December 28, 1975: The Cowboys' Hail Mary, Full of Disgrace

December 28, 1975: The Minnesota Vikings host the Dallas Cowboys in an NFC Divisional Playoff game at Metropolitan Stadium, in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Each team had dominated, and would continue to dominate, its respective Division through the 1970s: The Vikings, the NFC Central; the Cowboys, the NFC East. The Cowboys had lost Super Bowl V and won Super Bowl VI; the Vikings had lost Super Bowls IV, VIII and IX, and were going for their 3rd straight NFC Championship.

The game's 1st half was relatively quiet, with only one score, a touchdown by the Vikings in the 2nd quarter that made it 7-0. The Cowboys tied it with a touchdown in the 3rd quarter. So the game was dominated by each team's defensive unit, the Cowboys' "Doomsday Defense" and the Vikings' "Purple People Eaters."

Early in the 4th quarter, Toni Fritsch, the Cowboys' Austrian-born placekicker, kicked a 24-yard field goal, and they led 10-7. But quarterback Fran Tarkenton, named the NFL's Most Valuable Player that season, led a touchdown drive that gave Minnesota a 14-10 lead with 5:24 left in regulation.

The Cowboys could not gain a 1st down on their next drive, so the Vikings got the ball with 3:12 left. With Tarkenton as a running quarterback, known as "Fran the Scrambler" -- as was the Cowboys' Roger Staubach, a.k.a. "Roger the Dodger" -- the Vikings kept the ball on the ground to run out the clock, forcing the Cowboys to use up all their timeouts.

But on a 3rd & 2 play, Charlie Waters sacked Tarkenton for a 3-yard loss, with the clock stopping for the 2-minute warning. Tarkenton later said, "That play cost us the game. It wasn't the Hail Mary pass. We had the game in control, but didn't make the play."

The Vikings punted, and the Cowboys got the ball back on their 15-yard line, with 1:51 left, and no timeouts, including the already-used 2-minute warning. Staubach got to the Cowboys' 31, then took a low snap and fumbled it, resulting in a 4th & 16 from the 23. He threw a pass to Drew Pearson, who was pushed out of bounds by Nate Wright before he caught it. Under the rule of the time, this counted as a reception. The rule was changed in 2008. The rule might not have been fair, but it was in place.

Staubach got the Cowboys to the 50-yard line with 32 seconds left. Staubach threw a long pass, usually called a "bomb" in those days. Being Catholic, he called it a "Hail Mary," putting that expression into the football lexicon.

The pass was intended for Pearson, who was again covered by Wright. Pearson pushed Wright, which should have resulted in a penalty for offensive pass interference. No penalty was called, and Pearson caught the pass, and took it in for a touchdown. The Cowboys led, 17-14.

To make matters worse for Tarkenton, he found out that his father -- named, with retroactive irony, the Reverend Dallas Tarkenton -- died while watching the game on television, back in their hometown of Athens, Georgia.

The Cowboys went on to beat the Los Angeles Rams for the NFC Championship, before losing Super Bowl X to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Vikings rebounded to win the NFC Championship the next year, but lost Super Bowl XI to the Oakland Raiders. That made them 0-4 in Super Bowls, a total that would later be matched by the Denver Broncos and the Buffalo Bills. Through the 2021 season, the Vikings haven't even been to a Super Bowl since 1977. The Bills are still 0-4, but the Broncos have improved to 3-5.)

Viking fans have had to put up with a lot, but they still fume over the penalty that was not called on Staubach's pass. It wasn't a "Hail Mary, full of grace": It was full of disgrace. It remains the most infamous moment in the history of sports in the State of Minnesota.

The question needs to be asked, though: What if the penalty had been called? The Cowboys could still have won the game, anyway. Not for nothing was Staubach known as "Captain Comeback." And if the Vikings still won? They would have had to face the Rams in the NFC Championship Game, in Los Angeles. And if they'd won that, they would have had to face the Steel Curtain.

In this counterfactual scenario, I don't like their chances. They went to 4 Super Bowls between the seasons of 1969 and 1976, and they weren't the better team in any of them, and lost them all. So maybe their grievance over this game is bigger than it should be.

In hindsight, though, Pearson paid a price: It took until 2021 for him to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his 33rd year of eligibility. For years, fans have speculated that there is a general bias against the Cowboys for the Hall: Mel Renfro had to wait 14 years; Rayfield Wright, 22 years; Bob Hayes, 30 years (and died before being elected); Cliff Harris, 36 years. Some are still waiting to get in: Don Meredith and Don Perkins have been eligible since 1974 (and both are dead), Chuck Howley since 1979, Lee Roy Jordan since 1981, Charlie Waters since 1987, Jay Novacek since 2001, and Darren Woodson since 2010. (UPDATE: Howley was elected in 2023, his 45th year of eligibility. He was 86 years old, but at least he was still alive. Jordan died in 2025.)

In Pearson's case, it seemed as though the statistical case was there: 489 receptions, 7,822 yards, 48 touchdowns, all big numbers for a 1970s receiver. It was widely believed that one play was keeping him out: Nobody had ever punished the Cowboys for this unfair result, so the Hall voters punished Pearson as an individual. Regardless, he is in now. And, unlike Hayes -- and the still-not-in Meredith and Perkins -- he lived long enough to see it.

*

December 28, 1975 was a Sunday. There was 1 other NFL Playoff game that day: The Oakland Raiders beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-28 at the Oakland Coliseum.

There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Buffalo Braves, 111-88 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio. Dick Snyder scored 36 points for the Cavs.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns, 88-85 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Kansas City Kings, 103-87 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 123-113 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors, 96-92 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Houston Rockets, 116-106 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association. The Denver Nuggets beat the Indiana Pacers, 110-105 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. And the Spirits of St. Louis beat the Virginia Squires, 102-97 at the St. Louis Arena.

There were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Buffalo Sabres and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 2-2 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Kansas City Scouts beat the California Golden Seals, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

And there were 6 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The New England Whalers beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 4-0 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Toronto Toros, 6-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Cincinnati Stingers beat the Indianapolis Racers, 4-1 at the Riverfront Coliseum (now the Heritage Bank Center) in Cincinnati.

* The San Diego Mariners beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 2-1 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Phoenix Roadrunners beat the Denver Spurs, 5-2 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* And the Calgary Cowboys beat the Winnipeg Jets, 6-4 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary. 

December 25, 1989: Romania Overthrows the Ceaușescus

December 25, 1989: The last domino to fall in this year of revolution in Eastern Europe is Romania. Unlike every other country that overthrew its Communist regime, however, it was not peaceful, and it certainly was not a "bloodless coup." It was closer to the French Revolution of 100 years earlier than to what had happened earlier in the year in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East Germany.

