November 28, 1974: The Clint Longley Game

November 28, 1974: For the last time, a football game is played at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Detroit Lions lose, 31-27 to the Denver Broncos. The Lions' 2 remaining regular-season games will be on the road. They split them, to finish 7-7, but, even if they'd won both, they still wouldn't have qualified for the Playoffs, much less gotten a home Playoff game.

The next season, the Lions began playing out in the suburbs, at the Silverdome in Pontiac. They move back into the city in 2002, at the new Ford Field.

But this milestone game is quickly forgotten by everyone outside Michigan. What happened that day at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas is still talked about.

The rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders -- known from 1937 to 2019 as the Washington Redskins, and in the 2020 and '21 seasons as "The Washington Football Team" began in 1960, with the Cowboys' debut. The reason was personal. It wasn't based on proximity, that's for sure: The distance between the teams' respective stadiums is currently 1,367 miles. No, essentially, it is personal. And it's mostly Washington's fault.

But when Clint Murchison, leading the group that owned the Cowboys franchise, wanted entry into the NFL, a unanimous vote of the owners was required to admit them. The Redskins' owner, George Preston Marshall, refused. He also owned the team's radio network. (The NFL was already negotiating TV rights separately.) As the Southernmost team in the League at the time, he was marketing the 'Skins as the South's team. The Redskins were also the last NFL team that hadn't yet racially integrated. These facts are connected. Marshall didn't want to give up his Southern status.

So Murchison pulled a dirty trick: He bought the rights to the fight song, "Hail to the Redskins." He told Marshall that if he wanted the right to ever play the song at his games again, he would have to vote to admit the Cowboys. Certainly, as an oilman, Murchison could not be bought with mere money. (Marshall was rich, but not that rich.) Not wanting to lose the NFL's best-known fight song (even more than "Bear Down, Chicago Bears,"), Marshall caved.

In 1971, George Allen was named head coach of the Redskins. He knew that, in the newly-merged-and-realigned NFL, the Cowboys were well-positioned to dominate the NFC East -- in which, at least geographically, they didn't even belong. And, as a former coach of the Los Angeles Rams, he was already sick of the Cowboys for their success since 1966. So he made it his mission to beat the Cowboys, more than to win a title.

He made his players hate the Cowboys as much as he did. As Cowboy defensive end Harvey Martin said in an interview about the rivalry -- with some irony, given that the Cowboys played in the city where John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and that the Redskins' stadium was now named for JFK's assassinated brother, Robert F. Kennedy, "When you go to play the Redskins, you better have your guns on." The apotheosis of this was the Redskins' win over the Cowboys on New Year's Eve 1972, in the NFC Championship Game.

The biggest individual rivalry within the matchup was Allen vs. Cowboys head coach Tom Landry. Landry was always described as stoic, never using his face to betray his emotions. Allen was one of the most emotional head coaches in NFL history. In contrast, Landry and Joe Gibbs, who went on to coach the Redskins to 3 Super Bowl wins, 2 of them before Landry was finally forced out of the Cowboys' job, had a healthy respect for each other.

In the 1974 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals drafted Howard Clinton "Clint" Longley, a quarterback from Abilene Christian University in Texas (now an NCAA FCS school). Seeking a backup to his All-Pro quarterback, Roger Staubach, Landry had the Cowboys trade for Longley.

The Cowboys went into their game on Thanksgiving Day 1974 at 6-5, while the Redskins went in at 8-3. Two Sundays earlier, the Redskins had beaten the Cowboys, 28-21 at RFK Stadium. In the Turkey Day rematch, the Redskins led 16-3 in the 3rd quarter, and Staubach, who already looked like he was headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (and he was), left the game with an injury. Longley had to step in. Redskin fans were feeling very confident.

Before that quarter could end, Longley threw a touchdown pass to Billy Joe DuPree, and led another drive that ended with a touchdown run by Walt Garrison, giving them a 17-16 lead.

The Redskins retook the lead in the 4th quarter, on a run by, oddly enough, Duane Thomas, who had been a Super Bowl hero for the Cowboys 3 seasons earlier, but had worn out his welcome. But with 28 seconds left, no timeouts remaining, and the ball on the Cowboys' 44-yard line, Longley made up a play in the huddle, something Landry would not allow Staubach to do. (Years later, in his media career, Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who beat the Cowboys in 2 Super Bowls, proudly said that his head coach, Chuck Noll, allowed him to call his own plays, but Landry wouldn't let Staubach do that.)

