October 31, 2004: The NFL's Longest Winning Streak Ends

Ben Roethlisberger (left) and Tom Brady

October 31, 2004: The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the New England Patriots, 34-20 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh. This ends the longest winning streak in NFL history.

Coached by Bill Belichick, the Patriots surprised the football world in the 2001 season, losing starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe to injury early, and then replacing him with Tom Brady, and going on a run that ended with victory over the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. After missing the Playoffs in the 2002 season, they won it all again for 2003.

On September 28, they lost away to the Washington Redskins, and ran the table the rest of the way, starting on October 5, home to the Tennessee Titans. They won their last 12 of the season, beat the Titans again in the AFC Divisional Playoff, beat the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game, and beat the Carolina Panthers to win Super Bowl XXXVIII. That made 15 straight wins.

They won their 1st preseason exhibition game, then lost their next 3, but that didn't break the official streak. They jumped out to a 6-0 start in 2004, for a total of 21 straight wins. The previous longest winning streak belonged to the 1972 and '73 Miami Dolphins: After losing Super Bowl VI, they went 14-0 in the '72 regular season, won the Super Bowl to complete the NFL's only undefeated full season to this day, and won their '73 opener before losing their 2nd game, for a total of 18 straight. The Patriots' 19th straight was their October 10, 2004 home win over, perhaps appropriately, the Dolphins.

Two Sundays later, on October 24, a concurrent streak, the longest unbeaten run in the history of top-flight English soccer, came to an end, as Arsenal, who had gone 49 Premier League games without a loss, were defeated by Manchester United. The Patriots won that day, beating the New York Jets, 13-7 at home, for 21 straight.

But on the afternoon of Halloween, they went into Pittsburgh for a tough one. Patriots vs. Steelers is not one of the NFL's bigger rivalries, but the Pats had eliminated the Steelers from the Playoffs in 1996 (when the quarterbacks were still Bledsoe for New England and Kordell Stewart for Pittsburgh) and 2001, with the Steelers beating the Patriots in 1997. Now, with Ben Roethlisberger as their quarterback, the Black & Gold were ready to take the defending Champions down.

Adam Vinatieri kicked a field goal to give the Pats an early lead, but a season-ending injury to Ty Law was a green light for Roethlisberger, as he exploited the new weakness for 2 touchdown passes. Deshea Townsend intercepted Brady and returned it for a touchdown, giving the Steelers a 21-3 lead before the 1st quarter ran out.

The Steelers then pounded the Pats with the running game, with Duce Staley gaining 125 yards and Jerome Bettis 65 plus a 3rd-quarter touchdown. The Steelers won, 34-20, and looked ready to take over as the leading team in the AFC.

It didn't happen: The Steelers hosted the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, and got lit up, 41-27. The Patriots won Super Bowl XXXIX, beating the Philadelphia Eagles. The Steelers won 3 of the next 5 AFC Championships, but, each time, the Patriots got knocked out before the Steelers had to face them. The Patriots beat the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game again in the 2016 season.

Did the Patriots cheat in their streak? Did they cheat in Super Bowl XXXIX? There has never been a serious accusation of it. But think of it this way: We have more proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?

*

October 31, 2004 was a Sunday. The baseball season ended 4 days earlier, with the Boston Red Sox ending their 86-year World Series drought by completing a 4-game sweep over the St. Louis Cardinals. The NBA season started 2 days later. And the NHL team owners had locked the players out, eventually leading to the cancellation of the entire season.

These other NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Giants beat the Minnesota Vikings, 34-13 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Baltimore Ravens, 15-10 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Washington Redskins, 28-14 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Tennessee Titans beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 27-20 at The Coliseum (now Nissan Stadium) in Nashville.

* The Houston Oilers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 20-6 at Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium) in Houston.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Detroit Lions, 31-21 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Arizona Cardinals, 38-14 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Chicago Bears beat the San Francisco 49ers, 23-13 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Indianapolis Colts, 45-35 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Denver Broncos, 41-28 at Invesco Field at Mile High (now Empower Field at Mile High) in Denver.

* The San Diego Chargers beat their arch-rivals, the Oakland Raiders, 42-14 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Carolina Panthers, 23-17 at Qwest Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.

* The next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the New York Jets beat the Miami Dolphins, 41-14 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* And the Cleveland Browns, the New Orleans Saints, the St. Louis Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a bye week.

September 10, 2007: Spygate: The New England Patriots' 1st Time Caught Cheating

September 10, 2007: For the 1st time, the New England Patriots, their head coach Bill Belichick, and their quarterback Tom Brady get busted for cheating. It becomes known as "Spygate."

The day before, the Patriots had beaten the the New York Jets, 38-14 at Giants Stadium, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in the New York suburb of East Rutherford, New Jersey. During the game, the Patriots videotaped members of the Jets' coaching staff.

Videotaping opposing coaches is not illegal in the NFL, per se. However, there are designated areas allowed by the league to do such taping. Because the Patriots were instead videotaping the Jets' coaches from their own sideline during the game, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell deemed it to be in violation of league rules, stating that the act represented a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid long-standing rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field.

After an investigation, the NFL fined Patriots head coach Bill Belichick $500,000 (the maximum allowed by the league, and the largest fine ever imposed on a coach in the league's history) for his role in the incident; fined the Patriots as a team $250,000; and docked the team their original 1st-round selection in the 2008 NFL Draft, which would have been the 31st pick of the draft.

The investigation revealed that Belichick had been engaged in the practice since he became head coach of the Patriots in 2000. Goodell said Belichick told him he believed he was operating within the rules, as long as the tape was not used during the same game.

In other words, unlike the the baseball team with whom he shared a metropolitan area, the Boston Red Sox, when Belichick was caught cheating, he basically admitted it, but said it was okay. The man has guts, I'll give him that.

A few months later, the Boston Herald printed a story that the Patriots had taped the St. Louis Rams' walk-through before Super Bowl XXXVI, which resulted in the Pats' 1st Super Bowl win. This, Belichick denied, and the Herald ended up printing a retraction.

Who's kidding who? There would later be a Spygate II, and a Deflategate, which was apparently led by quarterback Tom Brady, without Belichick's knowledge. But even if Belichick didn't know about it, which is laughable, he had created a culture of cheating that led his players to believe that anything was legal, as long as you didn't get caught.

The Patriots, like the Red Sox, had forfeited the presumption of innocence. And, since Brady subsequently won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for which cheating has not yet been substantively alleged, and the Patriots have struggled a bit since Brady left, and Belichick hadn't done too well as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns before coming to Foxborough in 2000, it could be argued that we saw "the real Belichick" in Cleveland.

So who's the real King of the Cheaters? Belichick? Brady? Patriots team owner Robert Kraft? We may never know.

What we do know is that, with a culture of cheating embedded, not one single game won by the New England Patriots since Belichick became head coach -- including all 6 Super Bowl wins -- can be taken seriously.

Now, you can argue that the Patriots would have won those games anyway. But think of it this way: We have more proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?