Nicolae Ceaușescu was born on January 26, 1918 in Scornicești, Romania, a country then in World War I on the side of the Allies, since it was allied with Russia, which had recently fallen to the Bolsheviks, but had not yet dropped out of the war. It remained a monarchy until World War II, when the right-leaning government allied with the Nazis against the Communist Soviet Union. The Soviets invaded on September 12, 1944, and a "Republic" was proclaimed on December 30, 1947.

Ceaușescu served in the war, and had been a prisoner of the Nazis. In the Republic, he was elected to the Great National Assembly, and became a full member of the Politburo in 1954. He was an ally of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, who became General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1955, effectively the nation's dictator.

When Gheorghiu-Dej died on March 19, 1965, his successor was not obvious, but Ceaușescu used this to his advantage, since he was liked by Gheorghiu-Dej's other allies and not strenuously opposed by any of them. After 3 days, he emerged as the new leader.

Like Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, both Gheorghiu-Dej and Ceaușescu were "Home Communists," espousing far-left policies domestically, but not actively influencing nearby countries. In 1968, he condemned the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia. That caught the attention of Richard Nixon, soon to be elected President of the United States.

On August 2, 1969, Nixon visited Romania, the 1st visit by a President to a Communist country, other than Franklin Roosevelt's meeting with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference in 1945. In 1973, Ceaușescu and his wife Elena returned the favor, by visiting America, and meeting with Nixon again.

Left to right: Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu, Pat and Richard Nixon

But by that point, Ceaușescu had changed, and the West hadn't noticed. In 1971, he visited China, North Vietnam and North Korea. On July 6, 1971, he delivered a speech before the executive committee of the Romanian Communist Party. This quasi-Maoist speech became known as the July Theses, and he announced a crackdown on culture he considered anti-patriotic.

Slowly, but surely, the people began to resist. A coup failed in 1984, and another, which became known as the Brașov Rebellion, failed in 1987. On November 20, 1989, as the Communist Parties of Eastern Europe were falling all around him, Ceaușescu was re-elected, and made a speech denouncing these revolutions.

Revolution broke out in Timișoara, the largest city in the west of the country. Copying the freedom fighters of 1956 in neighboring Hungary, demonstrators cut the Communist symbols out of their national flags, and carried the "liberated" flags through the streets. They were fired upon, and many died, but it didn't stop them.

Ceaușescu left for a state visit to Iran on December 18. Hearing that things had gotten worse in his absence, he figured he'd better get back, or he might be thrown out of power before he could. He returned on the 20th, and, on the 21st, delivered a speech from the balcony of the former Royal Palace in Bucharest, at this time the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

He denounces the demonstrators of Timișoara as "fascist agitators." Just 8 minutes into the speech, many in the crowd of 100,000 began booing him, and chanting, "Timișoara!" His wife, Elena, herself now unpopular, yelled, "Quiet!" They booed her, too: She had become known as "The Ogeress." The first couple had to be taken back inside, for fear of something happening to them.

It did. Hearing on December 22 that Defense Minister Vasile Milea had committed suicide rather than be taken by revolutionaries, the Ceaușescus escaped by helicopter. The Army, which had abandoned him, forced the helicopter down in Târgoviște.

On Christmas Day, December 25, 1989, the Ceaușescus were tried before a court convened in a small room on orders of the National Salvation Front, Romania's provisional government. They faced charges including illegal gathering of wealth and genocide -- this following reports that, under Ceaușescu's orders, the Army had killed 46,000 people in the last week. He denied the court's authority to try him, but they were both found guilty and sentenced to death.

They demanded to be allowed to die together. The soldiers agreed to this, but not to their refusal to be tied up. A committed Communist to the end, Nicolae Ceaușescu's last words were a singing of "The Internationale." They were executed by a firing squad. Nicolae was 71 years old, Elena 73.

The Ceaușescus' dead bodies were displayed on national television, and the images were shown around the world. They had received the same level of mercy that they had given. At least their corpses were not hung upside-down in a public square like Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci in Milan in 1945.

But Italy's leading newspaper, the Evening Courier,

had no problem putting the dictator's dead body

on its front page.

They had 3 children. Their elder son, Valentin, became a physicist. Their daughter, known to the country as "Comrade Zoia," became a mathematician. Neither was involved in politics. Their younger son, Nicu, was groomed as his father's heir apparent in government, and was already a county leader by 1987. He was known to be an alcoholic and a rapist -- a sadist like his friend, the heir apparent in Iraq, Uday Hussein -- and was imprisoned after the Revolution. He was released in 1992, for health reasons, and his drinking caught up with him in 1996. He was only 45.  

*

December 25, 1989 was a Monday. This was also the day that former baseball manager Billy Martin was killed in a truck crash. I have a separate entry for this event.

Baseball was out of season. There was 1 college football bowl game that day. Number 22 Michigan State beat Number 25 Hawaii, 33-13, in the Aloha Bowl, on Hawaii's home field, Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

On ABC Monday Night Football, the Minnesota Vikings beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 29-21 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

The NHL does not schedule games for Christmas Day. The NBA does, and there was 1: The Atlanta Hawks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-104 at The Omni in Atlanta.

December 15, 17, 18 & 19, 2022: The Craziest Weekend In NFL History

December 15, 2022 was a Thursday. It was the beginning of the craziest weekend in NFL history.

The "weekend" began on the Thursday, with the San Francisco 49ers beating the Seattle Seahawks, 21-13 at Lumen Field in Seattle. The 49ers thus clinched the NFC Western Division, while the Seahawks lost at home to the team they consider to be their arch-rivals (but not vice versa, as the Niners' main rivals are the Los Angeles Rams), and probably ruined any chance they had at making the Playoffs. But that was one of the least remarkable games on the weekend.

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

* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 142-101 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.

* The Miami Heat beat the Houston Rockets, 111-108 at the Toyota Center in Houston. Tyler Herro scored 41 points.

* The Utah Jazz, who used to be the New Orleans Jazz, beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 132-129 in overtime at the Vivint Arena (now again named the Delta Center) in Salt Lake City. Jordan Clarkson scored 39 points.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 111-95 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

There were 12 games in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1 at the Prudential Center.

* The Anaheim Ducks beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 in a shootout at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Washington Capitals, 2-1 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Seattle Kraken, 3-2 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-1 at the Amalie Arena (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Florida Panthers, 4-2 at the FLA Live Arena in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida. (It's now named the Amerant Bank Arena.)

* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Nashville Predators, 2-1 at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg. Kyle Connor won the game with a goal with 1:29 left in overtime.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-2 at the Ball Arena in Denver.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3 in a shootout at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

* And the New York Islanders, the Detroit Red Wings, the Vancouver Canucks, the Calgary Flames, the San Jose Sharks, the Ottawa Senators, the Arizona Coyotes and the Minnesota Wild were not scheduled.

*

December 16, 2022 was a Friday. There were no NFL games that day. There were 2 bowl games in college football. In the Bahamas Bowl, the University of Alabama at Birmingham beat Miami University of Ohio, 24-20 at Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau. (Robinson was a Bahamian sprinter in the 1950s and '60s, and while he won Gold Medals at sub-Olympic tournaments, he never won a medal at the Olympics.)

And in the Cure Bowl -- sponsored by Cure Auto Insurance, not anything medicine-related -- Troy University, based in Troy, Alabama and ranked Number 23, beat the University of Texas at San Antonio, 18-12 at Exploria Stadium in Orlando (home of Orlando City SC).

There were 10 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls, 114-91 at the United Center.

* The Brooklyn Nets beat the Toronto Raptors, 119-116 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Kyrie Irving scored 32 points for the Nets, Fred Van Vleet 39 for the Raptors.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Boston Celtics, 117-109 at the TD Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Golden State Warriors, who used to be the Philadelphia Warriors, 118-106 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia. Joel Embiid scored 34 points.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 125-106 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 130-110 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 112-110 at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Indiana Pacers, 118-112 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland. Donovan Mitchell scored 41 points.

* The Sacramento Kings beat the Detroit Pistons, 122-113 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets, 126-108 at the Crypto.com Arena. LeBron James scored 30 points.

And there were 3 games in the NHL:

* The Islanders lost to the Coyotes, 5-4 at the Mullett Arena, the new arena on the campus of Arizona State University, in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona. It seats only 4,600 people, making it by far the smallest venue in North America's big five sports. At least they're selling it out.

* The Blackhawks beat the Wild, 4-1 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* And the Blues beat the Flames, 5-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

*

December 17, 2022 was a Saturday. There were 3 NFL games. The new version of the Cleveland Browns beat the Baltimore Ravens, who were the old version of the Browns, 13-3 at FirstEnergy Stadium (now named Huntington Bank Field) in Cleveland.

In a snowstorm at the original Highmark Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium and Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York, the Buffalo Bills trailed the Miami Dolphins, 29-21 with 12 minutes left in regulation. But the weather favored Buffalo, not Miami, and the Bills came from behind, and Tyler Bass kicked a 25-yard field goal as time ran out, giving the Bills a 32-29 victory. This clinched a Playoff berth for the Bills.

But neither game could match what went on at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Indianapolis Colts led the Minnesota Vikings 33-0 with 9 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Up by 33 with 24 minutes to go. It was shaping up to be one of the upsets of the season. The Vikings needed about a touchdown every 5 minutes to avoid it.

Then the Vikings came back, outscoring the Colts 36-3 the rest of the way. With 2:15 left in regulation, Kirk Cousins threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to Dalvin Cook, and the 2-point conversion was successful. That sent the game to overtime, and with 3 seconds left in that period, Greg Joseph kicked a 40-yard field goal to win it: Vikings 39, Colts 36.

The 33-point erasure was the biggest comeback in NFL history -- and the biggest blown lead. It surpassed the Bills' 35-3 comeback to beat the Houston Oilers 41-38 in overtime in a Playoff game in the 1992-93 season.

The Colts' quarterback was Matt Ryan. Ryan had also been the Atlanta Falcons' quarterback when they built a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI in 2017, only to lose, 34-28 in overtime. Ryan has now been part of the biggest blown leads in regular-season and Super Bowl history. He is the anti-Frank Reich: Reich had been part of what were once (but both records have since been broken) the biggest comeback in college football history and, in the aforementioned Bills-Oilers game, the biggest comeback in NFL history (and still the biggest in NFL Playoff history).

There were 6 bowl games that day:

* I don't know whose idea it was to stage a bowl game at Fenway Park, since Boston is usually very cold at this time of year. But the University of Louisville beat the University of Cincinnati, 24-7 in the Fenway Bowl. Both teams were once members of the Big East Conference, but now, Louisville are in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and Cincinnati are in the American Athletic Conference (AAC).

* In the Lending Tree Bowl, the University of Southern Mississippi beat Rice University, 38-24 at Hancock Whitey Stadium in Mobile, Alabama, home field of the University of Southern Alabama.

* In the Frisco Bowl, Boise State beat North Texas, 35-32 at Toyota Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas. Toyota Stadium is usually the home of Major League Soccer team FD Dallas.

* In the New Mexico Bowl, Brigham Young University beat Southern Methodist University: BYU 24, SMU 23, at University Stadium in Albuquerque, home of the University of New Mexico.

* In the Las Vegas Bowl, Number 17 Oregon State beat Florida, 30-3 at Allegiant Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada, home of the Las Vegas Raiders.

* The LA Bowl isn't quite held in Los Angeles, but at SoFi Stadium in adjoining Inglewood. Fresno State beat Washington State, 29-6.

There were 7 games in the NBA:

* The Cavs beat the Mavs, 100-99 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

* The Bucks beat the Jazz, 123-97 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

* The Thunder beat the Grizzlies, 115-109 at the Paycom Center.

* The Blazers beat the Rockets, 107-95 at the Toyota Center.

* The Heat beat the San Antonio Spurs, 111-101 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.

* The Suns beat the Jazz, 118-114 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. Devin Booker scored 58 points.

* And the Clippers beat the Wizards at the Crypto.com Arena.

There were 13 games in the NHL:

* The Rangers beat the Flyers, 6-3 at the Wells Fargo Center.

* The Islanders beat the Golden Knights, 5-2 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise.

* The Devils lost to the Panthers, 4-2 at the Prudential Center.

* The Lightning beat the Canadiens, 5-1 at the Bell Centre.

* The Bruins beat the Blue Jackets, 4-2 at the TD Garden.

* The Leafs beat the Caps, 5-2 at the Capital One Arena.

* The Stars beat the 'Canes, 5-4 at the PNC Arena. Martin Necas scored the winning goal with 2:41 left in overtime.

* The Senators beat the Red Wings, 6-3 at the Little Caesars Arena.

* The Avalanche beat the Predators, 3-1 at the Ball Arena.

* The Sabres beat the Coyotes, 5-2 at the Mullett Arena.

* The Ducks beat the Oilers, 4-3 at Rogers Place.

* The Kings beat the Sharks, 3-2 in a shootout at the Crypto.com Arena. (The Sharks consider the Kings their arch-rivals, but the Kings' are the Ducks.)

