, and kept averaging 27 a year until he was, say, 35, and then another 15 or so until turning 40, he still would've had only about 340 to 350.

In other words, he would have been a "cult figure" in baseball, among guys who hit a lot of home runs, some of them very long, but not quite Hallworthy. In a category with guys like Ted Kluszewski, Rocky Colavito, Norm Cash, Frank Howard, Dick Allen, Dave Kingman, Darryl Strawberry and Cecil Fielder. His level wouldn't have been with Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron. Or even with other members of the 500 Home Run Club, like Reggie Jackson (no relation) or Willie McCovey.

And if he'd stuck with football, and hadn't gotten hurt? He had 2,782 yards at the time of his injury. That's 696 yards per year. Running backs don't last that long. And he never topped 1,000 yards, which used to be the benchmark for a great running back.

Suppose he kept playing until 1997, after turning 35, and averaged another 500 yards a year. That would put him at over 6,000 career rushing yards. The Raiders only made the Playoffs twice more over that stretch, including their 1995 move back to Oakland, and didn't reach the AFC Championship Game. If they had gotten past the Chiefs and then the Bills in 1991, or the Bills and then the Chiefs in 1993, would they then have won a Super Bowl or 2? Would it have mattered as to Bo's Hall of Fame candidacy in that sport?

Honestly, I don't think he would have made it to Cooperstown or Canton. Certainly, he wouldn't have made it to both. The potential for a career-ending, or at least career-curtailing, injury was too great, even if it hadn't happened when it did.

Since Bo Jackson, 5 players have played in both MLB and the NFL, making for a total of 67: Matt Kinzer, Deion Sanders, D.J. Dozier, Brian Jordan, Chad Hutchinson and Drew Henson, who achieved both in 2004, making him the last to do so.

Sanders became the only man ever to play in both a World Series and a Super Bowl. However, Jackson remains the only player ever to appear in both the MLB All-Star Game and the NFL Pro Bowl, both for the 1989 season.

Of the other 66, only 15, including Thorpe, Halas, Driscoll, Nevers, Badgro, Parker, Sanders and Dozier, played more games in the NFL than Jackson's 38. And only 2, Charlie Berry in the 1920s and '30s and Brian Jordan in the 1990s and 2000s, played more games in MLB than Jackson's 694.

In a 2017 interview with USA Today, Bo Jackson said he never would have played football if he had known the health risks associated with it:

I wish I had known about all of those head injuries, but no one knew that. And the people that did know that, they wouldn’t tell anybody. The game has gotten so violent, so rough. We’re so much more educated on this CTE stuff. There’s no way I would ever allow my kids to play football today.

Bo knows injuries. What happened to his sports career was a great disappointment. But, as we have seen with others, there is a big difference between a disappointment and a tragedy. In comparison to some players, including some fellow legends, he was lucky.

*

January 13, 1991 was a Sunday. Also that day, on the NFC side of the Playoffs, the New York Giants beat the Chicago Bears, 31-3 at Giants Stadium, a small measure of revenge for the 21-0 humiliation they froze through at the Bears' hands at Soldier Field 5 years earlier. The Giants went on to win the Super Bowl.

So as not to get clobbered by the NFL Playoffs in the TV ratings, the NBA scheduled only 2 games for that day:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Portland Trail Blazers, 116-103 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands. Former Net Buck Williams scored 24 against his former team. Mookie Blaylock led the Nets with 23. Playing at the same time as the Giants, in the same sports complex (the parking and traffic situation must have been horrendous), only 12,169 came to the Meadowlands to watch the Nets.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets, 116-97 at the Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California. Hakeem Olajuwon was injured, and didn't play for the Rockets. Magic Johnson did play for the Lakers, and scored 17. Vlade Divac scored 22 to lead them. Despite playing at the same time as the Raiders, just 6 miles away, the Lakers got a sellout, 17,164.

There were 6 NHL games played that day:

* The New York Rangers beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-3 at Madison Square Garden. The Rags blew a 3-0 lead, but Brian Leetch scored the winner with 7:07 left in regulation.

* The New York Islanders beat the Quebec Nordiques, 4-3 at the Colisée de Québec in Quebec City. The Isles came from 3-1 down by scoring 3 goals in the last 5:40, with Derek King netting the winner with 1:26 to go.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-3 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3 at the Winnipeg Arena.