July 10, 1999: The Matt Franco Game

July 10, 1999: An Interleague game is played at Shea Stadium, the New York Mets hosting the New York Yankees. The Yankees were the defending World Champions, the Mets a team on the rise. The Fox network broadcast this game as their Saturday Game of the Week.

The starting pitchers were Andy Pettitte for the Bronx team, Rick Reed for the Queens club. In the top of the 1st inning, Bernie Williams singled, and Paul O'Neill hit a home run, to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. But the Mets came right back, with a Rickey Henderson single and a Mike Piazza double. In the bottom of the 2nd, a sacrifice fly by Rey Ordóñez tied it at 2-2.

The Mets took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the 4th, but the Yankees got back-to-back home runs in the top of the 5th, from Ricky Ledée and Jorge Posada, to tie it. These were followed by a homer in the 6th from O'Neill, and one in the 7th from Chuck Knoblauch, to take a 6-4 lead. In the bottom of the 7th, Henderson doubled, John Olerud drew a walk, and Mike Piazza hit a home run. The Mets led, 7-6. But Scott Brosius led off the top of the 8th with a walk, and Posada hit his 2nd home run of the game, and it was 8-7 Yankees.

Mariano Rivera got the 1st out in the bottom of the 9th. But, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. And Henderson, who went on to break Babe Ruth's career record for most walks (before Barry Bonds took the record from him), drew a walk. Edgardo Alfonzo doubled, but Henderson, now 40 years old, was no no longer fast enough to score. Rivera got Olerud to ground out, and the runners held. Not willing to to take a chance on Piazza getting the winning hit, Yankee manager Joe Torre ordered him intentionally walked, to set up the final out at any base.

But on a 1-ball-2-strike count, Matt Franco singled to right field, scoring Henderson with the tying run, and Alfonzo with the winning run: Mets 9, Yankees 8. The crowd of 53,792, about 90 percent Met fans, went wild. The winning pitcher was Pat Mahomes, whose son, Patrick Mahomes, would later star at quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs.

This game helps to illustrate the difference between the Yankees and the Mets. When the DVD The Essential Games of Shea Stadium was released in 2008, this game was included on it. When the DVD The Essential Games of Yankee Stadium was released at the same time, there were only postseason games on it. Aside from no-hitters and perfect games, the Yankees would never ascribe such importance to any single regular-season game.

Yet the Small Club in Flushing, and their fans, celebrated this game as if they had won the World Series. To this day, whenever Yankee Fans mention Rivera as the greatest relief pitcher ever, a Met fan will bring up The Matt Franco Game -- even though the Mets went on to lose the National League Championship Series to the Atlanta Braves, and the Yankees then beat the Braves in the World Series, and then, the next season, beat the Mets in the World Series.

In 2007, Franco was exposed as a user of performance-enhancing drugs. Mets fans don't want you to know that, as it spoils their narrative that they are somehow more virtuous and heroic then the Yankees.

*

July 10, 1999 was a Saturday. This was also the day women's soccer grew up, with the U.S. team winning the Women's World Cup over China on penalties at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. I have a separate entry for that event.

These other MLB games were played on that day, all of them Interleague:

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Montreal Expos, 7-6 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Mussina outpitched Paul Byrd. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-1 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. John Wasdin walked Andruw Jones to start the bottom of the 11th inning. Brian Hunter bunted, and Wasdin threw the ball away, allowing Jones to score the winning run.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Florida Marlins, 9-8 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Cincinnati Reds, 11-10 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. The Reds led 9-4 going into the bottom of the 5th, but the Indians clawed back, and tied the game in the 8th. The Reds took a 10-9 lead in the top of the 9th.

Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Danny Graves started the bottom of the 9th by walking Jim Thome. He was replaced by Scott Williamson, who gave up a game-winning home run to Omar Vizquel. Thome drawing a walk, and Vizquel hitting a home run, instead of the other way around? That's the way it happened.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 9-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-2 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field). Sammy Sosa went 0-for-5, but the Cubs got home runs from José Hernández and Glenallen Hill.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Colorado Rockies, 9-3 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-0 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix. Tim Hudson took a 3-hit shutout into the 9th inning, but A's manager Art Howe decided he needed Billy Taylor to get the last 2 outs.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium). Tony Gwynn did not play.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Adrián Beltré singled Devon White home with the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning. Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-4.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Candlestick Park (then known as 3Com Park at Candlestick Park) in San Francisco. Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire did not play.

