November 24, 1971: The D.B. Cooper Hijacking

November 24, 1971: The legend of D.B. Cooper begins. He had some things in common with Jack the Ripper: He was a mysterious figure; he committed a shocking crime, although, in his case, he didn't kill anybody; he was never caught; and he may not even have come up with the name by which he became known on his own.

It was the day before Thanksgiving, traditionally the busiest travel day of the year. At Portland International Airport in Oregon, a flight counter attendant for Northwest Orient Airlines reported that a man identifying himself as "Dan Cooper" walked up and used cash to buy a one-way ticket on Flight 305 to Seattle, a flight intended as being only 30 minutes. "Mr. Cooper" boarded the plane, which was a Boeing 727-100, took his seat, and ordered a bourbon and soda.

The flight attendant, Florence Schaffner, backed up the counter attendant's description of Cooper: Wearing a business suit with a black tie and a white shirt, appearing to be in his mid-40s, and looking like the composite sketch above.

The plane took off at 2:50 PM Pacific Standard Time (5:50 Eastern), on time. Shortly thereafter, Cooper handed a note to Schaffner. Flight attendants -- they were usually still called "stewardesses" at this point, or "stews" for short -- often got handed notes, usually from men who were lonely from their travels. This one dropped it in her purse without reading it. Cooper spoke up: "Miss, you'd better look at that note. I have a bomb."

She read it. It asked her to sit next to him. She asked to see the bomb. He opened his briefcase, and convinced her that what was inside really was a bomb. The he gave her his demands: $200,000 (about $1.44 million in today's money), 4 parachutes, and a fuel truck standing by in Seattle, to refuel the plane after it landed.

Schaffner went to the cockpit, and told the pilots. When she got back, Cooper was wearing sunglasses. The flight's captain, William A. Scott, contacted Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (a.k.a. "Sea-Tac"). The authorities there contacted local and federal authorities. The other 35 passengers were told only that their arrival would be delayed because of "a minor mechanical difficulty."

Donald Nyrop, president of the airline, was reached. He ordered that the ransom be paid, and that all employees should cooperate completely with Cooper. The plane circled Puget Sound for 2 hours, to give the police and the FBI time to get the money and the parachutes.

Flight attendant Tina Mucklow recalled that Cooper appeared familiar with the local terrain; at one point he remarked, "Looks like Tacoma down there," as the aircraft flew above it. He also correctly mentioned that McChord Air Force Base was only a 20-minute drive (at that time) from Sea-Tac. He didn't match the profile of men engaged in air piracy at the time: Enraged, hardened criminals or "Take this plane to Cuba!" political dissidents.

"He wasn't nervous," she told investigators. "He seemed rather nice. He was never cruel or nasty. He was thoughtful and calm all the time." He even ordered a refill of his drink, paid his tab, and offered to request meals for the flight crew during the stop in Seattle. He was very much the stereotype not of the "air pirate," but that of the "gentleman bandit."

His motive? It wasn't clear. Mucklow asked Cooper if he had a grudge with Northwest Airlines. He said, "I don't have a grudge against your airline, Miss. I just have a grudge."

The FBI got 10,000 $20 bills from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, thus making the serial numbers easier to track.

At 5:39 PM, the plane landed at Sea-Tac. A backpack with the money and the parachutes was delivered to Mucklow. Cooper then released the passengers, Schaffner, and another flight attendant, Alice Hancock -- but not Mucklow. He then told the cockpit crew to take off again, toward Mexico City.

At 7:40, the plane took off again. The only people on board were Cooper, Scott, Mucklow, first officer William Rataczak, and flight engineer Harold E. Anderson. Two F-106 fighter jets from McChord and a Lockheed T-33 training jet followed. At 8:00 PM, having been shown how while on the ground, Cooper opened the plane's rear staircase. At 8:13, there was a sudden, unexpected change in altitude. It has been presumed that this was when he jumped. At 10:15, the plane landed at Reno, Nevada, and it was determined that Cooper was no longer on board.

The FBI found fingerprints and Cooper's tie, but the prints were not in their system, and the tie gave them no hints as to his identity. They looked for men in the region with a criminal record, and an Oregon man named D.B. Cooper stood out. The Portland police quickly ruled him out as a suspect, but the wire service picked up the story, and "D.B. Cooper" has been the name attached to the hijacker ever since.

As far as can be determined, "Dan Cooper" was never seen again. An extensive search was made of Washington State and Oregon. It enabled the FBI to solve one crime: A skeleton was found, but of a teenage girl, determined to be one murdered weeks earlier. In 1980, Brian Ingram, a boy on a camping trip, found some weather-damaged bills with serial numbers matching the ransom money, $5,880 worth. This was near the Columbia River, which separates Washington from Oregon.

This has led to the leading theory: Cooper died in his attempt to escape, either through being unable to open his parachute in time, or landing too hard anyway, on impact with either the ground or a tree, or drowned in the river, possibly before he could get the heavy parachute off of himself.

In 1986, the FBI gave a cash award worth half the money to Ingram, by then in high school; and half to Northwest Orient Airlines' insurer. Like Cooper himself, none of the other money has ever been found.

As with Jack the Ripper, multiple guesses as to the perpetrator's identity have been made. As with the Ripper, most are easily dismissible. One of the more fascinating ones was that Cooper was John List, who had murdered his family in a religious-fanatic rage in Westfield, New Jersey just 15 days before the hijacking, and hadn't been seen since. He did bear a facial resemblance to the sketch, and, at 46, was age-consistent. List was captured in 1989, and confessed to slaying his family, but denied any connection to the Cooper case, and maintained that denial until his death in prison in 2008. The FBI have dropped him from their list of Cooper suspects.

