December 31, 1988: The Fog Bowl & Five-Way Mario

December 31, 1988: The Chicago Bears host the Philadelphia Eagles in an NFC Divisional Playoff at Soldier Field in Chicago. It was Mike Ditka coaching the team he'd led to a Super Bowl win 3 seasons before, against a team coached by Buddy Ryan, who'd been the defensive coordinator for those Bears, and with whom he'd never gotten along.

Chicago is known for nasty Winter weather, and plenty of games at Soldier Field, both at its 1924 original (as this one was) and at its 2003 replacement, have had bitter cold, or snow, or rain, or wind blasting in off Lake Michigan, just 2 blocks away, or some combination thereof.

But they'd never been hit by fog before. San Francisco is the American city best known for fog, and while Giants games at Candlestick Park had to be called due to fog, 49ers games there never have. Cleveland Municipal Stadium had seen some Indians games called due to fog, but not Browns games. Chicago? Fog was one weather condition they were not used to.

At kickoff, the sky was a perfect, cloudless blue. Mike Tomczak threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to Dennis McKinnon, putting the Bears up, 7-0. The Eagles came right back, but only got to the 26-yard line, and Luis Zendejas missed a field goal attempt.

A Seth Joyner interception of Tomczak gave the Eagles a quick next chance, but they committed 2 penalties that nullified touchdowns. Coach Buddy Ryan, so great with defense but totally clueless on offense, went for the field goal again, and, this time, Zendejas converted, making it 7-3 Chicago.

Kevin Butler missed a field goal for the Bears. Randall Cunningham drove the Eagles down the field, and got to 4th & 1 on the Bear 4. He tried a quarterback sneak, but a measurement suggested that he didn't get it, turning the ball over. A fumble recovery early in the 2nd quarter gave the Eagles another chance, but, again, they could only get a field goal attempt out of it, and it was 7-6 Chicago.

Neal Anderson ran for a touchdown, increasing the Bears' lead to 14-6. A Butler field goal made it 17-6, with 2:03 left in the half. This was when the fog arrived, coming in off the Lake. The Eagles managed a field goal before the half, and the teams went into the locker rooms with the score Bears 17, Eagles 9.

CBS had hired a helicopter to provide aerial images. The copter was forced to land, because the fog was so thick. The right thing for the officials to do would have been to suspend the game until the fog lifted. But they didn't, deciding that the fog posed no danger to fans or players (unlike, say, lightning), and they sent the teams out for the 2nd half.

Tomczak and Cunningham couldn't see their receivers. Terry Bradshaw was CBS' color commentator, and he said it was the most frustrating game he had ever seen. I watched this game on CBS, and I couldn't see anything, either. I was reminded of one of the earliest games I'd ever seen, a Los Angeles Rams vs. Minnesota Vikings Playoff game that was so muddy, I couldn't tell which team was which, despite the contrast in their colors. (The Rams' blue and gold, the Vikings' purple and white.) Come to think of it, that game was also on a New Year's Eve, in 1978, exactly 10 years earlier. The Rams won it, 34-10.

The Eagles had the 1st drive of the 2nd half, getting to the Bear 12, but an interception put an end to that. The Bears drove, but stalled, and Butler missed another field goal. An interception was turned into Zendejas' 4th field goal of the game, and the Eagles closed to within 17-12 by the end of the 3rd quarter.

Tomczak was knocked out of the game with an injury, and former starter Jim McMahon was back. He got the Bears into field goal range, and Butler added the 3 points. Around this time, Dan Hampton, the Bears' Hall of Fame defensive end, asked referee Jim Tunney what the score was, because he couldn't see the scoreboard. Never mind read it well enough to make out the numbers, he couldn't see the board. After the game, Hampton told the media, "If I'd known it was only 20-12, I would've played harder!"

The Eagles had 1 last chance, but Cunningham threw his 3rd interception of the game. He threw for 407 yards, but no touchdowns.

There had been football games known as "The Fog Bowl" before. On December 1, 1962, the Grey Cup, the Championship game of the Canadian Football League, at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, also off a Great Lake (Lake Ontario), was suspended and resumed the next day. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 28-27. And on December 28, 1974, steam rising off the frozen artificial turf at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas resembled fog. Mississippi State beat North Carolina, 28-26.