February 11, 2024: The Taylor Swift Super Bowl

February 11, 2024: Super Bowl LVIII is played, at Allegiant Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada. It becomes the longest game in Super Bowl history.

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.

The game was scoreless after the 1st quarter. At the half, the San Francisco 49ers led the Kansas City Chiefs, the defending World Champions, 10-3. With 1:53 to go in regulation, the Niners led, 19-16. They were that close to their 6th Super Bowl win, their 1st in 29 years.

But the Chiefs were the defending Champions for a few reasons. The biggest of those reasons was their quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. He led the Chiefs down the field, and with 3 seconds left, Harrison Butker kicked a 29-yard field goal to send the game to overtime, only the 2nd time that had happened in a Super Bowl.

For many years, under NFL rules, the 1st score in an overtime won the game. This was considered unfair: A team could win the overtime coin toss, get within field goal range, and win by 3 points without the other team even getting the ball. The rules were tweaked a season earlier: This was the 1st postseason game to go to overtime since the NFL changed the overtime rules for playoff games, so that both teams get at least one chance to possess the ball in overtime, even if a touchdown is scored on the initial possession.

The 49ers won the toss, and drove down the field before stalling at the Chiefs' 9-yard line. Jake Moody, who had earlier kicked a 55-yard field goal, kicked one from 27 yards out, and the 49ers led, 22-19.

But Mahomes and the Chiefs responded by driving 75 yards in 13 plays, converting 2 3rd downs and a 4th down, to set up 1st and goal on the San Francisco 3-yard line. Mahomes then passed to Mecole Hardman, who took the ball into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Chiefs 25, 49ers 22.

The game lasted for 74 minutes and 57 seconds of game time, just short of 5 full quarters, making it the longest Super Bowl ever, and the 7th-longest NFL postseason game.

Much of the hype around the game revolved around Travis Kelce, the Chiefs' All-Pro tight end, and his girlfriend, the most popular singer in the world at the time, Taylor Swift. There was a rumor going around that the NFL was going to fix the game for the Chiefs so that Swift would get more camera time, with she and the NFL boosting each other's attention grabs.

At one point during that last regular-season drive, the camera focused on one of the luxury boxes, where Swift was sitting with Kelce's family. This prompted me to write online, "This game is a nailbiter. Literally: Taylor Swift was just caught on camera biting her nails."

There were also several TV commercials featuring Kelce, some with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce. They had been on opposite sides of the previous season's Super Bowl, which the Chiefs had won.

The Chiefs had now won 3 titles in 4 appearances in 5 years. It was their 4th title overall, in 6 appearances, plus an AFL Championship before their was a Super Bowl.

Andy Reid joined Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs and Jimmy Johnson as head coaches who had won 3 Super Bowls. Mahomes joined Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady * as quarterbacks who had done it.

In a note that stung many people in the New York Tri-State Area, Hardman began the season with the New York Jets. He left that dysfunctional franchise, then caught in the whims of aging quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and won a Super Bowl elsewhere.

*

February 11, 2024 was, like all Super Bowl days, a Sunday. Obviously, there were no other football games. Baseball was out of season. Not willing to compete much with the NFL for TV viewers, the NBA scheduled only 2 games. The Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat, 110-106 at the Kaseya Center in Miami. And the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Sacramento Kings, 127-113 at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points.

The NHL also scheduled only 2 games. The St. Louis Blues beat the Montreal Canadiens, 7-2 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the Capital One Arena in Washington. J.T. Miller scored the winning goal with 5 seconds left in overtime, avoiding a shootout.

And in English soccer, Arsenal crossed London from North to East, and beat West Ham United, 6-0 at the London Stadium.