* The Jets beat the Canucks, 5-1 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

* And the Blackhawks, the Penguins, the Blues and the Kraken were not scheduled.

*

December 18, 2022 was a Sunday. There were 10 NFL games. I'll work my way up from least to most interesting.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Arizona Cardinals, 24-15 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. The Cards led 9-3 in the 3rd quarter and blew it, but that's about the only interesting thing about this game.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons, 21-18 at the Superdome in New Orleans. Aside from each team being the other's arch-rival, this one wasn't very interesting.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Carolina Panthers, 24-16 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. About all I can say about this one is that the Steelers' Chris Boswell and the Panthers' Eddy Pineiro each kicked a field goal of at least 50 yards.

* The New York Giants beat the Washington Commanders, 20-12 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. The Giants' Graham Gano hit 2 50-yard field goals, while the Commanders' Joey Slye kicked one 51 yards. The Giants moved to within 1 win of a Playoff berth, while the Commanders still have a chance.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chicago Bears, 25-20 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago. The Eagles clinched a Playoff berth, although quarterback Jalen Hurts got, well, hurt, and might end up missing the next game, against potential Playoff opponent Dallas.

* The Detroit Lions beat the New York Jets, 20-17 at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands. Jared Goff threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Brock Wright with 1:49 left. Both teams were 7-7 after the game, but the Lions had been surging, while the Jets, as usual, had been crashing.

* The Los Angeles Chargers beat the Tennessee Titans, 17-14 at SoFi Stadium. The Titans tied it on a Ryan Tannehill touchdown run with 48 seconds left in regulation, but the Chargers had enough time to get within field goal range, and Cameron Dicker kicked one 43 yards with 4 seconds left. The Titans remained in 1st place in the AFC South Division, while the Chargers stayed in the Playoff hunt.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 34-23 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The Bucs blew a 17-0 lead, despite having Tom Brady at quarterback. I guess the cheating isn't working anymore. The Bucs still lead the NFC South, while the Bengals lead the AFC North.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Houston Texans, 30-24 at NRG Stadium (as Reliant Stadium was then known) in Houston. The Texans, with the worst record in the NFL, 1-11-1 coming into the game, actually led 14-7 late in the 2nd quarter, and 21-16 early in the 4th. But Jerick McKinnon won it with a 26-yard touchdown run with 5:13 left in overtime. The Chiefs clinched the AFC West, while the Texans will get the top pick in a draft that doesn't have a player that currently stands out -- although history may end up saying otherwise.

(UPDATE: As it turned out, the 1st pick went to the Chicago Bears, and the Texans got the 2nd pick. The Bears traded their pick to the Carolina Panthers, and got quarterback Bryce Young. The Texans made a trade with the Cardinals, and thus had the 2nd and 3rd picks, using them on quarterback C.J. Stroud and linebacker Will Anderson Jr.)

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Dallas Cowboys, 40-34 at TIAA Bank Field (now EverBank Stadium) in Jacksonville. The Cowboys led this one 21-7 with 11 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, and thought they had it won when Dak Prescott threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Noah Brown with 3:02 left, to make it 34-31.

But Riley Patterson kicked a 48-yard field goal on the last play of regulation. And with 6:52 left in overtime, Rayshawn Jenkins intercepted a Prescott pass, taking it 52 yards for a game-winning touchdown. The Jags kept their slim Playoff hopes alive, while the Cowboys still clinched a Playoff berth due to losses by other teams.

* Then there was the game between the New England Patriots and the Las Vegas Raiders, at Allegiant Stadium. Whether the Raiders play in Las Vegas, Los Angeles or Oakland, they have priors with the Patriots, with strange occurrences benefiting each team. But Patriot coach Bill Belichick didn't have Brady to save him this time.

The Raiders led 17-3 at the half. But the Patriots scored 21 unanswered points to take a 24-17 lead with 3:43 to go. With 32 seconds left, Derek Carr threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Keelan Cole, and it was 24-24.

The Raiders kicked off, and the result was a touchback. The Patriots got to their own 45-yard line with 3 seconds left. The smart thing to do would have been to take a knee, run out the clock, and go to overtime. The gutsy thing to do would have been to attempt a 62-yard field goal, and hope that, if it missed, their defense prevented the Raiders from returning it for a touchdown.

Instead of doing either of these things, quarterback Mac Jones handed off to Rhamondre Stevenson, who gained a few years as time ran out, enough for a 1st down, but not nearly enough for a touchdown. So he lateraled the ball to Jakobi Meyers. It was reminiscent of "The Play," the six-lateral play that the University of California used to beat Stanford in 1982; and "The Music City Miracle," the single-lateral play that the Titans used to beat the Bills in a Playoff game in 2000. Reminding everyone of the Cal-Stanford play, an announcer told the TV audience, "No sign of the Stanford Band!"

Just as he said that, Meyers tried a 2nd lateral, passing the ball back, possibly intending it for quarterback Jones. Instead, it was caught by Raider linebacker Chandler Jones at the Patriots' 48-yard line, and he ran it into the end zone for a touchdown. Ballgame over: Raiders 30, Patriots 24.

It was as if the Patriots had forgotten that the game was tied, and that their chances in overtime were better than their chances of a last-play win. Announcers, studio analysts, and fans all over the country were thinking of similar boneheaded plays: The wrong-way run of Jim Marshall of the Vikings in 1964, the fumble by Joe Pisarcik of the Giants that led to an Eagles win in "The Miracle in the Meadowlands" in 1978, the Cowboys' Leon Lett messing up a missed field goal to give the Dolphins a win on Thanksgiving Day in 1993, and Mark Sanchez's "Butt Fumble" that embarrassed the Jets against the Patriots on Thanksgiving 2012.

All those men, if they weren't already, are now off the hook: This was the dumbest play in NFL regular-season history. (Pete Carroll calling a pass at the end of Super Bowl XLIX remains the all-time standard.) It kept the Raiders' slim Playoff hopes alive, and seriously damaged the Pats' hopes. And the Colts and their fans were probably saying, "Yeah, we looked bad, but at least we didn't do that!"

There were 7 games in that NBA that day: 

* The Knicks beat the Pacers, 109-106 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

* The Nets beat the Pistons, 124-121 at the Little Caesars Arena.

* The Magic beat the Celtics, 95-92 at the TD Garden.

* The Warriors beat the Raptors, 126-110 at the Scotiabank Arena.

* The Timberwolves beat the Bulls, 150-126 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Nuggets beat the Hornets, 119-115 at the Ball Arena.

* And the Lakers beat the Wizards, 119-117 at the Crypto.com Arena.