Within half an hour of the final gun of this game at Soldier Field, the fog lifted. Eagle fans still believe that if the game had been suspended once the fog rolled in, and restarted once it lifted, their team would've won. I don't think so: These were still Ditka's Bears, and Ryan was a terrible head coach who would have found a way to lose. And even if they had won it, they would have had to play the NFC Championship game away to the 49ers at their Joe Montana-to-Jerry Rice peak. The Bears did play the 49ers, at Soldier Field (the Bears had the better record), and, with no weather issues, the 49ers won.

This game has been cited as part of "The Curse of Billy Penn": From 1983, when the Philadelphia 76ers won the NBA Championship, until 2008, when the Phillies won their next World Series, no Philadelphia professional sports team won a World Championship. The suggestion was that the construction of One Liberty Place in 1987, making it taller than the statue of William Penn atop City Hall, caused Penn's spirit to put a curse on the city's teams.

*

December 31, 1988 was a Saturday. One other NFL Playoff game was played: The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Seattle Seahawks, 21-13 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. The Bengals won the AFC Championship Game, and the 49ers beat them in Super Bowl XXIII.

There were no NBA games scheduled. But there were 9 NHL games, including all 3 New York Tri-State Area teams:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 8-6 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. This was the game in which Mario Lemieux scored all 5 ways in which a player can score: Even-strength (at 4:17 of the 1st period), shorthanded (at 7:50 of the 1st), on the power play (at 10:59 of the 1st), a penalty shot (11:14 of the 2nd, and this was also shorthanded), and empty net (19:59 of the 3rd, in other words with 1 second left in regulation).

* The New York Rangers beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals, 6-4 at the Nassau Coliseum

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Quebec Nordiques, 6-1 at Maple Leaf Garden in Toronto, in the 1st half of CBC's Hockey Night In Canada doubleheader.

* The Hartford Whalers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Winnipeg Jets played the Calgary Flames to a 4-4 tie, at the Olympic Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Montreal Canadiens beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 at the Nassau Coliseum, in the 2nd half of the CNBC doubleheader. 

September 17, 1961: The Civic Arena Opens In Pittsburgh

September 17, 1961: The Civic Arena opens in Pittsburgh. The city had been without a major sports arena since the Duquesne Gardens was demolished in 1956.

Edgar J. Kaufmann, who ran Kaufmann's department stores, and commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build his house, Fallingwater, in 1938, came up with the idea for an auditorium with a retractable round roof -- for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, hence the building's name. The CLO had previously been using the University of Pittsburgh's Pitt Stadium. But he died in 1955, and never saw construction begin.

That construction began in 1955, with the demolition, for the arena and its parking lots, of buildings that were home to 8,000 black people and 400 businesses, ruining what had been the lower Hill District, the cultural center of black life in Pittsburgh. This would be paralleled a few years later by the demolition of housing for Mexican-Americans on what became the site of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. In a touch of irony, this new arena for the Steel City was delayed in 1959 by a steelworkers' strike.

The 1st event was the Ice Capades. The 1st roof opening was on July 4, 1962, for a comedy show headlined by Carol Burnett, who said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I present the sky!"

Upon its opening, it seated 10,732 people. An addition in 1967 boosted it to 12,508, another in 1975 to 16,402, and it peaked in 1993 at 17,537.

The building immediately became home to the CLO, which used it until 1973, when it moved to Heinz Hall, then to the Benedum Center in 1988, and to The CLO Cabaret at Theater Square in 2004. The American Hockey League's Pittsburgh Hornets, dormant since the Duquesne Gardens was torn down in 1956, were restarted, and played at the Civic Arena until the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins debuted in 1967. The American Basketball League's Pittsburgh Rens (short for "Renaissance") also began play shortly after the Arena opened, but folded with the ABL a year later.