Also as with the Ripper, the fact that the Cooper case was unsolved has led to an unending public fascination with it. In 1975, James M. Cain, author of the crime novels turned film noirs The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce and Double Indemnity, published the novel Rainbow's End, an imagination of what happened to Cooper after he jumped.

In 1980, J.D. Reed published a novel titled Free Fall. The following year, it was made into a film, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, starring Treat Williams. The story takes a lot of liberties, including the fact that Cooper jumped in daylight, when he actually jumped at night.

In 1991, Scott Adams published an issue of his Dilbert comic strip suggesting that Cooper died due to sabotage: "He learned that you should never get your parachutes from the same people you're robbing."

The TV series In Search of... (in 1979) and Unsolved Mysteries (1988) examined the Cooper case. TV shows suggesting in-universe solutions to the case have included NewsRadio in 1998, Prison Break in 2006, Numbers in 2009, Leverage in 2012, and Loki in 2021 (The Marvel Cinematic Universe makes the suggestion that Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, was Cooper).

And the series Twin Peaks, set in Washington State, has a lead character, an FBI Agent, named Dale Bartholomew Cooper. (The name is only a tribute: Agent Cooper was too young to have been the hijacker -- his portrayer, Kyle MacLachlan, was 12 at the time -- but he could have been his son, and thus became an FBI agent as an act of rebellion.)

*

November 24, 1971 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season, and football was in midweek. There were 5 games each in the NBA and the ABA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Baltimore Bullets, 111-94 at the Baltimore Civic Center. (It still stands, known as the CFG Bank Arena.)

* The Boston Celtics beat the Buffalo Braves, 108-100 at the Boston Garden.

* The Cincinnati Royals beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 114-112 at the Cincinnati Gardens.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 141-107 at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena. I don't know what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had recently changed his name from Lew Alcindor in accordance with his conversion to Islam, thinks of that name now, or thought then, but he scored 33 points in this game.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 109-108 at the Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston.

* The New York Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers, 112-101 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Indianapolis. (It still stands, named the Corteva Coliseum.)

* The Utah Stars beat the Virginia Squires, 120-113 at the Scope in Norfolk, Virginia. Despite losing the game, Charlie Scott of the Squires led all pro basketball scorers on the night, with 42 points.

* The Carolina Cougars beat the Dallas Chaparrals, 120-106 at the Greensboro Coliseum.

* The Miami Floridians beat the Denver Rockets, 133-129 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. (The Rockets became the Denver Nuggets in 1974.)

* And the Memphis Pros beat the Pittsburgh Condors, 126-110 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis.

There were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the St. Louis Blues, 8-3 at the new Madison Square Garden. Bobby Rousseau, Walt Tkaczuk and Brad Park -- a defenseman, mind you -- each scored 2 goals for the Broadway Blueshirts. Vic Hadfield and Jim Neilson also scored.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Montreal Canadiens and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 3-3 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-3 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, outside Los Angeles.

* The California Golden Seals beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-1 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* And the Minnesota North Stars and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.

November 11, 1889: Washington Is Admitted As the 42nd State

November 11, 1889: Washington is admitted to the Union as the 42nd State. It is the only State named after a President, George Washington. It is also the only State with a green State Flag, and the only State with a State Flag with the face of a real person on it, rather than a representation of some principle or other.

Other States have been named after people, but not Presidents:

* Delaware: Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, a colonial administrator.

* Pennsylvania: William Penn, its founder.

* Georgia: King George II of England.

* Maryland: St. Mary, mother of Jesus.

* South Carolina and North Carolina: King Charles I of England.

* Virginia: Queen Elizabeth II of England, "the Virgin Queen."

* New York: James, Duke of York, brother of King Charles II of England. James succeeded his brother, becoming King James II.

* Louisiana: King Louis IX of France, a.k.a. St. Louis, "the Crusader King." The City of St. Louis, Missouri was also named for him.

Washington was in the Northwest. It had been acquired as part of the Oregon Treaty of 1846. It has become known for its rainy climate; but, when the weather is good, it is known for its outdoor activities: Bicycling, camping in its forests, climbing Mount Rainier, riding the ferry from Seattle (including to Victoria, the Provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada), skiing in the Winter.

Its largest city, Seattle, is particularly known for the U.S. Navy base in nearby Bremerton; the accompanying aviation industry, as the birthplace of aircraft manufacturer Boeing; the computer industry, as the birthplace of Microsoft; and the coffee industry, as the birthplace of Starbucks. The State Capitol is Olympia.

Politically, Washington tends to vote Democratic. However, as with neighboring Oregon, and fellow Pacific Coast State California, the further inland you get, the more conservative people get. This is particularly true of "The Palouse": Eastern Washington (including Spokane), Eastern Oregon, and Northern Idaho, the State's Panhandle. The highest-ranking politician produced by the State has been Thomas S. Foley, who was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 to 1995.

That political divide is evident in the 2 major colleges with sports programs: The University of Washington, in Seattle, is generally thought of as liberal; while Washington State University, in Pullman, 288 miles to the east, is considered conservative. The annual Thanksgiving weekdn football game between "U-Dub" vs. "Wazzu" is known as the Apple Cup, named for the State's best-known agricultural product.

Seattle was home to the 1st American team to win the Stanley Cup, the 1917 Seattle Metropolitans. But after their league failed in 1926, the city, and therefore the State, didn't return to the major leagues until 1967, when the NBA expanded to include the Seattle SuperSonics. 

After decades with the Pacific Coast League, with teams called the Siwashes, the Turks, the Giants, the Purple Sox, the Indians, the Rainiers and the Angels, baseball tried the Seattle Pilots in 1969, but they were bankrupt and failed after 1 season. When the Kingdome opened in 1976, the NFL expanded to the Seahawks, and MLB expanded to the Mariners.