And there were 5 games played in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Rangers beat the Blackhawks, 7-1 at the United Center. The Rangers pulled off the unusual feat of having 7 different scorers: Filip Chytil, Artemi Panarin, Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba, Vincent Trochck, Vitali Kravtsov and Jonny Brodzinski.

* The 'Canes beat the Pens, 3-2 at the PNC Arena.

* The Wild beat the Senators, 4-2 at the Xcel Energy Center.

* The Flames beat the Sharks, 5-2 at the SAP Center in San Jose.

* And the Kraken beat the Jets, 3-2 at the Canada Life Centre.

Oh, yes, there was also a soccer game on this day. The World Cup Final, played at Lusail Iconic Stadium in Lusail, Qatar. This event was also crazy. I have a separate entry for it.

*

Finally, December 19, 2022 was a Monday. The week's Monday Night Football game was comparatively tame, as the Green Bay Packers beat the Los Angeles Rams, 24-12 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In spite of the time of year, which could well have heavily favored the Packers over the Rams, the weather was unremarkable, the Packers kept their slim Playoff hopes alive, while the Rams' ended.

There was a college football bowl game that night, the Myrtle Beach Bowl: Marshall University beat the University of Connecticut, 28-14 at Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina, home field of Coastal Carolina University.

There were 9 games in the NBA:

* The 76ers beat the Raptors, 104-101 in overtime at the Wells Fargo Center. Pascal Siakam scored 38 for the Raptors, while Embiied led the Sixers with 28.

* The Hawks beat the Magic, 126-125 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Trey Young scored 37 points.

* The Bucks beat the Pelicans, 128-119 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 42 points.

* The Spurs beat their arch-rivals, the Rockets, 124-105 at the Toyota Center.

* The Thunder beat the Blazers, 123-121 at the Paycom Center.

* The Cavs beat the Jazz, 122-99 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

* The T-Wolves beat the Mavs, 116-106 at the Target Center.

* The Suns beat the Lakers at the Footprint Center.

* And the Hornets beat the Kings at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. D'Aaron Fox scored 37 for the Kings.

And there were 8 games in the NHL:

* The Islanders lost to the Avalanche, 1-0 in a shootout at the Ball Arena.

* The Bruins beat the Panthers, 7-3 at the TD Garden.

* The Caps beat the Wings, 4-3 at the Capital One Arena. Dmitri Orlov scored the winning goal with 22 seconds left in overtime.

* The Predators beat the Oilers, 4-3 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Alexandre Carrier scored the winning goal with 2:48 left in overtime.

* The Stars beat the Jackets, 2-1 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The Canadiens beat the Coyotes, 3-2 at the Mullett Arena. Mike Hoffman scored the winning goal with 3:52 left in overtime.

* The Sabres beat the Knights, 3-2 at the T-Mobile Arena.

* And the Blues beat the Canucks, 5-1 at the Rogers Arena.

December 15, 1968: Philadelphia Eagles Fans Boo Santa Claus

This photograph is alleged to show Frank Olivo

at the game in question, before the pageant.

December 15, 1968: Philadelphia Eagles fans boo Santa Claus. You've heard of the legend. And this one is true.

In 1960, the Eagles won the NFL Championship, under head coach Buck Shaw and quarterback Norm Van Brocklin. They both retired. But Van Brocklin retired as a player because Eagle management had led him to believe he would be named the new head coach, with his backup, Sonny Jurgensen, becoming the new starting quarterback.

Instead, Nick Skorich was named the new head coach. Van Brocklin was offered the head job of the expansion Minnesota Vikings, and he took it. Skorich was not a good coach, and was fired after 3 seasons.

In 1964, former Notre Dame coach Joe Kuharich was named Eagles head coach and general manager, and made one of the worst trades in football history, sending Jurgensen to the Washington Redskins for Norm Snead. Jurgensen was a carouser, and the moralistic Kuharich hated that. Snead was a straight arrow. With the Redskins, Jurgensen continued his Hall of Fame career, throwing the most touchdown passes of any quarterback in the 1960s, 207 -- more than Johnny Unitas, more than Bart Starr, and more than Norm Snead with 153. The quarterback with the most interceptions in that decade? You may have guessed: Snead, with 174.

As recently as 1966, the Eagles had finished 9-5, 2nd in the NFL Eastern Division, a game and a half behind the 10-3-1 Dallas Cowboys. But age and injuries caught up with them, and Kuharich, regarded by Notre Dame fans as one of the worst coaches they ever had, was in over his head. In 1967, they fell to 6-7-1. In 1968, the Eagles lost their 1st 11 games, and fans began wearing buttons reading "JOE MUST GO" to games.

At least the Eagles looked like they were going to come out of their worst season ever with the top pick in the 1969 NFL Draft. Except they won 2 straight, beating Detroit away and New Orleans at home. So they weren't even going to get the chance to draft a running back who looked like he was headed for the Heisman Trophy and a shot at back-to-back National Championships for his school. They would have to settle for the 2nd pick.

So as 54,530 fans, about 13,000 short of a sellout, filed into Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania -- forming a dichotomy of the NFL's most blue-collar fan base watching their team play its home games at an Ivy League university's stadium -- on December 15, 1968, to see their team close the season by taking on the Vikings. (Van Brocklin had since moved on, to the Atlanta Falcons.)

Eagle fans were in one of their occasional very nasty moods. This was not helped by the fact that there was a snowstorm the night before, and that the stadium maintenance crew did a poor job of clearing the snow, and that it was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit at gametime.

It was the last game of the regular season, and it was 10 days before Christmas. A short Christmas pageant was scheduled for halftime. Now, part of the legend that everybody gets wrong is believing that, perhaps confusing this story with the parade at the start of the movie Miracle On 34th Street, the man hired to play Santa Claus was drunk. The truth was, the hired Santa couldn't get his car out of the snow, and called ahead to say he couldn't make it.

Bill "Moon" Mullen was the Eagles' entertainment director. He figured, someone in the stands must have come dressed as Santa Claus, and could be hired for the pageant. He figured correctly: Frank Olivo was a 20-year-old college student, and for a few years now, even as a teenager, had gone to the last game of the season dressed as Santa.

The game began, and the Eagles took a 7-0 over the Vikings, who tied the game 7-7 going into halftime. Then the pageant began. The Eagle cheerleaders were dressed as elves. The idea was that "Santa" would appear on a large motorized float "pulled" by 8 life-size fiberglass reindeer. But, typical Eagles luck, the float got stuck in the mud. So Olivo had to walk out onto the field with his "bag of toys" (actually filled with locker room towels) slung over his shoulder, as a record of "Here Comes Santa Claus" played over the loudspeaker.

