The Connecticut women's basketball team raised their winning streak to 89 games with a dominating victory over Florida State.
Much has been made of the Connecticut women’s basketball team passing the 1971-74 UCLA men’s basketball squad for the longest winning streak in college basketball history.
It is truly an amazing accomplishment and one that should be celebrated and given significant publicity.
However, instead of simply recognizing the greatness of coach Geno Auriemma and the Connecticut program, many (including Auriemma himself) can’t get away from the gender issues related to this being women’s basketball.
Some former UCLA players, sensitive to the legacy of their beloved coach John Wooden, said in advance that they hoped UConn would lose. Other have been quick to assert that since this is women’s basketball, UConn hasn’t been challenged every night the way I guess they think UCLA was.
While I can understand the first reaction by UCLA players, it reminds me of the members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins who crack open a bottle of champagne every year once all NFL teams have lost a game. Much like the 1972 Dolphins, the legacy of Coach Wooden’s Bruins is secure and not in doubt just because another team has broken one of their records.
The argument that really frustrates me is the one about the Connecticut record not being as meaningful because they are playing against women. Read the rest of this entry →
DeSean Jackson completed the latest Philadelphia Eagles comeback win over the New York Giants with a 65-yard punt return.
The game may not have been played at the original Meadowlands, but the shocking late rally on Sunday afternoon by the visiting Philadelphia Eagles over the New York Giants proves that the new Meadowlands still is a place where the Eagles can perform miracles.
After taking a 24-3 halftime edge and scoring a touchdown to take a 31-10 lead with 8:43 remaining in the game, it looked like the Giants would make their first game against the Eagles in the new stadium a statement victory.
However, anyone who ever saw Eagles-Giants games at the old Meadowlands knows that when the Eagles come to visit strange things can happen.
Michael Vick tossed two touchdown passes and ran for another in just over six minutes of game time to tie the contest at 31-31 with 1:24 remaining.
The Giants had one final chance, but were unable to move the ball and punted to the Eagles with 14 seconds remaining.
It looked like overtime was inevitable, especially when punt returner DeSean Jackson mishandled the line-drive punt from rookie Matt Dodge. However, Jackson instead became the latest Eagle to break the hearts of Giants fans with an electrifying 65-yard return to complete the comeback and give Philadelphia the inside edge to winning the NFC East.
It is the most recent in a series of Philadelphia miracles that began with the original “Miracle at the Meadowlands” on November 19, 1978. In that game, the Giants led 17-6 entering the fourth quarter and had the ball and a 17-12 lead in the final minute.
Needing simply to take a knee and run out the clock, quarterback Joe Pisarcik instead tried to hand the ball off to Larry Csonka. The ball fell to the turf and bounced nicely into the hands of Herm Edwards, who took it 26 yards for the game winning score. Read the rest of this entry →
The Vikings will be playing their first outdoor game since the days of Metropolitan Stadium.
The final home game of the 50th season for the Minnesota Vikings will be a cold “blast from the past” as the recent deflation of the roof at the Metrodome means the Vikings and Chicago Bears will be clashing Monday night outdoors at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Stadium.
From their creation in 1961 through the 1981 season the Vikings played all their home games outdoors at Metropolitan Stadium. During that time, there were a plethora of frozen memories as the Vikings enjoyed significant success playing on their frozen tundra.
Overall, the Vikings were 91-56-4 at Metropolitan Stadium during the regular season and 7-3 on the frozen turf during the post season.
When the Vikings played their first game at Metropolitan Stadium on September 21, 1961 they showed signs of what was to come as they surprised the veteran Chicago Bears 37-13 behind the four-touchdown passes thrown by rookie quarterback Fran Tarkenton.
The Vikings were 15-26-1 during their first six seasons playing at Metropolitan Stadium under head coach Norm Van Brocklin and overall posted just one winning season. However, once Bud Grant arrived in 1967, the team soon started to develop into one of the elite teams in the league and Metropolitan Stadium was an important component of that success.
In 1969 the Vikings were a perfect 7-0 at home during the regular season and then won consecutive cold weather playoff games over the Los Angeles Rams (23-20; 10 degrees, -1 wind chill) and Cleveland Browns (27-7; 8 degrees, -6 wind chill) to reach the Super Bowl for the first time. Read the rest of this entry →
It was quite a journey for Rocky Balboa from a Philadelphia meat locker to the Boxing Hall of Fame.
Since the day he first burst onto the boxing scene with his improbable performance against Apollo Creed on January 1, 1976, it was probably inevitable that one day Rocky Balboa would take his rightful place as a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Of course the only trouble with that hypothesis is the reality that Rocky Balboa was a fictional character created by actor Sylvester Stallone and not actually a real-life boxing icon.
So, instead of actually inducting Balboa, the Boxing Hall of Fame has done the next best thing and bestowed that honor on Stallone, who not only created the character, but then played Balboa in six installments of one of the greatest sports movie franchises in history.