Duquesne University played games there from 1964 to 1988. The University of Pittsburgh used it for some home games from 1984 to 2002. The NBA's Philadelphia 76ers used it for one or two "home games" per season until The Spectrum opened in 1967. The American Basketball Association's 1st title, for the 1967-68 season, was won there by the Pittsburgh Pipers, but they moved after just 1 season, moved back after another, changed their name to the Pittsburgh Condors in 1970, and folded in 1972. The Arena was also home to minor-league teams, like the Pittsburgh Spirit of the Major Indoor Soccer League and the Pittsburgh Gladiators of the Arena Football League.

Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower was the featured speaker at a Republican Party rally at the Arena on October 12, 1962. In the closing days of the 1964 election, both major-party candidates for President spoke there, first President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Democrat, on October 27, then the Republican nominee, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, on October 29. Former Vice President Richard Nixon, running for President, had a rally there on October 28, 1968.

Cassius Clay, not yet Muhammad Ali and not yet the Heavyweight Champion of the World, beat Charlie Powell there on January 24, 1963. Larry Holmes defended the Heavyweight Championship there against Renaldo Snipes on November 6, 1981.

The 1st rock concert there was hosted by Craig "Porky" Chedwick, the WHOD disc jockey known as "The Daddio of the Raddio" and "The Pied Piper of Platter." Local group The Skyliners headlined a show that included Jackie Wilson, The Drifters, The Coasters, Jerry Butler, The Flamingos, The Angels, and The Blue-Belles, whose lead singer was Patti LaBelle.

Other concerts there included The Beatles on September 14, 1964; The Temptations on March 6, 1969; The Doors on May 2, 1970, recorded for a live album; The Rolling Stones on July 22, 1972, March 11, 1999, and January 10, 2003; Pink Floyd on June 19, 1973; Elvis Presley on June 25 and 26, 1973, and December 31, 1976; the 1st American concert by Rush on August 14, 1974; The Bee Gees on September 4 and 5, 1979; Michael Jackson with his brothers on August 13, 1981, and solo on September 26, 27 and 28, 1988; Destiny's Child on July 20, 2005; and Taylor Swift on October 1, 2009.

The Arena is best remembered as the home of the Penguins, who struggled at first. Even a switch of team colors in 1979-80, from blue and gold to the black and gold of the World Series-winning Pirates and the Super Bowl-winning Steelers, didn't help. In 1984, they drafted Mario Lemieux, who made them contenders, and led them to the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992.

The Arena was a filming location for the 1979 basketball film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh; the 1995 film Sudden Death, about a terrorist attack during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals; and the 2001 film Rock Star, in which Mark Wahlberg played a singer with a concert there in 1987.

The cost of operating the retractable roof proved too much, and it remained closed from 1995 onward. As the team's largest creditor, Lemieux was awarded ownership of the bankrupt Penguins in 1999. He sold the naming rights to Pittsburgh-based Mellon Bank, and the building was known as the Mellon Arena almost to the end. The Arena's mailing address was changed to 66 Mario Lemieux Place, after his uniform number.

In 2005, Sidney Crosby debuted with the Penguins. They reached the Stanley Cup Finals again in 2008, and won them in 2009. In 2010, they moved to a new arena, across Centre Avenue, originally named the CONSOL Energy Center, now named the PPG Paints Arena. The Civic Arena, its old name restored, was demolished the next year.

The Penguins had played their 1st game there on October 11, 1967, and their last on May 12, 2010, a Playoff game. In both of these milestone games, they were defeated by the Montreal Canadiens. The last event was on June 26, 2010, a concert by James Taylor and Carole King. King had written, among so many others, "You've Got a Friend," and Taylor had hit Number 1 with it in 1971. For millions of people in Western Pennsylvania, the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh was a friend.

UPDATE: The Penguins have a team Hall of Fame. From the 1960s and '70s, they have inducted head coach Jack Riley, goaltender Les Binkley, centers Syl Apps Jr. and Dave Burrows, and right wings Jean Pronovost and Rick Kehoe.

From their 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup winners, they have inducted team owner Edward J. DeBartolo Sr., general manager Craig Patrick, head coach Bob Johnson, center Mario Lemieux, defensemen Paul Coffey and Ulf Samuelsson, and right wings Mark Recchi and Joe Mullen. So far, Lemieux as owner is the only inductee from their 2009, 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup winners.

