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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

February 5, 2012: Eli Manning vs. Tom Brady II

February 5, 2012: Super Bowl XLVI is played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It was a rematch of Super Bowl XLII, when the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots, ending the Pats' attempt at an undefeated season.

Eli Manning, the Giants' quarterback, had considerably more luck against the Patriots than did his brother, Peyton Manning, whose Indianapolis Colts always seemed to come up short against the Patriots and their quarterback, Tom Brady. And yet, even in the New York media and among Giants fans, Eli seemed the Rodney Dangerfield of quarterbacks, never getting enough respect. Still stuck in comparisons to Brady and Peyton, the question was asked of whether Eli was "an elite quarterback."

He proved that he was one. The Giants jumped to a 9–0 lead in the 1st quarter, before the Patriots scored 17 unanswered points to take a 17–9 lead in the 3rd quarter. But the Giants prevented the Patriots from scoring again, as they followed the script from 4 years earlier: The way to beat Brady was to pressure him with strong defense and knock him on his ass.

Two consecutive Lawrence Tynes field goals chipped away at New England's lead, 17–15, late in the 3rd quarter. The Giants capped off an 88-yard drive with running back Ahmad Bradshaw's 6-yard game-winning touchdown with 57 seconds left in the game. As in the previous Super Bowl, Eli was named the game's Most Valuable Player, having completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions.

He was also the first New York-based quarterback to start and win two championship games since Ed Danowski of the 1934 and 1938 Giants. Charlie Conerly had won in 1956, but lost in 1958 and 1959. Y.A. Tittle got the Giants into the NFL Championship Games of 1961, 1962 and 1963, but lost them all. Joe Namath won Super Bowl III with the Jets in 1969, and never won another Playoff game. Phil Simms led the Giants to win Super Bowl XXI in 1987, but got hurt in the 1990 NFC Championship Game, and so it was Jeff Hostetler who started and won Super Bowl XXV.

So lightning struck twice, but not in the same place: The 1st time the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots, it was in the suburbs of Phoenix. Begging the question, why was it an upset? (The Patriots were favored by 2½ points.)

No New York Tri-State Area sports team has won a World Championship since. Unless you count New York City FC, and can we please not?

UPDATE: The New York Liberty won the 2024 WNBA Championship. But in the "Big Four" leagues -- Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL -- New York Tri-State Area teams are 0-4 in Finals since. The Yankees and Mets have each lost a World Series without winning one. Neither the Giants nor the Jets have been back to the Super Bowl. Neither the Knicks nor the Nets have gotten anywhere near the NBA Finals. And the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils have each lost a Stanley Cup Finals, while the New York Islanders have lost 2 Eastern Conference Finals.

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February 5, 2012 was, like all Super Bowl days, a Sunday. Baseball was out of season. The NBA, not wanting to take a chance on bad TV ratings, scheduled only 2 games. The Boston Celtics beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 98-80 at the TD Garden in Boston. And the Miami Heat beat the Toronto Raptors, 95-89 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

There were 4 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2 at Madison Squre Garden.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2 at the Prudential Center in Newark

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-0 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* And the Boston Bruins beat the Washington Capitals, 4-1 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

January 26, 1974: "Dungeons & Dragons" Premieres

January 26, 1974: The 1st edition of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons is released. It becomes a favorite pastime of fantasy fans and other "nerds."

It was created by Gary Gygax, a 35-year-old Chicagoan; and Dave Arnesen, 26, from Minneapolis. They had met at "Gen Con," a gaming convention founded by Gygax in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where he was living at the time. They founded Tactical Studies, Inc. (TSR), to publish their ideas. "D&D" became the 1st one to hit it big.

Dave Arnesen (left) and Gary Gygax

D&D's publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry, which also deeply influenced video games, especially the role-playing video game genre.

D&D departs from traditional wargaming by allowing each player to create their own character to play instead of a military formation. These characters embark upon adventures within a fantasy setting.

A Dungeon Master (DM) serves as referee and storyteller for the game, while maintaining the setting in which the adventures occur, and playing the role of the inhabitants of the game world, known as non-player characters (NPCs).

The characters form a party, and they interact with the setting's inhabitants and each other. Together they solve problems, engage in battles, explore, and gather treasure and knowledge. In the process, player characters earn experience points (XP) to level up, and become increasingly powerful over a series of separate gaming sessions. Players choose a class when they create their character, which gives them special perks and abilities every few levels.

