December 23, 1982: Chaminade Upsets Virginia

December 23, 1982: The biggest upset in the history of college basketball occurs.

In the 1981-82 season, the University of Virginia went 30-4, and finished the regular season ranked Number 3 in the country, led by 7-foot-4 center Ralph Sampson and future NBA coach Rick Carlisle. But they only split their regular-season games against the University of North Carolina, and lost by 1 point in overtime to the University of Maryland on the last day of the season, so they had to share the Atlantic Coast Conference title. They lost to Carolina in the ACC Tournament Championship Game. And they only got to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, losing to the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Nevertheless, Sampson would return, and they entered the 1982-83 season ranked Number 1. They played in a tournament in Tokyo, Japan, where they beat the University of Houston, led by Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler; and the University of Utah. Before making the trip, they had hoped to schedule a game against the University of Hawaii for their return trip, but couldn't. Another Hawaii school stepped in. And so, the Virginia Cavaliers went into that game 8-0, and still Number 1.

The Hawaii school in question was Chaminade University of Honolulu. It was (and remains) a Catholic school, run by the Society of Mary, founded by Father William Joseph Chaminade, a priest who barely survived persecution during the French Revolution. The school competed in the NAIA, roughly equivalent to NCAA Division IV. Their teams are known as the Silverswords, not for actual swords, but for a plant that thrives in Hawaii's tropical climate.

This was only their 8th season of varsity basketball. They had previously played Virginia 3 times, including the season before, losing all 3 games by wide margins. Despite now having the home-court advantage, there was no reason to expect them to give the Cavs much of a challenge.

The game was played at the Honolulu International Center, which opened in 1964, and is best known as the location of Elvis Presley's Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite concert of January 14, 1973. The building still stands, named the Neal S. Blaisdell Center for the Mayor who got it built, and a statue of Elvis stands outside.

But on this night, reflecting the fact that hosts Chaminade seemed to be terribly overmatched, only 3,383 of the arena's 8,800 seats were filled. Tipoff was 7:40 PM Hawaii time -- 1:40 AM Eastern Time. The game was not broadcast on ESPN.

And the only non-Hawaii, non-Virginia sportswriter covering the game was Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post. He was in Honolulu to cover the Aloha Bowl on Christmas Day, since one of the Post's local teams, the University of Maryland, was in it. (Maryland lost, 21-20 to the University of Washington.)

Fans of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, which Wilbon has co-hosted with fellow former Post columnist Tony Kornheiser since 2001, know that he will watch any basketball game, anywhere, anytime. As an ACC team and a rival of Maryland, he had some familiarity with the Virginia team. He probably decided, "What the heck, I'm gonna cover it. Maybe there'll be a story here." His instinct served him well.

On defense, Chaminade double-teamed Sampson, sometimes triple-teaming him. On offense, they tried to fast-break their way to jump shots. They jumped out to leads of 6-2, 15-10 and 19-12. Virginia caught up, but were unlucky, as it seemed like their shots just would not go in. At the half, it was tied, 43-43.

Virginia jumped out to a lead in the 2nd half, but Chaminade scored 7 straight points to tie it, 56-56. Right after this, Sampson made a turnaround jump shot to put Virginia back on top. But this was followed by Mark Rodrigues sending an alley-oop pass to Tim Dunham (not Tim Duncan), who dunked over Sampson. Chaminade's Richard Haenisch said, "After that play, I think we all got the feeling we could actually win."

With just under 6 minutes to go, Chaminade took a 64-62 lead. With 35 seconds to go, Chaminade led 74-72. Virginia missed 3 shots, and a foul sent Chaminade to the free throw line. Sampson only scored 12 points, although he added 17 rebounds. It wasn't enough: Chaminade won, 77-72. An NAIA team had beaten the Number 1 team in the country.

The game ended after 3:00 AM on the East Coast. At ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, Chris Berman and Tom Mees were anchoring SportsCenter, and the machine on their desk that showed scores showed "VIRGINIA 72 CHAMINADE 77." Berman, not having footage to show, said, "We can't tell you what happened, but the Number 1 team in college basketball has lost to... " He paused, and said, "We don't even know who they are." He probably didn't even know how to pronounce it: "SHAM-in-AHD."

