It was 1995 when Northwestern shocked the college football world by winning an outright Big Ten title and going to the Rose Bowl for the first since 1948. Almost as improbably was the Wildcats following that up in 1996 with a share of the conference championship. But after two losing seasons, and the departure of […]
The Michigan football program was in a good place in 2000. They were just four years removed from having won the national championship in 1997. They were coming off a 1999 season that was capped by an Orange Bowl victory over Alabama and led by a quarterback named Tom Brady. With Brady now gone, the […]
San Francisco had started a nice run of success in 1997 when they won the NL West, then followed that up with two more winning seasons. The 2000 San Francisco Giants kicked it up a notch and won another division title. Barry Bonds had been the juice in the San Francisco lineup since coming to […]
The Braves were the National League’s Team of the 1990s. They won the NL East in every completed season from 1991-99, and would have at least made the playoffs in the strike-shortened year of 1994. They won five National League pennants and captured the World Series title in 1995. The 2000 Atlanta Braves continued in […]
Following a respectable 1974 season, there were some hopes that major league baseball was finally coming into its own in Milwaukee after just five years. But terrible seasons in 1975 and 1976 ruined any optimism. The 1977 Milwaukee Brewers weren’t any better in the won-loss column. But they did start to put some pieces in […]
The 1976 Milwaukee Brewers came into the season looking to pick up the pieces, after a drastic collapse over the final two months of 1975 ruined what had been an upward trajectory for a still-young franchise. The Brewers made a managerial change, handing the reins to Alex Grammas. But the problems proved to be on […]
The 1975 Milwaukee Brewers came into the season with plenty of reasons for hope. Their young franchise, established in 1969 and then relocated to Milwaukee a year later, had been gradually improving and reached a respectable 76 wins in 1974. The Brewers were bringing home one of their city’s great legends, acquiring Henry Aaron who […]
Football in Nebraska was on a high in the early 1970s. The legendary head coach Bob Devaney had won back-to-back national titles in 1970 and 1971. In 1972, the Cornhuskers capped off another strong season by crushing Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. The 1973 Nebraska football season marked the beginning of a new era. […]
Oklahoma football was already an established powerhouse by 1973. The great Bud Wilkinson won consecutive national titles in 1955 and 1956. Chuck Fairbanks had just completed a successful six-year run, marked by consecutive #2 finishes nationally, in 1971 and 1972. The 1973 Oklahoma football season started a new chapter in the great tradition, one that […]
Bo Schembechler made an immediate splash upon his arrival in Ann Arbor in 1969—he upset #1 Ohio State and went to the Rose Bowl. In 1971, Bo returned to Pasadena. The 1973 Michigan football team again played Ohio State in a high-profile showdown with national title implications and a Rose Bowl bid at stake. The […]
Woody Hayes had been in Columbus for over two decades. He had national titles under his belt from 1954 and 1968. The 1973 Ohio State football team nearly gave him a third. Even coming up short, they still gave Woody his fourth Rose Bowl triumph. And along the way, they played one of the most […]
Joe Paterno came to Penn State in 1966. In 1968 and 1969, Paterno’s teams capped off undefeated seasons with major bowl victories. Both times, they came up short in the final national championship voting. The 1973 Penn State football season was more of the same—undefeated, but unrecognized. Although this time, they produced one of college […]