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.

October 3, 2021: Tom Brady Breaks the NFL Record for Games by a Non-Kicker

October 3, 2021: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the New England Patriots, 19-17 at a rainy Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Tom Brady, 44 years old, starting for the Bucs, whom he'd led to to win the previous season's Super Bowl, against the team he'd led to win 6 of them, through means both legal and otherwise, completed 22 out of 43 passes for 269 yards. No touchdown passes, but no interceptions, either.

It was the 304th regular-season game of Brady's career, setting a new record for a non-kicker. The previous record was set from 1985 to 2004, by Jerry Rice. Some people, unwilling to accept the fact that Brady is known to have cheated and gotten caught more than once, believe him to be the greatest quarterback of all time. Rice is, beyond any doubt, the greatest receiver of all time. Both have been put forward as the greatest player of all time, regardless of position.

But Brady's work in this game wasn't enough. The Bucs needed Ryan Succop, who kicked 4 field goals, including a 48-yarder with 1:57 left to play, that proved to be the winning margin.

Brady played the rest of the 2021 season, and 2022, before retiring at 45, having played in 335 games, plus another 48 in the postseason, including a record 10 Super Bowls, winning a record 7 of them.

But then, how do we know any of it was real?

*

October 3, 2021 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the New Orleans Saints, 27-21 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The New York Jets beat the Tennessee Titans, 27-24 at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 42-30 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Football Team (not yet having changed their name to the Commanders) beat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-30 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Miami Dolphins, 27-17 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Carolina Panthers, 36-28 at AT&T Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Houston Texans, 40-0 at the old Highmark Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium and Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions, 24-14 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-17 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Minnesota Vikings, 14-7 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Denver Broncos, 23-7 at now Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Rams, 37-20 at SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, 28-21 at Levi’s Stadium outside San Francisco in Santa Clara, California.

* The preceding Thursday, the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-21 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* And the following night, on ESPN Monday Night Football, in a matchup that used to be something of a rivalry, and perhaps could be again, the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Las Vegas Raiders, 28-14 at SoFi Stadium, which ended up hosting 2 NFL games in a span of 5 days.

And it was the last day of Major League Baseball's regular season. These games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 1-0 at the new Yankee Stadium. (It wasn't quite "new" anymore, but then, neither was the "new" Soldier Field.) How many Yankees does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout at home? Would you believe, 6? Jameson Taillon allowed 2 hits in 3 1/3rd innings, Wandy Peralta 1 in 1 1/3rd, Clay Holmes none in 1, Chad Green 1 in 1, Jonathan Loáisiga 1 in 1 1/3rd, and Aroldis Chapman none in 1.

The game was scoreless going into the bottom of the 9th. Rougned Odor led off with a single. Tyler Wade was sent in to pinch-run for him. Gleyber Torres flew out. Anthony Rizzo singled. And, on the one and only pitch he ended up throwing, Andrew Kittredge gave up a ground ball to Aaron Judge, and, unable to throw home in time, gave up the winning run. Not the distance one would expect from Judge, but the result.

The Yankees still finished 8 games behind the Rays in the American League Eastern Division, but needed that game to get them home-field advantage over the hated Red Sox for the AL Wild Card Playoff. It did them no good: Two days later, the Sox beat them, 6-2.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 5-0 at Truist Park in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland, Georgia. How many Braves pitchers does it take to pitch a 3-hit shutout at home? Would you believe, 6? But after giving up 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning, including a home run by Jorge Soler, Met manager Luis Rojas gave up on starter Noah Syndergaard. The Mets finished under .500 and missed the Playoffs, while the Braves ended up winning the World Series.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Nationals, 7-5 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Miami Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-4 at LoanDepot Park in Miami.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 12-4 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-3 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-2 at Guaranteed Rate Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Chicago Cubs were leading their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 after 7 innings at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, when the game was called due to rain, making the Cubs the winners.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-3 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers, 6-0 at Globe Life Field in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. How many Indians does it take to pitch a 4-hit shutout? In this case, 5. After 107 seasons, this was the last game the Cleveland franchise played under the Indians name. When they debuted the next season, it was under the name of the Cleveland Guardians.

* The Houston Astros beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-6 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-4 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 11-4 at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

* And the Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-3 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

September 23, 2001: Bledsoe Out, Brady In

September 23, 2001: The NFL returns to action, after postponing the previous weekend's games, due to the terrorist attacks on September 11. Both of the planes that hit the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York took off from Logan International Airport in Boston. As it worked out, the next game for the New York Jets and the Boston-area team, the New England Patriots, was against each other, at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Jets vs. Patriots was a rivalry that began in the American Football League in 1960. But, unlike such other New York vs. Boston matchups as Yankees vs. Red Sox, Knicks vs. Celtics and Rangers vs. Bruins, it wasn't that much of a rivalry until 1993, when the Patriots hired former Giants coach Bill Parcells, who then took his team back into the Meadowlands once a year to face the Jets. This included the 1996 season, when, with Drew Bledsoe at quarterback, the Patriots went on to win the AFC title, before losing the Super Bowl.

Then, in 1997, the Jets hired Parcells away, and that raised the rivalry more. He left, and in 2000, the Jets thought they'd hired former Parcells assistant Bill Belichick as head coach. He lasted one day, then quit to take the Patriots' job, infuriating Jet fans.

