December 11, 2021: New York City FC Win the MLS Cup

December 11, 2021: New York City Football Club win the MLS Cup.

With the New York Tri-State Area having at least 2 teams in the other sports, and just the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer, there was room for a 2nd team. A revived New York Cosmos never got their act together to get admitted to MLS. So NYCFC was founded in 2013, and began play in 2015.

They played most of their home games at the new Yankee Stadium, due to the New York Yankees holding a 20 percent ownership stake. The remaining 80 percent is owned by City Football Group, owned by Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, brother of the President and de factor monarch and dictator of the United Arab Emirates.

City Football Group also owns Manchester City Football Club, which has dominated England's Premier League since 2012; Melbourne City FC, the Australian team formerly known as Melbourne Heart, so they, metaphorically, "cut the heart out of the club"; and teams in France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Uruguay, India, China and Japan.

The UAE is a country whose official policy discriminates against women, Jews and gays, making them anathema to many in the mainly-liberal Tri-State Area. Their own fans don't care. They point out their slogan, "Five Boroughs, One City," and remind Red Bull fans that they play in New Jersey (in Red Bull Arena in Harrison, Hudson County), not in the City.

This came back to bite City fans, known to Red Bull fans as "The Smurfs" due to their blue jerseys, when, not controlling their own venue, they had to move "home games" due to the Yankees controlling scheduling at Yankee Stadium. They were able to move some games to the New York Mets' Citi Field. But they've had to play 2 games at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut, 116 miles from Midtown Manhattan. Red Bull fans have called City "East Hartford FC."

The low point for Red Bull fans, until the 2021 MLS Cup Final, was their own team's management opening Red Bull Arena up to NYCFC for "home games." The high point was on May 21, 2016, when the Red Bulls went into Yankee Stadium and beat City, 7-0. Despite the Red Bulls being a charter MLS team that had never won an MLS Cup, losing its only Final in 2008, they could still, with much legitimacy, claim, "New York is Red."

That changed in the 2021 Playoffs. The Red Bulls reached the Playoffs in their 2nd season, 2016, for the 1st of 4 straight trips to the MLS Cup Quarterfinals. They got knocked out in the 1st Round in 2020. But in 2021, they beat Atlanta United in the 1st Round, beat the New England Revolution away on penalty kicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and beat the Philadelphia Union away in the Conference Finals.

They faced the Portland Timbers, at Providence Park in Portland. The 1st half was a bit dull, until Valentin Castellanos putting NYCFC on the board in the 41st minute. They thought they had the game won, until stoppage time: In the 94th minute, Felipe Mora equalized for the Timbers.

There was no scoring in extra time, and the game went to penalties. City goalkeeper Sean Johnson saved penalties from Mora and Diego Valeri. Alexander Callens sent the winning penalty kick home.

New York City FC were the Champions of Major League Soccer. It was the 1st top-flight league title for a New York-based soccer team since the original Cosmos won Soccer Bowl '82, 39 years earlier. And it was the 1st league title for a New York-based team in any sport since the New York Giants won Super Bowl XLVI, nearly 10 years earlier.

New York was now Blue. It was the most humiliating moment in the long, humiliation-riddled history of the New York Red Bulls, and they didn't even play.

*

December 11, 2021 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. There was 1 college football game played that day, the Army-Navy Game. Navy beat Army, 17-13 at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands.

There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Golden State Warriors, 102-93 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Washington Wizards, 123-98 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls, 118-92 at the FTX Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Houston Rockets, 113-106 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 127-112 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio. Nikola Jokić led all scorers on the night with 35 points, and also had 17 rebounds.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Sacramento Kings, 117-103 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Orlando Magic, 106-104 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

And there were 12 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-2 at the UBS Arena.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-4 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-0 at the Corel Centre in Ottawa.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 in a shootout at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Anaheim Ducks, 1-0 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Arizona Coyotes, 5-3 at the Gila River Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Calgary Flames, 4-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Minnesota Wild, 2-1 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Dallas Stars, 2-1 at the SAP Center in San Jose.

* And the New York Rangers, the Detroit Red Wings, the Vancouver Canucks, the Colorado Avalanche, the Florida Panthers, the Nashville Predators, the Winnipeg Jets and the Vegas Golden Knights were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Hampshire team Southampton, 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium in North London.

December 9, 2023: The NBA's 1st In-Season Tournament

December 9, 2023: The Final of the NBA's 1st "In-Season Tournament" is held at the T-Mobile Arena, on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.

NOTE: While these entries are dated 2022, I decided to backdate the posting dates of events from 2023 onward to the same date in 2022.