Drew Pearson took off, and got through the Redskins' talented defensive backfield including Hall-of-Famer Ken Houston and All-Pros Brig Owens, Mike Bass and Pat Fischer. Longley threw long, and Pearson caught it, for a 56-yard touchdown. Efren Herrera kicked the extra point to win it: Cowboys 24, Redskins 23.

Having just made his professional debut, and having played just a quarter and a half, Longley threw for 203 yards -- 147 yards even without the last bomb. Like former Oakland Raiders All-Pro quarterback Daryle Lamonica, he became known as "The Mad Bomber." That nickname would also later be given to San Diego Chargers Hall-of-Famer Dan Fouts.

The Cowboys missed the Playoffs anyway, the only time they did so between 1966 and 1983. Longley started only 2 games in his career, the 1975 regular-season finale, to give Staubach a rest before the Playoffs; and a game in 1976. That start would not be for the Cowboys: In their 1976 training camp, after nearly 2 years of telling Cowboy management, and Staubach, that he, rather than Staubach, should be the starter, Longley sucker-punched Staubach. Longley was traded, that very day, to the Chargers, for draft picks, one of whom turned out to be Heisman Trophy-winning and eventual Hall-of-Fame running back Tony Dorsett. 

Longley played 8 games with the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts in 1977, and was released. He was signed by the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals for 1978, but was cut in preseason camp. He played that season for the semi-pro Shreveport Steamer (no S on the end). He was not signed by anyone for the 1979 season. In 1980, he went back to Canada, signed by the Hamilton-Tiger Cats. They released him after 12 days.

Longley sat for an NFL Films interview with Steve Sabol about the Cowboys-Redskins rivalry in 1991, and talked about his sucker-punch of Staubach. Years after that, interviewed for an NFL Network special on "One-Shot Wonders," Sabol said that the last he'd heard of Longley, he was "selling carpet remnants out of the back of a van in Marfa, Texas," in the State's Big Bend region. As of November 28, 2022, all I can tell you about Longley's current situation is that he is listed as still being alive, at the age of 70.

*

November 28, 1974 was, like all Thanksgiving Days, a Thursday. This was also the day of the Elton John concert at Madison Square Garden where John Lennon made his last concert appearance, and I have a separate entry for this event.

The Cowboys' Drew Pearson had played at South River High School in New Jersey. Ironically, as a sophomore there, his quarterback was future Redskin Joe Theismann. South River played New Brunswick at Rutgers on Thanksgiving every year from 1919 to 1976, first at Neilson Field, and then at Rutgers Stadium. The schools no longer play each other, due to New Brunswick now having a much higher enrollment. My Alma Mater, East Brunswick, next-door to South River (and to New Brunswick), did not play on Thanksgiving in 1974.

Also, 1974 was the 1st year that the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association played State Playoffs, and this would end up breaking up several longstanding rivalries.

Baseball was in the off-season. In recent times, the NBA and the NHL avoid scheduling games on Thanksgiving, to avoid trying to compete with football for television viewers.

But there were 2 games in the NBA that day. The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 110-103 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio. And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Phoenix Suns, 88-85 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. And there was 1 game in the American Basketball Association: The Kentucky Colonels beat the Virginia Squires, 108-95 at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.

There was 1 game in the NHL: The Buffalo Sabres beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. There were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Vancouver Blazers beat the Toronto Toros, 6-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Indianapolis Racers, 7-5 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Houston Aeros beat the Edmonton Oilers, 2-0 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

* And the Chicago Cougars beat the San Diego Mariners, 3-2 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

November 25, 1993: The Leon Lett Game

November 25, 1993: Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas is hosting its annual Thanksgiving Day game. The Dallas Cowboys are hosting the Miami Dolphins. These are 2 teams used to warm weather all year long.

Not today: It's snowing, and the weird roof at the stadium means that the fans are covered and protected, but the field is not, and it's a mess. The temperature at kickoff was 26 degrees Fahrenheit. With the wind-chill factor, it was zero. This remains the worst set of home-game weather conditions in the 1st 63 seasons of Cowboys history.