The Sonics won the 1979 NBA title, but were moved in 2008. There were new stadiums for the Mariners in 1999 and the Seahawks in 2002. The Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014. The Sounds won the MLS Cup in 2016 and 2019.

The Seattle Sounders played in the North American Soccer League from 1974 to 1983, and MLS expanded to include a new Sounders team in 2009. In 2021, the NHL expanded to include the Seattle Kraken, and the movement to bring in an expansion or moved team to become the new Sonics remains strong.

*

November 11, 1889 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. Basketball was 2 years away from being invented. Hockey barely existed. There was 1 college football game on this day: Lehigh University beat Penn State, 106-0 at the Athletic Association's Grounds in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Lehigh coach Jake Robeson mercifully offered to stop the game with 5 minutes left on the clock, and it remains the worst loss in Penn State football history.

This was a long time ago: Teams would sometimes play 2 games in less than 1 week, and Penn State had played Lehigh's nearby arch-rival, Lafayette, just 2 days before, and lost that, 26-0. They did play 2 other games that season, and win both, also against Pennsylvania teams, Swarthmore and Bucknell. Penn State was not yet the power that it would become, and, because of the diversion of the schools' footballing prowess, Penn State have not played Lehigh since 1942, and Lehigh haven't beaten them since 1936.

October 8, 1995: The Mariners Save Baseball In the Northwest

October 8, 1995: Thanks to a 2-run double off Jack McDowell by Edgar Martinez, the Seattle Mariners become only the 4th team in major league history to overcome a 2-game deficit to win a 5-game series, when they dramatically come from behind to beat the New York Yankees in 11 innings, 6-5 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

This was the last game as Yankee manager for Buck Showalter, mainly because he let starting pitcher David Cone throw 147 pitches, rather than trust a reliever warming up, a young Panamanian named Mariano Rivera.

"147 pitches." Brian Cashman, then an assistant to general manager Gene Michael, would have a brain aneurysm if he read those words today.

It was also the last game as a major league player for Don Mattingly: Although he only said he was taking the 1996 season off, we knew he wouldn't be back for 1997.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner subsequently moved Michael to an oversight role, hired Joe Torre as manager, and hired Bob Watson as general manager. Watson soon made the trades to bring Mariners Tino Martinez and Jeff Nelson, and Chicago Cub catcher Joe Girardi, to New York. The Last Baseball Dynasty is about to begin.

And that's the 1st reason why it's a good thing that the Yankees lost: If the Yankees had won, they might have beaten the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series, and they might have beaten the Atlanta Braves in the World Series. But there's no guarantee. And there's certainly no guarantee that, without the changes made in the 1995-96 off-season, the Yankee Dynasty that we know, from 1996 to 2003, would have happened.

Seriously: If the Yankees hadn't lost to the Mariners, do you think they would have traded for Mariners Tino and Nellie?

It was more than that: By winning this series, the Mariners saved Major League Baseball in the Pacific Northwest. A ballot measure to fund the building of a new ballpark passed, and Safeco Field opened in 1999. (It was renamed T-Mobile Park in 2018.)

If the Yankees had won, then the measure might not have passed, and, today, the Mariners would likely be playing their home games in Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. At least, with the area's nautical tradition, they wouldn't have to change their name: They could be the Tampa Bay Mariners.

The Mariners lost the ALCS to the Indians, and Cleveland had its 1st Pennant in 41 years. The Indians lost the World Series to the Braves, and Atlanta had its 1st Pennant in 30 seasons of trying. Each set of fans had waited a long time, through close calls and many awful seasons in awful stadiums, with sparse crowds.

At least Braves fans had Hank Aaron for some of that. Aside from Bob Feller for the first couple of years of the drought, what did Indians fans have? The young Rocky Colavito, the unfulfilled promise of pitchers Herb Score and Sam McDowell, a Cy Young season from Gaylord Perry, the end of Frank Robinson's playing career, and the too-soon trades of Dennis Eckersley and Joe Carter?

With 25 years of hindsight, it is better that the Yankees lost. Seattle, Cleveland and Atlanta fans had waited a long time for what they got in October 1995. The Yankees would take stock, make the necessary adjustments, and win much more.

In 2010, the MLB Network listed this game at 15th on their list of MLB's 20 Greatest Games -- limited in scope, due to the availability of surviving videotape, to 1975 onward.

*

October 8, 1995 was a Sunday. The National League's pair of Division Series had already been decided. But there were NFL games on this day:

* The New York Giants beat the Arizona Cardinals, 27-21 in overtime at Giants Stadium.

* The New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills, 29-10 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Washington Redskins, 37-34 in overtime at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Denver Broncos beat the New England Patriots, 37-3 at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 20-16 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Stadium).

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 19-16 at Tampa Stadium.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Miami Dolphins, 27-24 in overtime at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in the Miami suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Green Bay Packers, 34-24 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Cleveland Browns, 38-20 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Carolina Panthers, 37-21 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Houston Oilers, 23-17 in overtime at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Seattle Seahawks, 34-14 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the next day, on Monday Night Football, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Diego Chargers, 29-23 in overtime at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* Except for the expansion Panthers, the entire NFC West had a bye week: The San Francisco 49ers, the St. Louis Rams, the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints.

The NBA season hadn't started yet. But the NHL season just had, and there were 2 games played. The Florida Panthers beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3 at the Miami Arena. And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

September 24, 1991: Nirvana Release “Nevermind”

September 24, 1991: The rock band Nirvana release their 2nd album, Nevermind. It should not be confused with Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols or Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

Kurt Cobain, a lefthanded guitarist, was the group's lead singer and lead songwriter. Krist Novoselic was the bass guitarist. Dave Grohl was the drummer. The Seattle-based band had debuted in 1989, with Bleach. But Nevermind lifted them to stardom.