Fans saw what was obviously not a jolly old fat man with a beard and a costume that at least looked authentic, but a kid in a fake beard and a bad copy of a Santa suit. They booed. He tried to mollify them by throwing candy canes. The canes didn't get anywhere near the stands. The fans responded by throwing snowballs -- Olivo later estimated being hit by over 100 of them -- and other objects, such as beer bottles and even hoagies.

Olivo later said that he understood, even telling one fan, "You're not getting anything for Christmas!" Was he at least paid for his trouble? No, he didn't get any money, but the Eagles did give him football-shaped cufflinks and a tie tack. As for the game, the Eagles lost, 24-17, ensuring them a 2-12 finish and the 3rd pick in the Draft.

The Philadelphia newspapers mentioned the incident the next day, but not with big headlines. And there is no surviving footage of the incident: With videotape being expensive, CBS just taped over their broadcast, so we don't even know if they showed the incident, or just the game; and NFL Films didn't capture it, either.

Indeed, this incident might have remained a legend, with nothing to back it up, had it not been for one person: Howard Cosell. At the time, ABC aired a Weekend Report after the Sunday night local news, and Cosell gave a sports round-up. He didn't have footage of the game, let alone the incident, but he mentioned it, and people all over the country heard about it.

In 1970, ABC began airing Monday Night Football. And every time the Eagles were on it, and every time the ABC cameras caught a fan at a game wearing a Santa costume (regardless if the Eagles were one of the teams), Cosell would mention the time the Eagles fans booed Santa Claus.

Incidents among Philadelphia sports fans are legion, but most are one person's (or group's) word against another's. The Philadelphia Catholic League includes some suburban high schools, including Archbishop Wood of Bucks County and Monsignor Bonner of Delaware County. That's a nasty rivalry. Legend has it that, after years of basketball games hearing Wood fans chant, "We smell B-O -- N-N-E-R!" the Bonner fans finally waited for them to chant, "We smell B-O" and immediately chanted back, "It's your mother!" I have no doubt that this actually happened, but there's no footage.

Likewise, there's no surviving footage of the 1968 Philadelphia Eagles Christmas Pageant, so the only people who saw a man dressed as Santa Claus getting booed and hit with snowballs were the people watching in the stadium and on TV at the time. But there's enough testimony to back it up to know that it happened.

Kuharich was indeed fired after the 1968 season. But the Eagles still didn't make the Playoffs again until 1978, or the Super Bowl until the 1980 season.

And that Number 3 draft pick they "earned" for 1969? They selected Leroy Keyes, a running back from Purdue University. He had a decent rookie season for the Eagles, but didn't play much in 1970. He was moved to strong safety and had 2 good seasons there, before being traded to the Kansas City Chiefs, and playing his last pro down at age 26. He went back to Purdue, working in its athletic department, and died of cancer in 2021, at age 74.

The 2nd pick in that draft, that the Eagles also couldn't get? Van Brocklin and the Falcons used it on George Kunz, who had helped Notre Dame win the 1966 National Championship. He played 12 seasons in the NFL, making 7 Pro Bowls, and became a successful lawyer. As of December 15, 2022, he is still alive, at 75.

And the Number 1 pick? Well, he did win the Heisman, after finishing 2nd the year before. But he fell 1 game short of making it back-to-back National Championships for the University of Southern California. The Buffalo Bills drafted him. His name was Orenthal James Simpson. The Eagles organization has much for which to answer, but no Eagles fan will ever have to explain to his children that the Eagles once had O.J. Simpson.

In 1969, the Eagles offered Frank Olivo the chance to reprise his performance, under better conditions. He declined, but continued to go to games as the team moved to Veterans Stadium in 1971 and Lincoln Financial Field in 2003. He remembered:

It happened years ago. You know, time to move on... It went away for a while, but, every now and then, you hear some guy on TV who only knows Philly for the cheesesteaks and the Liberty Bell talk about the time fans threw snowballs at Santa. It was cool to hear it back then, when it went national, and Howard Cosell is saying your name on TV. But, today, when you hear it, it's like, "Shut up already."

In 2003, the Philadelphia 76ers tried a publicity stunt, gathering the most people dressed as Santa Claus in one location, and Olivo participated -- presumably, wearing a better costume. All this time, he had kept going to Eagles games, but had stopped wearing the Santa suit at the last game after the '68 edition. Finally, in 2009, he did it again, and was cheered.

In 2015, after a longtime battle with heart trouble, Frank Olivo died at age 66. He did not get to see the Eagles finally win the Super Bowl in 2018.

UPDATE: It says something about the Eagles' operations that, from between their 1960 NFL Championship and their 1980 NFC Championship, they have only elected the following figures to their team Hall of Fame through the 2025 season: Jim Ringo, Bob Brown, Ollie Matson and Bill Bradley (not to be confused with the basketball star who was later elected to the U.S. Senate). And Ringo, Brown and Matson were elected because they were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and the Eagles have a rule that every player they have who gets elected to that gets elected to their team Hall of Fame, even if their best years were elsewhere.

Brown and Bradley have also been elected to the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

*

December 15, 1968 was a Sunday. These other games were played in the NFL that day:

* The New York Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 28-10 at Yankee Stadium.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Detroit Lions, 14-3 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium the next year.)

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 14-12 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975.)

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-14 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.

* The Green Bay Packers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bears, 28-27 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Cleveland Browns, 27-16 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* And the Baltimore Colts beat the Los Angeles Rams, 28-24 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In the American Football League:

* The New York Jets beat the expansion Cincinnati Bengals, 27-14 at Shea Stadium.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Boston Patriots, 38-7 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The Houston Oilers beat the Buffalo Bills, 35-6 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Diego Chargers, 40-3 at San Diego Stadium.

* And the Oakland Raiders beat the Denver Broncos, 33-27 at the Oakland Coliseum.

There were 3 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 110-104 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. There is no record of anybody at this game being hit by a snowball or anything else.

* The Cincinnati Royals beat the expansion Phoenix Suns, 119-101 at the Cincinnati Gardens.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 115-114 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

There were 3 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Houston Mavericks, 105-103 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston. The Mavericks became the Carolina Cougars in 1969 and the Spirits of St. Louis in 1974, before folding in 1976.

* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Miami Floridians, 123-102 at Freedom Hall in Louisvlle. Neither team was among the ABA teams admitted to the NBA in 1976.

* And the Denver Rockets beat the Los Angeles Stars, 113-110 in overtime at the Auditorium Arena in Denver. The Rockets became the Denver Nuggets in 1974. The Stars became the Utah Stars in 1970, won the ABA title in 1971, reached the Finals again in 1974, and folded in 1976, after they, unlike the Nets, Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs, were denied admission into the NBA.

