October 20, 1982: The Luzhniki Stadium Disaster

October 20, 1982: A UEFA Cup match was scheduled for the Grand Sports Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium, now named the Luzhniki Stadium. Spartak Moscow, the most popular sports team in the Soviet Union, hosted Dutch club HFC Haarlem. (In 2010, the UEFA Cup was rebranded as the UEFA Europa League.)

Unlike some other soccer disasters, including the Hillsborough Disaster in Sheffield, England in 1989, the problem this time wasn't errors or overreactions by the police, despite the reputation of law enforcement under Communism. Nor was it, as was also the case at Hillsborough, due to too many tickets being sold. Even by Russian standards, this was a cold day for October: 14 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit. As a result, a stadium that could then hold as many as 102,000 people sold only 16,643 tickets.

Lenin Stadium, as it appeared at the time

Contrast that with the 1967 NFL Championship Game, known as "the Ice Bowl": It was 13 below at kickoff, but Lambeau Field in Green Bay was still filled to its capacity at the time, 50,861. An NFL Films voiceover covering it for the 1986 video The NFL's Greatest Games said, "It is called 'Russian Winter,' the kind of cold that made Napoleon and Hitler flee in terror from the doorstop of Moscow. But in Green Bay, it is known as 'Packer Weather.'" Are Wisconsans tougher than Russians?

It is believed that only 100 fans had come from the Netherlands to support Haarlem, despite their having a young Ruud Gullit in their ranks. They won the Dutch league, the Eredivisie, in 1946 and had won promotion back into it in 1981 and qualified for the UEFA Cup in 1982. But they were relegated in 1990, and went bankrupt in 2010, and have had to start all over; the new club, named Haarlem Kennemerland, now plays in the Netherlands' 9th division.

Edgar Gess, a Tajik midfielder, scored in the 16th minute. The score remained 1-0 to Spartak nearly the rest of the way, and, not anticipating the poorly-supported visitors to get a late equalizer, hundreds of fans in the East Stand left their seats to leave the stadium and get to the Metro (Moscow's subway).

But in stoppage time, Georgian defender Sergei Shvetsov scored to make it 2-0. The fans leaving heard the remaining fans cheer, and, in what was long believed to be the same setup as the Ibrox Disaster in Glasgow, Scotland in 1971, many of them turned around to head back and see what happened. This led to fans bumping into each other on the stairwell and falling like dominoes.

There is an alternate theory that the reaction to Shvetsov's goal had nothing to do with it: Rather, it was a young woman losing a shoe, going back to pick it up, getting trampled, and a few fans stopping to help her, thus, in trying to make a bad situation better, instead making it far worse: Good Samaritanism gone horribly wrong.

Initially, the Soviet government announced that the number of fatalities was a mere 3. Some had speculated that it was as high as 340. It wasn't until the fall of the Soviet Union, and the declassification of many documents, that the true number of deaths was revealed: 66 -- oddly, the exact same number as the similar Ibrox Disaster. It remains the greatest sporting disaster ever to happen on the European continent.

Four stadium officials, including the stadium's director and its top police officer, were criminally charged. Two of them were never tried, due to illness. The other two were imprisoned for 3 years.

On November 3, the 2nd leg of the UEFA Cup tie was played in Haarlem. Despite Haarlem taking a 1-0 lead, Spartak won the game 3-1, including another goal by Shvetsov, won the tie 5-1, and advanced. On October 20, 2007, the 25th Anniversary, the players gathered at Luzhniki Stadium again, playing a memorial match for charity.

Built in 1956, the Luzhniki Stadium was the main stadium for the 1980 Olympics. Lenin's name was removed in 1992, following the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1996, the stadium was made all-seater, cutting capacity to 81,000, and a roof was added. In 2013, the stadium was demolished, with a new stadium built on the site, opening in 2017, for the 2018 World Cup, whose Final it hosted, with France beating Croatia.