I've often compared English soccer's FA Cup to college basketball's NCAA Tournament, except that it preceded the NCAA Tournament by 67 years, and it runs all season long. The In-Season Tournament -- hereafter abbreviated as "IST" -- wasn't quite all season long, but it was comparable to "March Madness." November Nuthousery, and December Delirium?

The NBA introduced the Tournament for the 2023–24 season, with all games except the championship final counting towards the regular-season standings. It was structured as follows:

* Six intraconference pools of five.

* Tuesdays and Fridays during November featured group games against each of the other teams in their pool, 2 at home and 2 on the road. These games still counted as regular season games.

* The winners of each pool, and two wild-card teams, advanced to a single-elimination tournament.

* The Semifinals and Final were to be played in Las Vegas. (Well, in the suburbs of Las Vegas.)

* Players for the Tournament Champion will each receive $500,000.

* To compensate, the NBA's regular season scheduling formula was modified, so only 80 games for each team are initially announced during the offseason. The 1st 2 rounds of the in-season tournament would then count as regular-season games 81 and 82. The Championship Game would then be an extra 83rd game that would not count toward the regular season.

* Teams that did not qualify for the in-season tournament knockout round, or were eliminated in the quarterfinals, would then be scheduled additional games against each other that are eliminated in the same conference (if possible) and round to reach 82 games.

The Tournament began on November 3. In the East, the Groups were won by the Indiana Pacers, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics. In the West, it was the Los Angeles Lakers, the New Orleans Pelicans and the Sacramento Kings. The New York Knicks from the East and the Phoenix Suns from the West qualified for the Knockout Stage as the remaining teams with the best records.

Despite accusations that the IST was just a money grab for the NBA, and that the hyper-decorated courts were a bad look, it was an overwhelming success, in both attendance and television viewership. And the quality of play was considered excellent.

Two games of the Quarterfinals were held on December 4: The Pacers beat the Celtics, 122-112 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis; and the Pelicans beat the Kings, 127-117 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. The other 2 Quarterfinals were held on December 5: The Bucks beat the Knicks, 146-122 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, with Julius Randle scoring 41 in defeat but Giannis Antetokounmpo scoring 35; and the Lakers beating the Suns, 106-103 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

The Semifinals were held on December 7. The Pacers beat the Bucks, 128-119 in Milwaukee, and the Lakers clobbered the Pelicans, 133-89 in Los Angeles. Having covered that game for ESPN, Michael Wilbon said this while co-hosting the network's Pardon the Interruption the following night:

LeBron wants his name on that hardware, the first one! So, guess what? Russell's name can't be on it. Magic's name, Bird's name, Jordan's name, Isiah, none of their names, Hakeem, none of their names are on it. Not Kobe. His name is gonna be on it, 'cause they're gonna beat Indiana, and they're gonna beat 'em convincingly. So his will to win is what matters... The fact that he wants it is what matters.

Wilbon had a point: Pretty much everything else that can be done in the NBA, LeBron had already done: Winning the Championship, leading the league in scoring, winning the Most Valuable Player award in the regular season, winning it in the All-Star Game, winning it in the Finals. Winning this tournament, leading a team to victory in it, is something that nobody had ever done before.

In that Final, the Pacers hung with the Lakers most of the way, getting within 4 points in the 4th quarter. But the Lakers pulled away, and won, 123-109. Anthony Davis was the star of the Final, scoring 41 points. But the MVP award was for the entire Tournament, and, of course, it went to LeBron.

UPDATE: In 2024, the tournament was renamed the Emirates NBA Cup, sponsored by Emirates Airways, the airline owned by the royal family of the United Arab Emirates. In 2024, the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Final.

*

December 9, 2023 was a Saturday. This was also the day that "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" hit Number 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100, making Brenda Lee, at age 78, the oldest singer ever to have a Number 1 hit. I have a separate entry for that event.

This was the only NBA game scheduled for the day. Baseball was in the off-season, although this was the day on which the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to the biggest contract in North American sports history to that point, $700 million over 10 years. One college football game was played: Army beat Navy, 17-11 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

There were 12 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Washington Capitals, 4-0 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The New York Islanders beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 at the UBS Arena in Elmont, Long Island, New York. Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the winning goal, 13 seconds into overtime.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Calgary Flames, 4-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Arizona Coyotes, 5-3 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Nashville Predators, 4-0 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 in a shootout at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Dallas Stars, 6-1 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-2 at the Ball Arena in Denver.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Seattle Kraken, 4-3 at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with 1:48 left in overtime.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

In American soccer, the MLS Cup Final was played: The Columbus Crew beat Los Angeles F.C., 2-1 at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio. And in English soccer, Arsenal F.C., the North London team I support, lost to Aston Villa, 1-0 at Villa Park in Birmingham, West Midlands.