There were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-1 at the new Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-3 at the Boston Garden.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Oakland Seals, 7-4 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-1 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs were not scheduled.

November 29, 1976: Reggie Jackson Brings His Star to New York

Left to right: Thurman Munson,

Reggie Jackson, Roy White

November 29, 1976: The New York Yankees sign the biggest available free agent, Reggie Jackson. The contract is for $2,960,000 over 5 years – $592,000 a year, or about $3.04 million in today's money.

This was the 1st off-season in which free agency was widespread. Charlie Finley, Reggie's boss with the Kansas City and Oakland Athletics from his 1966 signing (including his 1967 major league debut) until the previous April, was not going to sign him to a big contract. Finley wasn't going to sign anybody, because, as Reggie himself said in his memoir, "Lord, but the man was cheap."

Just before the start of the 1976 regular season, Finley had traded Reggie to the Baltimore Orioles. But their owner, Jerry Hoffberger, wasn't going to sing him, either.

Three team owners were willing to sign Reggie: Shipbuilding tycoon George Steinbrenner of the Yankees, McDonald's head honcho Ray Kroc of the San Diego Padres, and Seagram's whiskey baron Charles Bronfman of the Montreal Expos. Reggie thought about it, and decided that he didn't want to deal with the Canadian exchange rate -- or to learn French, and narrowed it down to the Yanks and Padres.

"George Steinbrenner hustled me," Reggie said at the press conference for his signing. He told George that Kroc was offering him more money to go to San Diego. George revealed that, whatever Kroc intended, the promise of more money was a half-truth: "Kroc is offering you more salary to go to San Diego." George reminded Reggie that New York was the media capital of the world, including the advertising capital of the world. Between salary, endorsements, and the glory that would come with winning with the New York Yankees, Reggie could get a lot more from George Steinbrenner than he ever could from Ray Kroc.

The press conference was held at the Versailles Terrace at the Americana Hotel. Reggie posed for pictures with George, with coaches Yogi Berra and Elston Howard, and with new teammates Thurman Munson and Roy White. One notable Yankee not there was manager Billy Martin. He didn't want Reggie, for reasons both professional (if misguided) and personal.

A 1974 Sports Illustrated cover had called Reggie, then the reigning Most Valuable Player of the American League and the World Series, a "Superduperstar." So he wasn't kidding when he told the New York media, "I didn't come to New York to be a star. I'm bringing my star with me."

A lot of people didn't like that. Munson was one of them: George had promised him he would be the highest-paid Yankee as long as he was on the team. George had already broken that promise once, 2 years earlier, when the chance to sign the best pitcher in baseball at the time, Reggie's former Oakland teammate Jim "Catfish" Hunter, came up. Thurman understood then. But breaking the promise again?

And a SPORT magazine article printed early in the 1977 season, with quotes -- or perhaps misquotes, or perhaps simply made-up quotes -- from Reggie about himself, and about Thurman, further drove a wedge between them. Things got ugly.

Two million, nine hundred and sixty thousand dollars? In Jerry Ford dollars? Bargain. Reggie defined an era in baseball, earning the nickname Mr. October. In 5 seasons, he got the Yankees to 4 postseasons, winning 3 Pennants and 2 World Series, and making them the biggest show in baseball.

Finley's other stars that he cheaply let get away?

* Kroc signed relief pitcher Rollie Fingers and 1st baseman Gene Tenace. He got no Playoff berths as a result, as the Dodgers were too strong. But at least he tried.

* Gene Autry, the entertainment legend who owned the team then known as the California Angels, signed A's left fielder Joe Rudi and designated hitter Don Baylor, along with former Oriole 2nd baseman Bobby Grich. He got 2 Division titles, but no Pennants.

* Allan "Bud" Selig, the used car dealer who owned the Milwaukee Brewers, signed 3rd baseman Sal Bando, and would later acquire Fingers in a trade. He won a Pennant, but no World Series.

* Brad Corbett, the oil executive who owned the Texas Rangers, signed shortstop Bert Campaneris, and made some other notable acquisitions. He got no Playoff berths as a result.

* And real estate tycoon Bob Lurie, who owned the San Francisco Giants, was the final landing spot for pitcher Vida Blue, after Finley had previously tried to sell Blue to the Yankees and trade him to the Cincinnati Reds. Both of those teams did better without the increasingly drug-addled Blue than the Giants did: They didn't make the Playoffs again until 1987.

Minnesota Twins owner Calvin Griffith, was not only nearly as cheap as Finley, but also blatantly racist. He refused to lift a finger to re-sign pitcher Bill Campbell. He went to the free-spending Boston Red Sox, who thought that having a lockdown reliever would have made the difference in the 1975 World Series against the Reds and the 1977 AL Eastern Division race against the Yankees. But the Yankees had also improved.

And pitcher Wayne Garland, who went 20-7 for the Orioles in 1976, was signed by the Cleveland Indians for $2.3 million over 10 years. But he wrecked his shoulder in Spring Training, and went 13-19 in 1977. He had won 40 games in the major leagues before his 27th birthday. He won 15 games after it.

*

November 29, 1976 was a Monday. Actors Chadwick Boseman and Anna Faris were born on this day.

Baseball was out of season. No games were played in the NBA, the NHL or the WHA. On ABC Monday Night Football, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Minnesota Vikings, 20-16 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

November 26, 1998: A Turkey of an Overtime Coin Flip

November 26, 1998: The Detroit Lions' annual tradition of hosting a game on Thanksgiving Day turns into a delicious result for them, because of a turkey of a turn of events.

The Lions were hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan, in a game televised nationally on CBS. With Barry Sanders in the backfield, the Lions came into the game 4-7. With an offense with quarterback Kordell Stewart (known as "Slash" because he was a quarterback/runner/receiver) and running back Jerome Betts (known as "The Bus" because he was as big as one), the Steelers came in 7-4, and were leading the AFC Central Division.

The 1st quarter was scoreless. Norm Johnson kicked 2 field goals for the Steelers in the 2nd quarter, and Jason Hanson kicked 1 for the Lions, so it was 6-3 Pittsburgh at halftime. Stewart threw a touchdown pass to Will Blackwell to put the Steelers up 13-3. Hanson kicked another field goal, and it was 13-6 after 3 quarters.

In the 4th quarter, Charlie Batch threw a touchdown pass to Herman Moore, to tie the game. Hanson kicked a field goal to give the Lions their 1st lead of the game. But with 4 seconds left in regulation, Johnson kicked a 25-yard field goal, sending the game to overtime, 16-16.