In this game, the Jets led, 10-3, with 3 minutes left in regulation, when Jet linebacker Mo Lewis knocked Bledsoe out of the game. At first, it was believed that Bledsoe had a concussion, serious enough to take him out, but nothing more. But he didn't seem right, and was sent to the hospital, where he was treated for internal bleeding. He almost died.

Bledsoe was replaced at quarterback by Tom Brady. Cliché Alert: The rest is history. The 10-3 score held, the Jets won, and the Pats fell to 0-2. Brady, a 6th-round draft choice out of the University of Michigan, became the starter, and went 5-3. Then he led the Pats to victory in their last 6 regular-season games, including a 17-16 win over the Jets at the Meadowlands, and overtime wins over San Diego ad Buffalo.

Then came the postseason. The Patriots beat the Oakland Raiders in the Divisional Round, in a snowstorm in what became known as "The Tuck Rule Game," in what turned out to be the last game in the 31-season history of Schaefer/Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium. What became Gillette Stadium, and the Patriot Place mall, were being built next-door.

Then came a win over the Steelers in Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game, when Brady got hurt, and Bledsoe was able to come back and be a part of the championship run. Then came Brady, and Adam Vinatieri's field goal, giving them an inspirational win over the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. The Patriots were a bunch of plucky underdogs that had captured the nation's admiration.

But, like most teams that unexpectedly start winning and keep going -- the 1970s Dallas Cowboys, and in the 1990s, the Atlanta Braves, the New York Yankees, the Duke basketball team, and English soccer team Manchester United -- people got sick of them once they were no longer plucky underdogs.

It led to Brady and the Patriots absolutely dominating the AFC Eastern Division, and the Jets in particular, ever since.

And it all started with Mo Lewis hitting Drew Bledsoe too hard. What if Lewis had missed that tackle? Bledsoe would have remained the starter. Maybe the Patriots win fewer games. Maybe it's the Steelers who play the Rams in that Super Bowl. Maybe, instead of 6 Super Bowls, the Patriots win none. Or maybe Bledsoe only lasts another couple of years, and Brady takes over from there, and the Patriots' dynasty is merely delayed, instead of prevented.

We'll never know.

*

September 23, 2001 was a Sunday. The same day, a memorial service for the victims of the 9/11 attacks was held at Yankee Stadium in New York. I have a separate entry for this event.

These other NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Giants beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 13-3 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Carolina Panthers, 24-16 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans, 13-6 at Alltel Stadium (now EverBank Stadium) in Jacksonville, Florida.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Oakland Raiders, 18-15 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. Jay Fiedler scored on a quarterback sneak with 5 seconds to play, to win the game.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Detroit Lions, 24-14 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field) in Cleveland.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens, 21-10 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Buffalo Bills, 42-26 at the RCA Dome (formerly the Hoosier Dome) in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 17-10 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 32-21 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Arizona Cardinals, 38-17 at Sun Devil Stadium (now Mountain America Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers, 30-26 at 3Com Park (as Candlestick Park was then known) in San Francisco. The Rams-Niners rivalry had lost a lot since the Rams left Los Angeles, but it would eventually be restored.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Seattle Seahawks, 27-3 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. The Seahawks were playing at the University of Washington's complex while the Kingdome was being torn down, and what is now Lumen Field was built on the site.

* The next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Green Bay Packers beat the Washington Redskins, 37-0 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* And the New Orleans Saints, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a bye week.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The Yankees scored 2 runs in the 8th inning, 1 in the 9th to send the game to extra innings, and 1 in the top of the 10th, when John Parrish walked Bernie Williams with the bases loaded, forcing Nick Johnson home. This made a winning pitcher out of Nick Johnson, in relief of Orlando "El Duque" Hernández.

Cal Ripken, in his last few days as an active player, hit what turned out to be the last home run of his career, his 407th. Johnson homered for the Yankees, going 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Derek Jeter got the day off, with Enrique Wilson playing shortstop.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 5-4 at Shea Stadium. Brian Jordan led off the top of the 11th inning with a home run, his 2nd homer of the game, making John Smoltz a winning pitcher in relief of Tom Glavine. Joe McEwing hit a home run for the Mets.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Montreal Expos, 5-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 12-6 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Florida Marlins, 5-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Johnny Estrada hit a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to win it. Travis Leed went 4-for-4 with 2 solo homers.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 1-0 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Joe Kennedy allowed 4 hits over 7 innings, and Esteban Yan finished the 5-hit shutout. Steve Cox hit a home run in the 1st inning, for the only run of the game.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Rookie Albert Pujols went 0-for-4.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-2 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-3 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-3 with a walk.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Anaheim Angels, 5-2 at The Ballpark in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-6 at Enron Field (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 11-2 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium). Barry Bonds hit his 65th * and 66th * home runs of the season. Tony Gwynn, in his last few days as an active player, pinch-hit, and did not reach base.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-4 at the Network Associates Coliseum (as the Oakland Coliseum was then known). Mark Mulder won his 20th game of the season, outpitching Freddy García. Ichiro Suzuki went 1-for-5. 

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.

Raymond James Stadium

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.

The Pirate Ship, Raymond James Stadium

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.

*

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.

*

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.