With its lead single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and its dark video with depressed-looking cheerleaders, it is often called the most influential album of the 1990s. It isn't: Considering how important female vocalists would become in the 21st Century, the most influential album of the 1990s is Alanis Morissette's 1995 opus Jagged Little Pill.

Nevermind has also been given credit for establishing "grunge rock" as a new genre, and for killing "hair metal." And the video's dark scenes of high school helped inspire the early 2020s superhero TV show Stargirl.

On the exact same day, Red Hot Chili Peppers (there is no “The” in their official name) released their album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. It became their most popular album, but not as big as big as Nevermind. On this day, Seattle beat L.A.

The 1990s were good to Seattle. Bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam restored its status as a big rock and roll city, which it had enjoyed in the 1960s due to acts like Jimi Hendrix, The Kingsmen, and Paul Revere & The Raiders. Singles, a romantic comedy, became one of the biggest films of 1992. Frasier, a spinoff of Cheers, was set in Seattle starting in 1993. In sports, the University of Washington won a share of college football's 1991 National Championship. And baseball's Mariners had a famous Playoff run in 1995, which resulted in a new ballpark being built in 1999.

On a 1992 episode of Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld (playing a fictionalized version of himself) lamented the rise of pesto as a sauce, and then, when the subject of Seattle was brought up, said, "Everybody's moving to Seattle!" And George Costanza (Jason Alexander), said, "It's the pesto of cities!"

The baby on the cover was Spencer Elden. He became an artist, living in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, and he sued Grohl, Novolesic, the Cobain estate, and the photographer, Kurt Weddle, for using his image without his consent. As of September 24, 2022, multiple legal issues between him and them are ongoing. Weird Al Yankovic would parody the cover (more discreetly) for his album "Off the Deep End."

In 1993, Nirvana released a 3rd album, In Utero. It was well-regarded at the time, but not as much as Nevermind. On April 5, 1994, having already survived a heroin overdose, Cobain shot himself to death. He was 27 years old, another member of "The 27 Club."

Cobain has been called a genius. He wasn't. He wasn't smart enough to grasp the concept that he is the musician, so he is supposed to entertain us, not the other way around.

Novoselic has worked with several bands since, including Sweet 75, Eyes Adrift, Flipper, Giants in the Trees, and Foo Fighters, the band that Grohl formed, switching to guitar. Foo Fighters are now so well-regarded, I saw one person call Nirvana "Foo Fighters Classic."

*

September 24, 1991 was a Tuesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Cal Eldred outpitched Eric Plunk. Robin Yount went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4. For the Yankees, Don Mattingly went 0-for-5, but had an RBI on a groundout. Kevin Maas hit his 20th home run of the season, having hit 21 the year before. He only hit another 24 homers in the rest of his career, as major league pitchers seemed to figure him out.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-8 at Shea Stadium. Barry Bonds did not play. Howard Johnson and Daryl Boston hit home runs for the Mets, but it wasn't enough.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 4-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 9-7 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the California Angels, 3-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). The game was scoreless going to extra innings, but Pat Borders hit a 3-run home run in the top of the 10th inning, off Jim Abbott, who had gone the distance. It made a winning pitcher of David Wells, in relief of Todd Stottlemyre, completing a 10-inning, 6-hit shutout.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 5-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn did not play.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-4 at the Oakland Coliseum. George Brett went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4 with a stolen base.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-7 at the Kingdome in Seattle. The Rangers led 5-1 going to the bottom of the 7th, but the Mariners scored 2. In the 8th, the Rangers scored 2, and the Mariners 4 to tie it. In the 9th, Brian Downing singled Gary Pettis home with the winning run. Ken Griffey Jr. went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds were rained out at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Braves won the opener, 2-1. Ron Gant singled Terry Pendleton home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. The nightcap also went 10 innings, and the Reds won, 10-9. The Reds scored 3 runs in the 10th, the Braves only 2.

* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox were rained out at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. They were rained out the next day, too. So they had to play a doubleheader on September 26. The Red Sox won the 1st game, 2-1. The Orioles won the 2nd game, 6-5. Over the 2 games, Cal Ripken went 4-for-8 with a home run, a walk and 2 RBIs.

September 10, 1993: "Bill Nye the Science Guy" & "The X-Files" Premiere

September 10, 1993: On television, it's a good day for science, and a good day for science fiction.

Bill Nye the Science Guy premieres on PBS. Like fellow PBS stars Fred Rogers, Julia Child, Bob Ross, Bob Vila, and especially astronomer Carl Sagan, Nye explained difficult things in a way that the average viewer could understand, without treating them like a child. Or, in Mr. Rogers' case, he was talking to small children; while Nye's show was aimed at older kids. But, like Mr. Rogers, Nye treated them as though their feelings mattered.

Recorded at PBS affiliate KCTS-Channel 9 in Seattle, and funded by the National Science Foundation, the show aired until September 3, 1999.

In a 2014 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, Nye was played by "Nice" Peter Shukoff, against song parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic as Isaac Newton. Rapper Charles Stewart, a.k.a. Chali 2na, stepped in, playing astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson.

George Watsky, against Edgar Allan Poe, played by George Watsky. King saw the battle and, on Twitter, paid proper respect to the original master of horror by admitting that "he" had lost.

*

The X-Files, a science fiction show created by Chris Carter, premiered on Fox that night, and, as they would have said on Monty Python's Flying Circus, it was something completely different.

It revolved around FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (played by David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). The "X-Files" they investigated were marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena.

Mulder was a skilled criminal profiler, and a believer in conspiracy theories. Scully, on the other hand, was not just an FBI Special Agent, but an accredited medical doctor, trained to look at evidence and act accordingly, and was usually skeptical of Mulder's ideas. Assigned together as part of a conspiracy, they discovered they had to trust each other, even though "Trust No One" became one of the show's catchphrases.

