The 1989 Michigan basketball team was loaded with talent, from All-American forward Glen Rice to talented sophomore Sean Higgins, to the low post duo of Terry Mills and Loy Vaught to their fine point guard Rumeal Robinson. But after a third-place finish in the Big Ten, they looked ready to go into the books as an underachieving disappointment.
The Calgary Flames were hoisting the Cup, and a run of NHL dynasties that had seen only Montreal, the New York Islanders and Edmonton win the title since 1975 finally ran its course in the 1989 NHL playoffs
The A’s rolled through the playoffs, but the big story of the 1989 World Series was the earthquake that devastated a Bay Area battle with the San Francisco Giants, caused a delay for ten days between games and more importantly, caused massive human suffering.
The Detroit Pistons knocked on the NBA championship door in 1987. In 1988, they beat on it. And to borrow a motivational phrase from former Houston Oilers’ football coach Bum Phillips, the 1989 Detroit Pistons were the team that kicked the door in.
The Notre Dame-Miami game that ultimately decided college football’s 1989 national championship game wasn’t the epic battle it had been the prior year. It wasn’t as clear-cut that these were the best two teams. The sequel to Catholics vs. Convicts was much like Godfather II—it was pretty good, but it could never measure against the standard set by the original.
Toronto would succumb to the steamroller that was the 1989 Oakland A’s of Tony LaRussa, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire in the American League Championship Series. But both the Blue Jays and the Orioles gave baseball fans a terrific September stretch run, the most exciting regular season race in the 1989 MLB season.
I think it’s safe to say two things—none of us expected a sequel and none of us are complaining that we have one.
The 2014 Stanley Cup Finals begin tonight, as NBC is surely in a state of nirvana, as the get the nation’s two biggest TV markets, with the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers. TheSportsNotebook has done reviews of the road both teams took to get here, both in the regular season and how each elevated their game in the playoffs.
The New York Rangers are in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 22 years, as they get set for Game 1 tonight on the road in the Staples Center at the Los Angeles Kings. Here’s a look at how the Rangers got here, both in the regular season and then in the playoffs.
The Stanley Cup Finals being tonight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles (8 PM ET, NBC). The Los Angeles Kings are the betting favorite against the New York Rangers. Here’s a look at how the Kings got here, which includes debunking some myths…
…It was a most improbable ride to a Final Four. A #6 seed had gone through the bracket playing no one seeded higher than fourth (Kansas State)
The 1988 Edmonton Oilers didn’t dominate the regular season in the manner they had been accustomed to since 1983, a year that marked their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals with Wayne Gretzky and was followed up by their first championship a year later. But what the 1988 edition of the Edmonton Oilers did have was an ability to step it up in the playoffs and they added another Cup to their Gretzky-era legac