The Cowboys, coached by Jimmy Johnson, are the defending NFL Champions, having won Super Bowl XXVII thanks to a well-balanced team, featuring an offensive attack with "The Triplets," 3 future Hall-of-Famers: Quarterback Troy Aikman, running back and eventual NFL all-time rushing yards leader Emmitt Smith, and receiver Michael Irvin. They are 7-3, and, despite having lost to the Atlanta Falcons the previous week, are favorites to repeat.

The Dolphins were in their 24th season coached by Don Shula. Two weeks earlier, against the Philadelphia Eagles, Shula won his 325th game as a head coach, surpassing George Halas as the NFL's all-time leader. With Steve DeBerg filling in at quarterback for an injured Dan Marino, the Dolphins were 8-2, and among the favorites in the AFC. This game, broadcast nationally on NBC, was being talked about as a possible Super Bowl preview.

In spite of the slick field, Keith Byars ran 77 yards for a Dolphin touchdown, for the only score of the 1st quarter. The Cowboys struck back with 2 touchdowns by Kevin Williams, one on a 4-yard pass from Aikman, the other on a 64-yard punt return. It was 14-7 Cowboys at the half.

In the 3rd quarter, Pete Stoyanovich, a son of North Macedonian immigrants, and a native of the Detroit area, so he was used to watching the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving, kicked a 20-yard field goal. In the 4th quarter, he kicked a 31-yarder, to pull the Dolphins within 14-13. The Dolphins launched a late drive, and, with 15 seconds left, set up a 41-yard field goal that, barring a miracle kickoff return by the Cowboys, would have won it. But, given the weather conditions, the field goal wouldn't be easy.

Among the players that Johnson sent out to defend the kick was defensive tackle Leon Lett, a 25-year-old native of Fairhope, Alabama, outside Mobile. The previous January, Lett had been one of the players who helped the Cowboys win the Super Bowl, beating the Buffalo Bills, 52-17. Late in the game, Lett picked up a fumble, and had nothing but green real estate between him and the end zone. It could have been 59-17, which would have topped the 55 that the San Francisco 49ers had scored 3 years earlier, and become the most points by a single team in Super Bowl history.

But Lett decided to count his chickens before they hatched: He waved the ball in the air well before reaching the goal line. He had no idea that Bills receiver Don Beebe was running like hell behind him, and managed to knock the ball out of his hand at the 1-yard line. The Cowboys entire team came out of that game looking like one of the greatest teams of all time, except for Lett, who came out of it looking like a fool.

But Lett was otherwise a good player, who went on to make 2 Pro Bowls. Despite missing the 1st 5 games of the '93 season due to injury, he had played all 4 defensive line positions, and was leading all NFL defensive linemen with 4 deflected passes. He seemed like a good choice to defend against a potential game-winning field goal.

As it happened, another lineman, Jimmie Jones, blocked Stoyanovich's kick. The ball spun harmlessly to the snow-covered artificial turf. Everyone from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who had come down to the sideline to stand with the team, to the crowd of 60,198 (about 5,000 short of a sellout, understandable due to the weather), was celebrating what looked like a Cowboys win.

Everyone, it seemed, except Lett. Had he done nothing, the play would have been whistled dead as soon as the ball stopped, and the Cowboys would have had the ball at the previous play's line of scrimmage, the Cowboys' 24. Instead, the ball came to a stop at the Cowboys' 10, spinning upright on one of its points. And a Cowboy player slid in, trying to recover what he thought was a fumble, and instead slipped, and kicked the ball forward, toward the Cowboys' end zone.

The Dolphins quickly realized what had happened, and went after the still-loose ball. Offensive tackle Ron Heller recovered it. At first, Cowboys radio announcers Brad Sham and Dale Hansen couldn't tell who the blundering player was. Then, they saw the replay. Sham: "Oh, no! Leon Lett! Leon Lett!" Hansen, really, really wanting it to be anybody else: "Not Leon Lett!"

The NBC cameras caught Jones pumping his fists in the air, and then realizing that the game hadn't been won after all. He looked like a kid on Thanksgiving who'd been promised the turkey's drumstick, and then it had just been snatched by his big brother.

