The 1979 Cincinnati Reds said goodbye to Pete Rose via free agency and responded by winning a division title. The 1980 Cincinnati Reds said goodbye to another big part of the great Big Red Machine that had been dominant in the 1970s. Joe Morgan departed. The ’80 Reds were still a good team and still […]
The city of Pittsburgh saw some great baseball (as well as some great football) at old Three Rivers Stadium. On the diamond, they won nine division titles and two World Series championships. The 2000 Pittsburgh Pirates season would be the last year of baseball for the artificial turf facility. The ’00 Pirates didn’t resemble those […]
The 1997 Green Bay Packers were coming off a dominant Super Bowl championship season and had all the pieces in place for a repeat. They did indeed make it back to the Super Bowl, but an upset cost them their chance at a dynasty. READ GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS Brett Favre was the straw that […]
To say the University of Virginia football program had a dry history prior to the arrival of head coach George Welsh in 1982 would understate the case. The Cavaliers joined the ACC in 1954 and had never won it. Only sporadically were they even a good team. It didn’t take Welsh long to turn things […]
The Colorado Buffaloes had a breakthrough season in 1989. They picked the Nebraska-Oklahoma lock on the old Big Eight. The Buffs had an undefeated regular season and played for a national championship before losing to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. The 1990 Colorado football team was back for more. And in spite of one […]
The Cleveland Indians had become one of baseball’s top teams in the latter half of the 1990s. They won five straight AL Central titles to close the decade and grabbed two American League pennants. But they didn’t win the whole thing and after an early playoff exit in 1999, the organization made a change. The […]
The coaching of Mike Holmgren, the quarterback play of Brett Favre and the leadership of defensive tackle Reggie White was leading the Packers on a gradual upward tilt. They made the playoffs in 1993 and 1994. In 1995, they went deep into the postseason and reached the NFC Championship Game. All that was left was […]
The Nebraska Cornhuskers cleared a big hurdle in 1988 when they finally defeated their archenemy, the Oklahoma Sooners after four straight years of losing, and won the championship of the old Big Eight Conference. When offseason turmoil hit Oklahoma, the Cornhuskers appeared ready for an era of dominance in this top-heavy league. But the 1989 […]
Pedro Martinez came to Boston in 1998 and immediately electrified Red Sox Nation. The franchise made the playoffs that season and again in 1999. Pedro won the Cy Young Award. For the starting pitcher, the arrival of a new millennium was more of the same. But for the rest of the 2000 Boston Red Sox […]
The 1980s were a dry stretch for the powerful Alabama football program. After closing the previous decade with national championships in 1978 and 1979, the Crimson Tide hadn’t reached a major bowl game since 1981. Bear Bryant retired the following year and Ray Perkins couldn’t keep the Tide in the national elite. Bill Curry got […]
The first three years of the Mike Holmgren-Brett Favre coach/QB combo had been successful ones in Green Bay. After 25 years of mostly desolation, the Packers had posted 9-7 records from 1992-94. The latter two seasons had seen them reach the playoffs and win a game each time. But they were hungry to get off […]
1989 Illinois football had one of the program’s better season, winning a bowl game and finishing in the Top 10. Read the season-long narrative.