Now, everybody knew who Chaminade were. That was almost not the case: Their board of trustees was considering changing the school's name to the University of Honolulu. They couldn't change it now: The brand name had become too good. (There was precedent: Only a year after shocking the basketball world by winning the 1966 NCAA Tournament, Texas Western University changed its name to the University of Texas at El Paso.)

Virginia finished the regular season 29-5, again sharing the regular-season ACC title with North Carolina, losing the ACC Tournament Final to North Carolina State, and losing to N.C. State again in the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, as Jim Valvano's Wolfpack won the National Championship, to cap a season of upsets.

Chaminade finished the season 34-5, ranked Number 1 in NAIA, and got to the Semifinals of the NAIA Tournament. They were no fluke: They beat Louisville later in that 1982-83 season (in which Louisville made the NCAA Final Four) and in 1983-84. Also in 1983-84, they beat Southern Methodist University, then ranked Number 3.

In honor of their legendary upset of Virginia, the Maui Invitational was created in 1984, in which Chaminade compete with 7 major college teams. They now compete in NCAA Division II, in the Pacific West Conference, with fellow Hawaii teams Hawai'i Pacific University in Honolulu and the University of Hawaii at Hilo, in Hilo on Hawai'i, a.k.a. The Big Island. But Chaminade have never won a Conference Championship, or made the Division II Final Four.

In 2018, Virginia would suffer another embarrassing upset, becoming the first 1st seed in an NCAA Tournament to lose to a 16th seed, the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. They rebounded to win the National Championship the next season.

*

December 23, 1982 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Washington Bullets, 97-90 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Detroit Pistons, 135-127 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan. Alex English scored 43 points for the Nuggets.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 101-90 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Dallas Mavericks, 125-106 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Diego Clippers, 120-115 at the San Diego Sports Arena. (It's now the Pechanga Arena.)

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Houston Rockets, 88-82 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Golden State Warriors, 120-95 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

And there were 7 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Washington Capitals, 5-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat their arch-rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, 6-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Hartford Whalers, 5-1 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-4 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-3 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 6-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks, 6-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

October 22, 2001: "Pardon the Interruption" Premieres

Tony Kornheiser (left) and Michael Wilbon

October 22, 2001: ESPN premieres its show Pardon the Interruption. Just as I would later describe Around the Horn, which debuted on the network a year later, as "The McLaughlin Group for sports," PIT is to sports what Crossfire was the politics.

Tony Kornheiser, from Lynbrook, Long Island, New York, was 53 years old when the show began, although his advancing age would become a running gag. Michael Wilbon, from the South Side of Chicago, was about to turn 43, although, as the show went on and he became, in his own words, "an old man," he seemed to enjoy telling younger athletes and fans, "Get off my lawn!"

Both were sportswriters at The Washington Post, Kornheiser from 1979 to 2008, Wilbon from 1980 to 2010, both eventually becoming regular columnists before getting bought out. Kornheiser grew up as a fan of the New York Mets, Jets, Knicks and Rangers; Wilbon, of the Chicago Cubs (despite growing up in White Sox territory), Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks. But both retain affection for the D.C.-area teams, including the teams of the University of Maryland and Georgetown University, due to having covered them for the Post.

The show begins with "Headlines": They discuss three major sports stories of the day. Each segment has a clock, usually no more than 2 minutes. After a commercial break, they might do more Headlines. Or they might do a short in-depth interview with another ESPN expert on a particular sport, calling the segment "Five Good Minutes."

Or they might play a game. Sometimes it's "Toss-Up," where they choose between two preferences: Who's likelier to win a game, who's the better performer at a particular event, which coach is on a hotter "hot seat," etc. Sometimes, it's "What's the Word?" where they choose a word to describe an occurrence in sports. Sometimes, it's "Mail Time," where they read questions sent in by viewers, and answer them.

Long-since discarded games were "Odds Makers," in which their former assistant, Tony Reali -- known as "Stat Boy," before (and, for a few more years, after) becoming host/moderator of Around the Horn -- would ask what were the odds of something happening; "Over/Under," in which Reali would give them a number of something, like how many games a team would win, and they had to guess over it or under it; "Role Play," where they would hold up a picture of an athlete or coach, and the other man would ask him a question, and he had to answer it in his perception of that person's character; "Good Cop, Bad Cop," in which one would be nice about an issue and the other would be mean; and "Food Chain," where they would rank certain items, leading to Tony creating a catchphrase that has survived the segment: "That's it, that's the list!"