Because it was off a blocked kick, the rule said that the ball had to be given back to the offensive team at the defensive team's 1-yard line. The Dolphins set up again, and, this time, Stoyanovich nailed the kick. Final score: Miami 16, Dallas 14.

Lett immediately went down in history. Comparisons were made to Bill Buckner of the Boston Red Sox in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Sure, Buckner's error was in a much more important game. But the thing everyone says about Buckner is that he shouldn't be judged by one awful moment in an otherwise sterling career. Now, Lett had two such moments.

In 2013, on the game's 20th Anniversary, Lett was interviewed, and said, "I have been trying to think back for, what, 20 years now, and I don't know what happened. It was a brain freeze."

With a result like that, a fan might have been forgiven for thinking it at the time that it would have ruined the Cowboys season, and sent the Dolphins on a great run. Just the opposite happened. The Dolphins lost their last 5 games, including in overtime to a terrible New England Patriots team in the regular-season finale. As of the conclusion of the 2021 season, the '93 Dolphins remain the last NFL team to start a season 9-2 and not make the Playoffs.

In contrast, the Cowboys never lost another game, winning the NFC Eastern Division, facing the Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII, and beating them again, 30-13. The following year, they lost the NFC Championship Game to the San Francisco 49ers. The year after that, they won Super Bowl XXX, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers. The count for Leon Lett: Super Bowl rings 3, big-game gaffes 2.

A graduate of Emporia State University, an NCAA Division II school in Kansas, Lett played until the 2001 season, and went into coaching, spending time on the staffs at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) and the University of Louisiana at Monroe (formerly known as Northeast Louisiana University).

Since 2011, Lett has been the assistant defensive line coach for the Cowboys, first under Jason Garrett, a backup quarterback to Aikman in the game in question, now under Mike McCarthy.

It seems silly to say that Lett had to redeem himself for one play in a Super Bowl won by his team, and another play in a season in which his team won the Super Bowl again. Clearly, he had something to do with all 3 of those Super Bowl wins.

The play will be shown on television, and looked up on YouTube, every Thanksgiving, and every time someone puts together a list of NFL mistakes, for as long as TV and YouTube exist. But Leon Lett deserves to be remembered for more than a moment which made him a "turkey."

*

November 25, 1993 was, like all Thanksgiving Days, a Thursday. In the other NFL game that day, on CBS, the Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions, 10-6 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

There were 3 college football games played that day. The University of Louisville beat the University of Tulsa, 28-0 at Skelly Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That was not, and still is not, a major rivalry. Texas vs. Texas A&M was, and will be again when Texas joins the Southeastern Conference, as A&M did a few years ago. At this point, they were both still in the Southwest Conference, and A&M beat Texas, 18-9 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.

The other game was Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, at Grant Field at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta. The original structure was built in 1913, making it the oldest stadium in NCAA Division I-A (now FBS, the Football Bowl Subdivision), but so much has been built around it that it looks like a modern stadium.

This game was televised nationally on ABC, and the lead announcer was Keith Jackson, the greatest of all college football announcers. In his opening, Jackson said, "This is the day when the waistline takes a whuppin', and ancient rivalries are replayed." He was from Georgia, so he knew both programs well; but he graduated from Washington State, so he could be completely objective with this rivalry, known as "Clean Old-Fashioned Hate."

Georgia led only 16-10 at the start of the 4th quarter, but ran up the score. Late in the game, the Bulldogs scored to make it 43-10, and coach Ray Goff, who had quarterbacked them to the 1976 SEC title, decided to go for a two-point conversion. Echoes of former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes, who, on an occasion when he needlessly went for two in a blowout, was asked why, and said, "Because I couldn't go for three." The Yellow Jackets didn't like this decision, and a fight broke out on the field. The conversion was unsuccessful, and 43-10 was the final. This was one of many times, in many rivalries, that Jackson said, "These two teams just... don't... like each other!"

In recent years, the NBA and the NHL have chosen not to schedule games on Thanksgiving Day, to avoid competing for TV viewers with the NFL and the NCAA. On this day, however, 1 NHL game was played.

