Two Football Games, One City

    On January 15, 1939 the National Football League held its first All-Star Game. The game pitted the league champion New York Giants against an All-Star teaam made up of the members of the other teams in the league. Joining the All-Star team were three members of the Los Angeles Bulldogs. The Bulldogs were for the 1938 season a top independent team that spent the year between leagues. Although the NFL did not have any teams playing West of Chicago, the game was played at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. The Giants still were able to pull off a 13-10 victory over the Pro All-Stars.
   A full 28 years later, the NFL put yet an spotlight on the City of the Angels when the Green Bay Packers met the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League for what later became known as Super Bowl I. The Packers overwhelmed the Chiefs by a score of 35-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before almost 62,000 fans.
  Tomorrow we will take a look at a very early hockey game.

A Swim Down Under

     Most of the entries in this blog have been about team sports like Baseball, Hockey, Football and Basketball. A few of my entries have been about Soccer, one or two have been about Boxing or Horse Racing. Given that this blog is less then a year old, I have not had the chance to expand out as much as I would like to. Today we are going to take a look at swimming, not necessary a well known event that made swimming history that clearly many hard core fans of the sport remember well the event decades later, but a record breaking feat none the less. In the coming years, I hope to show many readers the deep depths of sports history. The type of stuff that will win you bar bets and trivia contests.
   We now go back to January 14, 1960 to a swim meet in Sydney, Australia. One of the competitors at the meet was a 15 year old emigrate from Latvia, Ilsa Konrads. In the Women's 1500 freestyle race, she set a new world record with a time of 19:25.7. Her performance shaved a full 37.4 seconds off the previous record. She was the first women to swin the 1500 in under 20 minutes. Todays record is under 16 minutes. Ilsa brother John won an Olympic gold medal at the 1960 games in Rome, Italy.
    Tomorrow we will will look at two Football firsts taking place at the same venue, 28 years apart. Any suggestions please leave comment, I would love to see feedback from my readers.

When Will History Show up

    In many sporting events it is obvisious right from the start that history is being made, sometimes history takes it time showing up. It sometimes shows up right at the end of a contest. For the fans at the McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado, on January 13, 1997 they had no idea if history would visit them at all. A fairly routine Basketball game between the Denver Nuggets and the Charlotte Hornets seemed like any other game when regulation play ended with the two teams tied at 100.  Tony Smith of the Nuggets made the first basket in the overtime period. A 1:29 later, the Hornets celebrated a 102-100 win over the Nuggets, as Smiths' basket was the only points scored during the overtime period. A new record was set for fewest points by both clubs in an overtime period. Although not impossible to break, this record will be hard to surpass. Does anyone know of a game where is record was broken on the professional level?
   Tomorrow we will go swimming down under.