And they have inducted such long-term team personnel as clubhouse attendants A.T. Caggiano and Frank Sciulli, organist Vince Lascheid, broadcaster Mike Lange, executive Elaine Heufelder, and team physician Charles "Chip" Burke.

Lemieux, Lange and Sidney Crosby have been elected to the Pittsburgh Sports Hall of Fame. Connie Hawkins of the 1968 Pipers is the only Pittsburgh professional basketball player elected to it.

*

September 17, 1961 was a Sunday. The NFL season began, and these games were played:

* The New York Giants lost to the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 21-10 at Yankee Stadium.

* The Minnesota Vikings played their 1st game, and beat the Chicago Bears, 37-13 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. This was also the professional debut of quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who completed 17 out of 23 passes, for 250 yards, 4 touchdowns, and no interceptions. This would be the highlight of the season for the Vikes: They went 3-11.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Cleveland Browns, 27-20 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the Los Angeles Rams, 27-24 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers, 17-13 at the new Green Bay City Stadium, which was renamed Lambeau Field in 1965.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-24 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

* And the San Francisco 49ers beat the Washington Redskins, 35-3 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

There were 2 games played in the American Football League. The Buffalo Bills beat the New York Titans, 41-31 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo. And the San Diego Chargers beat the Oakland Raiders, 44-0 at Balboa Stadium in San Diego.

And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Roger Maris hit his 58th home run of the season in the top of the 12th inning. Luis Arroyo became the winning pitcher, in relief of Bill Stafford. Bill "Moose" Skowron and Clete Boyer also hit home runs. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-4 with 2 walks. Yogi Berra went 0-for-5 with a walk. Al Kaline went 2-for-5 with a walk.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 1-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Bill Monbouquette pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching Chuck Estrada. The only run scored in the bottom of the 4th, when Jim Pagliaroni doubled Pete Runnels home. Rookie Carl Yastrzmeski went 1-for-2 before being pinch-hit for. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 3-2 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Larry Jackson pitched a 5-hit shutout. Stan Musial hit his 453rd career home run. Roberto Clemente went 0-for-3.

* The Minnesota Twins swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians, 5-0 and 5-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Camilo Pascual allowed 8 hits in the opener, but kept a shutout. Over the 2 games, Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-5 with 3 walks.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-0 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Art Mahaffey pitched 8 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and Frank Sullivan pitched a perfect 9th. Frank Robinson went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Los Angeles Angels, 8-1 and 4-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Over the 2 games, Luis Aparicio went 2-for-6 with 4 walks and 3 stolen bases.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves, 4-3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. In the top of the 11th inning, Joe Torre singled Eddie Mathews home with a go-ahead run. But in the bottom of the 11th, Duke Snider singled Tommy Davis and Bob Aspromonte home with the winning runs. 

Snider had pinch-hit for Don Drysdale, and went 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs. The winning pitcher, having pitched 2 innings of relief, was Sandy Koufax. Mathews went 1-for-4. Hank Aaron went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Felipe Alou went 4-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Willie Mays went 2-for-4 with a walk. Willie McCovey did not play.

May 25, 1991: Mario and Pittsburgh Win the Cup

May 25, 1991: The Pittsburgh Penguins win their 1st Stanley Cup, taking Game 6 of the Finals against the Minnesota North Stars by a whopping 8-0, at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington. Few teams have ever been so badly battered in their own house in a postseason game as the Stars were.

Mario Lemieux and Jaromír Jágr win their 1st Stanley Cup. So does longtime Hartford Whaler star Ron Francis. So does Korean-born, Toronto-raised Jim Paek, who scores in this game. He was the 1st person of Korean descent to play in the NHL, and the 1st native of Asia to win the Cup.

Joe Mullen wins his 2nd, having also won with the 1989 Calgary Flames. Paul Coffey, the former Edmonton Oilers star, wins his 4th. And Bryan Trottier, formerly of the New York Islanders, wins his 5th.