*

September 10, 2007 was a Monday. This was also the day that, in support of troubled pop singer Britney Spears, Chris Crocker posted the "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!" video. I have a separate entry for that event.

The NFL held 2 Monday Night Football games. The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens, 27-20 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati. And the San Francisco 49ers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 20-17 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. Óliver Pérez outpitched Tim Hudson. David Wright hit a home run.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Scott Kazmir pitched 7 innings of 5-hit shutout ball, and 2 relievers completed the shutout with no more hits. David Ortiz appeared only as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-5 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Ryan Howard doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Florida Marlins, 5-4 at Dolphin Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat Milwaukee Brewers, 9-0 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Tony Armas Jr. pitched 6 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and 2 relievers completed the 4-hit shutout.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 12-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-2 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Yes, both Chicago teams were at home on the same day; no, they didn't both win.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-3 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. Bengie Molina hit 2 home runs for the Giants. Barry Bonds, in his last month as an active player, went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 9-3 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-5.

* And the New York Yankees, the Baltimore Orioles, the Cincinnati Reds, the Houston Astros, the Los Angeles Angels, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers were not scheduled to play. 

May 11, 2015: Deflategate

May 11, 2015: The New England Patriots became the 1st major league sports team ever to break the power of its league's Commissioner.

The Pats had already flouted the law before, with "Sypgate." Surely, quarterback Tom Brady had benefited from the cheating of his head coach, Bill Belichick. But when "Deflategate" happened, it appeared to be only on Brady, not Belichick.

On January 18, 2015, the AFC Championship Game was played, at Patriots' home field, Gillette Stadium, in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. The game was no contest: The Pats won, 45-7. So any accusation of cheating seemed petty. (Of course, they went on to win Super Bowl XLIX, beating the Seattle Seahawks because coach Pete Carroll called a pass on 3rd & goal at the 1.)

But after the game, claims emerged that the Patriots had used under-inflated footballs, presumably to Brady's advantage. The results of the NFL's investigation, and possible sanctions against the Patriots, concluded on May 11, with Commissioner Roger Goodell suspending Brady for the 1st 4 games of the 2015 season, and the Patriots forfeiting their 1st and 4th round draft picks in the 2016 and 2017 NFL Drafts, respectively.

Four games, for cheating your way into the Super Bowl. That day, I wrote the following on Facebook:

Roger Goodell is a coward. Four games was the absolute minimum he could have given Tom Brady and still looked like he was doing his job.

In college football, we've seen teams stripped of conference and even national championships, and made ineligible for subsequent ones, for cheating to win them.

I expected milquetoast reactions toward cheating teams, coaches and players from Bud Selig (ex-MLB), David Stern (ex-NBA) and Gary Bettman (still making a mockery of the NHL). The NFL is supposed to be different. The NFL is a league where you get a big fine if you so much as wear your socks wrong. But cheat to win a championship, and you get FOUR GAMES? Where's Kenesaw Mountain Landis when you need him?

It's like I said the other day, when the Rangers got caught by the cameras, but not the officials, with too many men on the ice for a key goal: What's the point of having a rule if you're not going enforce it when you've got proof it's been broken? Especially when you consider who the Pats beat: Pete Carroll, who had a national championship taken away for cheating. Since when are a bunch of college presidents more dangerous to cross than the commissioner of the National Football League?

It got worse. On May 14, the players' union, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), filed an appeal on Brady's behalf. That's understandable: The union has to stand up for its players as best it can. On May 26, Patriots fans held a "Free Brady" rally at Gillette Stadium. This was also understandable: Fans do tend to stand up to their players when they believe their players have been wronged. But it was unacceptable: It meant that Pats fans were okay with cheating.

On June 23, Brady appealed his suspension before Goodell at the NFL office in New York. On July 28, Goodell announced that the 4-game suspension would stand. On July 29, the NFLPA announced that it had filed an injunction that would prevent the NFL from enforcing the suspension.

On September 3, just 7 days before the start of the Patriots' regular season, Judge Richard M. Berman overturned Brady's suspension, citing a lack of fair due process for him. The NFL announced that it would appeal the decision. Until it was decided, Brady could play. Brady played the entire 2015 regular season, and he got the Patriots into the AFC Championship Game, which they lost to the Denver Broncos.

On April 25, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated Brady's 4-game suspension, starting with the start of the 2016 regular season. With Jimmy Garoppolo as quarterback, the Pats won their 1st 3 games, before losing their 4th. Then Brady came back, and they finished 14-2, and won Super Bowl LI.

So the suspension ended up being meaningless: It was minor; it got delayed; the Patriots won a Super Bowl, anyway; and it all combined to make Goodell look like the weakest Commissioner in memory in any sport.

It also deepened the message sent by other sports: Cheating is okay if a New England team does it.

Now, you can argue that the Patriots would have won those games anyway. But think of it this way: We have more investigated-and-proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have investigated-and-proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?

UPDATE: On February 16, 2024, it was announced that Garoppolo, by then with the Las Vegas Raiders, would miss the 1st 2 games of the next season, for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing drug policy.

Brady's backup, caught cheating. Gee, what a surprise. And yet, Brady's suspension for stealing a Super Bowl berth, and thus also the Super Bowl win, was only twice as long as Garoppolo's suspension for PEDs. Where's the fairness? I stand by everything I wrote in 2015, and I stand by what I wrote in this update.

*

May 11, 2015 was a Monday. Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were underway, but no games were scheduled. There were 2 games in the NBA Playoffs. The Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Wizards, 106-101 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington. And the Golden State Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 101-84 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.

And these 10 Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 11-5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was CC Sabathia's 1st win of the season, after losing his 1st 5 decisions. He was supported by home runs from Alex Rodriguez, Chase Headley, Carlos Beltrán, Brett Gardner and Mark Teixeira.

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Jon Lester was the winning pitcher. Jacob deGrom only lasted 5 innings.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-7 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-2 at Globe Life Park (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 11-1 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Miami Marlins, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-4 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the O.co Coliseum). Pablo Sandoval was a bust signing for the BoSox, but he won this game with a home run leading off the top of the 11th inning.

February 7, 2021: Tampa Bay: City of Champions?

February 7, 2021: For the 1st time, an NFL team plays in the Super Bowl on its home field. This is never by design, even though the chance had nearly always been there:

* Up to this point, Miami had hosted 11 Super Bowls, and the Miami Dolphins had appeared in 5 -- but never in the same season.

* New Orleans hosted 10 times, but the New Orleans Saints never even reached the Playoffs until the season of Super Bowl XXII. They finally made it to Super Bowl XLIV, and won it -- in Miami.

* The Los Angeles Rams almost did it: They reached Super Bowl XIV, but that game was played at the Rose Bowl, not at their home field at the time, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Either Miami, New Orleans or the Los Angeles area hosted the 1st 7 Super Bowls, 14 of the 1st 15, and 19 of the 1st 24, but no home team played in one.