Then, another commercial break. Then, "Happy Time." First, they wish a sports figure a Happy Birthday, and talk about them for about 30 seconds. If it's an old guy, Tony will said, "History lesson, kids!" Then, "Happy Anniversary" -- or, sometimes, "Not-So-Happy Anniversary." Finally, "Happy Trails" to a coach getting fired, a player retiring, or a seemingly likely event failing to happen. If a sports figure has died, "Happy Trails" is replaced by "A Melancholy Trails" and a considerably more respectful discussion.

By this point, the clock will show under 2 minutes left to do the show. This is followed by "Errors and Omissions." Finally, the Big Finish: Tony will say, "We're running out of show! It's time for the big finish!" and Mike will say, "Let's do it!" Five brief segments, Tony introducing the 1st, 3rd and 5th, Mike the 2nd and 4th.

After Mike responds to the last, Tony says, "We're out of time. We'll try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornheiser!" And Mike says, "And I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads!" Unless it's a Friday, in which case, it's "Have a great weekend, knuckleheads!" Or, if they're pre-empted, "We're bumped by basketball/golf/tennis 'til (whatever the day is), knuckleheads!" Followed by Mike introducing the show at 6:00: "Here's SportsCenter!" Or, if it's Monday night, "Here's Monday Night Countdown!"

Frequent references are made to their colleges: Tony's Binghamton University in New York State, and Mike's Northwestern University north of Chicago. Mike refers to Tony's bias toward New York, or at least to the Northeast, referring to the main Interstate highway, I-95, as opposed to his own Midwest, or "Big Ten" or I-94 region.

Less frequent than usual are Wilbon's references to guys Tony likes as "Your boy!" Tony began to fire back when Wilbon waxed about Chicago-adjacent personalities, and called them "Your boy!"

They dress up for Halloween, and, on their last show before Thanksgiving Day, they do "The Turkeys of the Year." Tony says, "Wilbon, tell them the rules" (for deciding them). Mike says, "There ain't none." And then they show bloopers, and athletes, coaches and owners who made fools (or "turkeys") of themselves in other ways.

When the show was suggested to them, because they had such great chemistry together when talking about sports, both of them thought the show, airing weekdays at 5:30 PM Eastern Time on ESPN and repeated at least once a day on ESPN2, would last a few weeks at most. Nobody is more surprised than they are that, as of October 22, 2022, it is still on the air, and they're still the ones doing it.

But they don't always do it in the D.C. studio where it is taped, usually broadcast live. Wilbon frequently does it from the arenas where he covers NBA games for the network. Sometimes, he's back home in Chicago, doing it from ESPN's studio there. Sometimes, he's at ESPN's studio in Phoenix, because he has a house in suburban Scottsdale, Arizona -- Phoenix being to Chicagoans what Florida is to New Yorkers: Where you go to retire. Except Wilbon has no intention of retiring.

Likewise, when COVID hit in March 2020, Tony started doing the show from his house in the Chevy Chase section of Northwest Washington (which borders the city of Chevy Chase, Maryland). Even after restrictions were lifted, the joke is that he does the show from his attic. It took about 2 years for him to once again do the show from his studio -- and on the day that he did it, Wilbon was on assignment, covering a Lakers-Warriors game in Los Angeles!

Occasionally, one or both will be out -- the joke is that Tony is tired, or that either one of them is indulging in their golf fetish -- and replaced by a substitute. For years, a regular sub was Dan LeBatard of the Miami Herald, and both Tony and Mike pretended that they hated him. Sometimes, it's Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, a.k.a. "Fill-In Frank." Sometimes, it's another ESPN correspondent, such as Pablo Torre (whom Tony jokes is "my son") or Mina Kimes.

In 2004, CBS tried to build a sitcom around Tony, titled Listen Up. It starred Jason Alexander of Seinfeld as Philadelphia-based sportswriter Tony Kleinman, who hosts a talk show titled Listen Up with Bernie Widmer, a former NFL player played by Malcolm-Jamal Warner of The Cosby Show. Like Home Improvement, it tried to balance the protagonist's work life with the TV show and his home life with his wife and kids in the suburbs, but it didn't work, and was canceled after 1 season.

*

October 22, 2001 was a Monday. NFL Pro Bowl safety Brian Branch was born. Also on this day, tennis had its "royal wedding": Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi got married at their home, in Agassi's hometown of Las Vegas. The private ceremony happened in their courtyard, where they exchanged vows barefoot in jeans, with only their mothers and a Nevada judge present. Between them, they have a son, a daughter, and 30 Grand Slam singles titles (Steffi 22, Andre 8).