Their coach, Bob Johnson, was known as Badger Bob, having previously led the University of Wisconsin, whose teams are known as the Badgers, to 3 National Championships. He thus became the 1st coach to win an NCAA title and an NHL title. But over the Summer, he was diagnosed with cancer, and died the following November 26. Scotty Bowman was brought in, and he led the Penguins to win the 2nd of back-to-back Cups.

Technically, this game gave Pittsburgh titles in all 4 sports: The Pirates had won 5 World Series, the Steelers had won 4 Super Bowls, and the Pittsburgh Pipers had won the 1968 American Basketball Association Championship, led by Connie Hawkins. However, the Pipers were gone after 1972, and the city has only had an NBA team in the league's 1st season, 1946-47, the Pittsburgh Ironmen. Their best player was Press Maravich, later the father and coach of Pistol Pete.

As for the Stars, they will be moved to Dallas just 2 years later. By the time they finally win the Cup in 1999, only 1 player from this team will still be there: Mike Modano.

In 1998, The Hockey News released their list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. Lemieux was ranked 4th, Trottier 31st, and Jágr 37th. In 2017, all 3 were named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players.

*

May 25, 1991 was a Saturday. Football was out of season. There was 1 game in the NBA Playoffs: The Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons, 113-107 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. Michael Jordan scored 33 points. The Bulls were about to end the Pistons' 3-year reign as Eastern Conference Champions, and their 2-year reign as NBA Champions, and begin a run of 6 titles in 8 seasons.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. This was a back-and-forth game, including the Yankees scoring 2 runs in the 9th inning and the Orioles 1. Steve Farr was the winning pitcher, in relief of Pascual Pérez. Don Mattingly and Cal Ripken hit home runs.

* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-2 at Shea Stadium. Ken Hill outpitched Wally Whitehurst. Howard Johnson hit a home run.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 7-6 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Orlando Merced hit a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Barry Bonds went 1-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 6-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium. The Tribe scored 2 runs in the 9th to come from behind. Robin Yount went 2-for-4. Paul Molitor went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 11-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. George Brett went 2-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 4-2 at the Astrodome in Houston. It was 1-1 after 9 innings. Scott Coolbaugh hit a home run in the top of the 10th inning, and scored 2 more runs. The Astros pulled one back in the bottom of the 10th, but got no closer. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The California Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Kirk McCaskill pitched 7 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, Mark Eichhorn allowed a hit in the 8th, and Bryan Harvey pitched a perfect 9th. Dave Winfield went 1-for-4.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-3 at the Oakland Coliseum. José Canseco hit a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* And the Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-6 at the Kingdome in Seattle. In the top of the 11th, Gary Pettis singled home 2 runs, and Juan González hit a 2-run homer. In the bottom of the 11th, Jay Buhner hit a 2-run homer, but the M's got no closer. Ken Griffey Jr. also homered for them.

February 16, 2005: The NHL Season Is Canceled

February 16, 2005: National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman cancels the 2004-05 season. In so doing, he becomes the 1st boss of any of North America's "Big Four" major sports leagues to cancel an entire season.

Previously:

* 1972: Major League Baseball players went on strike. It was quickly settled, but each team had its 1st few games of the regular season canceled, between 6 and 9.

* 1973: MLB team owners locked the players out, prior to the start of Spring Training. It was quickly settled, and no games were lost, not even Spring Training exhibition games.

* 1974: National Football League players went on strike. The team owners used all-rookie teams as replacement players, and then settle the strike. No regular-season games were lost.

* 1976: MLB team owners locked the players out during Spring Training. It was settled, and no regular-season games were lost.

* 1980: MLB players went on strike. The last week of Spring Training was canceled, but the strike was quickly settled, and no regular-season games were lost.

* 1981: MLB players went on strike in mid-season. It took 2 months to settle it, and each team lost between 51 and 59 regular-season games.

* 1982: NFL players went on strike. This time, 7 regular-season games were canceled before it was settled.

* 1985: MLB players went on strike in mid-season. The strike was settled in 3 days, and all but 2 of the postponed games were made up.

* 1987: NFL players went on strike. One regular-season game was canceled, and then the team owners used replacement players, or "scabs," for 2 weeks. The fans hated it, and the strike was settled.