* The Dallas Cowboys played in 8 Super Bowls, winning 5, and one of the main reasons for building AT&T Stadium in suburban Arlington, Texas was the hope that they could host a Super Bowl,. and play in it. They were awarded Super Bowl XLV, but they finished 6-10 that season.

The 2020 season was unlike any other in NFL history, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Having to play the early part of the season behind closed doors proved what had long been suggested: Between television revenue and merchandising, an NFL team could make a profit even if paying attendance was exactly zero. By the time of Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, restrictions had been lifted to the point where 24,835 fans were let in.

On March 20, 2020, in the first few days of the COVID shutdown, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were set to be the host team for the Super Bowl, signed a free agent to play quarterback for them: Tom Brady, who had led the New England Patriots to win 6 Super Bowls -- by any means possible, legitimate or otherwise. Brady told them to sign his favorite receiver, for Pats tight end Rob Gronkowski, and they did. Despite having won Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003, the Bucs were still one of the NFL's joke franchises, but Brady and Gronk were ready to lift them out of that.

Under head coach Bruce Arians, they went 11-5 in the regular season. They had to play 3 Playoff games on the road in order to reach a home Super Bowl, and won them all: They beat the Washington Football Team (in their Redskins-to-Commanders interregnum), 31-23 in Landover, Maryland; beat the New Orleans Saints, 30-20 at the Superdome; and beat the Green Bay Packers, 31-26 at Lambeau Field.

Their opponents would be the Kansas City Chiefs, the defending World Champions, who had beaten the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV. Under head coach Andy Reid, and with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, they had the best record in the NFL, 14-2, losing only a home to the Las Vegas Raiders, and a meaningless regular-season finale, home to the Los Angeles Chargers. They had a bye in the Wild Card Round; beat the Cleveland Browns, 22-17 at home at Arrowhead Stadium in the Divisional Playoff; and beat the Buffalo Bills, 38-24 at Arrowhead in the AFC Championship Game.

As the defending Champions, the Chiefs were favored by 3 points. Sure enough, the Chiefs scored first, on a 49-yard field goal by Harrison Butker. But Brady marched the Bucs down the field, and threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Gronk, to give them a 7-3 lead as the 1st quarter ran out.

In the 2nd quarter, Brady threw 2 more touchdown passes, for 17 yards to Gronk and 1 to Antonio Brown. In between, Butker kicked another field goal, but it was 21-6 Tampa Bay at the half, and the Chiefs never seriously threatened again.

Butker and the Bucs' Ryan Succop each kicked a 52-yard field goal in the 3rd quarter. In between, Leonard Fournette scored on a 27-yard touchdown run. It was 31-6 Buccaneers at the end of the 3rd quarter. There was no scoring in the 4th. The Bucs had their 2nd Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Brady had his 7th -- his 1st without Bill Belichick as his head coach. Most people who had not yet been calling Brady the greatest quarterback ever -- ignoring his proven cheating -- pretty much joined the people who had been calling him that in now calling him the greatest player ever, regardless of position. Having previously honored him as such in 2005, Sports Illustrated named Brady their Sportsperson of the Year for 2021. The only other 2-time winners have been Tiger Woods and, with 3, LeBron James.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had won the Stanley Cup on September 28, 2020, those Playoffs delayed by the COVID pandemic. They repeated on July 7, 2021. Therefore, from February 7, 2021 to February 13, 2022, a little over 1 full year, 371 days, the Tampa Bay region held the World Championships of both football and hockey.

In addition, the Tampa Bay Rays had won the 2020 American League Pennant, and the Tampa Bay Rowdies won the 2021 United Soccer League title. People in the Tampa Bay region claimed a title that had been used by other cities in the past: "City of Champions." It didn't work: The USL is the 2nd tier of North American soccer, the Rays lost the World Series, and the Bucs' Super Bowl and the Bolts' Cups were won under unusual conditions.

After all, from May 16, 1980 to January 25, 1981, Philadelphia made it to the Finals of all of the "Big Four" sports, but won only one, the World Series. While, from October 28, 1981 to June 8, 1982, Los Angeles won the NBA Championship legitimately after winning the World Series in a strike-shortened season. Neither city's fans then claimed the "City of Champions" mantle. And when the Oakland Athletics won the 1989 World Series by beating the San Francisco Giants, in between back-to-back Super Bowl wins by the San Francisco 49ers, the San Francisco Bay Area as a whole didn't claim it. So Tampa Bay was on shaky ground claiming it.

The year after this Super Bowl, the Los Angeles Rams were both the host team and the NFC Champions, and won Super Bowl LVI, beating the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

UPDATE: The Buccaneers have a Ring of Honor. From their founding era, including their trip to the 1979 NFC Championship Game, they have honored quarterback Doug Williams, tight end Jimmie Giles, defensive end Lee Roy Selmon and head coach John McKay.

From their Super Bowl XXXVII winners, they have honored running back Mike Alstott, defensive tackle Warren Sapp, defensive end Simeon Rice, linebacker Derrick Brooks, cornerback Ronde Barber, safety John Lynch, head coach Jon Gruden, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, and owner Malcolm Glazer.

From between those eras, they have honored head coach Tony Dungy and offensive tackle Paul Gruber. From their Super Bowl LV winners, so far, they have honored only head coach Bruce Arians.

The Florida Sports Hall of Fame has inducted Selmon, Brooks, Dungy, Gruden, founding owner Hugh Culverhouse, 1990s running back Warrick Dunn, and the team's 1st starting quarterback, Steve Spurrier, although that's more for his playing and coaching at the University of Florida.

*

February 7, 2021, like all Super Bowl days, was a Sunday. Baseball was out of season. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Miami Heat, 109-103 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Washington Wizards, 119-97 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Indiana Pacers, 103-95 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Boston Celtics, 100-91 at the Phoenix Suns Arena. (It was in between naming-rights contracts. It was soon renamed the Footprint Center, now the Mortgage Matchup Center.)

* And the Sacramento Kings beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 113-110 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles, which was also the home of an NHL team named the Kings.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 at the Amalie Arena (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa. This game faced off at 7:00 PM, and ended at 9:21, so it was played during the Super Bowl. I can find no reference as to attendance, COVID-affected or otherwise.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Nashville Predators, 2-1 at the BB&T Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-2 at the T-Mobile Arena in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Anaheim Ducks, 5-4 in a shootout at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

February 6, 2005: Brady vs. McNabb

February 6, 2005: Super Bowl XXXIX is held at what was then named Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. (It's now Everbank Stadium.) The smallest metropolitan area ever to host a Super Bowl, J-ville was plagued with hotel, traffic and stadium issues, and is unlikely to ever host another.

The New England Patriots were going for their 3rd Super Bowl win in the last 4 seasons. In the 1st one, they were plucky underdogs that the whole nation could get behind. Now, people were starting to get sick of them. The fact that their neighbors, the Boston Red Sox, had won the World Series the preceding October 27, and their fans were acting sorer as winners than they ever were as losers, made it worse.