The Luzhniki Stadium today. The building at the left is the Palace of Sport,

which hosted the Soviet side of the 1972 hockey "Summit Series."

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October 20, 1982 was a Wednesday. It was midweek for American football. The NBA regular season wouldn't start for another 9 days.

But on this day, Game 7 of the World Series was played at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. I have a separate entry for this event. The Cardinals, including birthday boy Keith Hernandez, rallied for 3 runs in the 6th innings, to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-3. As far as I know, Hernandez is the only player ever to appear on the winning side of a World Series-winning game on his birthday.

This "pitch invasion" did not result in any injuries.

The Cardinals won their 9th World Series, a total surpassed only by the Yankees. Since then, if you combine their Philadelphia and Oakland titles, it has been matched by the Athletics, although the Cards have now made it 11.

And 8 games were played in the new National Hockey League season:

* The New Jersey Devils, having debuted on October 5, lost to the Los Angeles Kings, 7-4 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.

* The New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 6-5 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Montreal Canadiens and the Washington Capitals played to a tie, 3-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-0 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-2 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. 

July 15, 2018: Croatia Win the World's Hearts, But France Win the World Cup

July 15, 2018: The World Cup Final is held, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, built on the site of the Lenin Stadium, the main stadium of the 1980 Olympics. This made it one of the few sites, although not one of the even fewer stadiums, to have hosted both an Olympic Opening Ceremony and a World Cup Final.

Fox broadcast the tournament in America. They had billboards advertising their broadcasts, featuring some of the biggest stars in the game. For Lionel Messi of Argentina, it read, "Men Become Gods." For Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, it was "Never becomes Now." For Neymar of Brazil, who lost a Semifinal to Germany, 7-1 on home soil, it was "Disgrace Becomes Redemption." For Javier Hernandez of Mexico, a.k.a. Chicharito, it was "A Curse Becomes a Challenge." And for Harry Kane of England, it was "Lions become Kings." And yet, none of these men and their countries reached the Final.

For those of us who oppose Donald Trump (and for those of you who don't, What the hell is wrong with you?), the nightmare scenario would have been a match at the tournament between the U.S. and the hosts, whose President, Vladimir Putin, would not only be lording it over the tournament -- as had Benito Mussolini in Italy in 1934, the Junta in Argentina in 1978; and, at the Olympics, Adolf Hitler in 1936, Leonid Brezhnev in 1980, and the Chinese bigwigs in 2008 -- but was scheduled to meet with Trump at a summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland, 3 days after the Final. Who would Trump have been supporting? But the U.S. team didn't even qualify, preventing that scenario.

Instead, the fear was that Putin would intimidate the officials into fixing the games for Russia. The 1st game didn't assuage those fears, as the hosts won, 5-0. Then again, the opponent was only Saudi Arabia. But when they won their 2nd game, 3-1 over Egypt, suspicions grew. Uruguay beat Russia, 3-0 in the last Group Stage game, but Russia still finished 2nd in the Group, and advanced to the Knockout Stage.

Not so lucky were Russia's longtime rivals and the defending Champions, Germany: They lost 1-0 to Mexico, beat Sweden 2-1, and then lost 2-0 to South Korea, finishing last in their Group.

In the Round of 16, Russia came from behind to take Spain to penalties, and won, and suspicion increased. Denmark scored in the 1st minute, Croatia in the 4th, then they played all the way to penalties with no further goals, and Croatia won the penalty phase. France won a 4-3 shootout with Argentina, Uruguay beat Portugal, Brazil beat Mexico, Belgium beat Japan, Sweden beat Switzerland, and, in the most shocking event of the round, England won a knockout stage game on penalties, defeating Colombia after allowing an equalizer in stoppage time.