About 2/3rds of the episodes followed the traditional "monster of the week" science-fiction format. The other third was about the overall conspiracy, involving a step-by-step alien invasion, the U.S. government's participation in it, and its cover-up of it and of its role in it. Among these officials was Mulder and Scully's boss, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), who helped them out of guilt over his role in it.

The main antagonist was a man who goes by many names, but was usually called "The Cigarette-Smoking Man" (or "The CSM," played by William B. Davis). He was often said to be dying from lung cancer, and was even believed killed at one point, but always seemed to come back.

He took a special interest in Mulder, and there were suggestions that he, A, was the actual triggerman behind the 3 big assassinations of the 1960s, those of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy; and, B, was Mulder's biological father. The episode that suggested the assassinations, through flashbacks, also suggested that he was responsible for the fall of Mikhail Gorbachev, "fixing" the Academy Awards, and preventing the Buffalo Bills from winning the Super Bowl: "That never happens as long as I'm alive."

Twice during the show, Gillian Anderson became pregnant in real life. The 1st time, she was out of the show on maternity leave, and it was explained by Scully being kidnapped by aliens, and giving birth to a half-alien baby. The 2nd time, they just showed her pregnant, and explained that the baby boy was hers and Mulder's. He was named William, after both of their fathers (presuming that the CSM wasn't actually Mulder's father). William later developed telekinesis.

The show ran for 9 seasons. In 1998, after the conclusion of Season 5, the film The X-Files: Fight the Future was released, filmed between Seasons 4 and 5. Three conspiracy theorists that Mulder and Scully occasionally worked with were spun off into an ill-received show, named for the trio: The Lone Gunmen.

In 2008, a new film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, was released. It was a standalone film, not connected to the overall conspiracy. It revealed that Mulder and Scully had not seen each other in years, but worked together again to solve a crime. A Season 10 ran on Fox in 2016, and a Season 11 in 2018.

*

September 10, 1993 was a Friday. Sam Kerr, a soccer player for the Australian women's national team, was born.

These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Kansas City Royals, 6-5 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Jim Abbott and future Yankee David Cone started the game, but neither factored in the decision. The Royals led 4-1 after 7 innings. The Yankees scored 4 in the top of the 8th, but the Royals scored 2 in the bottom half, making Jeff Montgomery the winning pitcher and Steve Howe the loser.

Wade Boggs and Dion James each got 3 hits for the Yankees. Don Mattingly went 1-for-5 with an RBI. George Brett, in his last 23 days as an active player, went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 12-10 at Shea Stadium. No, that's not Jets vs. Bears. Todd Hundley and Jeff Kent hit home runs for the Mets, while Steve Buchele and Kevin Roberson hit them for the Cubs.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Marquis Grissom singled Lou Fraizer home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Houston Astros, 6-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Baltimore Orioles, 10-9 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The A's scored 7 runs in the 8th inning. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the California Angels, 10-4 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-5. Paul Molitor went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-8 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Rox scored 3 runs in the top of the 10th, and the Bucs could only come back with 2 in the bottom half.

* A doubleheader was split at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Cleveland Indians won the opener, 7-4. The Boston Red Sox won the nightcap, 5-4. Mike Greenwell singled Billy Hatcher home with the winning run in the top of the 11th inning.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-0 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Mike Moore pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-3 with a walk, and had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Robin Yount, in his last 23 days as an active player, went 0-for-4.

* The Texas Rangers swept a doubleheader from the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 and 3-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn did not play.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 0-for-2 with 2 walks -- and this was well before he started using steroids, let alone getting punished by pitchers for it.

July 17, 1979: The Dave Parker Throw

Commissioner Bowie Kuhn (left) and Dave Parker

July 17, 1979: The Major League Baseball All-Star Game is held at the Kingdome in Seattle. Due to the fact that 2 ASGs were held from 1959 to 1962, this game was celebrated as the 50th edition, although it had been 46 years since the 1st one, at Comiskey Park in Chicago in 1933.

It was an ugly game. The Kingdome was described as a "concrete toadstool." dull and gray, both inside and out, with n artificial turf field that was a sickly green. And, typical of the end of the 1970s, the uniforms were horrible. Since the hosts were the Seattle Mariners, the American League was designated the home team. So we were spared the powder-blue road uniforms of the Mariners, the Kansas City Royals, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Minnesota Twins, the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays. And, thankfully, the Baltimore Orioles wore their white shirts with orange lettering, not their orange shirts with black lettering. But Chet Lemon wore the Chicago White Sox' dark blue "softball shirts."

But the National League wore their road uniforms. That meant that powder-blue uniforms were worn by the Chicago Cubs (made worse by having white pinstripes), the Montreal Expos, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Philadelphia Phillies. Well, not all the Phillies: Pete Rose, and his son Pete Jr., who served as a batboy, wore the Phils' alternate burgundy shirts.

The San Francisco Giants did what the Orioles refused to do: Wear orange shirts with black lettering. The Pittsburgh Pirates wore all yellow. The San Diego Padres wore brown shirts with yellow sleeves. And the Houston Astros wore their jerseys that have alternately been called 'Rainbow Brite" and "Tequila Sunrise," which they would have worn regardless, just that the background was white on the home version and gray on the away version.

The starting pitchers were Steve Carlton of the Phillies and Nolan Ryan of the California Angels. In 1983, Ryan would break Walter Johnson's career record for strikeouts, but was soon surpassed himself by Carlton, and they would go back and forth as all-time leaders before Carlton ran out of gas and Ryan pulled away, finishing with 5,714 to Carlton's 4,136. Each man was the 1st in his League to strike out 19 batters in a game. (Ryan did it 4 times, but needed extra innings on 3 of them.)