The Philadelphia Eagles were in their 4th straight NFC Championship Game, and had finally won it, to advance to their 1st Super Bowl in 24 years. Philadelphia vs. Boston had never been much of a rivalry in the outdoor sports of baseball and football, but was a major one in the indoor sports of basketball and hockey. Due to differences of league alignments, which have usually (but not always) been by geography, this would be the 1st NFL championship game, under any name, between teams from those metropolitan areas; and the 1st final in any sport since 1974, when the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins for the Stanley Cup.

The 1st quarter ended scoreless. The Eagles struck first, early in the 2nd quarter, when Donovan McNabb threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to L.J. Smith. Late in the quarter, Tom Brady threw a 4-yard pass to David Givens, and the game was tied 7-7 as the halftime show was played by former Beatle Paul McCartney.

The teams traded touchdown passes again in the 3rd quarter, Brady 2 yards to Mike Vrabel, a linebacker lining up at tight end; and McNabb 10 yards to Brian Westbrook. It was 14-14 after 3 quarters. The Patriots took the lead in the 4th quarter, with a 2-yard touchdown run by Corey Dillon and a 22-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri, 24-14.

The Eagles had been boosted by the return from injury of Terrell Owens, who had, as he usually did, run his mouth plenty before the game. McNabb's throws to Owens helped set up a 30-yard pass to Greg Lewis, bringing the Eagles to within 24-21 with 1:48 to go. The drive took 3 minutes and 52 seconds, and Eagles coach Andy Reid was later criticized for his poor clock management.

Three of McNabb's teammates -- Jon Ritchie, Lito Sheppard and Hank Fraley -- went on record saying that, during that series, McNabb was throwing up. The video evidence proves that he wasn't, and Westbrook said that McNabb was only coughing. Though some Eagles fans, using their racism to scapegoat McNabb, forgetting that Randall Cunningham had preceded him as a black quarterback for the Eagles, have said he "choked" under the pressure.

The Eagles failed to recover their ensuing onside kick attempt, and had to use up all their timeouts as the Patriots ran the ball. A punt left the Eagles with the ball at their own 4-yard line with 46 seconds left. They needed at least 55 yards to get into David Akers' field goal range.

On 1st down from his own end zone, McNabb was pressured into making a rushed pass to Westbrook at the line of scrimmage. Instead of dropping the pass to stop the clock, Westbrook made the mistake of catching the ball, and was immediately tackled for no gain by Phifer, keeping the clock running, and forcing the Eagles to run back to the line of scrimmage for their next play with no huddle.

On 2nd down, McNabb threw an incomplete pass intended for Owens. On 3rd down, McNabb threw a pass that deflected off of the outstretched fingertips of Smith, and into the arms of Rodney Harrison for an interception with 9 seconds left.

The Patriots had won. It was 3 Super Bowl wins in 4 years, matching the achievement of the 1993-96 Dallas Cowboys. Sports Illustrated named Brady their Sportsman of the Year for 2005

It would be 2 more years before head coach Bill Belichick and his Patriots were exposed as cheaters, and another 11 years after that before the Eagles got their revenge, finally winning a Super Bowl, by beating the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. It would be 2 more years before Reid, as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, won Super Bowl LIV.

UPDATE: In spite of the 2001-08 Eagles' failure to win a Super Bowl despite 5 trips to the NFC Championship Game and 1 to the Super Bowl itself, the following players from that era have been elected to their team Hall of Fame through the 2025 season: Brian Dawkins, Troy Vincent, Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook, Jeremiah Trotter, David Akers, Tra Thomas, Jon Runyan, Hugh Douglas, Trent Cole; plus defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, ticket manager Leo Carlin, and broadcaster Merrill Reese. But head coach Andy Reid, thus far, has not been elected.

Dawkins, Vincent, McNabb, Westbrook, Trotter, Akers, Reese, and Veterans Stadium and former Lincoln Financial Field public address announcer Dan Baker have also been elected to the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

From the years between the Super Bowl XXXIX loss and the long-awaited win in Super Bowl LII, the Eagles have elected LeSean McCoy and Malcolm Jenkins -- and Reese. Not enough time has passed for anyone to be honored from Super Bowls LII and LIX -- except, of course, Reese.

*

February 6, 2005 was, like all Super Bowl days, a Sunday. Baseball was out of season. The NHL season was canceled over the team owners' greed. There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 106-104 at the Wachovia Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 103-102 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Toronto Raptors, 122-113 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* And the Boston Celtics beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 103-100 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

February 5, 2017: The Atlanta Falcons Blow a 28-3 Lead In a Super Bowl

Matt Ryan

February 5, 2017: The Atlanta Falcons had a fraction of one job, and they couldn't do it. To borrow an old expression, it was as if the condemned man had jumped out of the electric chair and executed the warden.

Super Bowl LI was played at NRG Stadium in Houston. With 2 minutes and 12 seconds left to play in the 3rd quarter, the Atlanta Falcons led the New England Patriots 28-3. After a scoreless 1st quarter, they got a 5-yard touchdown run from Devonta Freeman, a 19-yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan to Austin Hooper, and an interception of Tom Brady that Robert Alford returned 82 yards for a touchdown, all in the 2nd quarter, for a 21-0 lead, before Stephen Gostkowski kicked a field goal on the last play of the half. In the 3rd quarter, Ryan threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Tevin Coleman. It was Atlanta 28, New England 3.

In the 1st 50 Super Bowls, no team had ever blown a lead of more than 10 points and lost. With less than 18 minutes to play, the Falcons had a 25-point lead. They were in great shape to win the 1st World Championship in team history, 51 seasons, the entire Super Bowl Era.

Several sources said that the Falcons had a 99 percent chance of winning at that point. One source said it was 99.9 percent.

In a major "Perhaps I spoke too soon" moment, I posted on Facebook, citing a Boston-based police drama: "Somebody call Rizzoli & Isles, there's 11 Bostonians getting killed!"

With 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Brady threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to James White. Gostkowski missed the extra point. 28-9 Atlanta. With 9:44 left in regulation, Gostkowski kicked a field goal. 28-12 Atlanta. Still not exactly ominous.

With 5:56 left, Brady threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola. And White scored the 2-point conversion. Now, it was 28-20 Atlanta. Now, it was ominous.

With 57 seconds to play in regulation, White ran 1 yard for a touchdown. Now, it was 28-26 Atlanta. Brady passed to Amendola for the 2-point conversion. The Patriots tied the game, and we had the 1st Super Bowl that went to overtime.

The Patriots won the coin toss to start the overtime, and the Falcons never got the ball. With 11:02 left in the 1st overtime, White scored on a 2-yard touchdown run, and the Patriots had won the ballgame, 34-28.

Lost in all the fuss over Brady and the Falcons blowing it was the fact that White had joined Terrell Davis as the only men to score 3 touchdowns in 1 Super Bowl; and that, with the 2-point conversion, he had set a record, scoring 20 points in a Super Bowl.