Because all of the Rocky movies have now been on television so many times that even casual Rocky fans can recite most of the lines and the story line has been hijacked in countless other movies, it is easy to forget the initial impact of this Cinderella story.
When Sylvester Stallone wrote and starred in the original Rocky in 1976 he was not the internationally recognized action star he has become over the last 35 years.
Rocky was filmed on a budget of $1 million and shot in 28 days. But this dark-horse movie immediately struck a cord with the American public and made over $225 million (a huge box office gross for 1976).
The film was so well thought of that it received 10 Oscar nominations and won three statues, including best picture.
History now tells us that the studio originally looked at such big-time stars as Robert Redford, James Caan and Burt Reynolds for the title role. I contend that had they decided to cast an already established actor the movie would never have reached the iconic level it enjoys today. Read the rest of this entry →
On December 8, 1987, Ron Hextall became the first goalie in NHL history to score a goal.
Today is the anniversary of one of those interesting sports footnotes that were truly unique and deserve to be remembered. It was 23 years ago that Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ron Hextall did something that had never previously been accomplished in an NHL game.
When you watch the replay, it doesn’t seem all that difficult a feat to accomplish, but before Hextall whipped a shot the length of the ice into an empty net on December 8, 1987, no goalie had ever actually scored in an NHL game.
The accomplishment came at the end of a contest against the Boston Bruins. With Philadelphia leading 4-2, the Bruins pulled their keeper, Rejean Lemelin, to add another offensive player. After Hextall picked up a loose puck near his goal, Hextall whipped it the length of the ice and it easily nestled into the net.
Hextall would repeat the accomplishment on April 11, 1989 in a playoff game against the Washington Capitals to become the first goalie to score in a playoff game.
Interestingly, Hextall was not the first goalie credited with a goal. Because of hockey’s score keeping rule that credits a goal to the last offensive player to touch the puck, on November 28, 1979, Billy Smith of the New York Islanders was the first NHL goalie to be credited with a goal even though he didn’t actually shoot the puck into the net. Smith was awarded the goal during a game against the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies’ goaltender left the ice for an extra skater after a delayed penalty was called on the Islanders. During the ensuing play, Smith made a save, then a Rockies player passed the puck to a vacant point, and it traveled the length of the ice into the empty net.
There have been a total of 11 goals credited to goalies in NHL history with six of them resulting directly from a goalie shooting the puck into the net. Following the two goals by Hextall, the next to accomplish the feat was Chris Osgood in 1996. Martin Brodeur, Jose Theodore and Evgeni Nabokov are the others with Nabokov being the last to do so in 2002.
In his NFL debut, Clint Longley led Dallas to a 24-23 victory over the Washington Redskins on Thanksgiving Day.
Professional football has a long and storied history as part of our American Thanksgiving tradition. Many of the greatest players and best teams in NFL history have made their mark on this holiday and thus created a special place for themselves in the memories of families across the country during this time of fellowship and giving thanks.
While many of the players who have performed well on Thanksgiving Day were familiar faces and established stars of the game, there also have been a number of players whose one shining moment as a professional football player occurred on the big stage of Turkey Day.
One such player was former Dallas Cowboys backup quarterback Jason Garrett. Until recently becoming interim head coach of the Cowboys, he was likely best remembered by most football fans for his nearly flawless performance in place of starting quarterback Troy Aikman on Thanksgiving Day in 1994.
In only his second career start, Garrett passed for 311 yards and two touchdowns to help Dallas defeat the Green Bay Packers 42-31.
However, while Garrett’s performance was impressive, it was arguably not the best or most memorable performance by a Dallas backup quarterback on Thanksgiving Day.
That honor would belong to a rookie quarterback from Abilene Christian who two decades before Garrett’s Thanksgiving performance made a lasting impression on the football world with a memorable Thanksgiving Day show of his own.
In the mid-1970s, the rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins was emerging as one of the most interesting in all of professional sports.
Thanks to the contrast between Washington’s spirited head coach George Allen and the stoic leader of the Cowboys Tom Landry, the rivalry had gained steam and by 1974 was among the most anticipated battles on the NFL calendar.
When the two squads squared off on Thanksgiving Day in 1974 it provided a perfect venue for the renewal of this special rivalry. Playing on national television in an era before video games, multiplex theaters and cable television provided people with other entertainment options, the late afternoon battle between the Cowboys and Redskins was truly America’s afternoon dessert following the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Read the rest of this entry →
The Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Month is one of the most underappreciated wide receivers in NFL history, despite boasting a career that spanned 16 seasons and saw him excel as one of the league’s premier deep threats. Known for his speed, route-running, and ability to make plays downfield, Harold Jackson left an indelible mark on the game during an era that was not yet pass-heavy. Standing at 5’10” and weighing 175 pounds, he defied expectations of size to become a dominant force on the field. Over the course of his illustrious career (1968–1983), Jackson totaled 10,372 receiving yards and 76 touchdowns, placing him among the top receivers of his time.