This was also the day that the American League Pennant was decided. The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 12-3 at Yankee Stadium, in Game 5 of the AL Division Series. The Mariners had tied the major league record with 116 regular-season wins, but flopped in the Playoffs. I have a separate entry for this occurrence.

The National League Pennant was also decided on this date. The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series, to win the Pennant in record time, their 4th season of existence. Randy Johnson outpitched Tom Glavine, and Erubiel Durazo hit a home run.

And on ABC Monday Night Football, a rivalry was played out: The Philadelphia Eagles beat the New York Giants, 10-9 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

September 27, 2009: The Detroit Lions Win Again

September 27, 2009: A very weird and nice day for me. Having seen Rutgers beat Maryland in college football the day before, I had spent the night in Washington, D.C. In the morning, I took Amtrak down to Williamsburg, Virginia.

Reading Michael Wilbon's column in The Washington Post, he predicted that the troubled Washington Redskins would lose to the Detroit Lions, which would have ended a 19-game losing streak that included the entire 2008 season.

The further the column went on, the more I believed Wilbon: The Redskins were going to lose. And the Lions did win, 19-14 at Ford Field in Detroit, a terrible embarrassment for the D.C. area's favorite sports team.

Jason Campbell passed for 340 yards for Washington, compared to 241 for Matthew Stafford for Detroit, coached by Jim Schwartz. But Kevin Smith ran for 101 yards, the Lions had nearly 37 minutes of possession, and they were 10-for-18 on 3rd downs, while the 'Skins were just 2-for-10.

The Lions' last win had been on December 23, 2007, 25-20 over the Kansas City Chiefs, also at Ford Field.

I was visiting Williamsburg for reasons I won’t explain here, other than to say that the Historic District holds special meaning for my family. While I was there, surrounded by reminders of the 1770s and 1780s, standing on a street of dirt, I took out my 2000s cell phone, and found out that, 396 miles away at Yankee Stadium II, the Yankees had beaten their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, 4-2, thus clinching the American League Eastern Division title. Melky Cabrera and Mark Teixeira hit home runs in support of Andy Pettitte. Mariano Rivera has to work out of a jam in the 9th, but does.

It was a partial revenge for 2004 and 2007, but I guess full revenge for all that the Sox have done to the Yanks from 2004 onward won’t come until we beat them in a Playoff series. This year, we did our part, but they didn’t do theirs.

*

September 27, 2009 was a Sunday. Above and beyond Detroit vs. Washington, these NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 24-0 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The New York Jets beat the Tennessee Titans, 24-17 at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* The New England Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons, 26-10 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 34-14 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the team they used to be, the Cleveland Browns, 34-3 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Buffalo Bills, 27-7 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 23-20 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the San Francisco 49ers, 27-24 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the St. Louis Rams, 36-17 at the Edward Jones Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Houston Texans, 31-24 at Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium) in Houston.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Arizona Cardinals, 31-10 at University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Miami Dolphins, 23-13 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium).

* The Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders, 23-3 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Seattle Seahawks, 25-19 at Qwest Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.

* And the next night, on ESPN Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Carolina Panthers, 21-7 at Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

And in Major League Baseball, in addition to the Yankees' win over the Red Sox, these games were played:

* The New York Mets beat the Florida Marlins, 4-0 at Land Shark Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals, 6-3 at Nationals Park in Washington. Nats reliever Mike MacDougal melted down in the top of the 10th inning, with a walk, hitting a batter, and mishandling 2 grounders, neither of which was scored as an error, the latter of which giving Brian McCann a cheap RBI, before allowing a 2-run single to Omar Infante.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-4 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-5 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-0 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. David Huff pitched 8 innings of 5-hit shutout ball, and Jess Todd pitched a perfect 9th. Kell Shoppach and Matt LaPorta hit home runs for the Tribe, and Asdrúbal Cabrera went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-4 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-5 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee. Jimmy Rollins went 3-for-5 with a solo home run and a walk, while Chase Utley and Ryan Howard each went 2-for-5, with Howard adding an RBI.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Texas Rangers, 7-6 at Rangers Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Colorado Rockies, 4-3 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres, 7-4 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-4 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-1 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.