Boston, and all of New England, were now the beneficiaries of "the greatest choke in baseball history" and "the greatest choke in football history."

And Tom Brady was certified as not merely the greatest quarterback, but the greatest player in the history of football.

How could the Falcons have blown it?

* The officials called 9 penalties on the Falcons, only 4 on the Patriots. They penalized the Falcons for 65 yards, the Patriots only 23. The Patriots gained 4 1st downs as a result of penalties, the Falcons only 1. A dubious pass interference call in overtime helped the Patriots.

It's been suggested that there were no bad calls in this game, and that the disparity in the penalties was due to the Patriots being sufficiently disciplined, and the Falcons not. Really?

* Lady Gaga's halftime show, while widely praised, was long. Maybe it threw the Falcons off their game. In the 1st half, Atlanta outscored New England 21-3. The rest of the way, New England outscored Atlanta 31-7.

* And, of course, there is the Patriots' proven legacy of cheating, which makes any claim of Brady as the greatest anything just plain dishonest. We don't actually know that the Patriots cheated at any point in the 2016-17 NFL season, including in the Super Bowl. We only know that they have been caught cheating multiple times. They have forfeited the presumption of innocence.

Did they cheat in this game? There has never been a serious accusation of it. But think of it this way: We have more proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have investigations of them cheating and being proven not to have done so. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games, including this one?

You can argue that, even with the Patriots having cheated, the Falcons should still have been able to hold onto a lead that was 25 points with a little over 17 minutes to go, 19 points with 10 minutes to go, 16 points with 6 minutes to go, and 8 points with 1 minute to go.

But they didn't. They were so close to forever eliminating their status as a joke franchise. Instead, they deepened it. They have gotten far more blame for losing this game than the Patriots got credit for winning it. The number "28-3" has been burned into sports fans' collective psyche.

Since then, Atlanta United have won the 2018 MLS Cup, and the Atlanta Braves have won the 2021 World Series. But, as some teams have proven, even winning a World Championship in their sport doesn't eliminate the pain of such losses. If the Falcons ever do win a Super Bowl, no matter how memorable it might be, people will always remember "28-3."

Clayton Trutor, a writer for the website SB Nation, published a book in 2021, shortly before the Braves won that year's World Series. Noting that the Braves had played 55 seasons in Atlanta and won just 1 World Series, the Falcons 55 and none, the NBA's Hawks 53 and none, and 2 NHL expansion teams granted and later moved without either having reached even the Conference Finals, he titled his book Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta -- and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports.

In 2019, a poll ranked this game 9th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.

UPDATE: In 2023, the film 80 for Brady was released, with this game as the focus. It starred Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda and Sally Field as old friends who went to this Super Bowl together, and Brady had a speaking part in it.

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February 5, 2017 was a Sunday. There were no other football games played. Baseball was out of season. There were 3 NBA games that day:

* The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Toronto Raptors, 103-95 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 107-102 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* And the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 105-99 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena (now the Paycom Center) in Oklahoma City. Russell Westbrook scored 42 points for the Thunder.

There were also 3 NHL games that day:

* The New York Rangers beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 1-0 in a shootout at the Bell Centre.

* And the Washington Capitals beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-0 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

February 5, 2012: Eli Manning vs. Tom Brady II

February 5, 2012: Super Bowl XLVI is played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It was a rematch of Super Bowl XLII, when the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots, ending the Pats' attempt at an undefeated season.

Eli Manning, the Giants' quarterback, had considerably more luck against the Patriots than did his brother, Peyton Manning, whose Indianapolis Colts always seemed to come up short against the Patriots and their quarterback, Tom Brady. And yet, even in the New York media and among Giants fans, Eli seemed the Rodney Dangerfield of quarterbacks, never getting enough respect. Still stuck in comparisons to Brady and Peyton, the question was asked of whether Eli was "an elite quarterback."

He proved that he was one. The Giants jumped to a 9–0 lead in the 1st quarter, before the Patriots scored 17 unanswered points to take a 17–9 lead in the 3rd quarter. But the Giants prevented the Patriots from scoring again, as they followed the script from 4 years earlier: The way to beat Brady was to pressure him with strong defense and knock him on his ass.

Two consecutive Lawrence Tynes field goals chipped away at New England's lead, 17–15, late in the 3rd quarter. The Giants capped off an 88-yard drive with running back Ahmad Bradshaw's 6-yard game-winning touchdown with 57 seconds left in the game. As in the previous Super Bowl, Eli was named the game's Most Valuable Player, having completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions.

He was also the first New York-based quarterback to start and win two championship games since Ed Danowski of the 1934 and 1938 Giants. Charlie Conerly had won in 1956, but lost in 1958 and 1959. Y.A. Tittle got the Giants into the NFL Championship Games of 1961, 1962 and 1963, but lost them all. Joe Namath won Super Bowl III with the Jets in 1969, and never won another Playoff game. Phil Simms led the Giants to win Super Bowl XXI in 1987, but got hurt in the 1990 NFC Championship Game, and so it was Jeff Hostetler who started and won Super Bowl XXV.

So lightning struck twice, but not in the same place: The 1st time the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots, it was in the suburbs of Phoenix. Begging the question, why was it an upset? (The Patriots were favored by 2½ points.)

No New York Tri-State Area sports team has won a World Championship since. Unless you count New York City FC, and can we please not?

UPDATE: The New York Liberty won the 2024 WNBA Championship. But in the "Big Four" leagues -- Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL -- New York Tri-State Area teams are 0-4 in Finals since. The Yankees and Mets have each lost a World Series without winning one. Neither the Giants nor the Jets have been back to the Super Bowl. Neither the Knicks nor the Nets have gotten anywhere near the NBA Finals. And the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils have each lost a Stanley Cup Finals, while the New York Islanders have lost 2 Eastern Conference Finals.

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February 5, 2012 was, like all Super Bowl days, a Sunday. Baseball was out of season. The NBA, not wanting to take a chance on bad TV ratings, scheduled only 2 games. The Boston Celtics beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 98-80 at the TD Garden in Boston. And the Miami Heat beat the Toronto Raptors, 95-89 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

There were 4 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2 at Madison Squre Garden.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2 at the Prudential Center in Newark

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-0 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* And the Boston Bruins beat the Washington Capitals, 4-1 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

February 4, 2018: The Philadelphia Eagles Finally Win a Super Bowl

February 4, 2018: If you need a good reason why Tom Brady cannot be called the greatest quarterback of all time, I'll give you two, and neither of them needs to be "He cheated": He blew a shot at 19-0, and he lost a Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles were founded in 1933. They reached the NFL Championship Game in 1947, losing it to the Chicago Cardinals. The won a rematch with the Cardinals in 1948, and beat the Los Angeles Rams for the title in 1949. The struggled in the 1950s, then won the Championship in 1960, beating the Green Bay Packers.

