The 1983 Seattle Seahawks: Beating Back Elway & Marino In The Playoffs
…it was a satisfying run in the Pacific Northwest, one that saw the Seahawks tell two future Hall of Famer quarterbacks to wait their turn.
…it was a satisfying run in the Pacific Northwest, one that saw the Seahawks tell two future Hall of Famer quarterbacks to wait their turn.
The New York Islanders had won the previous three Stanley Cups. The Edmonton Oilers had been building toward their own with Wayne Gretzky breaking into the NHL the year the Islander reign began, and winning the Hart Trophy, as league MVP, all three seasons. It was one team that was already a dynasty and another poised to become one. The 1983 Stanley Cup Finals would mark the moment when the crossed paths.
The 1984 Orange Bowl—following the 1983 college football season–was arguably the most seminal game in college football history, when the heavily favored Nebraska Cornhuskers met the up-and-coming Miami Hurricanes.
The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers got their first and only American League pennant, and came within one win of the World Series, and it came with a lot of drama along the way. In particular, the ending to the regular season and the ensuing American League Championship Series deserve more attention in the history books than they have recei
The Philadelphia 76ers fans must have felt like they were re-living a nightmare in the 1982 NBA playoffs. Because they were. Just like in 1981, they and the Boston Celtics were far and away the best teams in the East and were on a collision course to play in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The 1981 MLB season was a tough one for baseball, as a June strike wiped out more than two months and forced MLB to adopt a “split-season” approach, where teams that led their divisions at the strike were put in the playoffs, and would play the second-half winner in what amounted to the debut of the Division Series round.
The Boston Celtics looked all but dead in the 1981 NBA playoffs. After a 62-win regular season and #1 overall seed, the Celtics were trailing 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers had beaten the Celts in this same round in five games in 1980 and it looked like 1981 was set to be more of the same, especially when Philly grabbed a nine-point lead at halftime of Game 5.
The 1981 NCAA Tournament elevated it all to another level, with an extraordinary first weekend, a memorable moment at the regionals and finally ending with a dominant champion on a night national tragedy was averted.
There weren’t a ton of dramatics in the 1981 NHL playoffs, but the New York Islanders left no doubt who was best, winning their second straight Stanley Cup. The Isles had the league’s best offense, led by All-Star forward Mike Bossy and his 68 goals, and the impeccable passing skills of center Bryan Trottier. Defenseman Denis Potvin was an All-Star and Billy Smith was in net as they led a unit that was fourth-best in the NHL in goals allowed.
The 1981 AFC playoffs produced two games that deserve to be on the short list in any discussion of great NFL playoff games.
The great fan base of the Washington Redskins had endured some heartache in both 1977 and 1978. Each season saw the Redskins miss the playoffs on the final week of the season, in the latter case after giving away a 6-0 start to the year. What the fans couldn’t have guessed, nor would they have wanted to, was that the 1979 Washington Redskins would lift the season-ending anguish to a new level.
The 1978 Washington Redskins were starting a new era in franchise history. The had a new coach in Jack Pardee and were moving forward with Joe Theismann as their quarterback after going on-again, off-again between Theismann and veteran Billy Kilmer in 1977. The first year of Pardee & Theismann got off to a fantastic start, but it had an all-too-familiar ending.