Referee Phil Luckett called the team Captain to midfield for the overtime coin toss. As the visiting team, the Steelers had the right to call the toss, as they did at the beginning of the game. Luckett told Bettis to call the coin in the air.

Bettis had started to say, "Heads," but changed his mind in mid-syllable: "He -- Tails!" But Luckett went with the first syllable he said he heard, and ruled that Bettis had said, "Heads," which he hadn't. The coin landed tails, meaning the Steelers should have had the ball. Instead, Luckett ruled that the Lions had won the toss, and gave them the ball.

Batch took the Lions down the field, and, just 2 minutes and 52 seconds into overtime, with the Steelers never even getting the ball, Hanson kicked a 42-yard field goal to win it, 19-16.

The Steelers cried foul, but there was nothing they could do. The NFL was never going to order the overtime replayed. And while the win didn't affect the Lions much, as they lost the last 4 games of the season, to finish 5-11, the loss ruined the Steelers' season: It started a season-ending 5-game losing streak. They finished 7-9, and missed the Playoffs completely.

This play inspired 2 rule changes. First, the player making the call now does so while the ref is still holding the coin, and the ref repeats the call before flipping, with his microphone being piped into both the stadium public-address system and the television microphones. This way, no one, inside the stadium or outside, has any doubt as to what the Captain's call is.

That change took effect the next season. But it would be many more years before the NFL changed its rule so that the team winning the toss must score a touchdown to automatically win; if they only kick a field goal, the opposing team then gets the ball and a chance to win.

Luckett was also the referee 10 days later at the Meadowlands, when Vinny Testaverde of the New York Jets appeared to score a touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks, but the replay showed that the ball did not cross the plane of the goal line. Head linesman Earnie Frantz ruled it a touchdown, and Luckett, the man in charge, let it stand. The following season, the NFL instituted instant replay.

That didn't stop Luckett from being involved in a controversial play again the next season -- and this time, it was in the Playoffs. Luckett ruled that Frank Wychek's pass to Kevin Dyson, leading to Dyson's touchdown run that won the game for the Tennessee Titans against the Buffalo Bills was a lateral, and thus legal, and the play stood. This was the right call to make: It was a lateral.

Since 2012, Luckett has been a supervising official, in charge of instant replay.

*

November 26, 1998, like all Thanksgiving Days, was a Thursday. In the NFL's other game that day, the Minnesota Vikings beat the Dallas Cowboys, 46-36 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

There were 2 college football games played that day, both of them intrastate matchups. Tulane, so rarely ranked since the 1st half of the 20th Century, were ranked Number 11, and beat Louisiana Tech, 63-30 at the Superdome in New Orleans. And Mississippi State, ranked Number 25, beat Mississippi, a.k.a. Ole Miss, 28-6 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.

Baseball was in the off-season. Traditionally, the NBA and the NHL avoid scheduling games on Thanksgiving Day, so as not to compete with football for TV ratings. This time, however, the NHL scheduled 2 games, and a New York Tri-State Area team was in both. And both lost. The New York Islanders lost to the Ottawa Senators, 4-1 at the Corel Centre in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, Ontario. (It's now the Canadian Tire Centre. The town was absorbed into Ottawa proper in 2001.) And the New Jersey Devils lost to the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2 at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix.

November 4, 2007: Adrian Peterson Rushes for 296 Yards

November 4, 2007: The Minnesota Vikings beat the San Diego Chargers, 35-17 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Adrian Peterson rushed 30 times for 296 yards, a new NFL record. Included were 3 touchdowns.

In the same game, Antonio Cromartie of the Chargers returned a missed field goal 109 yards. It set a record for the longest play in NFL history. It is a record that can be tied, but never broken.

In 1947, Orban "Spec" Sanders of the New York Yankees rushed for 250 yards in a game. But that was in the All-America Football Conference, and the NFL didn't recognize that as a record. At that point, the NFL record for rushing yards in a game was 215, by Cliff Battles with the Boston Redskins in 1933.

The NFL record rose from 218 yards by Gene Roberts of the New York Giants in 1950, to 223 by Tommy Wilson of the Los Angeles Rams in 1956, to 237 by Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns in 1957, and Brown did 237 again in 1961. In 1963, Carlton "Cookie" Gilchrist of the Buffalo Bills rushed for 243 in an AFL game. In 1970, after the AFL-NFL merger, the NFL decided to retroactively count AFL records as NFL records. But the actual NFL record was still Brown's 237.

It was raised to 247 by Willie Ellison of the Los Angeles Rams in 1971, to 273 by O.J. Simpson of the Bills in 1976, to 275 by Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears in 1977, to 278 by Corey Dillon of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2000, to 295 by Jamal Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens in 2003, and then came this game, when Peterson raised it to 296, which still stands.

In 2012, Peterson rushed for 2,097 yards on the season, just 8 yards short of the record of 2,105 set by Eric Dickerson with the Rams in 1984. Peterson has not played in the 2022 season, but has not officially announced his retirement. He currently has 14,918 rushing yards, placing him 5th on the all-time list, behind Emmitt Smith (the all-time leader with 18,355), Walter Payton, Frank Gore and Barry Sanders.

*

November 4, 2007 was a Sunday. These other games were played in the NFL that day:

* The New York Jets lost to the Washington Redskins, 23-20 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. Shaun Suisham kicked a 46-yard field goal with 7:43 left in overtime.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-17 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the San Francisco 49ers, 20-16 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 17-10 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The Tennessee Titans beat the Carolina Panthers, 20-7 at LP Field (now Nissan Stadium) in Nashville.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 41-24 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 33-21 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Seattle Seahawks, 33-30 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now named Huntington Bank Field). Phil Dawson kicked a 25-yard field goal with 9:19 left in overtime to win it.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Denver Broncos, 44-7 at Ford Field in Detroit.

* The New England Patriots beat the Indianapolis Colts, 24-20 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 33-2 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Houston Texans beat the Oakland Raiders, 24-17 at the McAfee Coliseum (as the Oakland Coliseum was then known).

* The next night, on Monday Night Football, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Baltimore Ravens, 38-7 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.

* And the New York Giants, the Chicago Bears, the Miami Dolphins and the St. Louis Rams had a bye week.

There were 8 games in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 97-93 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Charlotte Bobcats beat the Miami Heat, 90-88 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Raptors, 98-95 in overtime at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks, 92-91 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The New Orleans Hornets beat the Denver Nuggets, 93-88 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 103-92 at the US Airways Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* In a doubleheader at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz, 119-109; and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 115-101.

And there were 3 games in the NHL:

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 in a shootout at the TD Banknorth Garden (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-0 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* And the Nashville Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-2 at the United Center in Chicago.