Then came a long dry spell. They didn't make the Playoffs again until 1978. In the 1980 season, they won the NFC Championship, but lost Super Bowl XV to the Oakland Raiders. They fell apart again, then got good again in the late 1980s, and stayed good into the mid-1990s, but couldn't win a Playoff game.

From 2001 to 2004, they advanced to 4 straight NFC Championship Games, but lost the 1st 3. When they won the 4th, they lost Super Bowl XXXIX to the New England Patriots, coached by Bill Belichick and quarterbacked by Tom Brady. Did the Patriots cheat to win that game? We don't know, but if it turned out that they did, would anybody be surprised?

The Eagles got to another NFC Championship Game in the 2008 season, then fell into another dry spell. Going into the 2017 season, they were coming off 2 seasons of 7-9 under coach Doug Pederson, and there was no reason to believe they would do any better.

It had been 57 years since they won an NFL Championship. It wasn't even called the Super Bowl the last time they won it, just "The NFL Championship Game." They had moved out of Franklin Field, built Veterans Stadium, demolished Veterans Stadium, and moved into Lincoln Financial Field. They had gone through 14 head coaches (not counting interim bosses) and 4 owners.

From December 26, 1960 to February 4, 2008, the Phillies had won 2 World Series, the 76ers had won 2 NBA titles, the Flyers had won 2 Stanley Cups, and Villanova University's basketball team had won a National Championship. The Eagles had seen their NFC Eastern Division rivals win titles: The Dallas Cowboys 5, the New York Giants 4, and the Washington Redskins 3.

Bob Brown, Jim Ringo, Ollie Matson, Mike Ditka, Harold Carmichael, Claude Humphrey, Reggie White, Cris Carter, James Lofton, Art Monk, Richard Dent, Brian Dawkins and Terrell Owens had all played for the Eagles in that stretch. All were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. None won a Super Bowl with the Eagles.

The Eagles' starting quarterbacks were Sonny Jurgensen (Norm Van Brocklin's backup on the 1960 team), King Hill, Norm Snead, Jack Concannon, John Huarte, George Mira, Rick Arrington, Pete Liske, John Reaves, Roman Gabriel, Mike Boryla, Ron Jaworski, Joe Pisarcik (You forgot the Giants' "Miracle of the Meadowlands" quarterback also played for the Eagles, didn't you?), Randall Cunningham, Matt Cavanaugh, Scott Tinsley, Guido Merkens, Jim McMahon, Jeff Kemp, Brad Goebel, Bubby Brister, Ken O'Brien, Rodney Peete, Ty Detmer, his brother Koy Detmer, Bobby Hoying, Donovan McNabb, A.J. Feeley, Mike McMahon, Jeff Garcia, Kevin Kolb, Michael Vick, Vince Young, Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, current starter Carson Wentz, current backup, Nick Foles, and, for 9 games in the dreadful 1999 season, the man who was, in 2017, the Eagles' head coach, Doug Pederson. And from 1961 to 2016, none of them could lead the Eagles to win a Super Bowl.

Pederson named Wentz the starter for the 2017 season. It opened with a 30-17 win away to Washington, then a 27-20 loss away to the Kansas City Chiefs. So far, no big deal.

A funny thing happened on the way to another mediocre season for the Broad Street Birds: They got on a roll. They beat the Giants 27-24 at home, then won away to the Los Angeles Chargers 26-24, beat the Arizona Cardinals 34-7 at home, won away to the Carolina Panthers 28-23, and took advantage of 3 straight home games to beat Washington 34-24, San Francisco 33-10, and Denver 51-23. That last one marked the most points scored by the Eagles in a game since a 54-11 win over the Chicago Bears in 2013.

A bye week didn't stop their momentum. They won away to Dallas 37-9, and beat Chicago 3103 at home. The 9-game streak ended 24-10 away to the Seattle Seahawks, but they won 43-35 away to the Los Angeles Rams, to clinch the NFC Eastern Division title. But Wentz was injured, and was out for the season.

Foles was brought in as the starter, and led the Eagles to victory over the Giants, 34-29 at the Meadowlands. On Christmas Day, and also on ESPN Monday Night Football, the Eagles beat the Raiders at home, 19-10. A game against the Cowboys is never meaningless, but the 6-0 home loss on New Year's Eve was probably the least stinging defeat to Dallas ever. The Eagles finished 13-3, tying the 2004 team for the most wins in franchise history.

Of course, none of that would have meant anything if there was a disaster in the Playoffs, as had happened to the Eagles several times. They had a bye in the 1st Round, then won a gutsy Divisional Playoff over the Atlanta Falcons, 15-10 at home. That set them up with the Minnesota Vikings, who were 1 win away from playing the Super Bowl in their home stadium, the new U.S. Bank Stadium, which had been built on the site of the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. The Eagles didn't care, and throttled the Vikes, 38-7. They were going to Super Bowl LII.

The opponent was the New England Patriots. The defending World Champions. A team that was in its 7th Super Bowl in the last 17 years, having already won 4 of them, including the previous year's with a stunning comeback over the Falcons.

It had been 13 years since they met in the Super Bowl in Jacksonville. The Pats were still coached by Belichick. They were still quarterbacked by Brady. They were still surrounded by accusations of cheating, and yet nobody seemed to care. They were installed as 5-point favorites, and that seemed generous to the Eagles.

There was one pregame note -- or, rather, several notes in a single song -- that might have been a good omen for the Eagles: The National Anthem was sung by rock star Pink, who has grown up an Eagles fan named Alecia Moore, about 30 miles north of Philly in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

The Eagles took the kickoff, and drove 67 yards in 14 plays, ending in a 25-yard field goal by Jack Elliott. The Patriots could also only manage a field goal on their 1st drive, 26 yards by Stephen Gostkowski. But on their next drive, Foles threw a 34-yard pass to Alshon Jeffery for a touchdown. A good sign. But Elliott missed the extra point. A bad sign. Still, the 1st quarter ended at Philadelphia 9, New England 3.

A mishandled snap by holder Ryan Allen caused Gostkowski to miss a 26-yard field goal attempt. On their ensuing drive, the Eagles were forced to punt by the Patriots. This turned out to be the only punt of the game.

The Patriots turned the ball over on downs, giving the Eagles good field position. They improved this until LeGarrette Blount ran 21 yards for a touchdown. They tried a 2-point conversion, but were unsuccessful. Still, with 8:48 left in the 1st half, the Eagles were leading, 15-3. Nobody could have expected that.

On their next drive, the Pats could only manage a field goal, Gostkowski hitting from 45 yards, to make it 15-6. An interception of Foles by Duron Harmon set up a 90-yard drive that ended with James White running it in from 26 yards. But now, it was Gostkowski who missed an extra point.

And with 34 seconds left in the half, the Eagles got to 4th & goal on the Patriot 1-yard line. Pederson called a trick play. Foles dropped back into what looked like a shotgun formation. But the ball was snapped to running back Corey Clement, who lateraled to tight end Trey Burton, who then passed to Foles, who was wide open in the end zone. Foles became the 1st quarterback ever to catch a touchdown pass in a Super Bowl. The play became known as the Philly Special.