Sports on the Move

   One of the many great things about sports is that they are constantly renewing themselves. Old leaguyes fade away, new ones are created, teams are moved and created. Although the pace is not quite what we saw in Baseball in the 19th century, teams and leagues are still changing a great rate. Today we look at changes made on January 12.
  We start back in 1908 when four baseball clubs from the Ohio-Pennsylvania League left the league to reform the Ohio State League. The four clubs were from the Ohio cities of Lancaster, Mansfield, Marion and Newark. The Ohio-Penn League then added the Canton, Ohio and Erie, Pennsylvania Clubs. The league would later add the east Liverpool, Ohio and McKeesport, Pennsylvania Clubs. The Ohio State League would operate off and on until 1951. The Ohio-Pennsylvania League would operate until 1912.
   On the very same day in the South Michigan League, the Mount Clemens, Michigan Club was transferred to Saginaw, Michigan. The South Michigan League was in a ten run that lasted until 1915.
   On January 12, 1915, in the Texas League the Austin, Texas Club was transferred back to Shreveport, Louisiana. The club had played for 4 seasons in Austin. The Texas League continues today as one of the great class AA leagues. The 2002 Texas League season saw a 35 year run in the league by the Shreveport Club come to an end, when the club was moved to Frisco, Texas. The Austin area had been represented in  the league by the Round Rock Express from 2000-04 before that club moved up to the Pacific Coast League.
    The next big move came in 1946 when the Cleveland Rams of the National Football League moved to Los Angeles. The City of Cleveland had no time to cry over the lose of the Rams as by that fall the Browns were playing the All-American Football Conference on their way to the NFL.
    Passing several smaller moves we arrive in 1954, as the International League prepared for its 70th anniversary season. In advance of the American League moving into its territory, the Baltimore franchise was transferred to Richmond, Virginia. At the very same time, the league truly went International as the Springfield, Massachusetts Club was transferred to Havana, Cuba. Havana joined the Canadian cities on Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto as a full half of the league was International. The Havan Club lasted until mid 1961 when forced to flee in mid season to Jersey City as Cuba and the Castro regime turned to communism.
   In 1967 the National Basketball Association expended to 12 clubs for the first time as San Diego, California was welcomed into the league for the first time. The Rockets however did not do well as the soon moved to Houston, Texas.
   The NBA was the only basketball league to make as move on January 12 as in 2005 the International Basketball League introduced the Stockton, California Club as its newest member. The club however never saw the court and withdrew from the league before ever playing a game. They joined a long list of ghost clubs, awarded but never played in the long history of team sports.
   Tomorrow we return to McNichols Sports arena in Denver for another historical basketball game. 
     

The Scorekeepers Nightmare

     On January 11, 1984 the San Antonio Spurs traveled to Denvers McNichols Arena to play the Nuggets. The 9429 fans in attendance certainly did not expect the ultra high scoring game that they got. At the end of the first quarter the Nuggets led by score of 47-40. In many games that would have been the score at the end of the first half. The game seemed to settle down as the Nuggets score only 35 points, it was enough to outscore the Spurs who scored a game low 24 points. The two clubs went into the locker room with a score of 82-64.
   The third did not show itself as part of a record scoring game as the Nuggets scored 35 and the Spurs outpointed thier hosts by three points. Things got all out of control in the fourth quarter as the Spurs pumped in amazing 53 points for a second half total of 91 points, and still lost the game as the Nuggets scored 46.
   The game stats were amazing Spurs 46 rebounds, 42 assists and 34 fouls. The Nuggets had 52 rebounds, 44 assists and 30 fouls.
   Tomorrow we will take a look at franchise movements, honest it will be interesting. Have a nice week.  
    
  

An Explosive Beginning

    In the years before they moved into the Montreal Forum, the Montreal Canadiens played their games at the Mount Royal Arena. The arena was built as a replacement for the Jubilee Arena, which had the previous summer become the second Montreal arena to burn down in less then two years time.  On January 10, 1920 they played their first game at the newly built rink. They welcomed the Toronto Saint Patricks to the almost completed arena. The Canadiens made themselves at home in their new building. Edouard C. "Newsy" LaLonde of the Canadiens did better then just a simple first hat trick in the new building, he doubled it. LaLonde scored a record six goals in a 14-7 win over the Saint Patricks. The record set by LaLonde still stands to this very day. The Saint Patricks would not continue as doormats for the Canadiens, after a change of names to the Maple Leafs have very much held their own against the team frequently called the Habs.
  Tomorow we will look at a 318 point basketball game, that was decided by a mere 8 points. 

From Baltimore with Love

When the Western League of 1899 changed its name to the American League in time for the 1900 season, they began a march towards history. The following year the league made its move on the east coast with four clubs invading the territory. The invaded cities were Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Interestingly enough New York City was not on that list. The city would not get a team during the leagues first two seasons as a Major League.
   On January 9, 1903 history was made when the Baltimore club was approved for transfer to New York. The club was quickly named the Highlanders. The name was used during the teams first 10 years, at that point in time the team name was changed to the Yankees. By 1921 the club made their first trip to the World Series, by 1923 the team won their first World Series and seems you cant keep them out. The Yankees have contributed a lot to Sports history in the years since with many memorable heroes.
   We will continue tomorrow with a look at an expolsive beginning in 1920.