November 23, 2008: The New York Red Bulls Lose Their 1st MLS Cup Final

The Captains, holding hands with the mascots,

leading the teams out: Frankie Hejduk of Columbus,

and Juan Pablo Ángel of New York

November 23, 2008: For the 1st time in their history, the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer reach the Final of the MLS Cup. It doesn't go so well.

The Red Bulls were a founding member of MLS in 1996, using the name of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars until 2005. In 2006, they were bought by Red Bull, the Austrian soft-drink maker, and rebranded as Red Bull New York. The American media, while sometimes using the initials "RBNY," usually sticks to North American convention, calling them "the New York Red Bulls" or just "the Red Bulls," and the initials "NYRB."

Fans of the team's original rivals, Washington-based D.C. United, call them "The Pink Cows." Many New York fans have resisted the rebranding, and still wear their old MetroStars shirts to games, and refer to the team as "Metro" for short, as they always had.

Under any name, they had not reached the MLS Cup Final until 2008. Their closest call was a trip to the Semifinals, in 2000. But, in 2008, under manager Juan Carlos Osorio, with Captain Juan Pablo Ángel, a fellow Colombian, as leading scorer, they finished 5th in the Eastern Conference, beat the Houston Dynamo in the Quarterfinals, and beat Real Salt Lake in the Semifinals.

The Final was to be held on neutral ground, at the Home Depot Center, in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. This is no longer done: Since 2011, the Final has been held at the home of the team with the better regular-season record.

The opponent was the Columbus Crew, another charter member of MLS, also in their 1st Final, winners of the Supporters' Shield for best overall record in the regular season, and seeking the 1st league championship for any major league team from Columbus, Ohio, ever -- unless you count the Columbus Bullies, who won the Championship of the 3rd American Football League in 1940 and '41. (That league folded due to World War II. The AFL of the 1960s was the 4th league with the name. And the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets have rarely done well.)

The game kicked off at 3:30 PM, Eastern Time. It was scoreless for the 1st half-hour, but Alejandro Moreno put the Crew on the board in the 31st minute, and it was 1-0 Columbus at halftime. John Wolyniec, popular with Metro fans as he was a local boy made good, from Staten Island, tied the game in the 51st.

But just 2 minutes later, the Crew went back ahead, on a goal by Chad Marshall. The Crew's Captain, Frankie Hejduk, put the game away in the 82nd. Final score: Crew 3, Red Bulls 1. Guillermo Barros Schelotto, an Argentine of Italian descent, assisted on all 3 Columbus goals, and was named the game's Most Valuable Player, as he had been for the league in the regular season.

Having previously won it with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2002, Siegfried "Sigi" Schmid became the first manager to win the MLS Cup with two different teams. Before the founding of MLS, Schmid led UCLA to the College Cup, the NCAA Championship for men's soccer, 3 times.

Born in Germany, and raised in Southern California, Schmid then left the Crew to become the 1st manager of the revived Seattle Sounders, and returned to the Galaxy before heart trouble forced him to retire. He and Bruce Arena, due to both men having "coaching trees" that extend throughout MLS, are known as "the godfathers of American soccer." Sigi died on Christmas Day 2018, at the age of 65. Within weeks, MLS renamed its Coach of the Year award for him.

Schmid remains a beloved figure in the league. The Crew were favored to win the game. And no one has ever alleged that they used unfair tactics to win, or that the referees blatantly favored them. So Red Bull fans don't begrudge the Crew the win, or consider them to be a rival team. (The Red Bulls have enough rivals: In descending order of hate, D.C. United, New York City FC, the Philadelphia Union, the New England Revolution, and the LA Galaxy.) Still, the fact that the MetroStars/Red Bulls have, through 2022, played 27 seasons and reached only 1 MLS Cup Final, and lost it, is galling.

The Red Bulls crashed in 2009, putting together the worst record in the League. It was their last season on the hard artificial turf, and in front of the vast unsold seats, at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands of East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey. In 2010, they moved to a venue over which they had ownership and control: Red Bull Arena, in Harrison, Hudson County, New Jersey, across the Passaic River from Newark, the State's largest city, and closer to their fan base of Irish, Italians, Portuguese, Brazilians, and various Latin American ethnicities in the Newark-Harrison-Kearny corridor.

