The Road To The 1993 Final Four
Webber came barreling over the half-court line, looking completely uncomfortable. He was pinned into a corner and stopped to call for a timeout…except there were none left.
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1993 Stanley Cup Finals: A Clash Of Dynasties…Sort Of
In the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, the league’s greatest franchise and its greatest player met in their own version of a dynastic clash
The 1993 MLB Season Features Baseball’s Last True Pennant Race
The change effectively marked the end of the classic regular season pennant race—one where two genuinely outstanding teams fought each other tooth-and-nail for weeks, or even months, with the loser falling by the wayside. The last such race was the 1993 NL West, with the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants.
The 2005 Boston Red Sox Deserve A Better Legacy
The 2005 Boston Red Sox aren’t among the most renowned of the franchise’s recent ascendancy. They didn’t win a World Series, as happened in 2004, 2007 and 2013. They didn’t suffer a gutwrenching loss like in 2003 or endure a major collapse like in 2011. But the 2005 Boston Red Sox were a special team, one that overachieved and deserves a better legacy than the one they have.
The 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers: 6-Seed Magic
The NFL playoffs expanded to five teams per conference in 1978 and then six in time for the 1990 season. No team seeded below #4—the demarcation point for having to play three straight road games—had ever won the Super Bowl. The 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers made history and were the first.
2005 Notre Dame Football: Charlie Weis’ Promising First Year
It was a new era for the Notre Dame football program in 2005. The school and the alumni base, feeling that the talent base was in decline, made a coaching change and brought in Charlie Weis, the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots. Weis arrived with much fanfare, as the Patriots had just won their third Super Bowl in four years. The new coach said he had a “decided schematic advantage” over the competition. The 2005 Notre Dame football season made it look like the new coach might have a point.
Roy Willliams Makes His First Mark At The 1991 NCAA Tournament
The Kansas Jayhawks had won the national championship in 1988, under the leadership of Larry Brown and the star performance of Danny Manning. But Brown’s leadership also put the program on NCAA probation and he skipped town when Manning graduated that same year. The Jayhawks bottomed out and had to be rebuilt. It was Roy Williams who did the rebuilding and the 1991 NCAA Tournament was his coming-out party.
The 1991 Minnesota North Stars Improbable Run To The Stanley Cup Finals
To call the playoff run of the 1991 Minnesota North Stars improbable is to understate the case. Even by the fluid and chaotic standards of the NHL playoffs, Minnesota’s 1991 run was out of nowhere.
The 1991 World Series: Great To The Last Out
The Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins each finished in last place during the 1990 season. Each engendered a turnaround that led to an improbable matchup in the 1991 World Series.
Bowden’s Near Miss & Desmond’s Pose Highlight The 1991 College Football Season
1991 was a year when people that had gotten close to a championship, but not yet sealed the deal, finally broke through. Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski won his first ring, as did Chicago Bulls’ star Michael Jordan. Through much of the 1991 college football season, it seemed certain that Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden would join them.
The 1991 Washington Redskins: A Forgotten All-Time Great Champion
The Washington Redskins had gone to three Super Bowls in the 1980s and won two, but they only had one playoff victory over the last three years, and there were questions about whether quarterback Mark Rypien was the one who could lead them back. Over the long-term arc of his career, those questions proved fair enough, but in 1991, Rypien had a magical year and took his team along for the ride.
The 1990 Edmonton Oilers Win The Stanley Cup Without Wayne Gretzky
The 1990 Edmonton Oilers were sailing in unchartered waters. The trade of Wayne Gretzky, only the franchise icon and the greatest hockey player in history, prior to the 1989 season had been bad enough. Now head coach Glen Sather was also gone. Edmonton had won four of the previous six Stanley Cups, but it seemed unlikely that a group coached by John Muckley and led Mark Messier could make it five.