Fittingly, it was in Canada, which celebrates its Thanksgiving on the 2nd Monday in October: The Quebec Nordiques beat the Los Angeles Kings, 8-6 at the Colisée de Québec. That's only slightly less than the 10-6 by which the Bears beat the Lions. For the Nords, Joe Sakic and Valeri Kamensky each had 2 goals and an assist. For the Kings, Luc Robitaille had 4 goals, and Wayne Gretzky had a goal and 3 assists.

October 30, 1972: The Chicago Commuter Rail Crash

October 30, 1972: A collision between two commuter trains in Chicago occurs during the cloudy morning rush hour. It remains the worst such crash in the city's history.

Illinois Central Gulf train 416 overshot the 27th Street station on what is now the Metra Electric Line, and the engineer asked and received permission from the train's conductor to back the train to the platform. This move was then made without the flag protection required by the railroad's rules. However, his train had cleared automatic block signals which cleared express train 720 to continue at full speed on the same track. The engineer of the express train did not see the other train backing up until it was too late.

When the trains collided, the front car of the express train telescoped the rear car of the bilevel train, killing 45 people and injuring 332.

*

October 30, 1972 was a Monday. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Detroit Lions, 28-24 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

Baseball season was over. There were no NBA, NHL or WHA games on the night, but there was 1 game in the American Basketball Association: The Utah Stars beat the Kentucky Colonels, 117-106 at the Salt Palac in Salt Lake City.

October 24, 1971: The Opening of Texas Stadium

October 24, 1971: After playing their 1st home game of the season at their original home, the Cotton Bowl, the Dallas Cowboys open Texas Stadium in the suburb of Irving, Texas. They beat the New England Patriots 44-21.

They will go on to win Super Bowl VI at the end of the season. It will remain their home through the 2008 season, including 7 Super Bowl berths, winning 5 of them.

In the 1970s and '80s, they seemed to be on CBS so often, people begin to wonder if the Network's initials stood for Cowboys Broadcasting System. Like the Steelers, the Miami Dolphins, and the Oakland Raiders, the Cowboys gained a national following, because some of America's biggest TV markets didn't have much success.

Texas Stadium had a roof that covered the seating areas, but not the field. In other words, there was a hole in the roof. Cowboy fans joked it was there "so that God could look down on his favorite team." If God cared who won a sporting event, the Cowboys would never have gotten into a Super Bowl. I called the stadium "the Hole Bowl."

But Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wanted more money than the revenue of Texas Stadium could provide, and so he built AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington. The last game at Texas Stadium was a 33-24 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on December 20, 2008. It was demolished on April 11, 2010.

*

October 24, 1971 was a Sunday. Don McLean released his single "American Pie" the same day. I have a separate entry for that event.

This was also the day on which Chuck Hughes became the only NFL player to die on the field during a game. I have a separate entry for that event. In that game, the Chicago Bears beat Hughes' Detroit Lions, 28-23 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. In the other NFL games:

* The New York Giants lost to their arch-rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, 23-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The New York Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins, 30-14 at Shea Stadium.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the New Orleans Saints, 28-6 at Atlanta Stadium (later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Houston Oilers, 23-16 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Cleveland Browns, 27-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 26-14 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the other Native American-themed team in the NFL, the Washington Redskins, 27-20 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Green Bay Packers, 30-13 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-27 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* The day before, the San Diego Chargers beat the Buffalo Bills, 20-3 at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium).

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Minnesota Vikings beat the Baltimore Colts, 10-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

The baseball season ended a week earlier, when the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Baltimore Orioles in Game 7 of the World Series.

There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 111-93 at the Cleveland Arena.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets, 113-103 at the Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston. Elvin Hayes had 35 points and 19 rebounds for the Rockets, but, for the Lakers, Gail Goodrich scored 31, Flynn Robinson had 23, and Wilt Chamberlain had 17. Jerry West did not play.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Phoenix Suns, 105-104 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Cincinnati Royals, 119-101 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 3 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Memphis Pros, 111-103 at the Mid-South Coliseum. Rick Barry scored 44 for the Nets, but it wasn't enough.

* The Utah Stars beat the Pittsburgh Condors, 119-116 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* And the Kentucky Colonels beat the Miami Floridians, 116-110 at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Dan Issel scored 44 for the Colonels.

And there were 6 games in the NHL: 

* The New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins played to a tie, 1-1 at the new Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The California Golden Seals beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-3 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings, 6-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

* And the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs were not scheduled.