The Red Bulls, more often than not, have reached the MLS Cup Quarterfinals. But, since 2008, they have only reached the Semifinals in 2014, '15 and '18, and never again reached the Final. Nor have they ever won the American version of the FA Cup, the U.S. Open Cup, losing the Final in 2003 and 2017. They have won the Supporters' Shield, for best overall record in the MLS regular season, in 2013, '15 and '18, so they are not without trophies.

But they are known for their postseason collapses, losing games to teams they were favored to beat. Of the original 10 MLS teams, 9 are still in existence, and 6 of those have won at least 1 MLS Cup. The Red Bulls are not one of them.

To make matters worse, there are teams that have been founded since that lone Finals appearance that have won it, including, to Metro fans' horror, New York City FC, an expansion team that began play at Yankee Stadium in 2015, and winning it in 2021. The Red Bulls have dominated the regular-season series between them, but don't have an MLS Cup. "The Smurfs" (for their light blue uniforms) have one.

With all the resources at their disposal -- they are owned 80 percent by Manchester City, and 20 percent by the Yankees -- they should have reached more than 1 Final by now. But then, with all the resources at their disposal -- Red Bull aren't exactly hurting for cash, and they're also in the New York market -- so should the Red Bulls.

*

November 23, 2008 was a Sunday. Baseball was out of season. These NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Giants beat the Arizona Cardinals, 37-29 at University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, California.

* The New York Jets beat the Tennessee Titans, 34-13 at LP Field (now Nissan Stadium) in Nashville.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 36-7 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Carolina Panthers, 45-28 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 30-12 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Stadium.)

* The New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins, 48-28 at Dolphin Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Houston Texans beat the Cleveland Browns, 16-6 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field).

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Detroit Lions, 38-20 at Ford Field in Detroit.

* The Chicago Bears beat the St. Louis Rams, 27-3 at the Edward Jones Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 54-31 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Denver Broncos, 31-10 at Invesco Field at Mile High (now Empower Field at Mile High).

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the San Diego Chargers, 23-20 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the San Francisco 49ers, 35-22 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Seattle Seahawks, 20-17 at Qwest Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.

* The preceding Thursday, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 27-10 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* And the next night, on ESPN Monday Night Football, the New Orleans Saints beat the Green Bay Packers, 51-29 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Golden State Warriors, 89-81 at the Wachovia Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors, 118-103 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Detroit Pistons, 106-80 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Chicago Bulls, 114-101 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Sacramento Kings, 118-108 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

There were 2 games played in the NHL. New York wasn't more successful in either of them, but New Jersey was: The New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 7-3 at the St. Pete Times Forum (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa. Dainius Zubrus scored 4 goals for the Devils. In the other game, the Nashville Predators beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2 at the RBC Center (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

October 30, 1998: The Great Chicago Fire... Soccer Team

October 30, 1998: The Chicago Fire beat the Columbus Crew, 2-1 at Soldier Field in Chicago, to win the U.S. Open Cup. Following their win in the MLS Cup Final 5 days earlier, this gives them the American version of the Premier League and the FA Cup: They have "done The Double."

It is only their 1st season.

Chicago Sparta, a team of Czech-Americans, had won the Open Cup in 1938 and 1940; the Chicago Vikings, a Scandinavian team, had won it in 1946; the Chicago Falcons, a Polish team, had won it in 1953; and the Chicago Sting had won the North American Soccer League Championship in 1981 and 1984 (the League's last season).

Despite Soldier Field being one of the venues for the 1994 World Cup, and the city's history as one of America's great multiethnic centers and one of its great sports cities, Chicago did not get a charter franchise in Major League Soccer. The team, officially named Chicago Fire Football Club (to match the "F.C." names of so many British teams) was founded on October 8, 1997, the Anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Their logo, or "badge," as British clubs would call it, matched that of the city's Fire Department.

They began regular-season play on March 21, 1998, beating the Miami Fusion, 2-0 at Lockhart Stadium in the Miami suburb of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Their 1st home game was also a 2-0 win over a Florida team that would be folded after the 2001 season, the Tampa Bay Mutiny. A crowd of 36,444 attended at Soldier Field.

They lost their next 5 games, but won their next 11. Then they lost their next 5, but won their next 4 of their next 5, before losing their regular-season finale.

The U.S. Open Cup works the same way the FA Cup works in England: It runs concurrent with the League season. As an MLS team, the Fire got a bye into the 3rd Round, and ended up playing another area team, the Chicago Stingers, sort-of named for the former NASL team. They were based in the United Soccer League (USL), then the 2nd tier of U.S. soccer, and hosted the July 6 game in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The Fire didn't have to try too hard to win, and did so, 3-1.