But Carlton would end up winning more games, 329 to Ryan's 324. Ryan had the slightly lower career ERA, 3.19 to Carlton's 3.22; but Carlton had the higher ERA+, 115 to 112. Carlton had 4 Cy Young Awards to Ryan's none, but Ryan pitched 7 no-hitters to Carlton's none. Oddly, they had the same career WHIP, 1.247.

After 1 inning, it was 3-2 AL. After 3, it was 5-4 AL. After 6, it was 6-5 AL. All of these had been achieved without either side hitting a home run in the Kingdome. Until it was built, it was presumed that all domed stadiums would be like the Astrodome in Houston, where the ball didn't travel far. But in the Kingdome, and later in the Metrodome in Minneapolis, it did.

Dave Parker singled in the top of the 7th, but was stranded. Jim Rice of the Boston Red Sox led off the bottom of the 7th with a double down the right field line. Parker got it, and threw him out at 3rd base. Parker had succeeded Roberto Clemente as the Pirates' right fielder, and barely missed a beat. In 1975 and 1977, he finished 3rd in the NL's Most Valuable Player voting.

In 1977 and 1978, he won the NL batting title, despite being hit in the face with a pitch in '78, and having to wear a facemask for much of the season. He was named the MVP, and was regarded by many fans as the best all-around player in baseball. Rice was not, despite having won the AL's 1978 MVP due to his heavy hitting, because he was only an average fielder and, as became painfully obvious here, a slow runner. Parker's performance through 1978 earned him baseball's 1st $1 million per year contract, but, when he got off to a slow start in 1979, he faced some nasty racism.

In MLB's All-Star Game, every team is entitled to at least 1 player being selected. For the New York Mets in 1979, that player was outfielder Lee Mazzilli. In the top of the 8th inning, Mazzilli, billed by the poorly-playing, and even more-poorly-attended, Mets as a teen idol, a baseball version of John Travolta, became the 1st player to hit a pinch-hit home run in an All-Star Game, off Jim Kern of the Rangers, to tie the game.

Kern would finish the season 13-5, with a 1.57 ERA and 29 saves. But he would never be so effective again. The following season, he went 3-11 with a 4.83 ERA and just 2 saves. At one point, he told a reporter, "I'm working on a new pitch. It's called a strike."

In the bottom of the 8th, Brian Downing of the Angels singled off Bruce Sutter of the Cubs. Two outs later, Downing was on 2nd. Graig Nettles of the New York Yankees blooped a single to right, but Parker got to it, and made perhaps the most famous throw in baseball history, a laser beam that reached catcher Gary Carter of the Expos on the fly. Carter caught it, and pushed Downing aside to keep him away from the plate, to preserve the tied score.

In the top of the 9th, the NL loaded the bases, and Mazzilli drew a walk on Yankee pitcher Ron Guidry, who had been nearly unbeatable the previous season, to give the NL a 7-6 win. Parker was named the Game's MVP.

Met fans argued that it should have gone to Mazzilli, and the fact that he'd beaten Guidry, the previous year's AL Cy Young Award winner and should-have-been winner of the AL MVP, led them to claim "bragging rights" over the Yankees, who had won 2 straight World Series and 3 straight Pennants. They weren't going anywhere in 1979, though, but they were still better off than the Mets, broken up by team president M. Donald Grant, to the point where Shea Stadium's sparse attendance earned it the nickname "Grant's Tomb."

This would be the only All-Star Game at the Kingdome. The Seattle Mariners moved to Safeco Field in 1999, and it hosted the Game in 2001. In 2019, it was renamed T-Mobile Park. It is scheduled to host the All-Star Game again in 2023.

*

July 17, 1979 was a Tuesday, as the day of the MLB All-Star Game usually is. Also as usual, this was the only score on the day.

April 13, 2008: The End of the Seattle SuperSonics -- For Now

April 13, 2008: Although it is not yet official, the Seattle SuperSonics play their last game. They beat the Dallas Mavericks, 99-95 at the KeyArena. Earl Watson leads the Sonics with 21 points, and rookie Kevin Durant scored 19. In defeat, Dirk Nowitzki leads all scorers with 32.

The SuperSonics were Seattle's 1st true major league sports team. Before that, the city had the University of Washington, Seattle University, and the Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, 1917 Stanley Cup winners, but they folded in 1926. The team known at various times as the Seattle Indians, the Seattle Rainiers and the Seattle Angels had won 7 Pennants, but they were all in the Pacific Coast League.

Losing the Sonics, a team that existed for 41 years, made the Playoffs 22 times, reaching 6 Conference Finals, winning 3 Conference Championships and the 1979 NBA title was a blow to the Queen City of the Northwest.

And, the thing is, it didn't seem to make any sense. Seattle's a big city: 650,000 people in the city, 4.4 million people in the metropolitan area. The arena was relatively new: It opened in 1994. Attendance wasn't an issue: Although their last 3 seasons in Seattle were competitively terrible, the attendance was good (15,955 in the next-to-last season, before they officially became a lame duck and dropped to 13,355).

Granted, since then, Oklahoma City has strongly supported the team. It proved to be a good city for the NBA. But they should have gotten an expansion team, not taken somebody else's team.

The NBA did a "Cleveland Browns" with the Sonics: The Thunder could take the organization and the players, but not the history or the trademarks. They do not hang banners for the titles won by the Sonics. The NBA committed itself to restoring the Sonics, but, through the 2021-22 season, has not done so.

UPDATE: The original version of the Sonics never had a team Hall of Fame. But they did retire 6 uniform numbers: 1, for 1970s and '80s guard Gus Williams; 10, for 1980s and '90s guard Nate McMillan; 19, for 1970s guard and head coach Lenny Wilkens; 24, for 1970s forward Spencer Haywood; 32, for 1970s and '80s guard Fred Brown; and 43, for 1970s and '80s guard Jack Sikma. They also raised a banner in honor of Bo Blackburn, who broadcast for them from their debut in 1967 until 1992.

