Sports Then and Now

The Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants renewed their bitter rivalry in a pivotal game for the NFC East title in week 12 of the 1988 NFL season.

The Giants entered the game with a 7-4 record and tied for first place in the division, thanks to quarterback Phil Simms and their stellar defense, lead by All-Pro linebacker Lawrence Taylor.

Meanwhile, the Eagles entered the game one back of the Giants, with a 6-5 record.

Like the Giants, the Eagles had a great defense; the “Gang Green” defense constructed by head coach Buddy Ryan and featured a lineup that included defensive tackle Jerome Brown, linebacker Seth Joyner, rookie cornerback Eric Allen, and sack master Reggie White at defensive end.

But the biggest star on the Eagles was quarterback Randall Cunningham, perhaps the most exciting player thanks to his rocket arm and scrambling ability.

The Eagles met the Giants earlier in the 1988 season on a Monday night in Philadelphia when Cunningham pulled off a play for the ages.

On a play at the Giants’ five-yard-line, Cunningham scrambled right where he was met by Giants linebacker Carl Banks who hit him on the legs, appearing to be knocking Cunningham to the ground. Read the rest of this entry →

`

In week 12 of the 2005 NFL season, the Seattle Seahawks and the New York Giants met in an important match-up between NFC division leaders seemingly on a collision course for the post season.

The New York Giants entered this game as leaders of the NFC East division with a 7-3 record, thanks in large part to the number one overall pick of the 2004 NFL Draft, quarterback Eli Manning, who the Giants traded for after Manning refused to go to the San Diego Chargers.

In his first full season as the starting quarterback, Manning led a potent offense that included running back Tiki Barber and wide receiver Plaxico Burress, who the Giants acquired from the Pittsburgh Steelers in the offseason.

Their opponent, the Seattle Seahawks entered the game on a six-game winning streak and an 8-2 record.

Like the Giants, the Seahawks had a potent offense, which was the league’s best, lead by quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and running back Shaun Alexander who had scored 19 touchdowns prior to this game.

At this point in time, the Seahawks had been a team that had the talent to be among the best, but just could get over the hump. Read the rest of this entry →

Ottis Anderson

The Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Month for November is the only eligible member of the NFL’s prestigious 10,000-yard rushing club who is not a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Though Ottis Anderson put up Hall of Fame caliber numbers during his 14-year career and was MVP of Super Bowl XXV, he is often overlooked in discussions about the best running backs in NFL history. Read the rest of this entry →

Bobby Thomson raced around the bases and into baseball immortality with his pennant-winning home run in 1951.

One hundred and seventy five players in baseball history have hit more home runs than the 264 blasted by Bobby Thomson during his 15-year major league career. However, it is arguable that no one has ever hit a more memorable homer than his “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” that lifted the New York Giants into the 1951 World Series.

Thomson passed away Monday at the age of 86 after a long illness, but his home run in the ninth inning of the final game of a three-game playoff between the Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers will live on forever.

The 1951 National League playoff race was to its generation what the 1978 Yankees-Red Sox race was to fans 27 years later. The Dodgers led the Giants by 13 games on August 11th, only to watch the lead disintegrate over the final seven weeks as Brooklyn went 26-22 in their final 48 regular season games.

At the same time, the New York Giants went 37-7 after August 11th to catch the Dodgers and force a three-game playoff. Read the rest of this entry →

Willie Mays

We recognize as the July Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Month a player who is always on the short-list of greatest players in Major League Baseball history. Willie Mays is one of three players (along with Hank Aaron and Stan Musial) to earn 24 All-Star appearances.

After earning Rookie of the Year honors in 1951, Mays missed most of the 1952 season and all of the 1953 season while serving in the military.

When he returned in 1954, Mays began a streak of 19 straight years earning an All-Star spot as he won the first of his two National League MVP Awards.

Mays was the rare player who could win games with his bat, glove and legs. Read the rest of this entry →

After 33 years, the final games have been played at the Meadowlands.

Some called it Giants Stadium.

And some (namely, Jets fans) called it the Meadowlands.

Come April, you can call it rubble.

The former home of the Jets and Giants (and Generals and Knights and Hit Men and Red Bulls, too), a concrete monolith in an asphalt jungle, and a beacon to New Yorkers and New Jerseyans traveling State Routes 3 and 120 and the New Jersey Turnpike, is slated to be torn down the spring (but is living long enough to see this year’s impressive, improbable Jets playoff run). The Jets and Giants will remain New Yorkers as New Jersey tenants when Meadowlands Stadium opens just next door in East Rutherford.

Opening in 1976, it was the first “major league” venue built in the state of New Jersey, and the last of a wave of “multi-purpose stadiums” erected in the era that included Three Rivers Stadium, Veterans Stadium, Riverfront Stadium and Busch Stadium. Appropriately, it is the last of that group to remain as it awaits the wrecking ball. (And when they dig it up, there’s been no confirmation that they’ll look for Jimmy Hoffa.)

When the Jets moved from Shea Stadium and across the Hudson River into New Jersey after failing to negotiate a new lease, the Meadowlands, thanks to hosting two teams for over 25 years, passed Wrigley Field in 2003 for the most NFL games hosted. Read the rest of this entry →