1980 Los Angeles Rams: An 8th Straight Playoff Trip
With a balanced team, the Rams earned their eighth consecutive playoff trip in 1980. Read the game-by-game narrative.
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The Game-By-Game Narrative Of The 1980 New England Patriots
The New England Patriots became a consistently good team in the latter half of the 1970s. They made the playoffs in 1976 and 1978, and had winning seasons in 1977 and 1979, a period that covered two head coaches, Chuck Fairbanks and Ron Erhardt. The 1980 New England Patriots continued the pattern of winning, but they also came up short of the postseason.
The 1980 Pittsburgh Steelers Mark The End Of An Era
The 1980 Pittsburgh Steelers marked the end of one of the great dynasties in NFL history. The Steelers had won the Super Bowl in four of the previous six years, including both 1978 and 1979. Pittsburgh won the old AFC Central division each year from 1972-79 and at least reached the AFC Championship Game six times. In 1980, age caught up with the Steelers and the era came to an end
The Seasonal Narrative Of The 1979 Boston Red Sox
The 1979 Boston Red Sox entered the season dealing with the wounds of heartbreak from the previous two years. Both times they lost a close race for the AL East crown to the hated New York Yankees. The ending in 1977 was disappointing, the finish of 1978 positively devastating. The ’79 Red Sox came back off the canvas and still played good baseball, but they slipped just enough to fall well off the pace in the AL East.
The Seasonal Narrative Of The 1993 Washington Redskins
The 1993 Washington Redskins marked the beginning of a new era in franchise history. Legendary head coach Joe Gibbs had retired after the 1992 season. Richie Petitbon, the defensive coordinator through the franchise’s glory years under Gibbs was promoted.
The Seasonal Narrative Of The 1981 Boston Red Sox
The 1981 Boston Red Sox took advantage of the unique nature of that season’s major league baseball campaign to put themselves in position to reach postseason play. But the Red Sox continued their pattern of the 1970s and came up short at the worst possible time.
The Seasonal Narrative Of The 1974 Boston Red Sox
The 1974 Boston Red Sox had the most prolific offense in the American League and they slugged their way into first place and the heart of the pennant race. But that offense went silent at the season’s crunch point and a pitching staff that lacked depth wasn’t able to make up the difference as rookie manager Darrell Johnson was unable to return the franchise to the postseason.
Eddie Kasko’s Last Year: The 1973 Boston Red Sox
Eddie Kasko managed in Boston for four years and turned out a winning team every year. His best team was the 1973 Boston Red Sox, who won 89 games. But they were also his last team, as the problem of continuing to finish well behind the Baltimore Orioles led to a managerial change at year’s end.
The Seasonal Narrative Of The 1972 Boston Red Sox
The 1972 Boston Red Sox had spent four years as a team with a winning record, but well off the pace off the American League elite. The Red Sox made marginal improvements on the field in 1972, but that combined with the best in the AL East coming back to the pack. It added up to pennant race baseball in Fenway Park for the first time since the Impossible Dream pennant of 1967, even if Boston came up just short in the end.
The Road To The 1982 Final Four
The 1982 Final Four produced one of the great national championship games, as North Carolina and Georgetown went down to the wire before Dean Smith won his first title. With Louisville and Houston also in New Orleans, it showcased a dazzling array of talent–James Worthy, Patrick Ewing, Sam Perkins, Sleepy Floyd, Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon were all on college basketball’s center stage. Here’s a look back on the road all four teams took to get there.
The Seasonal Narrative Of The 1971 Boston Red Sox
The 1971 Boston Red Sox represented the continuation of a pattern the franchise had settled into after ending a decade of horrid play with an amazing pennant run in 1967. For each of the next four years, under two different managers, the Red Sox scored runs and won more than they lost. And each time they struggled with pitching, couldn’t get out of the 80s for wins and finished well off the pace.
The Seasonal Narrative Of The 1970 Boston Red Sox
The 1970 Boston Red Sox were a team with a new manager, in Eddie Kasko. But, for better and for worse, they were a team that produced the same results. For the third straight year, the Red Sox were a winning team that could score runs. They were also a team with pitching problems that ended up light-years behind the best in the AL East.