October 16, 1994: The Dumbest Football Coach Who Ever Lived

October 16, 1994: The Dallas Cowboys lead the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-7, at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas. The Eagles score a touchdown in the 4th quarter to make it 24-13, and head coach Rich Kotite tells his team to attempt a 2-point conversion. It fails, and the 24-13 score holds until the end of the game.

Why go for 2 there? At that point, there was little difference between trailing by 10 and by 9: You still needed a touchdown and a field goal to make the difference. But failing at the 2-pointer meant trailing by 11, so you needed 2 touchdowns. Obviously, the right thing to do was to kick the extra point, and make it 24-14.

After the game, Kotite told the media, "The rain made the ink run and blurred the chart, so I couldn't see what was written on it to know what to do."

He shouldn't have needed a chart to tell him what to do! But it was worse than that: He knew it was going to rain, and didn't have a plastic sheet to protect his ink and paper. I guess Yankee Fans are lucky that the dugout protected Joe Girardi's infamous binder from the rain.

Richard Edward Kotite was born on October 13, 1942 is born in Brooklyn, and grew up on Staten Island. A tight end, he played for Wagner College on Staten Island, and was a decent player for the Giants from 1967 to 1972. Among his coaching jobs were with the New York Jets, as receivers coach in 1983 and '84, and as offensive coordinator from 1985 to 1989. He got the same job with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1990, and was promoted to head coach in 1991. In 1991 and '92, he got the Eagles into the Playoffs. In 1993, 8-8 wasn't enough to get in.

In 1994, he got the Eagles off to a 4-1 start. Then came his what-the-hell moment against the Cowboys. The Eagles would get to 7-2, leading the NFC Eastern Division. Then they lost their last 7 games, including to the Giants and the Cincinnati Bengals by 3 points each, the Arizona Cardinals by 6, and the Atlanta Falcons by 7.

The Eagles finished 7-9, missing the Playoffs, and Kotite was fired. Crap like this is what makes people in Philly go up to cops and say, "Officer, I want to report a crime: The Eagles are killing me!"

On January 4, 1995, a date which lives in infamy, Jets owner Leon Hess announced that he had hired Kotite to be the team's head coach and, effectively, also its general manager. Why Kotite? Well, he was a local guy, and a blue-collar guy who could appeal to local fans. But that shouldn't have mattered. What should have mattered was that Kotite had led the Eagles to a couple of Playoff berths.

Words that Hess should have guessed would outlive him: "I'm 80 years old. I want results now!"

He got results, all right. In 1995, the Jets went 3-13. One of those losses was the 1st regular-season win in franchise history for the expansion Carolina Panthers. (While the Panthers did reach the NFC Championship Game the next season, that 1st year, they were only 4-12.)

In 1996, the Jets had the worst season in the history of New York Tri-State Area football, 1-15. The only win came in Week 9, October 27, 31-21 away to Arizona. Two days before the team's '96 finale, GM Kotite fired Coach Kotite.

Between them, Coach Kotite and GM Kotite went 3-13 and 1-15 in his 2 seasons with the Jets. In other words, from November 7, 1994 to December 22, 1996, he went 4-35 as a head coach. That's a .103 percentage, worse than the worst single seasons in the histories of MLB (the 1899 Cleveland Spiders went 20-134, or .134), the NBA (the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers went 9-73, or .110) and the NHL (the 1974-75 Washington Capitals went 8-67-5, or .131).

Owner Hess then hired Bill Parcells, and got much better results, although Hess died before Parcells could get the ultimate result for the Jets, like he did twice for the Giants.

Kotite was just 54 years old when he left Weeb Ewbank Hall, but has never again even been hired as an assistant coach. Anywhere. Not the pros, not college, not even in high school. Even the XFL -- both the laughingstock 2001 version and the new edition that started in 2020 -- haven't touched him. That's how radioactive Rich Kotite has been. However, he has been a contributor to various NFL Network broadcasts. At 80, it's unlikely he'll ever be hired by another pro team, in any capacity.