On July 22, the played the San Jose Clash in the Quarterfinals, on neutral ground, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. It ended in a 1-1 draw, but the Fire advanced on penalties, 4-3. The Semifinal would be against the Dallas Burn (the team now known as FC Dallas), but it wouldn't be in Dallas or Chicago. Instead, this one was also at neutral ground, at Zephyr Field in Metairie, Louisiana, home of the minor-league baseball team representing New Orleans. The Fire won, 3-2, and advanced to the Final, which they would host.

In the MLS Cup Playoffs, they needed a shootout to beat the Denver-area team, the Colorado Rapids, at home, 3-2 after a 1-1 draw on October 1; then beat them 1-0 away on October 5. In the Western Conference Finals, they beat the Los Angeles Galaxy, 1-0 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on October 10; but, on October 16, at Soldier Field, again, they could only manage a 1-1 draw, before winning 2-1 in a shootout.

That set up the MLS Cup Final on October 25, on neutral ground, again at the Rose Bowl, against D.C. United, the Washington-based team that had won the 1st 2 league titles, including "The Double" in 1996. Attendance was listed at 51,350, but that left the old bowl nearly half-empty.

Despite D.C. having such talents as John Harkes, Jeff Agoos, Eddie Pope, Roy Lassiter, Marco Etcheverry and Jamie Moreno, it was the Fire who emerged victorious. Polish striker Jerzy Podbrożny scored in the 29th minute. Colombian midfielder Diego Gutiérrez added another just before the half. Another Pole, Chicago's Captain Piotr Nowak, was named Man of the Match, much to the delight of the large Polish rooting section among the Fire's ultra support, known as Section 8.

Zach Thornton kept a clean sheet in goal. Manager Bob Bradley could also count among his starting lineup Jesse Marsch, later to manage the New York Red Bulls to 2 Supporters' Shields.

Five days later, at home at Soldier Field, the Fire faced the Columbus Crew. The Fire tended to wear white, with red and blue trim, similar to the City flag, but, on this occasion, wore white with black trim. By a weird coincidence, the Crew wore black and gold, which, given the "insect" theme, were the usual colors of the Fire's NASL predecessors, the Chicago Sting.

A much smaller crowd of 18,615 saw the Fire awarded a penalty just before halftime, converted by Podbrożny. Stern John -- apparently, the Trinidadian forward's full birth name -- scored for the Crew in the 53rd minute.

The game went to extra time, and, in the 99th minute -- no "Golden Goal" in this tournament -- Fotios "Frank" Klopas, a Greek forward who came on at the start of extra time, scored the goal that gave the Fire The Double.

The Fire have since won the Open Cup again in 2000, 2003 and 2006, losing the Final in 2004 and 2011; and the Supporters' Shield, the MLS regular-season title, in 2003. But they have never again won the MLS Cup, losing the Final in 2000 for a just-missed-Double and 2003 for a runner-up-Double.

*

October 30, 1998 was a Friday. Baseball season had ended 9 days earlier, when the New York Yankees completed a 4-game World Series sweep over the San Diego Padres. The NBA's team owners had locked the players out, and so the season started late. There were 7 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 1-0 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at the Marine Midland Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 7-3 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Dallas Stars and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played to a tie, 3-3 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Washington Capitals and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 0-0 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-0 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 2-2 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

The NFL and the NCAA had no football games scheduled. But in New Jersey high school football, my Alma Mater, East Brunswick, beat South Brunswick, 36-10 at Mike Elko Stadium in South Brunswick.

October 26, 1997: The José Mesa Game

October 26, 1997: Game 7 of the World Series is played at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in the Miami suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida. The Cleveland Indians jump out to a 2-0 lead over Florida‚ and are just 2 outs away from winning their 1st World Series in 49 years.

But José Mesa, not for the first time nor for the last, blows the save, and the Marlins claw their way back and tie the score in the bottom of the 9th on a sacrifice fly by Craig Counsell. In the last half of the 11th‚ Édgar Rentería gets his 3rd hit of the game‚ driving home Counsell with the winning run‚ as Florida wins Game 7 by a score of 3-2.

This was, after 1962, only the 2nd World Series where neither team won back-to-back games: The Marlins won Games 1, 3, 5 and 7; the Indians won Games 2, 4 and 6. This was also the Series with the greatest extremes of weather: The 4 games in South Florida were the 4 warmest on record for Series games, while the 3 in Cleveland were 3 of the 4 coldest (the previous coldest, in New York in 1976, remains 3rd), and Game 4 is the only Series game to be played in a snowfall, except for Games 1 and 2 in Chicago in 1906.

