Penn State produced unbeaten but uncrowned teams in 1968, 1969 and 1973. Much to the chagrin of the Nittany Lions, their rival Pitt was honored with a national title after a perfect season in 1976. After two years out of the major bowl picture, Joe Paterno’s 1978 Penn State football team was ready to return […]
Barry Switzer led the Oklahoma Sooners to national championships in 1974 and 1975 and nearly won another in 1977 before a stunning Orange Bowl defeat cost them the final #1 ranking. Expectations in Norman were that the beat would go on, and 1978 Oklahoma football was #4 in the preseason polls. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTSStart […]
Nebraska last won it all when they went back-to-back in 1970-71 with Bob Devaney as the head coach. Since Tom Osborne, Devaney’s offensive coordinator, had taken over, the Cornhuskers kept winning, but had a monkey on their backs out of Oklahoma. As if to affirm that Osborne had a black cloud following him around, the […]
The 1978 college football season is remembered for a controversial split national championship, the continued frustration of one great coach and the sad ending for another. But above all, 1978 was about four games–one in the regular season and three in the bowls–that were defined by drama on the goal line. In this article we’ll […]
October is my favorite month. The weather is crisp and the scenery is beautiful. And the sports…well, the sports are never better than in October. The college football and NFL seasons have a good head of steam going, and baseball is hitting its dramatic climax. The baseball playoffs of 1986 were among the most legendary […]
There’s always something special about the month of September if you’re a sports fan. The smell of fall is in the air. Baseball is fun during the long summer, but now it kicks up to an extra degree of intensity. College football and the NFL are getting rolling, giving every weekend the feel of a […]
The Montreal Canadiens are to the NHL what the New York Yankees are to major league baseball—royalty in the sport. And if you have any doubt, all you have to do is ask fans of either team (spoken like a true Boston sports partisan). The 1993 Montreal Canadiens were the last edition of the franchise […]
For over twenty years of existence, the Los Angeles Kings had been a non-factor. After their founding in 1968, they had never made it past the second of the playoffs. In 1989, the franchise made a splash for the ages when they acquired Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers. But even after four years with […]
The 1993 Phoenix Suns were a team looking to take the proverbial next step and were willing to make big changes to get what they wanted. Over the previous four years, under the coaching direction of Cotton Fitzsimmons, the Suns had been good. From 1989-92, they won 50-plus games and got into the conference finals […]
The 1993 Boston Celtics represented the start of a new era in franchise history, that of post-Larry Bird. The Legend had retired following the 1992 season. There was a good core of young talent that comprised a solid playoff team for the Celtics in ‘93 and there was reason for hope in Boston. But by […]
Near-miss had been the mantra of the Boston Bruins for three straight years coming into the 1993 season. The franchise lost the Stanley Cup Finals to Edmonton in 1990, then fell in the conference final to Mario Lemieux’s Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992. The 1993 Boston Bruins continued the pattern of successful regular seasons […]
In 1992, Michigan’s freshman class took the college basketball world by storm. The quintet of Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson reached the NCAA final before losing to Duke. 1993 Michigan basketball brought all five back to make a run at the program’s second national championship in five years. GREAT […]