Later editions defined "alignments":

* Lawful Good: A character who typically acts with compassion and always with honor and a sense of duty. However, lawful good characters will often regret taking any action they fear would violate their code, even if they recognize such action as being good.

* Neutral Good: A character who typically acts altruistically, without regard for or against lawful precepts such as rules or tradition. A neutral good character has no problems with cooperating with lawful officials, but does not feel beholden to them. In the event that doing the right thing requires the bending or breaking of rules, they do not suffer the same inner conflict that a lawful good character would.

* Chaotic Good: A character who does whatever is necessary to bring about change for the better, disdains bureaucratic organizations that get in the way of social improvement, and places a high value on personal freedom, not only for oneself but for others as well. Chaotic good characters usually intend to do the right thing, but their methods are generally disorganized and often out of sync with the rest of society.

* Lawful Neutral: A character who typically believes strongly in lawful concepts such as honor, order, rules, and tradition, but often follows a personal code in addition to, or even in preference to, one set down by a benevolent authority. Examples of this alignment include a soldier who always follows orders, a judge or enforcer who adheres mercilessly to the letter of the law, a disciplined monk, and some wizards.

* True Neutral: A character who is neutral on both axes, and tends not to feel strongly towards any alignment, or actively seeks their balance.

* Chaotic Neutral: An an individualist who follows their own heart and generally shirks rules and traditions. Although chaotic neutral characters promote the ideals of freedom, it is their own freedom that comes first; good and evil come second to their need to be free.

* Lawful Evil: A character who sees a well-ordered system as being necessary to fulfill their own personal wants and needs, using these systems to further their power and influence.

* Neutral Evil: A character who is typically selfish, and has no qualms about turning on allies-of-the-moment, and usually makes allies primarily to further their own goals. A neutral evil character has no compunctions about harming others to get what they want, but neither will they go out of their way to cause carnage or mayhem when they see no direct benefit for themselves.

* Chaotic Evil: A character who tends to have no respect for rules, other people's lives, or anything but their own desires, which are typically selfish and cruel. They set a high value on personal freedom, but do not have much regard for the lives or freedom of other people. Chaotic evil characters do not work well in groups, because they resent being given orders and usually do not behave themselves unless there is no alternative.

By 2004, there were an estimated 20 million people having played D&D, with more than $1 billion in book and equipment sales worldwide. The game inspired a CBS Saturday morning cartoon that ran in the 1983-84 and 1984-85 seasons. It has been shown in the film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial; and on the TV shows The Simpsons, NewsRadio, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Freaks and Geeks, Futurama, Community, The Big Bang Theory and Stranger Things.

TSR moved Gen Con around Wisconsin until taking on Milwaukee as a fixed annual site in 1985, before the company was bought by Hasbro, which moved Gen Con to Indianapolis in 2003. By that point, it was big enough of an event to be held at the domed stadium of the Indianapolis Colts, the RCA Dome until 2008, and since 2009 at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Gygax died in 2008, of a heart condition, at age 69; and Arnesen the following year, from cancer, at 61. According to Arnesen's daughter, Malia Weinhagen, "The biggest thing about my dad's world is he wanted people to have fun in life."

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January 26, 1974 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 122-98 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Buffalo Braves, 132-122 at The Omni in Atlanta. "Pistol" Pete Maravich scored 33 points.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 94-85 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 106-93 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

There were 3 games in the ABA:

* The Carolina Cougars beat the Memphis Tams, 137-104 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers, 90-89 at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.

* And the Utah Stars beat their arch-rivals, the Denver Rockets, 119-117 at the Denver Auditorium Arena.

There were 4 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Boston Bruins, 4-0 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-0 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* And the Toronto Maple Leafs and the St. Louis Blues played to a tie, 3-3 at the St. Louis Arena.

There were 2 games in the WHA. The New England Whalers beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 4-0 at the Boston Garden. And the Houston Aeros beat the Vancouver Blazers, 4-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

And in English soccer, Arsenal played Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw at the Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its North London neighborhood. This was a 4th Round tie in the FA Cup. Four days later, they played again at Villa Park in Birmingham, and Villa won, 2-0.