The Marlins, in just their 5th season of existence (as opposed to the Indians, in their 97th), thus become the fastest team in baseball history to win a World Series title‚ 3 years quicker than the 1969 Mets. (In 2001, this record would be broken by the 4th-year Arizona Diamondbacks.) Liván Hernández, the pitcher who fled Cuba (and would soon be followed by his brother Orlando "El Duque" Hernández) is named the Most Valuable Player of the Series.

This Series is sweet vindication for:

* Marlins manager Jim Leyland, who lost 3 straight NLCS while managing the Pittsburgh Pirates.

* Bobby Bonilla, who played for Leyland on those Pirates, bad-attituded his way out of his native New York with the Mets, and flopped the year before with the Baltimore Orioles

* Alex Fernandez, who pitched for the talented Chicago White Sox team that fell just short in 1990, lost the ALCS in '93 and was screwed over by the Strike of '94, and was injured and unable to pitch in the postseason, so his teammates put his Number 32 on their caps.

* And for Gary Sheffield, who was already gaining a reputation as a bad apple that nobody wanted to keep around for very long, despite his obvious talent for power hitting, and this remained his only World Series win.

For the Indians, who hadn't won a Series since 1948, went from 1954 to 1995 without winning a Pennant, went from 1959 to 1994 without even being in a Pennant race, stood to be the AL's Wild Card if the standings at the time of the Strike of '94 had held to the end of the season, lost the '95 Series despite winning 100 of 144 games in the regular season, lost the '96 ALDS to an inferior Oriole team, and won just 86 games in this regular season but had defeated the favored Yankees and the Seattle Mariners before this crushing defeat, it is not just a crushing defeat, where they came closer to winning the World Series without doing so than any team ever had except the '86 Red Sox (and now the 2011 Texas Rangers).

No, this loss meant that, like the Red Sox, the Indians now had a reputation of being a choking team. They have never shaken it, despite return trips to the postseason in 1998, '99, 2001 and '07 – blowing a 2-1 lead in the '98 ALCS, 3-1 leads in the '07 ALCS and the '16 World Series, and a 2-0 lead in the '17 ALDS.

The Marlins were immediately broken up, and dropped to a 108-loss team the next year. This was part of the plan: Team owner Wayne Huizenga was going for it in 1997, so it was a now-or-never situation. Dave Rosenbaum wrote a book about it, titled If They Don't Win It's a Shame.

They were sold and rebuilt, and won another World Series in 2013. They were broken up again, moved to the new LoanDepot Park on the site of the Orange Bowl in 2012, renamed the Miami Marlins, were built back into a Playoff team in 2020, and broken up yet again.

The Indians won Division titles in 1995, '96, '97, '98, '99 and 2001, and Pennants in '95 and '97, but not a World Series. They fell 1 game short of a Pennant in 2007, and won the Pennant but against lost Game 7 of the World Series in extra innings in 2016. In 2022, they changed their name to the Cleveland Guardians, and won another Division title.

In 2010, the MLB Network listed this game at 13th on their list of MLB's 20 Greatest Games -- limited in scope, due to the availability of surviving videotape, to 1975 onward.

UPDATE: The Guardians have a team Hall of Fame. From their 1995 and 1997 Pennant winners, they have honored 1st baseman Jim Thome, 2nd baseman Carlos Baerga, shortstop Omar Vizquel, left fielder Albert Belle, center fielder Kenny Lofton, right fielder Manny Ramirez, catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., pitcher Charles Nagy; team owner Richard Jacobs, general manager John Hart, team executives Hank Peters and Dennis Lehman, manager Mike Hargrove, coach Johnny Goryl, longtime clubhouse manager Cy Buynak, longtime trainer Jim Warfield, longtime travel director Mike Seghi (son of former team owner Phil Seghi); broadcasters Herb Score, Mike Hegan, Tom Hamilton and Rick Manning; and famous fan John Adams.

Hargrove and Hegan have also been elected to the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame. So has outfielder Brian Anderson, mainly because he was a Cleveland native.

From their 2007 team that reached the AL Championship Series, the Guardians have honored pitcher CC Sabathia; while the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame has honored outfielder Ellis Burks and 1st baseman Travis Hafner.

*

October 26, 1997 was a Sunday. The following NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 29-27 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the team their fans hate the most, if not their geographic rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, 13-12 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Rodney Peete won it in the last minute of regulation with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Chad Lewis.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Washington Redskins, 20-17 at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Carolina Panthers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 21-12 at Ericsson Stadium (now Bank of America Stadium) in Charlotte, 21-12.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 10-6 at Tampa Stadium.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints, 23-0 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Buffalo Bills, 23-20 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York. Jason Elam won it with a 33-yard field goal in overtime.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 23-17 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Kordell Stewart won it in overtime with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jerome Bettis: "Slash" to "The Bus."