In the Quarterfinals, Brazil were upset by Belgium, England beat Sweden, and France beat Uruguay. And, at the 2014 Winter Olympic stadium in Sochi, Croatia ended all concerns of corruption by taking Russia to penalties, and winning that round, 4-3. Danijel Subašić, goalkeeper for AS Monaco, stopped Fyodor Smolov. And Mário Fernandes, born and raised in Brazil but accepting Russian citizenship, missed his shot. Ivan Rakitić of FC Barcelona scored the decisive penalty.

That earned Croatia a lot of goodwill, and reminded people of what had happened between each side's predecessor nation: Yugoslavia had stood up to the Soviet Union. Croatia became the darlings of the tournament, at least for people who accepted that Putin was evil.

In the Semifinals, France beat Belgium, 1-0 in St. Petersburg. In Moscow, England and Croatia went to extra time, matching England's best performance since winning in 1966 (they lost to West Germany on penalties in a 1990 Semifinal), before Mario Mandžukić of Turin, Italy team Juventus scored the winner in the 109th minute. Thus did Croatia surpass Yugoslavia's best performance. They reached the Semifinals in 1930 and 1962.

Managed by Didier Deschamps, who had starred for Olympique de Marseille and Juventus, and had played on France's 1998 World Cup winners, France were loaded, and their players came from all over France's former empire.

Their Captain and goalkeeper was Hugo Lloris of North London team Tottenham Hotspur, half-French and half-Catalan. Right back Benjamin Pavard played in Germany for VfB Stuttgart. Raphaël Varane, a Real Madrid centerback of Martiniquais descent, nicknamed "The Rolls-Royce of Defenders." Centerback Samuel Umtiti was born in Cameroon, grew up in Lyon, and played there for Olympique Lyonnais. Left back Lucas Hernandez was born in Marseille, of Spanish descent, and played for Atlético Madrid. Also at Atlético was midfielder Antoine Griezmann, of German descent.

Midfielder Paul Pogba of Manchester United was the son of immigrants from the African nation of Guinea. Midfielder N'Golo Kanté of West London team Chelsea was the son of immigrants from the African nation of Mali. Midfielder Blaise Matuidi had Angolan and Congolese parents. Forward Olivier Giroud had starred at Tours FC, Montpellier HSC, and North London team Arsenal, and now played at Chelsea. And forward Kylian Mbappé was from the suburbs of Paris, with a Cameroonian father and an Algerian mother.

But Croatia had proven themselves worthy of being on the same pitch with anyone. They were managed by Zlatko Dalić, a former star at Hajduk Split. Their captain was midfielder Luka Modrić, probably the best player ever to come from any of the countries that once made up Yugoslavia. After starring for Dinamo Zagreb and Tottenham, he was, by this point playing for Real Madrid. In addition to Modrić, Mandžukić, Rakitić, and goalkeeper Subašić, they had Liverpool centerback Dejan Lovren, and Internazionale Milano left wing Ivan Perišić.

I guess what I'm saying is, with all these accent marks, French and Slavic alike, typing this post was hard!

Both teams wore their 1st-choice uniforms: France wore all blue, and Croatia wore red-and-white-checkered shirts with white shorts. The game got underway, before 78,011 at the Luzhniki Stadium, at 6:00 PM Moscow time, 5:00 PM in both France and Croatia, and 11:00 AM on the U.S. East Coast. The weather was a bit warm by European standards, but turned out not to be a factor.

In the 18th minute, Croatia tried to defend a free kick, with disastrous results. Mandžukić became the 1st player, and remains the only player, to score an own goal in a World Cup Final. Perišić tied the game in the 28th. In the 38th, referee Néstor Pitana, from Argentina, called a handball in the box on Perišić, and awarded France a penalty. For the 1st time, Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was used in a World Cup Final, and it revealed that Pitana got the call right. Griezmann converted the penalty, and it was 2-1 France at the half.

In the 59th, Pogba shot, and Lovren was only able to deflect it back at him, allowing him to score on the rebound. Young sensation Mbappé, 5 months from his 20th birthday, scored in the 65th, joining Pelé of 1958 Brazil as the only teenagers ever to score in a World Cup Final.