At the half, it was Philadelphia 22, New England 12. There were 30 minutes left. Basically, if the Eagles could only avoid the kind of collapse the Falcons had the year before, they would be World Champions. But it was the Patriots. It was Belichick. It was Brady. You knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

The 1st drive of the 2nd half saw the Pats go 75 yards in 8 plays, concluding with a 5-yard pass from Brady to his favorite, Rob Gronkowski. It was 22-19 Eagles. Were the Eagles fazed by this? Did they fold under the pressure? Not by a long shot: Foles made 3 3rd-down conversions, of 17, 14 and 22 yards, the last of these a touchdown pass to Clement. Eagles 29, Patriots 19. 22 minutes and 18 seconds to go.

But the Pats came right back. Brady threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Chris Hogan. 29-26. But that didn't shake the Eagles up, either: On the 1st play of the 4th quarter, Elliott kicked a 42-yard field goal. Eagles 32, Patriots 26. 14 minutes and 9 seconds to go.

But the lead was now only 6 points. And here came Brady, marching his team down the field, ending with a 4-yard pass to Gronkowski. The extra point was good. Patriots 33, Eagles 32. The Eagles had blown it.

But there was still 9:22 to play. Foles converted a 3rd & 6 with a 7-yard pass, and later a 4th & 1 with a 2-yard pass, both to Zach Ertz. Foles kept going, getting 1st downs, until throwing to Ertz for 9 yards and a touchdown. They went for the 2-point conversion, but failed. Eagles 38, Patriots 33. There were 2 minutes and 21 seconds left.

But Brady was still going to get the ball back one more time. On the Patriots' 2nd play, Brandon Graham hit Brady for the only sack of the game, forcing a fumble that Derek Barnett picked up. The Eagles ran the clock down, forcing the Patriots to run out of time-outs. Elliott kicked a 46-yard field goal.

Eagles 41, Patriots 33. There was 1 minute and 5 seconds to go, no time-outs for the Pats, and they needed a touchdown and a 2-point conversion just to send the game to overtime.

But Brady is as trustworthy as a snake with a silencer on his rattle. He got the Pats to their 49-yard line with 9 seconds to go. He faded back, and Graham nearly sacked him again. There would be no chance to stop the clock and try one last play: This was it: Brady threw a Hail Mary pass into toward the end zone, and it came down near the goal line. But there were just too many hands coming out of green shirts, and it was knocked down.

Ballgame over. For the 1st time in 57 years, the Philadelphia Eagles were World Champions. Foles, who wasn't even the Eagles' starting quarterback until December 17, was named the game's Most Valuable Player. Just 8 weeks earlier, he was a backup, who looked like he might never start another game in the NFL. Now, he was the Super Bowl MVP, and had outplayed Tom Brady head-to-head.

The 2 teams combined for the most yards gained in a single game in the NFL's 98-season history, 1,151. Only Super Bowl XXIX, with 75 points, had more points between the 2 teams than this game's 74. The Patriots gained 613 yards and scored 33 points, enough to outscore the winners of 32 of the 1st 51 Super Bowls. But not enough to win this one.

The parades that the City of Philadelphia put on for the 1974 and 1975 Flyers, the 1980 and 2008 Phillies, and the 1983 76ers were big. None were bigger than for the 2017-18 Eagles. They'd waited a long time for this. Talk about a "Philly Special."

In 2019, a poll ranked this game 14th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.

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February 4, 2018 was a Sunday. This was the only football game played that day. Baseball was out of season. There were 9 games played in the NBA:

* The Washington Wizards beat the Orlando Magic, 115-98 at the Amway Center in Orlando. (It's now named the Kia Center.)

* The Houston Rockets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 120-88 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Miami Heat, 111-107 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 100-92 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis. Somehow, I don't think too many people in the Delaware Valley cared about this loss.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 118-107 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Anthony Davis scored 38 in defeat for the Pels.

* The Utah Jazz beat the San Antonio Spurs, 120-111 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Golden State Warriors, 115-108 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Chicago Bulls, 113-103 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* And the Dallas Mavericks beat the Sacramento Kings, 106-99 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

And there were 3 games played in the NHL that day:

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-1 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the Capital One Arena in Washington. This turned out to be a preview of that season's Stanley Cup Finals, except the Caps won.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Carolina Panthers, 3-1 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh.

February 3, 2008: 18 and 1

February 5, 2008: The New England Patriots had the chance to have the greatest season in NFL history, 19-0. And they couldn't do it.

This time, the cheating didn't work.

The Patriots had won Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII and XXXIX. For this season, to a team that already had quarterback Tom Brady, they added receiver Randy Moss and linebacker Junior Seau. They won all 16 regular-season games, and only 4 teams came within 4 points of them. Interestingly, one of those came in the last game, a 38-35 win over the New York Giants at the Meadowlands.

They had little trouble dispatching the Jacksonville Jaguars and then the San Diego Chargers to get to 18-0, and reach Super Bowl XLII, at University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

It would be a rematch with the Giants. They were an inconsistent team: They lost their 1st 2 games, won their next 6, then went 4-4 for the rest of the way, to finish 10-6. They didn't even win their Division: The Dallas Cowboys won the NFC East.

If they wanted to get to the Super Bowl, they would have to win 3 games on the road. They did: The beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 24-14 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa; the Dallas Cowboys, 21-17 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas; and the Green Bay Packers, 23-20 in overtime at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

I was at the Prudential Center in Newark, watching the New Jersey Devils beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2, on the day of the NFC Championship Game. Devils management let us stick around, and watch the rest of the Championship Game on the big scoreboard. Since most Devils fans are also Giant fans, the arena was still half-full. We were nice and toasty warm, while the Giants were playing in typical Green Bay weather: Cold, windy, and snow blowing all over the place. But Lawrence Tynes kicked the overtime field goal to send the G-Men to the Super Bowl.

The Patriots were favored by 12 points. A book about the 19-0 perfect season, by the sports staff of the Boston Herald, was getting set. All it needed were the photographs and the basic details of the Super Bowl (score, MVP), and they would print the last few pages, and ship out the next day.

I wonder what happened to those books.

The Giants had won Super Bowls XXI and XXV, under coach Bill Parcells, the latter being his masterpiece, with the Giants keeping possession for 40 minutes. And he had coached the Patriots into Super Bowl XXXI, although they lost it to the Packers. For all 3 of these games, Bill Belichick was his defensive coordinator. Now, Belichick was getting ready to go 4-0 in Super Bowls as a head coach.

Well, wherever "the Big Tuna" was on the day of Super Bowl XLII, he had to love the opening drive of the game. The Giants broke the record of 9 minutes and 29 seconds they set in Super Bowl XXV, with a drive lasting 9 minutes and 59 seconds, 16 plays, and 63 yards. It included 4 3rd-down conversions. But the Pats forced them to settle for a field goal. Tynes kicked from 32 yards out, and the Giants led, 3-0.