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the cross-State St. Louis Rams, 28-20 at the TWA Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.

* The Tennessee Oilers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 41-14 at Sun Devil Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Indianapolis Colts, 35-19 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Oakland Raiders, 45-34 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

* The next night, the Green Bay Packers beat the New England Patriots, 28-10 at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* Game 7 of the World Series forced a rescheduling, since the Marlins needed Pro Player Stadium. So the Miami Dolphins' home game set for Sunday afternoon, October 26 was moved to Monday night, October 27. They lost to the Chicago Bears, 36-33. Jeff Jaeger won it with a 35-yard field goal in overtime.

* And the New York Jets and the Detroit Lions had a bye week.

The NBA season began 5 days later. There were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played to a tie, 3-3 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-1 at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix.

* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-1 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

Also on this day, D.C. United won their 2nd MLS Cup, in the league's 2nd season, beating the Denver-based Colorado Rapids, 2-1 on home soil at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. Jaime Moreno and Tony Sanneh scored the goals. 

October 20, 1996: The 1st MLS Cup

October 20, 1996: The 1st Major League Soccer season comes to a climax with the 1st MLS Cup Final, held on neutral ground at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts, home of the NFL's New England Patriots and MLS' New England Revolution.

MLS was then divided into Eastern and Western Conferences. The Tampa Bay Mutiny ran away with the East, with D.C. United, the league's Washington team, 12 points back. But in the 1st round of the Playoffs, DCU beat the New York Tri-State Area's team, the NY/NJ MetroStars in a shootout.

This started a rivalry known as the Atlantic Cup. Despite Metro's 2005 rebranding as the New York Red Bulls, the chance to jump on the traditional New York vs. New England rivalry from the outset, and the establishments of the Philadelphia Union and New York City F.C., DCU remain the team that Metro/Red Bull fans most want to beat: "The D.C. Scum."

DCU went on to eliminate the Mutiny in the Conference Final. In the West, the Los Angeles Galaxy won by 8 points over the Dallas Burn, and then, in the Playoffs, beat the San Jose Clash and the Kansas City Wiz to make the Final. (Respectively, those teams are now named F.C. Dallas, the Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City.)

Boston and Washington had never previously played in a major league sports final. Due to the NBA and the NHL being split into geographic conferences, it hasn't been possible in those leagues.

It had been possible in Major League Baseball only from 1903, when the World Series began, until 1952, when the Boston Braves moved, and could no longer play the Washington Senators in the World Series. It became possible again with the 2005 arrival of the Washington Nationals, but they have never played the Boston Red Sox in a World Series.

It was, and remains, possible for the Patriots to play the Washington Football Team (who actually started out in Boston, from 1932 to 1936) in the Super Bowl, but it hasn't happened.

Foxboro Stadium, replaced by Gillette Stadium in 2002, seated 61,000, but the stadium operators were surprised that over 40,000 tickets were sold, so they had to open the upper deck. But Hurricane Lili swept through the Northeast, postponing Game 1 of the World Series in New York the night before. A tarp wasn't enough, as the natural grass field got soaked. A postponement was considered, but rejected. Out of 42,368 people who bought tickets, 34,643 showed up, including 7,000 DCU fans who made the trip north.

Dan Calichman, a defender from Huntington, Long Island, New York, who was ordinarily the Galaxy's Captain, had to sit the match out, suspended 1 game due to yellow card accumulation. So another defender, Miami native Robin Fraser, wore the armband on this occasion.

Their lineup also included Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos, Ecuadoran forward Eduardo Hurtado, U.S. national team stars Cobi Jones and Chris Armas, and, oddly for an American team, a player from Iran, defender Arah Noamouz. Their manager was German, Lothar Osiander.

DC was managed by Bruce Arena, who had built the great soccer program at the University of Virginia, and would go on to become MLS' greatest manager, winning 5 Cups -- 2 with D.C., 3 with L.A. His Captain was midfielder John Harkes, a native of one of the places that could legitimately be called Soccertown, U.S.A.: Kearny, Hudson County, New Jersey.

Also in the lineup: Mark Simpson, who, oddly for a goalkeeper, wore Number 2; American defenders Eddie Pope and Jeff Agoos; a pair of Bolivians, midfielder Marco Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno; and forward Raúl Díaz Arce, who would go on to become the El Salvador national team's all-time leading scorer.