This game could be cited as part of "The Curse of Billy Penn": From 1983, when the Philadelphia 76ers won the NBA Championship, until 2008, when the Phillies won their next World Series, no Philadelphia professional sports team won a World Championship. The suggestion was that the construction of One Liberty Place in 1987, making it taller than the statue of William Penn atop City Hall, caused Penn's spirit to put a curse on the city's teams. The Eagles didn't win a Super Bowl until 2018.

*

October 16, 1994 was a Sunday. The baseball players were on strike, and the season would have been over by this point, anyway. The NHL players were locked out, meaning that 2 of the "Big Four" sports in North America were stopped cold due to management's unfairness to the players. And the NBA didn't start for another 19 days. But there were other NFL games:

* The New York Giants lost to the Los Angeles Rams, 19-10 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The New York Jets, then coached by Bruce Coslet, beat the New England Patriots, then coached by Bill Parcells and not yet the Jets' arch-rivals, 24-17 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 14-10 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Washington Redskins, 19-16 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington. Todd Peterson won the game with a 29-yard field goal with 5:45 left in overtime.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 42-3 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Los Angeles Raiders, 20-17 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. Pete Stoyanovich kicked a field goal in overtime to win it.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the New Orleans Saints, 36-22 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Buffalo Bills, 27-17 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* In a Thursday night game, the Cleveland Browns beat the Houston Oilers, 11-8 at the Astrodome in Houston. This was the 1st season in which the NFL adopted the 2-point conversion, and this was the 1st game in which both teams successfully converted one.

* On ABC Monday Night Football, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos, 31-28 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* And a whopping 6 teams out of the 28 then in the NFL had a bye week: The Seattle Seahawks, and the entire NFC North Division, a.k.a. "The Black and Blue Division": The Chicago Bears, the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers, the Minnesota Vikings and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

September 20, 1999: “Relic Hunter” Premieres

September 20, 1999: Relic Hunter premieres in syndication. Tia Carrere plays Dr. Sydney Fox, a professor of history at fictional Trinity College, who introduces each episode by saying, "Welcome to Ancient Studies. I’m not a real stickler for attendance. Sometimes, I’m called away from the classroom myself."

(There are several schools named Trinity College throughout the world, the best-known ones being the one that's part of Cambridge University in England, and the one in Dublin, Ireland. There's even one in the city of Sydney, in Australia. However, since the show was a Canadian production, it was likely filmed at Trinity College in Toronto.)

Sydney, whose late mother was Hawaiian and whose father (played in 2 episodes by football player-turned-actor Fred Dryer) was an archaeologist before her, makes the occasional reluctant admission that she's viewed as "a female Indiana Jones." But she's also a martial arts expert, not just a street brawler like Indy; and proficient with multiple weapons, not just a pistol and a whip like Indy.

Among the relics Sydney ends up finding, in chronological order (to each other, not in episode sequence): A diamond belonging to Pharoah Thutmose III, Pandora's Box, Buddha's bowl, an urn containing the ashes of Confucius, the breastplate from Julius Caesar's armor, the first Christian Cross jewelry, the crown of Ireland, Anne Boleyn's wedding ring, an idol stolen from Hawaii by Captain James Cook, the crown jewels of France, Al Capone's handgun, a guitar that once belonged to Elvis Presley, and a supposedly magical baseball glove.

While her British teaching assistant Nigel Bailey, played by English actor Christien Anholt, was vital on her missions, they were never a couple. There was occasional banter between Nigel and Sydney's secretaries -- first Claudia, played by Lindy Booth, then Karen Petruskey, played by Tanja Reichert -- but no evidence he got together with either of them, either. (Anholt is English, while both Booth and Reichert are Canadian. Booth would later play an archaeologist on The Librarians.)

The show often aired back-to-back in the 2000-01 season with Queen of Swords, starring Tessie Santiago as Maria Teresa Alvarado, a female version of Zorro. I had hoped that both shows could be wrapped up with a descendant of the Queen, also played by Santiago, seeking out Sydney's help to prove her ancestor was real, and a heroine instead of a villainess; but a descendant of the Queen's nemesis, Colonel Montoya, played by Valentine Pelka, would stand in the way.