But on the 1st play of the 2nd quarter, the Patriots took the lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Laurence Maroney. The rest of the 1st half, and the entirety of the 3rd quarter, would be scoreless: It remained Patriots 7, Giants 3.

The main reason for this is that the Giants' "Big Blue Wrecking Crew" defense, led by ends Michael Strahan in his last game (he'd already announced his retirement) and Osi Umenyiora, had figured out how to handle Brady: Break through his offensive line, and knock him on his ass. Sometimes, he got a pass off in time; sometimes, he didn't.

But, for the first time, I saw a look in Brady's eyes. A "deer in the headlights" look. A look I'd previously seen on other quarterbacks, including John Elway, Jim Kelly and, in the 1st Super Bowl the Patriots won, Kurt Warner: The look a quarterback gets when he knows he's going to lose the Super Bowl.

The 4th quarter would belong to Giant quarterback Eli Manning -- and, secondarily, to wide receiver David Tyree. Just 2 years after his brother Peyton Manning finally won a Super Bowl, Eli went to work. That would included a 17-yard catch by Steve Smith on 4th down, and ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Tyree. With 11:05 to go, it was 10-7 New York.

The teams then traded punts. Then the Patriots got the ball back, and, thanks to a slip by cornerback Corey Webster, Moss got left wide open, and Brady threw him a 6-yard touchdown pass. With 2:42 left, it was 14-10 New England.

Sure, there was plenty of time left. Sure, the Giants had all 3 of their time-outs left, and the 2-minute warning. But the Patriots don't lose. Brady doesn't lose. And we knew why: This had been the season that "Spygate" was revealed, the 1st indication we had that the Patriots were a bunch of cheaters. So for people who rooted for the Giants, and people who rooted against the Patriots, and people who just don't like cheating, things were gloomy.

Eli started from his own 17, needing a touchdown, as a field goal would only have made it 14-13 New England. He threw to Amani Toomer for 11 yards and a 1st down. Ball on the Giant 28. Throw to Plaxico Burress, incomplete. Another to Burress, incomplete. Another pass to Toomer, good for only 9 yards.

4th & 1 on the Giant 37. 1:59 left. No time to punt and hope the defense holds Brady again. Gotta go for it. Eli handed off to Brandon Jacobs. He gained 2 yards, but that was enough.

1:34 left. Ball on the Giant 39. Eli runs the ball himself, for 5 yards. Time-out. Pass intended for Tyree, incomplete. 3rd & 5 on the Giant 44. What happened next was one of the most epic plays in NFL history.

Eli took the snap. Adalius Thomas nearly sacked him. He got away. Jarvis Green and Richard Seymour converged on him. He got away again. He saw Tyree -- not quite open, as Rodney Harrison, one of the best defensive backs of that era, was covering him. Eli saw no choice by to throw, and hope Tyree got it.

Tyree jumped, caught the ball, and then held it against his helmet as he fell to the ground. Talk about "using your head." It was a 32-yard gain, and a 1st down at the Patriot 24.

No matter what either Manning brother has otherwise done, and no matter what they do in the future, that near-sack and pass to Tyree will live forever. A "signature play" not just for one guy (well, two, you gotta count Tyree) but for an entire era of Bigbluedom.

There were 59 seconds left, and the Giants took their 2nd time-out. Thomas sacked Eli, and the Giants took their last time-out. Eli threw for Tyree, but it fell incomplete. Then he hit Steve Smith for 12 yards. 1st & 10 on the Patriot 13. There were 45 seconds left in the game.

Eli found Burress alone in the corner of the end zone, and threw it to him. Touchdown. Tynes' extra point was good. Giants 17, Patriots 14, with 39 seconds left.

Tynes' kickoff gave the Patriots the ball on their own 26, with 29 seconds left, and all 3 time-outs. If Brady could get 40 yards, it would put Stephen Gostkowski in range for a 51-yard field goal. And, knowing Brady, every TV viewer figured he could do it.

But this was the Strahan-led Giant defense. They were ready to stop Brady one last time. Brady threw for Jabar Gaffney, but it was incomplete. Brady faded back, but was sacked for a 10-yard loss by a rookie, Jay Alford. 1st time-out. Brady threw deep for Moss, but Corey Webster knocked it away. 2nd time-out.

4th & 20. Ball on the Patriot 16. 10 seconds on the clock. Theoretically, there was time for a pass play of 20 yards and maybe a little more, and then one more shot, a bit closer, at the end zone. So here was Brady, the most-heralded quarterback of the era, with Moss, the most-heralded receiver at that point, both at their career peaks, ready to win the Super Bowl on one throw.

Brady made the throw. Moss was ready for it. But so was Giant safety Gibril Wilson, who knocked it away. One second remained. Eli took the snap, and dropped to a knee, and it was over. Final score: New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14.

It is the greatest victory in Giants history. Sure, the 1934 NFL Championship Game, "the Sneaker Game" win over a previously undefeated Chicago Bears team, is legendary. So is their 47-7 demolition of the Bears in the 1956 NFL Championship Game. So were their 2 previous Super Bowl wins. But this was special: They had prevented the perfect season, a slightly more perfect season than the 1972 Miami Dolphins had at 17-0.

And don't think the New York-New England rivalry didn't come into it, either. Sure, Jet fans, having to play the Patriots twice a season as AFC Eastern Division rivals, hate the Patriots more. But most Giant fans are also Yankee Fans, and their hatred of the Red Sox had spilled over to other New England teams. Not hard, since most Giant fans are also Ranger fans, and the rivalry with the Boston Bruins long predated those with the New York Islanders and the New Jersey Devils. And most Giant fans are also Knick fans, and they hate the Boston Celtics.

All those books, all those newspaper special editions, all those T-shirts, all those anything else that said "19-0"... all of it had to go, just as the Patriots' legacy went down the drain. There had been blowout losses in the Super Bowl, including 1 by the Patriots in Super Bowl XX. And the Patriots didn't play badly in this one. But this may be the single most humiliating loss in Super Bowl history. As well it should be, given all the trash the Patriots and their fans were talking.

At the time, I was living within walking distance of the Brunswick Circle, an interchange in New Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey. The intersection of the highways, U.S. Route 1 and New Jersey Route 18, made me think of this game, and so, ever since, I have called it "Patriot Circle." 18 and 1.

In 2019, a poll ranked this game 5th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years, the highest-ranking Super Bowl.

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February 3, 2008 was a Sunday. It was the only football game played that day. Baseball was out of season. There were 2 games scheduled in the NBA: The Detroit Pistons beat the Dallas Mavericks, 90-67 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan; and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Washington Wizards, 103-91 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

And there was only 1 game scheduled in the NHL: In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The Habs blew a 3-0 lead, and the Broadway Blueshirts got goals from 5 different players: Michal Rozsival, Brandon Dubinsky, Scott Gomez, Chris Drury and Martin Straka.