* 1990: MLB team owners locked the players out in Spring Training. It was soon settled, and the regular season got pushed back a week, but all games were played.

* 1992: The NHL owners began their 1st lockout, late in the regular season, which ended up canceling 30 games, but was resolved in time to have a full Stanley Cup Playoffs.

* 1994: MLB players went on strike, and Commissioner Bud Selig ended up canceling the last 1/3rd of the regular season and the entire postseason. It was settled the following April, resulting in a delay of both Spring Training and the regular season, and the cancellation of the 1st 18 regular-season games.

* 1995: Another NHL lockout, before the start of the season, not resolved until the New Year, shortening the 82-game season to 44 games.

* 1995: National Basketball Association team owners locked out the players. It was settled before any regular-season games could be postponed.

* 1996: There was another NBA lockout, but it lasted only 2 hours. The regular season was not seriously threatened.

* 1998: There was another NBA lockout. This one lasted into the New Year, and turned the usual 82-game season into a 50-game season.

None of these was as damaging as baseball's Strike of '94, which canceled the postseason. But the 2004-05 NHL lockout was worse: It ended up canceling the entire season, something that had never happened in North American sports, and (through the end of the 2021 NFL season) hasn't happened since.

Why did it happen? The team owners wanted a salary cap, and the NHL Players Association didn't. Their alternative was revenue sharing. The owners held firm: They would rather lose all the revenue of an entire season than give up on the salary cap.

Those owners included Wayne Gretzky, who from 2000 to 2009 was a 10 percent owner of the team then known as the Phoenix Coyotes; and Mario Lemieux, who, due to his contract making him the Pittsburgh Penguins' biggest creditor, was made that team's majority owner upon their bankruptcy declaration in 1999. Since Lemieux was now a team owner, he had to resign as a member of the NHLPA, due to the conflict of interest.

To their credit, neither Gretzky nor Lemieux -- often considered 2 of the 5 greatest players who have ever played -- tried to settle the lockout peacefully, without looking like they were betraying the players. Gretzky didn't have his team's vote in the ownership meetings. Lemieux had his, and was willing to accept the salary cap, if it was structured like the one the NFL had adopted. In the end, though, both men gave in to the other owners.

As of February 16, 2022, Lemieux remains the Pens' majority owner. And, as far as I'm concerned, both men have a cloud over them. 

The players did not lose much in the short term: Most of them went to play in the various European leagues: Russia, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, France.

But there would be no 2004-05 NHL season, and no 2005 Stanley Cup. For that season, where the stamping of the names of the players on the winners would go, the Cup is stamped with the words "SEASON NOT PLAYED." Not that it mattered for the NHL's 6 Canadian teams: Had one of them gotten close to the Cup in 2005, Bettman would have found a way to cheat them out of that, too.

The lockout was settled on July 22, 2005, allowing the 2005-06 season, both pre- and regular, to begin on time. In the end, both ideas went into effect: The players caved and allowed the salary cap, and the owners, knowing they'd won, accepted the revenue sharing.

Bettman thus cemented himself as the worst Commissioner in sports history. True, in 1994, Bud Selig canceled a postseason, 1/3rd of a regular season, 1/9th of another, a Spring Training, and screwed up an All-Star Game that was played in the ballpark he himself got built. But he didn't cancel an entire season. Bettman did.

There has since been another lockout, with the 2005 CBA having run out, resulting in a new negotiation that delayed the opening of the 2012-13 regular season until January 13, and the season shortened to 48 games.

*

February 16, 2005 was a Wednesday. Obviously, there were no NHL games. And baseball and football were both out of season. But there were 11 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 108-90 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Sacramento Kings, 96-85 at the Brendan Byrne Arena.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 90-88 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 93-75 at the Wachovia Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Charlotte Bobcats beat the Denver Nuggets, 94-88 at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena (now the Spectrum Center) in Charlotte.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the New Orleans Hornets, 101-78 at the New Orleans Arena (now the Smoothie King Center).

* The Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 113-95 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Toronto Raptors, 121-115 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 111-89 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 95-87 at the Conseco Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis. Reggie Miller led all scorers on the day with 36 points.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 117-110 at the KeyArena in Seattle.