December 11, 1977: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Win On Their 27th Try

December 11, 1977: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers win a regular-season football game. This had never happened before.

The Bucs were an NFL expansion team, beginning play in the 1976 season. They and the Seattle Seahawks entered the League that season, the 1st new teams in the NFL since its 1970 merger with the American Football League. Like most expansion teams in sports, both teams were expected to struggle.

But John McKay, who had coached the University of Southern California to 9 Conference Championships and 4 National Championships, was named head coach by team owner Hugh Culverhouse. Lee Roy Selmon, star defensive end from the University of Oklahoma, the top defensive player in the country the season before, was their 1st draft pick. They'd also drafted Lee Roy's brother, Oklahoma linebacker Dewey Selmon.

And their 1st starting quarterback was going to be Steve Spurrier, Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Florida in 1966. Spurrier had been a bust in the pros, but some observers thought that playing in Florida again would revitalize his career. So most football fans didn't expect them to struggle as much as they did. They did win the 3rd of their 4 exhibition games, 17-3 over the Atlanta Falcons.

Officially, the longest losing streak in NFL history was, and still is, 29 games, set by the Chicago Cardinals from October 25, 1942 to October 14, 1945. However, in the 1944 season, due to the manpower drain of World War II, they merged with the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were listed in League standings as "Card-Pitt," but were nicknamed the "Carpets," because teams walked all over them. The teams were separated for 1945.

So, for a single team, the longest losing streak in NFL history before 1976 was 17, by the Dayton Triangles, over the 1927, '28 and '29 seasons. The Triangles folded after the '29 season, so, in a manner of speaking, their losing streak continues to this day. The Washington Redskins matched that 17-game losing streak in 1960 and '61.

The Buccaneers debuted on September 12, 1976, against the Houston Oilers at the Astrodome. It was a wipeout: The Oilers, a team on the rise, beat them 20-0. The next game was their home debut: In front of 39,558 people at Tampa Stadium -- leaving it half-empty -- they lost to the San Diego Chargers, 23-0.

They came close to winning their next game, falling 14-9 at home to the Buffalo Bills. Three weeks later, with their fellow expansion team, the Seahawks, also still winless, coming to Tampa, predictions that neither team could win were voiced. There would be no tie: The Seahawks won, 13-10. They finished the season 2-12. The next week, at home, the Buccaneers held the 2-time recent Super Bowl-winning Miami Dolphins to a 23-20 win.

But as the losses piled up, McKay took the same tack as Casey Stengel did when managing another expansion team, the 1962 New York Mets: He became a quote machine, entertaining the media:

* "We've determined that we can't win at home and we can't win on the road. What we need is a neutral site."

* Well, we didn't block well, but we made up for it by not tackling well, either."

* "We can't stop a pass or a run. Otherwise, we're in great shape."

* When asked, "What do think of your team's execution?" he said, "I'm in favor of it."

On December 12, the Buccaneers lost to the New England Patriots, 31-14 at Tampa Stadium. They had finished 0-14. It was the 1st winless season in the NFL since the 1960 Dallas Cowboys went 0-11-1. It was the first all-loss season in the NFL since 1944, when both the "Card-Pitt" team and the Brooklyn Tigers went 0-10. Without the manpower drain of World War II, the previous all-loss NFL season was by the Cincinnati Reds, who lost their 1st 8 games of the 1934 season, and then folded.

For the 1977 season, McKay made Tampa native and former Chicago Bear Gary Huff his starting quarterback, and drafted one of his last USC players, running back Ricky Bell. But they still kept losing. There was progress, as 5 of their 1st 7 games were lost by 10 points or less. Their 2nd game was nearly a shocker, as they held the defending NFC Champion Minnesota Vikings to a 9-3 win.

Still, they had trouble scoring. Of those 1st 26 games, they scored fewer than 10 points in 17 of them; they failed to score a touchdown in 14 of them; and they were shut out in 11 of them. On December 4, they lost 10-0 at home to the Bears, falling to 0-12 on the season, and 0-26 all-time.

It got so bad that they were worked into pop culture. On an episode of the sitcom What's Happening!! that aired on ABC on November 10, Dwayne (Haywood Nelson) keeps winning in football predictions. Rerun (Fred Berry) wants to win the approval of his brother-in-law, Ike, a compulsive gambler, so he asks Dwayne to pick the Monday Night Football game.

Dwayne's pick is "Tampa Bay 10, Oakland 7." This pick doesn't make any sense: The Raiders are the defending World Champions, and the Buccaneers haven't won a game yet. (In real life, the Bucs did not play the Raiders that season.) But Dwayne says his system is foolproof.

So Rerun gives Ike the pick. Ike calls his bookie, and bets $500 -- about $2,460 in 2022 money. Rerun yells at him: "I told you to bet big, not crazy!" Now, Rerun knows that if Dwayne's pick isn't foolproof, he's in trouble. Sure enough, the Raiders win, 47-0. Ike tells Rerun he's going to work at his store until that $500 is paid off.

Rerun and Raj (Ernest Thomas) demand to know how Dwayne's "foolproof system" works. Dwayne gives them the convoluted way he picks the score. As for which team wins? Helmets: He picks the team that he thinks has the better-looking helmets. I have to admit: The orange and white Tampa Bay helmets, with a pirate known as "Bucco Bruce" on the side, did look better than the silver and black Oakland helmets, which also had a pirate logo.

And on NBC, in his "Carnac the Magnificent" sketch for The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson said this:

Answer: The Titanic and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Question: Name two disasters that were accompanied by band music.

At the time, if you asked an NFL fan what team would give the Bucs their first regular-season win ever, the likeliest answer would have been the New Orleans Saints, a team that had been perennially snakebit since their 1967 debut, and had never had a winning season. (They wouldn't have one until 1987, wouldn't make the Playoffs until that season, wouldn't win a Playoff game until 2000, and wouldn't reach a Super Bowl until the 2009 season, winning Super Bowl XLIV.)

So it wasn't a total surprise that, on December 11, 1977, at the Superdome in New Orleans, the Buccaneers beat the Saints, 33-14, finally winning in their 27th regular-season game. Dave Green kicked a field goal in each of the 1st 2 quarters. Huff threw a touchdown pass to Morris Owens to make it 13-0 Tampa Bay at the half.

In the 3rd quarter, Mike Washington intercepted a pass from Archie Manning -- Peyton and Eli's father -- and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown. In the 4th quarter, Richard Wood intercepted Manning, and returned it 10 yards for a touchdown. It was 26-0 Tampa Bay. Had that turned out to be the final score, it would have been poetic justice: A reverse of 0-26.

Manning ran for a touchdown to put New Orleans on the board, but on the Saints' next drive, he got sacked deep in his own territory, fumbling, and Greg Johnson recovered the ball in the end zone for another Buccaneer touchdown. Manning threw a late touchdown pass to John Gilliam, but the Saints would get no closer than 33-14.

The big surprise was the margin of victory. The Bucs had only scored as many as 20 points twice before that, topping out at 23 in another loss to Seattle earlier in '77.

The following week, the last game of the regular season, the Bucs gave their home fans their 1st win, beating the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 17-7, to finish the season at 2-12. In 1978, they improved to 5-11. In 1979, they finished 10-6, winning the NFC Central Division, and advancing to the NFC Championship Game, where they lost to the Los Angeles Rams. After a losing season in 1980, they won the Division again in 1981, before falling apart again.

It would take until 1997 -- the season when they dropped Bucco Bruce for their pirate flag helmet design, and their "creamsicle" uniforms for their red and "pewter" version -- for the Bucs to stop being a joke franchise and make the Playoffs again, beginning a run of success that included winning Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003. They have also won Super Bowl LV in 2021.

The longest losing streak in the NFL since the '76-'77 Bucs is 20, by the 2020 and '21 Jacksonville Jaguars. Although the 2008 Detroit Lions and the 2017 Cleveland Browns both went 0-16, neither threatened the Bucs' 0-26 mark.

*

December 11, 1977 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 17-14 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills, 14-10 at Shea Stadium.

* The New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins, 14-10 at Schaefer Stadium (later Sullivan Stadium and Foxboro Stadium) in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Baltimore Colts, 13-10 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Houston Oilers beat the Cleveland Browns, 19-15 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Chicago Bears beat their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers, 21-10 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 34-31 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers, 17-9 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons, 23-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* In a rematch of the previous season's Super Bowl, the Oakland Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings, 35-13 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* The day before, Washington Redskins lost to the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 26-20 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* Also the day before, the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-10 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the San Francisco 49ers, 42-35 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

There was 1 college football game played, the Mirage Bowl at Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. Grambling State beat Temple, 35-23.

There were 3 NBA games played that day:

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Washington Bullets, 106-95 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Buffalo Braves, 124-119 in overtime at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 43 points and had 19 rebounds.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Houston Rockets, 116-84 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Boston Bruins, 8-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Cleveland Barons, 11-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Tom Bladon had a hat trick.

* The Washington Capitals beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-0 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Minnesota North Stars, 8-3 at the Chicago Stadium.

And there were 3 games played in the World Hockey Association:

* This was the season of an experiment where Soviet and Czech All-Star teams played in the WHA. The Czechoslovakia team played 8 games, and won only 1, This was not it: They lost to the Quebec Nordiques, 8-4 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Indianapolis Racers, 7-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* And the Houston Aeros beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

November 26, 1989: Flipper Anderson Has 336 Receiving Yards

November 26, 1989: The Los Angeles Rams beat the New Orleans Saints, 20-17 at the Superdome in New Orleans. Mike Lansford kicks a field goal to win the game in overtime. Jim Everett of the Rams passes for 454 yards, a record 336 of them to Flipper Anderson.

Willie Lee Anderson Jr. was born in 1965 in Philadelphia, and grew up across the Delaware River in Paulsboro, Gloucester County, New Jersey. He got his nickname from his first baby sitter: "She said that when my mother dropped me off, I would cry like a dolphin. She started calling me 'Flipper,'" after the TV show of the same name about a dolphin.

He went across the country to UCLA, where he caught passes from future Hall-of-Famer Troy Aikman. But the Miami Dolphins weren't interested in him. The Rams were, and drafted him in the 2nd round. This was easily the best game of his career, although 40 of those receiving yards came in overtime. So he got 296 yards in regulation.

The 1st big receiving-yards game in NFL history came in 1945, when the Rams were in their last season in Cleveland, on their way to the NFL Championship, and Bob Waterfield threw to Jim Benton for 303 yards. That record stood for 40 years. In 1985, Stephone Paige caught 309 yards worth of passes from Todd Blackledge. Anderson broke that record, which still stands, but Paige still held the record for receiving yards in regulation.

Until 2013, when Calvin Johnson caught 329 yards worth of passes from Matthew Stafford, to help the Detroit Lions beat the Dallas Cowboys. That now stands as the regulation record, but he couldn't quite break the overall record set by Anderson.

That game was Anderson's best as a pro. But it is not the game for which he is most remembered. Six weeks later, the Rams went into the Meadowlands for an NFC Divisional Playoff against the New York Giants, and Everett burned the G-Men with a 30-yard pass to Anderson just 1:06 into overtime to win it for the Rams. In the New York Tri-State Area, it is known as "The Flipper Anderson Game."

Anderson remained with the Rams until 1994, their last season in Los Angeles before beginning their 21-season exile in St. Louis. He played for the Indianapolis Colts in 1995, and the Washington Redskins in 1996, before closing his career with the Denver Broncos in 1997, winning Super Bowl XXXII in his last game.

He now lives in the suburbs of Atlanta, and is a high school basketball referee. I wonder how many fans yell at him, "Hey, ref! You sure you're officiating in the right sport?"

*

November 26, 1989 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played:

* The New York Jets beat the Atlanta Falcons, 27-7 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Chicago Bears, 38-14 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Miami Dolphins, 34-14 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 24-7 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the San Diego Chargers, 10-6 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Minnesota Vikings, 20-19 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Houston Oilers, 34-0 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Seattle Seahawks, 41-14 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Phoenix Cardinals, 14-13 at Sun Devil Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* The Los Angeles Raiders beat the New England Patriots, 24-21 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Three days earlier, on Thanksgiving, the Detroit Lions beat the Cleveland Browns, 13-10 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* Also on Thanksgiving, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys, 27-0 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the New York Giants lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 34-24 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

There were 3 games in the NBA that day:

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Chicago Bulls, 120-96 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Ron Harper scored 36 points.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 132-112 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Detroit Lions, 102-82 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

And there were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Quebec Nordiques, 3-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-3 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* And the Los Angeles Kings and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 3-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

November 25, 1980: Leonard-Duran II: "No Más"

November 25, 1980: The Welterweight Championship of the World is contested at the Superdome in New Orleans. It is a rematch between 2 of the greatest fighters, pound-for-pound, of their generation.

Roberto Durán, 29, might have been the greatest Lightweight Champion ever, holding that title from 1972 to 1979. The man known as "Hands of Stone" was a hero in Latin America, in particular treated nearly as a god in his native Panama.

Sugar Ray Leonard, 24, won a Gold Medal for America at the 1976 Olympics at the Montreal Forum. In 1979, he won the Welterweight title by defeating Wilfred Benitez.

Durán was ready to move up in weight class, and take Leonard on. On June 20, 1980, back in Montreal, this time at the much larger Olympic Stadium, in front of 60,000 people, Leonard came in with a career record of 27-0, Durán at 71-1. Durán won a unanimous decision, but it was close: The cards had him leading 148-147, 146-144 and 145-144.

"I did the best I could", Leonard said. "I think I pretty much fought from the heart." Asked if Leonard was the best he ever fought, Durán thought for a moment and then answered, "Si, si." Durán said. "He does have a heart. That's why he's living."

Since the fight was so close, a rematch was in order. A crowd of 70,000 people crammed into the Superdome in New Orleans. This time, Leonard fought better, and was taunting Durán. At the end of the 8th round, Durán, trailing on all cards, and having lost his respect for Leonard, turned to the referee, also a Latin American, Octavio Meyran of Mexico, and said to him in Spanish, "I don't want to fight with this clown," and he went back to his corner and quit.

Broadcasting the fight for ABC, Howard Cosell said -- erroneously, as it turned out -- that what Durán had told the ref was, "No más" -- "No more." Leonard was declared the winner by technical knockout, and regained the title.

To make matters worse, the official excuse for Durán quitting was "stomach cramps." If he had them before the fight, it should have been postponed.

The man known as Hands of Stone was viewed to have feet of clay. Back in Panama, both his house and his mother's house were vandalized. Graffiti appeared in Panama City calling him a coward, a traitor, and even "maricón" -- roughly, the Caribbean Spanish word for the anti-gay slur "faggot." 

("Maricón" was the word that Benny "the Kid" Paret had used at Emile Griffith during the weigh-in for their 1962 Welterweight Championship and trilogy-decider fight, that led Griffith to pound away at him so hard during the fight that Paret died.)

In 1983, Durán fought Super Welterweight Champion Davey Moore in front of a mostly-Latino crowd at Madison Square Garden, hoping to see the return of a former hero to heroic status. It was no contest: Durán crushed Moore, whose cornermen threw in the towel -- appropriately enough, in the 8th round, the same round that did Durán in 3 years earlier. Durán regained not only a title (if not the same one), but also his strong, masculine image, his pride, his reputation, and his fans.

On December 7, 1989, with both men well past their prime, but with Leonard holding the WBC version of the Super Middleweight Championship, they fought for a 3rd time, at The Mirage hotel and casino outside Las Vegas. Leonard won a unanimous decision.

It was the last fight that Leonard ever won. He lost to Terry Norris and Héctor "Macho" Camacho, finishing 36-3-1. Durán must have needed the money, because he kept on fighting until 2001, and his last fight was also a loss to Camacho. His final record was 103-16, having lost nearly half his fights after his win over Leonard.

There were 4 truly great welterweight and middleweight fighters in the 1980s: Leonard, Durán, Thomas Hearns and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Durán followed up his win over Moore by losing back-to-back fights to Hagler (a 15-round decision) and Hearns (an awful 2nd-round knockout.) Leonard won a very tough decision over Hearns, and won a controversial decision over Hagler. Hagler knocked Hearns out in the 3rd round, surviving a furious fusillade, in one of the greatest short fights ever.

Left to right: Durán, Leonard, Hagler.

I found a photo of Leonard, Durán and Hearns together,

but not one of all 4 of them together.

Despite the various controversies between them, the 4 of them became friends after their careers, as boxers tend to do. There usually is a healthy respect between worthy opponents. Hagler died of a heart attack in 2021, at the age of 66. As of November 25, 2022, the other 3 are still alive.

UPDATE: In 2026, Ronald Hearns, also a boxer, places his father Thomas under conservatorship, as he has begun to show signs of boxing-related dementia. Hagler is not suspected of having had it. Nor is Leonard or Durán.

*

November 25, 1980 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season, but later baseball star Nick Swisher was born. Football was in midweek. There were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 112-108 at The Omni in Atlanta. John Drew led all scorers on the night with 34 points.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the expansion Dallas Mavericks, 108-92 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas. Julius "Dr. J" Erving had 31 points.

* And the San Diego Clippers beat the Denver Nuggets, 108-94 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

There were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders played the Winnipeg Jets to a tie, 4-4 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-4 at the Montreal Forum.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-3 at the Checkerdome (as the St. Louis Arena was then known).

* And the Colorado Rockies beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

November 23, 1974: The 1st Bayou Classic

November 23, 1974: The 1st Bayou Classic is held, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. Grambling State University defeats Southern University, 21-0.

Northern Louisiana and Southern Louisiana is a cultural intrastate rivalry, and this extends even to what have come to be called Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). These were often placed in the same cities as major white schools. Southern University is in Baton Rouge, the capital city of Louisiana, which is also where Louisiana State University (LSU) is. Grambling State University (or just "Grambling") is in the town of the same name, not far from Ruston, home of Louisiana Tech.

Grambling and Southern -- and I am listing them that way only due to alphabetical order -- began playing each other in football in 1932. Arnett "Ace" Mumford coached SU from 1936 to 1961 (except for 1943, during World War II), while Eddie Robinson coached GSU from 1941 to 1997 (except for 1943 and 1944). Each man's school named its respective stadium after him.

As early as 1948, the game was being called a "classic." But it was an unfortunate event that led it to becoming the extravaganza it's become: In 1972, there was political unrest on Southern's campus, and 2 students, Denver Smith and Leonard Brown, were shot and killed, presumably by white sheriff's deputies. I say, "presumably" because, officially, the murders have never been solved. Governor Edwin Edwards ordered the campus closed, and, since SU were hosting the game that season, they had to forfeit.

For the 1973 season, the game was moved to presumably neutral territory, although the site, what's now named Independence Stadium, in Shreveport, was considerably closer to Grambling, which was due to host that season, anyway. A crowd of 40,000 sold the place out.

When the schools realized just how many people wanted the game back, they decided to make a bigger deal out of it. So they moved the 1974 game to New Orleans, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And that's how it's been done ever since, first at Tulane Stadium and then, from the 2nd one onward, at the Superdome.

The only exceptions have been in 2005, when the damage from Hurricane Katrina forced the game to be moved to what's now named NRG Stadium in Houston -- which, appropriately enough, is known as the Bayou City; and in 2020, when, due to COVID restrictions, it was again played at Independence Stadium in Shreveport.

The Bayou Classic is, beyond any question, the biggest game of the year in the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-AA, bigger even than its Playoffs. The winner almost always clinches -- or has already clinched -- the West Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

The game has been called "Black America's Family Reunion." Black-themed college fraternities, whether they have houses on either school's campus or not, have reunions in New Orleans that weekend. There's concerts, a black business showcase, a college recruitment fair (not just for the schools playing), and a charity golf tournament.

And, of course, there's the Battle of the Bands, at halftime, between Grambling's "World Famed" Tiger Marching Band, which famously performed at Super Bowl I, and Southern's Marching Band from Jaguarland, a.k.a. "the Human Jukebox."

Each band's high-stepping, horn-swinging moves are accompanied by dancing girls in glittering outfits. It has been suggested that the Battle of the Bands is more important to the schools' bragging rights than the football game.

The Battle of the Bands was the main reason NBC began televising the game in 1991. Aside from Notre Dame home games and some bowl games, it's the Peacock Network's only college football broadcast, usually at 1:30 PM Central Time (2:30 Eastern).

*

November 23, 1974 was a Saturday. These other notable college football games, including some major rivalries, were played that day:

* Rivalry: Number 1 Oklahoma beat Number 6 Nebraska, 28-14 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. Oklahoma were on probation, so, while they were eligible to be ranked Number 1, and eligible to be awarded the National Championship, they were ineligible for a bowl game.

* Number 2 Alabama were idle, preparing for their rivalry with Number 7 Auburn the next week. 'Bama won, 17-13 at Legion Field in Birmingham. 

* Rivalry: Number 4 Ohio State beat Number 3 Michigan, 12-10 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. This clinched the Big Ten Conference title for Ohio State.

* Number 5 Notre Dame beat Air Force, 38-0 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. Army and Navy had the week off, preparing for their game against each other, the following week at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. Navy won, 19-0.

Since Big Eight Conference Champion Oklahoma were ineligible for a bowl game, the Orange Bowl offered its bids to Notre Dame and to Southeastern Conference Champion Alabama. Notre Dame won. The Sugar Bowl offered its Southeastern Conference bid to the University of Florida, which lost to Nebraska.

* Rivalry: Number 8 University of Southern California (USC) beat the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), 34-9 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC won the Pacific-Eight Conference title, and beat Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

* Number 10 Penn State were idle. They were preparing for their rivalry game next week, with the University of Pittsburgh. Penn State won, 31-10 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* Rivalry: Number 11 Maryland beat Virginia, 10-0 at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia.

* One ranked team was upset, and it was by their arch-rivals: Number 19 California lost to Stanford, 22-20 at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.

* Baylor beat Southern Methodist University (SMU), 31-14 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. When Texas A&M beat Texas, that threw the Southwest Conference title to Baylor, and they went back to the Cotton Bowl, to play the game of the same name. Penn State beat them.

* Rivalry: Harvard beat Yale, 21-16 at Harvard Stadium in Boston.

* In New Jersey, Rutgers beat Colgate, 62-21 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway; and Princeton beat Cornell, 41-20 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

* Rivalry: Temple beat Villanova, 17-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* Rivalry: William & Mary beat Richmond, 54-12 at City Stadium in Richmond, Virginia.

* Rivalry: North Carolina beat Duke, 14-13 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

* Rivalry: Clemson beat South Carolina, 39-21 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.

* Rivalry: Tennessee beat Kentucky, 24-7 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.

* Rivalry: Mississippi State beat Mississippi (Ole Miss) at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson.

* Rivalry: Louisiana State (LSU) beat Tulane, 34-22 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

* Rivalry: Purdue beat Indiana, 38-17 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana.

* Rivalry: Illinois beat Northwestern, 28-14 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.

* Rivalry: Wisconsin beat Minnesota, 49-14 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.

* Rivalry: Missouri beat Kansas, 27-3 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri.

* Rivalry: Brigham Young beat Utah, 48-20 at what's now LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah.

* Rivalry: Oregon State beat Oregon, 35-16 at what's now named Reser Stadium in Corvallis, Oregon.

* Rivalry: Washington beat Washington State, 24-17 at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington.

There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, 90-72 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat their arch-rivals, the Boston Celtics, 98-96 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Don Nelson scored 35 points in defeat.

* The Kansas City-Omaha Kings beat the Atlanta Hawks, 103-100 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the Phoenix Suns, 117-104 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Bob McAdoo scored 33 points for the Braves.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New Orleans Jazz, 121-100 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Detroit Pistons, 110-98 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Rick Barry scored 45 points for the Warriors.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat their arch-rivals, the Portland Trail Blazers, 117-110 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. Fred Brown scored 40 points for the Sonics.

There were 4 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers, 104-95 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Virginia Squires, 122-110 at the Hampton Coliseum outside Norfolk in Hampton, Virginia.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Spirits of St. Louis, 127-114 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

* And the Utah Stars beat the Kentucky Colonels, 111-110 in overtime at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.

There were 7 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Boston Bruins, 5-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Islanders and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 3-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 0-0 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Kansas City Scouts, 6-0 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the California Golden Seals, 3-1 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Montreal Canadiens, the Buffalo Sabres, the Atlanta Flames and the Washington Capitals were not scheduled.

And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Toronto Toros beat the Quebec Nordiques, 9-2 at the Colisée de Québec in Quebec City.

* The New England Whalers beat the Chicago Cougars, 3-2 at the Big E Coliseum in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

* The San Diego Mariners beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 5-3 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* And the Houston Aeros beat the Vancouver Blazers, 4-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

And in English soccer, the North London soccer team I would one day root for, Arsenal F.C., lost to Coventry City, 3-0 at Highfield Road in Coventry, West Midlands.

August 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina

August 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, Louisiana, resulting in a broken levee that flooded the city, which was already below sea level. By nightfall, 80 percent of the Crescent City, and parts of neighboring areas, were flooded. Over 1,800 people were killed, and thousands were left homeless.

The Louisiana Superdome, home of the NFL's New Orleans Saints, was used as a shelter, topping out at 26,000 people. But because of the nature of the emergency, getting relief supplies into the city was incredibly difficult.

Although there had been devastating fires in Chicago and Boston in the 19th Century, and Baltimore and San Francisco in the early 20th Century, an earthquake in San Francisco in 1989 and Miami clobbered by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Katrina was the first natural disaster that made Americans think that a great American city might actually be lost, ruined to the point where there would be no choice but to abandon it.

President George W. Bush was at his ranch outside Crawford, Texas, on vacation. He should have immediately flown back to Washington and coordinated the federal government's response. Instead, he stayed at his ranch for 5 days, doing nothing -- except for 1 trip to San Diego for a Republican Party fundraiser.

As a result, most of the goodwill he'd generated with his response to the 9/11 attacks and the early part of the Iraq War was gone. One political magazine showed a cover with a cartoon of Bush being poked with a fork, with the headline, "HE'S DONE," and a caption that he might have still been in office, "but the 9/11 Presidency is over."

That was the day that Michael D. Brown resigned as Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is in charge of responding to natural disasters. Bush was caught on camera telling him, "Heck of a job, Brownie." It wasn't sarcastic: Bush really believed that Brown was doing a good job.

"Brownie" and "Dubya"

At his best, Bush was a genial idiot. At his worst, he was a nasty right-winger. He was never competent enough to be President, and he appointed people he liked to posts for which they were not qualified and ill-suited, and Brown was one of them.

As late as 1950, New Orleans' population was 660,000, putting it in America's top 20 cities. White flight led to a drop to about 484,000 people within the city limits in the 2000 Census. After Hurricane Katrina, it dropped to 230,000, losing over half its people in one fell swoop. According to a recent estimate, it's back up to about 391,000, making it larger than such NFL cities as Tampa, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Buffalo (and, of course, Green Bay).

But the metropolitan area has just 1.27 million people, making it the smallest metro area in the NFL, ahead of only Buffalo (if Green Bay is included with Milwaukee and Niagara Falls is included with Buffalo). And the poverty issue, so pervasive before the hurricane, is worse. And crime is definitely an issue.

In 1940, the city was 70 percent white. As late as 1970, it was 51 percent white. By 1990, it was 62 percent black, and the proportions are roughly the same today: 61 percent black, 31 percent white, 5 percent Hispanic and 3 percent Asian. The further east you go, the greater the black percentage; the further west, the more white.

Both the dome and the arena were nearly ruined by Hurricane Katrina. Whatever had gone wrong on the inside of the Superdome, more noticeable was the outside, as the hurricane's winds had stripped the top of the dome, making it look like it had been sandblasted.

The Saints played their entire 2005 season on the road while the dome was refurbished. Next door, the Smoothie King Center, home of the NBA's New Orleans Hornets (since rebranded as the Pelicans), needed work, so the Hornets played most of the 2005-06 season in Oklahoma City, thus opening the door to a team for that city: In 2008, the Seattle SuperSonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder.

A relief concert was held at Madison Square Garden, "The Big Apple to the Big Easy," featuring performers from New Orleans, and others whose work was inspired by them. In 2012, the favor was returned after Hurricane Sandy became the 2nd-most-damaging storm in American history, behind Katrina.

The Superdome reopened for the 2006 season, and the Saints provided a lift to the devastated city. On February 7, 2010, the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV, beating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 at Sun Life Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in the Miami suburbs, for their 1st NFL Championship. It had been a little over 4 years since the hurricane, and it resulted in the biggest party in the history of America's greatest party city.

The Superdome was restored. But the city still needs help. Having lost so many former residents, whose houses could not be rebuilt, hurt its tax base. It's the same with businesses that never came back. In New Orleans, "back" is a relative term.

*

August 29, 2005 was a Monday. This was also the day the TV series Prison Break premiered on Fox.

The NFL season was soon to begin, with the NBA and NHL seasons to follow. But baseball and its Playoff races were heating up, and 10 games were played in Major League Baseball: 

* The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-4 at Safeco Field in Seattle. (Now named T-Mobile Park.) The Bronx Bombers got 2 home runs from Jason Giambi, and 1 each by Alex Rodriguez and Matt Lawton. (A 2-time All-Star with Minnesota, with 138 career home runs, he was only a Yankee for 21 games.) Mike Mussina left the game after allowing 4 runs in 3 innings. Aaron Small got the win in relief.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 10-6 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Baltimore Orioles, 10-5 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The A's beat the O's with 5 runs in the top of the 12th inning, including home runs by Nick Swisher (future Yankee) and Mark Ellis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Florida Marlins, 6-1 at what was then named Dolphins Stadium in the suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida. (It's now Hard Rock Stadium.)

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 10-8 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 9-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, and the Royals' Shawn Camp walked 2 batters in the top of the 10th before allowing a 2-run double to Nick Punto.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-5 at Ameriquest Field in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. (It's now named Choctaw Stadium.)

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres, 7-5 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants, 2-1 at SBC Park in San Francisco. (It's now named Oracle Park.)

* And the New York Mets, the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds, the Houston Astros, the Los Angeles Angels, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Washington Nationals were not scheduled. 

August 18, 1988: George Bush Promises: "Read My Lips: No New Taxes"

August 18, 1988: The Republican Convention is held at the Superdome in New Orleans. President Ronald Reagan, limited to 2 terms by the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, could not run again. Vice President George H.W. Bush is nominated for President, and Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana, at 41 the 1st "Baby Boomer" to appear on a major party's national ticket, is nominated for Vice President.

The conservative movement, which had nominated and elected Ronald Reagan as President in 1980 and 1984, had never fully trusted Bush. Among their criticisms of him at the time: He wasn't tough enough -- the words "The Wimp Factor" were sometimes used -- and he wasn't as dedicated to conservative principles as the outgoing President.

So Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan wrote him the best speech of his career, including the promise that essentially won him the election. Comparing himself to the Democratic nominee, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts, who had raised taxes so much Republicans called the State "Taxachusetts," Bush said:

I'm the one who will not raise taxes. My opponent now says he'll raise them as a last resort, or a third resort. But when a politician talks like that, you know that's one resort he'll be checking into.

My opponent won't rule out raising taxes. But I will. And the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say, "No." And they'll push, and I'll say, "No." And they'll push again, and I'll say to them, "Read my lips: no new taxes."

It was definitive. And it was tough-sounding. And it made those Delegates cheer.

It was also monumentally stupid, because the federal budget had a pretty big deficit, thanks to "Reganomics." Richard Darman, an economic adviser to Bush who had been Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan, called the pledge "stupid and dangerous."

Certainly, the pledge was better-remembered than Bush's call for more civility: "I want a kinder and gentler nation." After all, that went out the window when he ran an incredibly dirty campaign against Dukakis.

It was also better remembered than another high-sounding phrase Bush used, which Noonan borrowed from a science-fiction story written by Arthur C. Clarke back in 1946: "A thousand points of light":

We're a nation of community, of thousands and tens of thousands of ethnic, religious, social, business, labor union, neighborhood, regional and other organizations, all of them varied, voluntary and unique.

This is America: The Knights of Columbus, the Grange, Hadassah, the Disabled American Veterans, the Order of Ahepa, the Business and Professional Women of America, the union hall, the Bible study group, LULAC {League of United Latin American Citizens}, Holy Name. A brilliant diversity spreads like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.

Bush won the election easily, and, among the Reagan holdovers he appointed, one was Darman, as Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Two years later, the Reagan economic policies continued, and the federal budget deficit got seemingly out of control. He realized he had to do the right thing: He compromised with the Democratic leaders of Congress, and raised taxes. The next day's headline in the arch-conservative New York Post:

You'll notice there's a subheadline: "DONALD DOES IT." I don't remember what this refers to. I do know that, many years later, Donald Trump mocked the "thousand points of light" line: At a rally in Montana on July 5, 2018, he said, "Thousand points of light, I never quite got that one. What the hell is that? Has anyone ever figured that one out? And it was put out by a Republican, wasn't it? I know one thing, 'Make America Great Again,' we understand. 'Putting America first,' we understand."

In the 1992 election, with 12 years of Reagan-Bush in the books and the nation in deep trouble, Bush ran a campaign for re-election, not on the economy, which was deep into recession, but on "character" and "trust." The nation decided Bill Clinton was worthier on those scores, in large part because Bush had failed on the economy and, in the process, broke his promise.

Eight years after that, the 41st President's son became the 43rd, running on a promise of, "This is not just, 'No new taxes,' This is, 'Tax cuts, so help me, God.'" Five years after that, Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, and the very building where the father had accepted the nomination, the Superdome, became the most obvious domestic failure of the son. Until the Crash of 2008, when the Bush Tax Cuts made it obvious that conservatism doesn't work.

*

August 18, 1988 was a Thursday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the California Angels, 7-1 at Yankee Stadium. Chuck Finley, who usually pitched well against the Yankees, outpitched 45-year-old Tommy John, who had also pitched for the Angels. Mark McLemore and Brian Downing hit home runs for the Halos, while the only Yankee run came on a solo home run by Dave Winfield. He went 2-for-4. Don Mattingly went 0-for-4. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4.

* The New York Mets lost to the San Francisco Giants, 4-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Mike Krukow held the Mets to 5 hits, 2 by Keith Hernandez, while Bob Ojeda only lasted 4 innings. Matt Williams hit a home run.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Mark Langston outpitched Mike Boddicker. Jay Buhner, newly acquired in a trade from the Yankees, hit a home run for the M's.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics, 10-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eddie Murray went 0-for-1 with 3 walks. Cal Ripken went 3-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Robin Yount went 2-for-4. Paul Molitor went 1-for-4.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 9-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 2-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Montreal Expos, 5-4 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. The Expos tied the game in the top of the 9th, on a home run by Andrés Galarraga. But in the bottom of the 9th, Carmelo Martínez singled Stan Jefferson home with the winning run. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Mike Schmidt did not play.

* And the Kansas City Royals, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Atlanta Braves and the Pittsburgh Pirates were not scheduled.

August 3, 1975: The Superdome Opens

August 3, 1975: The Louisiana Superdome opens in downtown New Orleans. Trumpeter Al Hirt and clarinetist Pete Fountain, both based in that city known as the birthplace of jazz, perform at the opening concert.

The "Big Mushroom" was designed to take the place of Tulane Stadium, on the campus of Tulane University, as the home of the school's football team, and of the NFL's New Orleans Saints, and of 2 of college football's most popular games, the Sugar Bowl and the historically black schools' Bayou Classic. On the very day of the Superdome's dedication, Tulane Stadium was condemned. It was demolished in 1979.

Between August 28 and September 14, 1975, the Superdome continued to celebrate its grand opening, with appearances by Bob Hope, Telly Savalas, Dorothy Lamour, Karen Valentine, and Raquel Welch. The Allman Brothers, The Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, The Charlie Daniels Band, The O'Jays, The Isley Brothers, The Temptations, Donald Byrd and the Blackbyrds, and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus also performed. On October 3, Johnny Cash led a concert that included his wife June Carter, Waylon Jennings and his wife Jessi Colter, and Merle Haggard.

The 1st football game in the Superdome was on August 6, an exhibition game in which the Saints lost to the Houston Oilers, 13-7. Their 1st regular-season game in the building was on September 28, a 21-0 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Tulane's dome debut was better, a 14-3 win over the University of Mississippi.

On November 29, the Bayou Classic was played there for the 1st time. The Grambling State University Tigers defeated the Southern University Jaguars, 33-20. And on December 31, New Year's Eve, the Sugar Bowl was first held there. Alabama beat Penn State, 13-6. 'Bama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant was not wearing his famous houndstooth hat. When asked why, he said, "My mama told me never to wear a hat indoors." He had never coached a game under a dome before.

With the closing (but not, as of this writing, the demolition) of the Astrodome in Houston, the Superdome is the oldest actively used domed stadium in the United States. It has hosted the Super Bowl more times than any other venue:

1. 1978, Super Bowl XII: Dallas Cowboys 27, Denver Broncos 10.

2. 1981, Super Bowl XV: Oakland Raiders 27, Philadelphia Eagles 10.

3. 1986, Super Bowl XX: Chicago Bears 46, New England Patriots 10.

4. 1990, Super Bowl XXIV: San Francisco 49ers 55, Denver Broncos 10.

5. 1997, Super Bowl XXXI: Green Bay Packers 35, New England Patriots 21.

6. 2002, Super Bowl XXXVI: New England Patriots 20, St. Louis Rams 17.

7. 2013, Super Bowl XLVII: Baltimore Ravens 34, San Francisco 49ers 31.

It is scheduled to host for an 8th time, Super Bowl LIX, to conclude the 2024 NFL season. (UPDATE: The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22.)

It has hosted 6 NCAA Final Fours:

1. 1982, North Carolina over Georgetown.

2. 1987, Indiana over Syracuse.

3. 1993, North Carolina over Michigan.

4. 2003, Syracuse over Kansas.

5. 2012, Kentucky over Kansas.

6. 2022, Kansas over North Carolina.

The NBA's New Orleans Jazz played there from 1975 until their 1979 move to Salt Lake City, as the Utah Jazz. Muhammad Ali regained the Heavyweight Championship of the World from Leon Spinks there in 1978, and Sugar Ray Leonard regained the Welterweight Championship from Roberto Duran there in 1980.

It also hosted some preseason baseball games: Minnesota vs. Houston in 1976; the New York Yankees vs. Baltimore in 1980; the Yankees vs. the New York Mets, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in 1981; the Yankees vs. Montreal and Texas in 1982; the Yankees vs. Montreal and Toronto in 1983; Philadelphia vs. St. Louis in 1984; San Francisco vs. Oakland in 1989; Los Angeles vs. Oakland in 1991; the Mets vs. Oakland in 1993; the Yankees vs. Boston in 1994; and the Chicago Cubs vs. Minnesota in 1999.

Baseball doesn't look right in the Superdome, does it?

The Class AAA New Orleans Pelicans played their home games there in 1977. New Orleans tried to get the Oakland Athletics to move there in 1979, and the Pittsburgh Pirates for 1982, but were unsuccessful.

It has also hosted a Mass by Pope John Paul II in 1987, and the 1988 Republican National Convention, which nominated George H.W. Bush for President.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina nearly ruined New Orleans, including causing serious damage to the Superdome. It was used as a shelter for those who had lost their homes, with disastrous results. The Saints split their home games that season between Tiger Stadium on the Louisiana State campus in Baton Rouge and the Alamodome in San Antonio; Tulane used 5 different smaller college stadiums in Louisiana; the Bayou Classic was moved to what's now named NRG Stadium in Houston; and the Sugar Bowl to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The Superdome reopened the following September 25.

Current seating capacity is 73,208. The post-Katrina renovation of 2005-06 was designed solely to make it usable again. Another renovation was undertaken in 2011, to do some modernization -- which also ended the building's baseball capability. There has been talk of a new domed stadium to replace it, but no plans are underway.

Naming rights were sold in 2011, making it the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The 2017 move of the Saints' arch-rivals, the Atlanta Falcons, to the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium confused matters, and Mercedes-Benz allowed their naming rights on the Superdome to lapse. In 2021, it became the Caesars Superdome, with the rights bought by the Caesars casino company.

The New Orleans Arena opened next-door in 1999. Since 2014, it has been named the Smoothie King Center. Since 2002, it has been home to the NBA team known as the New Orleans Hornets until 2013, and the New Orleans Pelicans ever since.

*

August 3, 1975 was a Sunday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees split a doubleheader with the Cleveland Indians at Shea Stadium, where they groundshared with the Mets while Yankee Stadium was being renovated. The Yankees won the opener, 12-1. George "Doc" Medich went the distance as the winning pitcher. Bobby Bonds, in perhaps his best game in his lone season as a Yankee, went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

The Indians won the nightcap, 3-2. Larry Gura went 7 strong innings, but Dick Tidrow blew the game in the 8th inning. Rico Carty, who always seemed to hit the Yankees well, went 4-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Frank Robinson, in his 1st season as Major League Baseball's 1st black manager, was not yet retired as a player, but did not put himself into either game.

* The New York Mets were swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 and 4-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The 1st game went 15 innings, when ex-Met Duffy Dyer hit a home run off Bob Apodaca, who pitched 4 innings in relief of Tom Seaver. Willie Stargell went 1-for-5 with 2 walks in the 1st game, and did not play in the 2nd game.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Montreal Expos, 5-4 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Tommy Hutton singled Mike Schmidt home with the winning run in the top of the 10th inning. Schmidt went 3-for-5 with a home run. Tug McGraw was the winning pitcher, in relief of Steve Carlton.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4 with a walk, but Denny Doyle, Rick Burleson and Cecil Cooper hit home runs.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Robin Yount went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-3.

* A doubleheader between arch-rivals was split at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Chicago Cubs won the 1st game, 6-3. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 2nd game, 7-4.

* The Minnesota Twins swept a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox, 7-4 and 12-9 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Over the 2 games, Rod Carew went 3-for-7 with 2 walks and 3 RBIs.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-0 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Paul Splittorff allowed only 1 hit, a single by Claudell Washington in the 1st inning. George Brett went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-3.

* The California Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 6-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Nolan Ryan started for the Angels, but pitched only 5 innings. The Angels' bullpen blew the lead, but they scored 2 runs in the top of the 9th to win it.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 5-1 at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium).

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Pete Rose went 0-for-4. Johnny Bench did not play.

* And a doubleheader was split at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The San Francisco Giants won the 1st game, 5-4. The Houston Astros won the 2nd game, 10-9.

April 5, 1993: The Timeout That Chris Webber Didn't Have

April 5, 1993: The most famous timeout in the history of sports is one that didn't even exist. But then, officially, neither did the team that called it.

In 1989, the University of Michigan won college basketball's National Championship, under new head coach Steve Fisher. Two years later, the school had its greatest recruiting class ever. From Detroit came forward Chris Webber and guard Jalen Rose. From Chicago came forward Juwan Howard. From the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas came guard Jimmy King. And from Austin, Texas came forward Ray Jackson. (I thought they had a couple of players from Flint, Michigan, known as "The Flintstones." I had that confused with the Michigan State National Champions of 2000.)

Webber, Rose, Howard, King and Jackson became known as the Fab Five, and the question that was being asked wasn't if they would win a National Championship, but how many.

Such questions had been asked of professional would-be superstars, but this was the first time that ESPN had allowed such a thing to be a nationwide discussion in college sports.

In their freshman year, 1991-92, the Michigan Wolverines went 25-9, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Final Four, at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. They reached the Final, and, with the 1st all-freshman starting five in the event's history, lost to Duke University, the defending National Champions, 71-51.

It was a bad way to end a really good season, but everything up to that point -- including beating arch-rival (in football, anyway) Ohio State in the Reginal Final, and a very good University of Cincinnati team in the National Semifinal -- had been very encouraging. Few people expected them to go all the way the 1st year, but getting that close raised the expectations even higher.

In 1992-93, they got back to the Final with a 31-4 record and the Number 3 pre-Tournament ranking, taking the floor at the Superdome in New Orleans against the University of North Carolina. Coached by Dean Smith, the Tar Heels came in at 33-4 and ranked Number 4, so this was going to be a battle. Furthermore, Smith had won his previous National Championship in 1982, on the same floor, against Georgetown University, when, with Carolina leading by one point as the clock ticked down, a Georgetown player made a key mistake to seal the Carolina victory.

And the game was tight the whole way. With 46 seconds left, Jackson hit a jumper to close the Wolverines to within 72-69. At this point, Michigan called its last timeout.

Carolina blew the inbounds pass, giving Michigan the ball. But Rose missed a would-be tying 3-pointer. Webber got the rebound, and made it 72-71 with 36 seconds left. Carolina's Pat Sullivan was fouled, and made his 1st of 2 free throws, to make it 73-71 Carolina.

He missed the 2nd, and Webber got the rebound. He traveled -- and the officials didn't see it. He got surrounded by sky blue jerseys, and, nervous, he called timeout -- a timeout the Wolverines didn't have. This gave the Heels 2 free throws and the subsequent possession.

Donald Williams made both free throws, to make it 75-71 Carolina. With 8 seconds left, Williams was fouled, and his shots made the final score North Carolina 77, Michigan 71.

For the 3rd time, North Carolina had won the NCAA Tournament. For the 2nd time, it was under Smith's leadership. (The 1st time was in 1957, under Frank McGuire.) For the 2nd time, it was because of a mistake that wasn't as big as people made it out to be, since, in each case, Carolina were already ahead at the time. And both games were at the Superdome. And the locations of the mistakes in question were within a few feet of each other.

In spite of this, Webber took the brunt of the criticism. It wasn't fair. In hindsight, Coach Fisher probably should have reminded his players in their last timeout that it was their last timeout, and that none were left. But he didn't, and Webber operated on instinct.

Still, the Fab Five had 2 more years of eligibility left. Except they didn't use it. Here's what happened to the Five after the '93 Final:

* Webber declared for the NBA Draft, and the Orlando Magic selected him as the 1st pick. Imagine a team with, all at the same time, a young Shaquille O'Neal, a young Scott Skiles, a young Dennis Scott, and a young Chris Webber. You'll have to imagine it: The Magic immediately traded Webber to the Golden State Warriors for Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, but, partly due to Hardaway's injuries and Shaq's skedaddling to Los Angeles after only 4 seasons, only got 1 NBA Finals berth out of it.

And the Warriors only had Webber for 1 year. Despite his winning Rookie of the Year, they traded him to the Washington Bullets, who traded him to the Sacramento Kings. Twice, he got the Kings to the Western Conference Finals; twice, the Kings were robbed by the referees in favor of Shaq and the Lakers. Webber made 5 All-Star Games, and has been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

* Rose played 1 more year for Michigan, and bounced around the league for 13 seasons, making the 2000 NBA Finals with the Indiana Pacers, losing to Shaq and the Lakers. It could have been Rose's Pacers (actually, Reggie Miller's Pacers with Rose) against Webber's Kings, but it was not to be. Rose is now a basketball analyst for ESPN.

* Howard also played 1 more year for Michigan, and, for a time, was a teammate of Webber on the Bullets. Both were still with them when they changed their name to the Washington Wizards in 1997. Howard played 19 seasons, including 1 All-Star season, and closed his career in 2012 and 2013, winning NBA Championships with the Miami Heat of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. 

* King played all 4 years for Michigan, and in 1995 became an original member of the Toronto Raptors. He also played in 1997 with the Denver Nuggets, and played several seasons in the minor leagues, including 2 seasons in Venezuela. He became a high school coach in the Detroit area.

* Jackson played all 4 years for Michigan, and is the only one of the Fab Five who never played in the NBA. He played in the minor leagues, and in the pro leagues of France, Argentina and Venezuela (though not as a teammate of King). He now runs a moving company in his native Austin.

There were 2 weird postscripts to the Fab Five. In 2002, Webber was charged with lying to a grand jury, as part of a larger investigation into Ed Martin, a Michigan booster. As it turned out, Martin had been giving money to Webber since the 8th grade. Not only did Michigan have to forfeit its Final Four appearances -- meaning that, officially, his college basketball career, the Fab Five, the Final Four trips, and the timeout gaffe itself, never existed -- but even his high school, Detroit Country Day School, had to forfeit the 3 State Championships he led them to.

This one may be even weirder. In 1999, the new NBC drama The West Wing showed a pickup basketball game near the White House. On one side was President Jed Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen) and 4 Secret Service Agents. Talk about a good defense. On the other side were some of the President's staff, led by White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), wearing a City College of New York (CCNY) sweatshirt.

The President's team is losing, so he makes a substitution. It's a ringer, a man newly hired by the President's Council on Physical Fitness. Toby thinks he looks familiar, and the new player admits he played basketball for Duke. Toby yells out, "Duke? This guy was in the Final Four!" Ironically, he was played by Juwan Howard, who had played against Duke in the Final Four, for Michigan, and lost in the 1992 Final.

In 2019, Howard was named head coach of Michigan. He guided them to a Big Ten Conference regular-season Championship and the NCAA Elite Eight in 2021, and the Sweet Sixteen in 2022.

*

April 5, 1993 was a Monday. The NBA chose not to schedule any games for the day, so as not to conflict with the NCAA Final. The NHL scheduled 1: The New York Rangers lost to the Hartford Whalers, 5-4 at Madison Square Garden. The Broadway Blueshirts blew 2-1 and 4-2 leads, and former New Jersey Devil star Pat Verbeek scored the winning goal with 2:17 to go.

Football was out of season. For baseball, it was Opening Day, and 9 games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. It would be the last Opening Day at that stadium, where the Indians had played part-time since 1932 and full-time since 1947. A pregame tribute was held for pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews, who were killed in a boating accident during Spring Training.

Wade Boggs, Paul O'Neill, Spike Owen and Jimmy Key made their Yankee debuts. Key started and went 8 innings for the win. Boggs had a 2-run single. O'Neill went 2-for-5. Owen went 3-for-5. Danny Tartabull, Matt Nokes and Pat Kelly hit home runs.

* The New York Mets beat the Colorado Rockies, 3-0 at Shea Stadium. After decades as one of the leaders in attendance among minor-league baseball teams, Denver finally got its own MLB team in the expansion of 1991, and this was their 1st game.

Their 1st starting pitcher was David Nied. Their 1st batter was 2nd baseman Eric Young, who grew up as a Met fan in nearby New Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey, and had played baseball and football at Rutgers University. Four days later, he hit a home run to help win the 1st Rockies home game. His son Eric Young Jr. would play for both the Mets and the Yankees.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-4 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. President Bill Clinton threw out the ceremonial first ball.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-3 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. (It's now named Hard Rock Stadium.) Miami also got a team in the '91 expansion, debuting on this day. Yankee icon Joe DiMaggio, who lived in the Miami area, threw out the ceremonial first ball. Charlie Hough, a 45-year-old knuckleballer from nearby Hialeah, Florida, who had 202 career wins at that point, 47 of them for the Dodgers, started for the Marlins, and went 6 innings to beat his former team. The Marlins' 1st batter was center fielder Scott Pose, and Tim Wallach of the Dodgers hit the 1st major league home run in Miami. I have a separate entry for this event.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos, 2-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Greg Maddux, a Cub the season before, took a shutout into the 9th inning against his former team.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-1 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. Later in the season, the ballpark's name was changed to Kauffman Stadium.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Houston Astros, 3-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. 

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-4 at the Oakland Coliseum.