At 4-1 down with 25 minutes and change to go, Croatia refused to go down without a fight. Just 4 minutes after Mbappé's goal, Mandžukić took advantage of a Lloris mistake and redeemed himself. It was now 4-2 with France, with plenty of time to go, and the Russian crowd -- perhaps sensing a Slavic brotherhood -- seemed to be behind Croatia. But, try as they might, they could not find a 3rd goal, let alone a 4th, and France had won the World Cup for the 2nd time.

It was the highest-scoring Final since 1966, and the 1st decided in regular time since 2002. Deschamps joined Mário Zagallo of Brazil and Franz Beckenbauer of Germany to become only the 3rd man to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager.

Sometimes, a World Cup team is remembered more fondly than the team that actually won. Hungary over West Germany, who beat them in the Final, in 1954. Wales and Northern Ireland over Brazil in 1958. Portugal and North Korea over England in 1966. The Netherlands over their Final conquerors West Germany in 1974 and Argentina in 1978. France and Brazil over Italy in 1982. England over West Germany in 1990. Italy, Sweden and Bulgaria over Brazil in 1994. South Korea over Brazil in 2002. France over Italy, who beat them in the Final, in 2006. Hosts South Africa over Spain in 2010.

The Balkan nation, once part of a Yugoslavia team that was usually stronger but had never made a World Cup Final, became one of those teams. Croatia had won the world's hearts. But France had won the World Cup.

The England fans had said, "It's coming home." They forgot: Jules Rimet, founder of the World Cup, and for whom its trophy was named, was French. It had come home.

UPDATE: An article for ESPN.com, published after the 2026 World Cup, ranking all 23 tournaments, rated this one 19th, the worst since 1978 and the 2nd-worst of the post-World War II era, basically saying the tournament was dull. I didn't think so.

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July 15, 2018 was a Sunday, as the World Cup Final usually is. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 5-2 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Masahiro Tanaka started for the Bronx Bombers, Trevor Bauer for the Tribe, but neither factored in the decision. Cleveland scored 3 runs off Chad Green in the bottom of the 8th, including a home run by Michael Brantley, making a winning pitcher out of Carlos Carrasco. Neil Walker hit a home run for the Yankees.

* The New York Mets lost to the Washington Nationals, 6-1 at Citi Field. Corey Oswalt started for the Mets, but the Nats scored 5 runs in the 7th inning. The Mets' were not helped by their bullpen: Anthony Swarzak walked the 1st 2 batters of the inning (Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety), and Jerry Blevins hit back-to-back batters. In between, former Met Daniel Murphy singled 2 runs home.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 6-5 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Miami Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-5 at Marlins Park (now LoanDepot Park) in Miami.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-1 at SunTrust Park (now Truist Park) in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland, Georgia.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. The Pirates scored a run in the 8th and 2 in the 9th to send the game to extra innings. The Brewers scored a run in the top of the 10th, but Josh Bell singled 2 runs home in the bottom of the 10th.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-1 at Guaranteed Rate Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 11-7 at Target Field in Minneapolis. Brian Dozier hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-4 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Houston Astros, 6-3 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-3 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres, 7-4 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* In an Interleague, inter-metro-area matchup, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Los Angeles Angels, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And in an Interleague, inter-metro-area matchup, the Oakland Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-2 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.

May 21, 2008: John Terry's Slip

May 21, 2008: The UEFA Champions League Final is held. For the 1st time, 2 English teams play each other in it. So, of course, the venue is… the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. As with the Super Bowl, the site is chosen years in advance, in the hopes that it will be a neutral site.

Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United and Frank Lampard of Chelsea traded goals in the 1st half. There were no more goals in the 2nd half or in extra time. The game went to penalties, with United's Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar facing Chelsea's Czech keeper Petr Čech.