ABC broadcast the match. In only the 5th minute, Hurtado scored on a header to put L.A. ahead. He celebrated by doing a belly-flop on the soaked grass. It remained 1-0 to L.A. through halftime. In the 56th minute, Armas made it 2-0 to L.A.

With rain coming down and the wind getting worse, it was beginning to look like the Galaxy had the game in the bag. Arena rolled the dice, bringing on American midfielders Tony Sanneh and Shawn Medved as substitutes. It worked: Sanneh headed in an Etcheverry free kick in the 73rd.

In the 78th, Jones tried to put it away for the Galaxy, but hit the crossbar. In the 81st, United were awarded another free kick. Etcheverry took it, and Campos was able to punch it away. But Medved scored on the rebound, and the game was tied.

According to league rules at the time, overtime would be sudden death. The 1st team to score would have a "Golden Goal," and be Champions. In the 94th minute, Etcheverry took a corner, and Pope scored it. D.C. United had won, 3-2. Etcheverry, who assisted on all 3 goals, was named Man of the Match.

D.C. United would win 3 of the 1st 4 MLS Cups, and 4 of the 1st 9. L.A. wouldn't win their 1st until 2002, but have now won 5, and remain the league's leader in titles. Here are the Final records of all MLS teams to have played in the Final:

Los Angeles Galaxy, 5-4

D.C. United, 4-1

Seattle Sounders, 2-2

Houston Dynamo, 2-2

Columbus Crew, 2-1

Sporting Kansas City, 2-1

San Jose Earthquakes, 2-0

Toronto F.C., 1-2

Chicago Fire, 1-2

Portland Timbers, 1-2

Real Salt Lake, 1-1

Colorado Rapids, 1-1

Atlanta United, 1-0

New York City FC, 1-0

F.C. Dallas, 0-1

New York Red Bulls, 0-1

New England Revolution, 0-5

Of the 10 charter MLS teams from 1996, the Tampa Bay Mutiny folded without reaching a Final; among the other 9, only the MetroStars/Red Bulls have failed to win at least 1 Cup.

*

October 20, 1996 was a Sunday. MLS probably shouldn't have scheduled its 1st Final on an NFL gameday, especially since Game 2 of the World Series was also supposed to be played. But the only other real options were the day before, a college football gameday when Game 1 of the World Series was supposed to be played, or wait a week, when it would still conflict with football, either college or pro, and still might conflict with the World Series, either Game 6 or Game 7. Or wait another week, and still conflict with football?

At any rate, because Game 1 of the World Series was delayed by rain, it was played at the same time as the MLS Cup. The defending World Champions, the Atlanta Braves, pounded the New York Yankees, 12-1 at Yankee Stadium. Andy Pettitte was chased by 2 runs in the 2nd inning and 6 runs in the 3rd. Andruw Jones hit 2 home runs, his 1st making him the youngest home run hitter in Series history. John Smoltz was the beneficiary pitcher. The Braves also took Game 2, but the Yankees won the next 4 straight.

These were the NFL games played that day: 

* The New York Giants lost to the Washington Redskins, 31-21 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. This was the 'Skins last season of 36 at RFK, before moving to a new stadium in the Maryland suburbs; and DCU's 1st season of 22 there, before moving to Audi Field in 2018.

* The New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills, 25-22 at Giants Stadium. This was the Jets' 1-15 year under head coach Rich Kotite.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Miami Dolphins, 35-28 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Carolina Panthers beat the New Orleans Saints, 19-7 at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte. (It's now Bank of America Stadium.)

* The New England Patriots beat the Indianapolis Colts, 27-9 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The Pats being on the road made Foxboro Stadium available.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 17-14 at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis. (It's now The Dome at America's Center.)

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Atlanta Falcons, 32-28 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Houston Oilers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 23-13 at the Astrodome. The Oilers would play out this season in Houston, and then move to Tennessee the next year.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Baltimore Ravens, 45-34 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 13-9 at Sun Devil Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 28-21 at Candlestick Park (then named 3Com Park at Candlestick Point) in San Francisco.

* The next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Oakland Raiders beat the San Diego Chargers, 23-14 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* And the Chicago Bears, the Dallas Cowboys, the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks had a bye.

The NBA Season didn't start until November 1. But there were 6 NHL games played on this day:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-2 at the Ice Palace in Tampa. This was the 1st regular-season game at the building, now named the Benchmark International Arena.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the Kiel Center in St. Louis. (It's now the Enterprise Center.)

* The Florida Panthers and the Phoenix Coyotes played to a tie, 1-1 at the AmericaWest Arena in Phoenix.

* In a Battle of Alberta, the Calgary Flames beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Boston Bruins beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 5-1 at the Arrowhead Pond in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, California.