Should the franchise be re-established, they would be entitled to re-raise those banners, as well as for their 1979 NBA Championship; their Western Conference Championships of 1978, 1979 and 1996; and their Division Championships of 1979, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2005.

Wilkens, Brown and Blackburn have been elected to the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame. So have 1990s guard Gary Payton, 1990s forward Detlef Schrempf (also a University of Washington graduate), and forward Steve Hawes, a UW graduate who played only the 1983-84 season with the Sonics.

For now, the Thunder do not have a team Hall of Fame, but are honoring the Sonics' retired numbers. To those, they have added 4, for 2000s and '10s forward Nick Collison. The only Thunder personnel yet elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame have been forward Carmelo Anthony, who played the 2017-18 season for them; and Billy Donovan, their head coach from 2015 to 2020, but elected on the basis of having coached the University of Florida to back-to-back National Championships in 2006 and '07.

There is an Oklahoma Hall of Fame, for citizens of the State in all walks of life, in Oklahoma City, but not yet an Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. 2007-16 forward Kevin Durant (taken in the team's last NBA Draft as the Sonics) and 2008-19 guard Russell Westbrook were elected to it while still with the Thunder. General manager Sam Presti was elected after the 2025 NBA Championship.

*

April 13, 2008 was a Sunday. There were 5 other games in the NBA that day:

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Miami Heat, 84-76 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Toronto Raptors, 91-84 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Chicago Bulls, 104-84 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Houston Rockets, 111-94 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver. Allen Iverson scored 33 for the Nugs.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 106-85 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, 8-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. Daisuke Matsuzaka was the winning pitcher, while Phil Hughes didn't get an out in the 3rd inning. David Ortiz did not play, but the other main steroid cheat, Manny Ramirez, went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Of the Yankees' steroid users, Jason Giambi hit a home run, but Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-5. Derek Jeter did not play.

* The New York Mets lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 9-7 at Shea Stadium. Gabe Kapler and Rickie Weeks hit home runs for the Brew Crew, David Wright for the Metropolitans.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. In the top of the 10th inning, Carlos Zambrano grounded out, but it allowed Ronny Cedeño to score the winning run. Mark DeRosa hit a home run for the Cubs, Jayson Werth and Eric Bruntlett for the Phils.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-4 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-1 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-4.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-1 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. 

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-0 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Javier Vázquez pitched 7 innings of 5-hit shutout ball. Matt Thornton and Nick Masset completed the 6-hit shutout. Paul Konerko went 2-for-5 with a home run and 5 RBIs. Joe Crede hit a grand slam.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at Rangers Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Joe Inglett hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning, to score Marco Scutaro with the winning run.

* The Houston Astros beat the Florida Marlins, 5-1 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 13-5 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. How many Padre pitchers does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout? On this afternoon, 5: Greg Maddux, 2 hits over 5 innings; Joe Thatcher, a hit in the 6th; Cla Meredith, a hitless 7th; Heath Bell, a hit in the 8th; and Trevor Hoffman, a hit in the 9th. The only run of the game came in the top of the 4th, Jim Edmonds scoring on a sacrifice fly by Paul McAnulty.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-4 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 10-5 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Ichiro Suzuki went 0-for-3, but drew 2 walks and stole a base.

Football was out of season. The NHL was in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and 4 games were played:

* The New Jersey Devils beat their arch-rivals, the New York Rangers, 4-3 at Madison Square Garden. John Madden (no relation to the football coach, broadcaster and video game impresario) scored the winning goal, 6:01 into overtime. Unfortunately for me, that was the only game the Devils won in that series.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 at the TD Banknorth Garden (now the TD Garden) in Boston. Marc Savard scored the winning goal, 9:25 into overtime. Marc is not related to Canadiens legend Serge Savard, although Serge does have a son named Marc.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Washington Capitals, 2-0 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

And in English soccer, Manchester United beat Arsenal, 2-1 at Old Trafford in Salford. Owen Hargreaves scored the winning goal in the 72nd minute. This didn't quite clinch the Premier League title for United, but it did pretty much knock Arsenal out. United ended up beating Chelsea for the title by 2 points, and Arsenal by 4.

April 6, 1977: Seattle's Baseball Restoration

April 6, 1977: Opening Day of a new baseball season -- the 1st one that I can actually remember.

There are 2 new expansion teams in the American League. The Toronto Blue Jays will debut tomorrow. The Seattle Mariners debut today, with Major League Baseball returning to the Pacific Northwest after the disastrous one-year experiment of the 1969 Seattle Pilots.

A crowd of 57,762 fills the new King County Domed Stadium, a.k.a. the Kingdome. Among the part-owners was the great entertainer Danny Kaye. The manager is Darrell Johnson, who led the Boston Red Sox to the AL Pennant just 2 years earlier. And, as fate would have it, the Mariners' 1st opponents are also the 1st team the Pilots ever faced in a regular-season game, and the team to which Seattle's pre-Pilots minor-league team was a farm team: The California Angels.

Diego Seguí starts for the M's: He turned out to be the only player to play for both the Pilots and the Mariners, and was easily nicknamed the Ancient Mariner. It doesn't go so well for the home team: Seguí doesn't get out of the 4th inning. Joe Rudi hits the dome's 1st home run, Frank Tanana pitches a shutout, and the Angels win, 7-0. Or, from the Seattle perspective, 0-7 -- which would also be Seguí's record for the year.

With Ruppert Jones, Danny Meyer, Leroy Stanton, Bill Stein, Glenn Abbott and Enrique Romo, the team went 64-98 -- not in last place in the AL Western Division, half a game ahead of the collapsed dynasty of the Oakland Athletics, and 9 1/2 games ahead of their expansion brethren in Toronto.

Ruppert Jones, the Mariners' 1st All-Star

Bruce Bochte went 2-for-3 with 2 walks for the Angels in that opener. The next year, he would join the Mariners, and become one of their best hitters in their early years, but they lost 104 games. It would take until 1995, and the addition of another round, for the team to make the Playoffs. As of Opening Day 2022, they're still looking for Seattle's 1st Pennant since the 1966 Pacific Coast League title.

UPDATE: The Mariners have a team Hall of Fame. Through the 2025 season, the inductees are:

* From the 1980s: 1st baseman Alvin Davis.

* From their 1995-2001 glory period: Manager Lou Piniella, pitchers Randy Johnson and Jamie Moyer, center fielder Ken Griffey Jr., designated hitter Edgar Martinez, right fielders Jay Buhner and Ichiro Suzuki, and catcher Dan Wilson.

* From since 2001: Pitcher Félix Hernández.

* And their 1977 to 2010 broadcaster, Dave Niehaus.

Davis, Griffey, Martinez and Niehaus have been elected to the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame. So have 1990s 3rd baseman turned 2000s onward broadcaster Mike Blowers, a University of Washington graduate; 2000s 1st baseman John Olerud, a Washington State University graduate; and 1983-onward broadcaster Rick Rizzs.

*

April 6, 1977 was a Wednesday. Only 1 other game was played. At the time, the tradition was for the Cincinnati Reds to host the 1st game in the National League, due to Cincinnati having had the 1st openly professional team, in 1869. This time, the Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 5-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. César Gerónimo hit a home run. Johnny Bench did not play.

Football was out of season. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The Houston Rockets beat the Boston Celtics, 104-93 at the Boston Garden.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Chicago Bulls, 97-96 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the New Orleans Jazz, 107-102 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Pete Maravich scored 30 points in defeat for the Jazz.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 131-109 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. Larry Kenon scored 31 for the Spurs.

* And the Denver Nuggets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 110-95 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs were underway, but this was a travel day in every series. The World Hockey Association was wrapping up its regular season, and 4 games were played:

* The Quebec Nordiques and the Cincinnati Stingers played to a tie, 2-2 at the Riverfront Coliseum (now the Heritage Bank Center) in Cincinnati.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Birmingham Bullets, 6-4 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

* The Phoenix Roadrunners beat the Indianapolis Racers, 7-3 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* And the Houston Aeros beat the San Diego Mariners, 5-3 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). This would be the last season for the San Diego Mariners, who were named before the Seattle baseball team was established. Despite making the Playoffs 3 straight seasons, they couldn't afford to stay in business.

April 5, 1994: The Death of Kurt Cobain

April 5, 1994: Kurt Cobain's demons catch up with him, and he decides he doesn't want to fight them anymore. His body is not discovered for 3 days.

A big part of my generation mourned him. That part did not include me. And that's as politely as I can put it. He was compared to John Lennon, as the voice of a generation; to Sid Vicious, a symbolic loser; and to Jim Morrison, who was a little of both.

Like several other musical personalities, including Morrison, he was dead at the age of 27.

He had already barely survived a drug overdose a month earlier. On Saturday Night Live, "Weekend Update" anchor Norm Macdonald said, "In other news, Kurt Cobain almost reached Nirvana this week." A couple of weeks after that, they did a cold open with a "We Are the World"-style celebrity song explaining the Whitewater scandal, and David Spade played Cobain, and nobody could understand a word he said, which matched the strangeness of the scandal. Both of these sketches were repeated after Cobain's death, possibly a low point in SNL's history.

Cobain has been called a genius. He wasn't. He wasn't smart enough to grasp the concept that he is the musician, so he is supposed to entertain us, not the other way around.

And Nirvana has been called the most influential music act of the 1990s. Plenty of acts were more influential, including Janet Jackson, Public Enemy, Boyz II Men, En Vogue, and especially Alanis Morissette. By the time Alanis came out with Jagged Little Pill on June 13, 1995, not only was Cobain dead, but Nirvana's grunge aesthetic was buried as well.

Dave Grohl went on to form Foo Fighters, who sound very different. Pearl Jam moved away from that style as well. Novoselic has worked with several bands since, including Sweet 75, Eyes Adrift, Flipper, Giants in the Trees, and Foo Fighters, the band that Grohl formed, switching to guitar. Foo Fighters are now so well-regarded, I saw one person call Nirvana "Foo Fighters Classic."

*

April 5, 1994 was a Tuesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

Football was out of season. There were 11 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Miami Heat, 100-86 at the Miami Arena.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Boston Celtics, 120-94 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 104-97 at the Orlando Arena.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Charlotte Hornets, 105-99 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio. The Cavs only played 5 more games there, including Playoff games, before moving the next season into the building now known as the Rocket Aren.a

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Detroit Pistons, 105-89 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Washington Bullets, 114-88 at the Chicago Stadium. Da Bulls only played 5 more games there, including Playoff games, before moving the next season into the United Center.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Denver Nuggets, 92-91 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the San Antonio Spurs, 106-101 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Sacramento Kings, 88-80 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Phoenix Suns, 135-113 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

* And the Seattle Supersonics beat the Utah Jazz, 86-79 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

And there were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. Benoît Hogue scored the winning goal with 1:26 left in overtime.

* The Quebec Nordiques and the Florida Panthers played to a tie, 3-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The St. Louis Blues beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-1 at the St. Louis Arena. The Blues only played 5 more games there, including 2 Playoff games, before moving the next season, to the building now named the Enterprise Center.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Dallas Stars, 6-4 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The San Jose Sharks beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Vancouver Canucks 8-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. Dino Ciccarelli scored 4 goals and had 2 assists.