*

September 20, 1999 was a Monday. If you were watching ABC Monday Night Football instead of Relic Hunter, you saw the Dallas Cowboys beat the Atlanta Falcons, 24-7 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

And these 10 Major League Baseball games were scheduled and played:

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Juan Encarnación singled Gregg Jeffries home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 7-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Mark McGwire hit his 59th home run of the season, and would finish with 65*. Sammy Sosa went 1-for-3 with a walk, but did not hit a home run, and would finish with 63*.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros, 11-5 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 12-7 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 12-1 at Qualcommn Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-3.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 10-5 at Edison International Field of Anaheim (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 6-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Barry Bonds went 1-for-5.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. Jason Ryan allowed 5 hits and 3 walks, but no runs, over 5 innings, and 4 relievers completed a 7-hit shutout.

* And the Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners, 10-9 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. went 3-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Alex Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

And on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Atlanta Falcons, 24-7 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

September 19, 1994: “ER” Premieres

Left to right: Julianna Marguiles, Eriq La Salle, George Clooney,

Anthony Edwards, Sherry Stringfield, Noah Wyle

September 19, 1994: ER premieres on NBC, created by doctor-turned-novelist Michael Crichton. It restores the career of Revenge of the Nerds star Anthony Edwards. It makes stars of George Clooney, Noah Wyle, and a few others. It also allows British actress Alex Kingston to become an American star.

Edwards plays Dr. Mark Greene, who has a daughter named Rachel. If ER wasn't the 1st TV show with that title set in a Chicago hospital (CBS had tried a sitcom of that title, starring Elliott Gould, in 1982, but it flopped), or the 1st network drama set in a Chicago hospital to premiere that week (CBS' Chicago Hope beat it by 24 hours), it was, by 3 days, the 1st NBC show to have a character named Rachel Green (or Greene, beating Friends' Jennifer Aniston).

The show lasts a whopping 15 seasons, and survives the moving-on of every original actor, including Edwards, whose Dr. Greene died of a brain tumor in 2001. On the show’s last episode, on April 2, 2009, his daughter Rachel begins her internship at the same hospital.

*

September 19, 1994 was a Monday. ER soon took L.A. Law's place in NBC's Thursday night powerhouse "Must See TV" lineup.

Baseball's Strike of '94 was on, so there was only one score on this historic day. And if you were watching ER, you weren't watching the game. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Detroit Lions beat the Dallas Cowboys, 20-17 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

September 8, 1986: "The Oprah Winfrey Show" Premieres

It was the mid-1980s. It might have been the only time

that Oprah was guaranteed to have the best hair in the room.

September 8, 1986: The Oprah Winfrey Show premieres in syndication, mostly (but not entirely) on ABC affiliates. It runs for 25 years, and remains the highest-rated daytime talk show in history.

Winfrey, then 32 years old, had been a newscaster in Nashville and Baltimore -- the latter also including Maria Shriver, giving her later interview access to the Kennedy family -- before coming to Chicago, and had been hired to host A.M. Chicago on the city's ABC affiliate, WLS-Channel 7. Two years later, following her Academy Award nomination for her role in The Color Purple, it became The Oprah Winfrey Show, and was nationally syndicated.

The show made her an icon, the kind of person known only by her first name. And the show and its spinoff ventures made her the 1st black billionaire in America, the richest black person of the 20th Century.

Unfortunately, it also introduced America to a pair of regular guests who have been revealed as selfish charlatans: Psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw and heart surgeon turned Trumpist U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz.

The show was taped at Harpo Studios in Chicago, named for her production company, the name being "Oprah" spelled backwards. In 2016, the building was demolished, and the new corporate headquarters for McDonald's opened on the site.

In a 2014 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, comedian Nikki Jenkins, a.k.a. November Christine, played Oprah, against comedian Lauren Flans, who played Ellen DeGeneres.

*

September 8, 1986 was a Monday, Labor Day. That night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys opened their season by beating the New York Giants, 31-28 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

And these 7 Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-1 at Yankee Stadium. Dennis Rasmussen went the distance for the win. Ron Kittle hit a home run. Joel Skinner went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Don Mattingly went 0-for-3, but drew a walk and had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. Wade Boggs went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs. Eddie Murray went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Cal Ripken went 2-for-4 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-5 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 2-1 at Royals Stadium (later Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-4.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Ed Correa (6 innings) and Jeff Russell combined on a 4-hit shutout.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 10-0 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Orel Hershiser pitched an 8-hit shutout. Tony Gwynn did not play in this game.