The 1988 Los Angeles Lakers were playing basketball under a self-imposed burden as the regular season wound down. The previous June they had won their fourth championship since Magic Johnson was drafted in 1980. In the aftermath of beating the Celtics, Coach Pat Riley made a public guarantee—they would win it again in 1988 and become the first NBA team in 19 years to capture back-to-back titles.
The 1985 Georgetown Hoyas were coming off a national championship and with future #1 NBA draft pick Patrick Ewing back for his senior season, a repeat title looked like destiny. Ewing’s shotblocking skills were without peer in college basketball, his offensive game was solid, and head coach John Thompson had the big man surrounded with a deep team that attacked defensively and could score enough to win.
The 1984 Georgetown Hoyas were an intimidating force and physically manhandled opponents en route to a national title. Patrick Ewing, the 7’0” center, whose defense defined every game, was in his junior year, and the team looked like it had in 1982, with a very deep team surrounding him. They played defense, hit the boards and were the #1 seed in the West by NCAA Tournament time.
The 1982 Georgetown Hoyas were a program steadily on the rise in a Big East Conference that was much the same. With big John Thompson, the 6’10” head coach, patrolling the sidelines, the Hoyas made a regional final in the 1980 NCAA Tournament before losing by one point to Iowa. Then Thompson made a huge splash when he signed stud freshman center, 7’0” Patrick Ewing, the nation’s most coveted recruit. The stage was set for great things.
Quarterback Joe Theisman led an explosive offense. The Redskin run under Joe Gibbs from 1982-91 would be ultimately defined by “The Hogs”, the big offensive line, and in the early 1980s, the work of power running back John Riggins. But Theisman was always instrumental in leading the passing game and he had the best year of his career in 1983, en route to an MVP award.
The NFL season of 1982 was overshadowed by labor difficulties and after two games, the season was temporarily shut down with a players’ strike. Play would not resume until November 21 with plans for a truncated nine-game schedule and divisional distinctions abandoned for playoff purposes. Nothing—not the strike, not broken momentum, not anyone in the NFL could stop the 1982 Washington Redskins, as they won the franchise’s first Super Bow
A weekend of great basketball concluded with UConn and Kentucky grabbing the final two places in the Final Four, alongside Florida and Wisconsin who won on Saturday. The Huskies beat Michigan State in a good game, and Kentucky survived Michigan in a stupendous game in what is turning out to be a tournament for the ages for the young Wildcats.
The 2014 major league baseball season officially began last weekend in Australia, with an idiotic decision by MLB to have the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks play a couple games that actually count. But the Opening Day that counts is Monday and that means it’s time for TheSportsNotebook’s final 2014 MLB preview.
The Golden Tickets of college basketball are being handed out this weekend. Unlike the great Gene Wilder movie Wily Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, there’s only four tickets as opposed to five, but the first two were claimed by one program making a long-anticipated return and another coach making a long-awaited first-time visit. Florida and Wisconsin are ticketed for Dallas next weekend.
TheSportsNotebook’s MLB spring training review has covered ten National League teams with individual preview posts. Those ten were a combination of the playoff teams from last year, those that at least made a little run at it (Washington & Arizona), along with two others who played poorly, but have a reasonable basis for thinking 2013 was an aberration (San Francisco & Milwaukee).
TheSportsNotebook’s MLB spring training previews have included separate articles on the ten teams in the American League who either made the postseason in 2013, were right in the race to the end or at least should have been the race to the end. That leaves five darkhorses left on the board.
It was quite a night of college basketball in the Sweet 16 on Friday. Three of the four games went literally to the final possession, including both games at the Midwest Regional in Indianapolis where the crowd was out in full force. Here’s a look back on the four games that completed the field for the regional finals…