United won the coin toss, and chose to kick first. Carlos Tevez made his kick, while Michael Ballack made his. Each goalie went in the correct direction, but neither could stop the shot. In the 2nd round, both Michael Carrick and Juliano Belletti -- brought on by Chelsea manager Avram Grant in the last minute of extra time, specifically to make him available for penalties -- successfully converted. This time, each goalie went in the wrong direction.

Cristiano tried to play a mind game with Čech, stopping short, and starting again, kicking to his own left. He outsmarted himself: Čech dove in the right direction, and knocked it away. Lampard converted, past van der Sar, going in the right direction, putting Chelsea up, 3-2. Owen Hargreaves and Ashley Cole each converted, despite each goalie getting a fingertip on it. It was 4-3 Chelsea.

In the 5th and last round of regular penalties, needing to convert to keep United alive, Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha, a.k.a. Nani, converted, despite Čech going the right way. It was up to Chelsea's Captain, John Terry, already infamous for his racism and for the drunken abuse that he and Lampard had given stranded American tourists at an airport hotel after the 9/11 attacks -- but not yet having had an affair with the girlfriend of teammate Wayne Bridge -- to make Chelsea the Champions of Europe.

Ordinarily, the Luzhniki had artificial turf. In order to qualify as a host for a European tournament final, real grass had to be laid down. It was too newly laid down, and it was wet from the rain that fell throughout the game. Terry slipped as he made contact, and the ball glanced off the right goalpost. It was 4-4.

The penalties went to sudden death. Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira, like many Brazilian players known by just his first name, another end-of-game, in-case-it-goes-to-penalties sub, kicked it down the middle, with Čech going to his left. Salomon Kalou sent van der Sar the wrong way, and it was 5-5.

Ryan Giggs kicked to his left, and Čech went the other way. It was 6-5, and it was up to Nicolas Anelka for Chelsea. He kicked to his left, and van der Sar saved it. United had won.

The already-knighted Sir Alex Ferguson

with the European Cup, a.k.a. "Ol' Big Ears"

Chelsea regard Terry as "Captain, Leader, Legend." But even after Chelsea finally won the Champions League in 2012, after spending so many of Roman Abramovich's petrodollars -- a Final that Terry missed due to injury -- the defining moment of his career isn't his bad behavior, on and off the pitch, but that slip in Moscow.

The Luzhniki, formerly the Lenin Stadium, joined the Olympic Stadiums of Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Munich and Athens, and London's original Wembley Stadium, as stadiums hosting an Olympic Games and a European Cup/Champions League Final. However, it did not join old Wembley and the Olympic Stadiums of Berlin, Rome and Munich as stadiums hosting an Olympics, a European Cup Final and a World Cup Final. The old stadium has been demolished and replaced, and it was the new Luzhniki Stadium that hosted the 2018 World Cup Final.

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May 21, 2008 was a Wednesday. Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were in progress, but no games were scheduled for this day. There was 1 game in the NBA Playoffs: The Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 89-85 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-0 at Yankee Stadium. Darrell Rasner pitched 7 innings of 5-hit shutout ball, and Joba Chamberlain allowed 1 hit over the last 2 innings. Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Derek Jeter went 0-for-3 with a walk, and had an RBI on a groundout.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 11-4 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Jair Jurrjens outpitched Mike Pelfrey. Chipper Jones bedeviled the Mets again, hitting a home run. So did Jeff Francoeur.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals, 12-2 at Nationals Park in Washington. The Phils scored 6 runs in the 6th inning. Ryan Howard went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs, a walk, and 4 RBIs. Both Pedro Feliz and Shane Victorino also had 3 hits including a home run. Jamie Moyer was the winning pitcher.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-1 at Dolphin Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-3 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Seattle Mariners, 9-4 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-2 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 10-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies, 3-2 at Coors Field in Denver. Omar Vizquel, the longtime superb shortstop for Cleveland, drives Ray Durham home with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres, 11-3 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 9-1 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum).