October 17, 1987: What might be the nastiest match in the history of what might be the world's nastiest sports rivalry takes place. It became known as "The Shame Game."
Rangers Football Club was founded in 1872, as a soccer team for the Protestant citizens of Glasgow, Scotland. Their arch-rivals are Celtic Football Club, a team founded in 1888, by and for Irish Catholics living in Glasgow. The former's Ibrox Stadium, on the west side of Glasgow, and the latter's Celtic Park, on the east side, are separated by just 5 miles -- but, Cliché Alert: They might as well be on opposite sides of the world.
These 2 teams -- Rangers, in blue shirts, like their counterparts in New York hockey and Texas baseball; and Celtic, in green and white stripes, giving them the nickname "The Hoops" -- have dominated Scottish soccer, and, together, are known as "The Old Firm."
But perhaps no 2 teams in all of sport hate each other as much, because religion is thrown into the mix. It has made both teams much bigger than they ordinarily would have been. Celtic, not the University of Notre Dame, are the most famous Catholic-themed sports team in the world. They, not Notre Dame and not the Boston Celtics, are the most famous Irish-themed sports team in the world. They can call upon that heritage in ways that Rangers have tried to do with the world's Protestants, but just can't.
This game, at Ibrox, followed a 1-0 Celtic win at Celtic Park on August 29, and was truly nasty. An altercation after 17 minutes between Celtic's Frank McAvennie and Rangers goalkeeper Chris Woods resulted in both being shown red cards, thus getting sent off. Rangers defenders Terry Butcher and Graham Roberts were also involved, with Butcher receiving a yellow card for dissent. This was a time when teams were limited to naming 2 possible substitutes, and didn't use one of them on a goalkeeper, resulting in position players having to occasionally take the goalie's place, as Roberts did in this case.
Andy Walker scored in the 33rd minute, and an own goal by Butcher 2 minutes later made it 2-0 Celtic. Things got worse for Rangers early in the 2nd half, when Butcher received a 2nd yellow card, resulting in a sendoff, and Rangers were down to 9 men. But in the 65th minute, Ally McCoist, perhaps Rangers' greatest player ever, scored to pull them to within 2-1. And in the 90th minute, Richard Gough tied it up.
After the final whistle, Roberts walked over to the fans, and waved his fans, who took this to mean he was "conducting" their singing; songs which included anti-Catholic chants, infuriating the Celtic fans.
Three days later, the Procurator Fiscal ordered a Police enquiry into the events of the match. The Rangers trio of Woods, Butcher and Roberts, and Celtic's McAvennie, were later charged with breach of the peace, and appeared at Court. After a trial lasting several days, Butcher and Woods were convicted and fined, Roberts was found "not proven" (a verdict that exists in courts in Scotland, but not in "England and Wales" or in the United States), and McAvennie was found not guilty.
The teams usually play on or close to New Year's Day, and on January 2, 1988, Celtic won 2-0 at Celtic Park. On March 20, they played at Ibrox again, and Celtic won, 2-1. Celtic won the title with 72 points, 10 ahead of Edinburgh-based Heart of Midlothian (a.k.a. "Hearts"), and 12 ahead of Rangers. Celtic also won the Scottish Cup, beating Dundee United in the Final. Rangers fans had to be content with the Scottish League Cup, including a Final win over Aberdeen.
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October 17, 1987 was a Saturday. Game 1 of the World Series was played, the 1st Series game ever played indoors. Dan Gladden and Steve Lombardozzi backed Frank Viola with home runs, and the Minnesota Twins beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
By a weird turn of events, the song "U Got The Look" peaked at Number 2 n Billboard magazine's Hot 100 singles chart on this date. The song was written and performed by Prince, a Minneapolis native, and contains the line, "Boy versus girl in the World Series of love."
Among the college football games played on the day were these:
* Number 1 Oklahoma beat Kansas State, 59-10 at KSU Stadium (now Bill Snyder Family Stadium) in Manhattan, Kansas. Oklahoma had an undefeated regular season, and won the Big 8 Conference title.
* Number 2 Nebraska beat Number 12 Oklahoma State, 35-0 at Lewis Field (now Boone Pickens Stadium) in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Nebraska were undefeated and ranked Number 1, until November 21, when they lost to Number 2 Oklahoma, costing them the Big 8 title and a shot at the National Championship. They were invited to the Fiesta Bowl, anyway.
* Number 3 University of Miami had the week off. They were then an independent, and thus ineligible for any Conference Championship. The season before, they had gone into the Fiesta Bowl at Number 1, but lost the National Championship to Number 2 Penn State. This time, they again went undefeated in the regular season, were ranked Number 2, played in the Orange Bowl, at their home venue, the Orange Bowl stadium, and beat Number 1 Oklahoma to win the National Championship.
* Number 4 Florida State beat the University of Louisville, 32-9 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida. Florida State were then an independent, and thus ineligible for any Conference Championship. Two weeks earlier, they had lost to the University of Miami, costing them a shot at the National Championship. They were invited to the Fiesta Bowl, where they beat Nebraska.
* Number 5 Auburn beat Georgia Tech, 20-10 at Grant Field in Atlanta. Auburn had been tied by Tennessee 3 weeks earlier, and would lose a non-conference game to Florida State 3 weeks later. But they still went undefeated in Southeastern Conference play, and thus won the league title.
* Number 6 Louisiana State University beat Kentucky, 34-9 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A loss to Alabama 3 weeks later cost them the SEC title and a shot at the National Championship.
* Number 7 Clemson beat Duke, 17-10 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina. Clemson won the Atlantic Coast Conference title.
* Rivalry: Number 8 Tennessee were upset by Alabama, 41-22 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. This loss in their annual 3rd Saturday in October contest with 'Bama cost Tennessee a shot at the SEC title, and they ended up going to the Peach Bowl, where they beat Indiana.
* Number 9 UCLA beat Number 16 Oregon, 41-10 at the Rose Bowl in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California.
* Number 10 Penn State were upset by Number 13 Syracuse, 48-21 at the Carrier Dome (now the JMA Wireless Dome) in Syracuse, New York. Syracuse were an independent, so there was no Conference Championship for them to win. But they were undefeated in the regular season, and were invited to the Sugar Bowl, where they played Auburn to a tie. Nevertheless, they went into that game at Number 4, and would not have had a chance at the National Championship. Penn State were invited to the Florida Citrus Bowl, and lost to Clemson.
* Rivalry: Number 15 Arkansas were upset by Texas, 16-14 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas.
* Number 19 Michigan State beat Northwestern, 38-0 at Ryan Field in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. (Due to force of habit, I originally typed that as "the Chicago cuburb.")
* The University of Southern California beat the University of Washington, 37-23 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. Neither team was ranked at the time. USC won the Pacific-10 Conference title. Michigan State pulled off a rare feat in college football, even rarer in those pre-Playoff, pre-BCS days: They beat a team twice in one season, opening the year by beating USC, and ending it by beating them again in the Rose Bowl.
* Rivalry: North Carolina beat North Carolina State, 17-14 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina.
* Texas A&M, then unranked, beat Baylor, 34-10 at Baylor Stadium (later Floyd Casey Stadium) in Waco, Texas. A&M went on to win the Southwest Conference, and beat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl.
* Among the service academies, Army lost to Colgate, 22-20 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; Navy beat the University of Pennsylvania, 38-28 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia; and Air Force lost to Number 11 Notre Dame, 35-14 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
* And Rutgers beat Boston College, 38-24 at the old Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.
The NBA season hadn't started yet. There were 9 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Hartford Whalers, 4-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena). Sylvain Turgeon, who would play the 1989-90 season with the Devils, scored the winning goal for the Whalers, with 1:01 left in overtime.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Quebec Nordiques, 6-3 at the Colisée de Québec.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 at the Montreal Forum.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the St. Louis Arena.
* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. This turned out to be a preview of the Stanley Cup Finals, where the Oilers swept the Bruins.
