1979 Rose Bowl

What can I say about this game? It was amazing! The Rose Bowl this year, January first, was the 65^th annual game. This year pitched the Pacific 10 Conference Champions, the USC Trojans, against the Big Ten Conference Champions, the Michigan Wolverines. Going into the game, Michigan entered with a ten win and one loss record while the Trojans had eleven wins and one loss. Unfortunately, Michigan had to play the game without their head coach Bo Schembechler. Schembechler was hospitalized the previous day to the game due to a heart attack. Hopefully he fully recovers and can return to coaching soon. 

The Trojans were more fortunate being led by John Robinson, a coach who had won two Rose Bowl games previously, one in 1976 and another in 1978. The final score of the game ended up being 17-10 with a USC Trojans victory, making this Robinson’s third Rose Bowl win. Two Rose Bowl Players of the game were given, one to either team. The Trojan player was running back Charles White while the Wolverine player was quarterbacking Rick Leach. 

A bit of controversy actually came out during the second quarter. On the Michigan three-yard line, Charles White dove over the linemen into the end zone; however, he entered the end zone without the ball. What exactly happened? Well, it appeared that White had fumbled the ball on the one-yard line and the Wolverines recovered it. A Pac Ten Official confirmed this call. A Big Ten Official who was signaling that the play had resulted in a touchdown overturned this call. A mix of Pac Ten and Big Ten Officials, a decision I hope they change in the next year, was refereeing the Rose Bowl this year. This mix up of calls resulted in White’s run counting as a touchdown, which would give the Trojans their victory by the end of the game. Between other writers and myself, this touchdown is becoming well known as the “Phantom Touchdown.” 

While this one play did not cause the Wolverines to lose the game, it certainly did not help them. The fact that the Wolverine’s head coach was in the hospital almost certainly had some mental effect on the players, which could have attributed to their loss. Granted, the mixing of two separate division’s officials was not a good idea for this game. This is a game that needs clear communication between referees and that cannot be done when they bring in people from separate leagues. Next year will be interesting to watch, but let’s hope the NFL finds a way to fix this problem. 

1975 World Series

These past few weeks have been quite eventful in the world of baseball. Starting on October 11^th and ending on the 22^nd, the official 1975 World Series was held. This year “pitched” the Boston Red Sox against the Cincinnati Reds. This year the series took all seven games to decide the winner. In the end, the Cincinnati Reds won the World Series 4 games to 3.

 The series started off relatively slow and only picked up during the later games of the series. During the first game, it was scoreless until the 7^th inning. Boston managed to score 6 runs in a single inning, a score that Cincinnati was unable to reply to. Boston won the first game 6-0. Game two seemed like a guaranteed Boston win going into the 9^th inning by leading 2-1. Cincinnati was able to score twice in the bottom of the 9^th to snatch the win away from Boston with a 3-2 win. With the series tied up, both teams went into the third game hoping to gain an advantage over the other. Both teams desire to gain the advantage was evident in the fact that the game went into the 10^th inning tied 5-5. Cincinnati was able to score a single run to win 6-5, putting them ahead of Boston in the series. Game four looked like another Cincinnati win early in the 1^st inning when they scored 2 runs; however, Boston was able to score 5 runs in the 4^th inning, which Cincinnati answered with 2 more runs. No more runs would be scored during the game, leaving the final score of 5-4 for a Boston win. 

Again, the series is tied up 2-2. Game five was a bit more eventful, with single runs being score for the most part. Boston scored two singles in the 1^st and 9^th innings. Cincinnati had a tremendous game with singles in the 4^th, 5^th, and 8^th innings and 3 runs in the 6^th. This gave Cincinnati their third win of 6-2. Game six was meant to be played on October 18^th, but was postponed due to rain until the 21^st. This was the standout game of the series, one that will probably become known as a classic in the MLB. It ran for a total of 12 innings at Boston’s Fenway Park. Both teams went into the 8^th inning tied 6-6. Neither team was able to score again until the 12^th inning when Boston scored a run. Boston won game six 7-6. 

With both teams tied in the series, game seven would determine the World Series Champions. Boston was able to score 3 runs in the 3^rd inning, but that is as much as they would be able to get. Cincinnati scored 2 runs in the 6^th inning and 1 more run in the seventh. With the game tied, Cincinnati solidified their victory with a run in the 9^th, winning the game 4-3. The constant tension and ties made this an incredible World Series and it will surely go down in history as one of the most exciting. 

1972 NBA All Star Game

Sports are always exciting, no matter what sport you are watching or who is playing. This year’s 1972 NBA All Star Game is proof of this. Regardless if you enjoy basketball or the people playing, it can’t be ignored that this was quite the game to watch. 

This year marked the 22^nd annual playing of the All Star Game that took place on January 18^th. This year, it took place at the Forum, an indoor arena in Inglewood, California. Tom Heinsohn, coach of the Boston Celtics, coached the players from the Eastern Conference this year. Bill Sharman, head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, coached the Western Conference players. ABC televised the game this year, with Keith Jackson and Bill Russell announcing. Officiating the game was Darrell Garretson and Manny Sokol. The game had a massive attendance of over 17,200 people showing up to the Forum to watch the game. The game was a nail biter, with both teams tied for most of the game. 

When you take a look at the box score of the final game, it seems like the East should have easily won. Score wise, they came out on top of the West in 3 of the 4 quarters. In the first quarter, the scored 33 while the West only scored 27. In the second, the East again scored 31 over the West’s 27. In the third, the West finally came out and scored 33 to the East’s low 20. Then, the East outscored the West with 26 to 25. When you look at it, the East should have had the game, but the West won the game with a final score of 112-110. With all the close scoring, both teams were nearing the end of the game tied 110-110. Jerry West was able to break the tie in the final second of the game, solidifying the win for the West. This play was what gave Jerry West the honor of being named the games MVP. 

This game just shows how quickly one team can gain an advantage over the other. It seemed like the East would win early on, but then the West came back and was able to tie the game. The game was only finished by a tie-breaking basket, something both teams could have had. If anyone from the East had taken the ball instead of Jerry, the outcome would have been different and the victor could have been the East. Instead, fate gave the game to the West, the official NBA All Star Game Champions. 

Marshall University Tragedy

This is one of the saddest moments to have ever happened in the country, let alone the world of Collegiate Athletics. Yesterday on November 14 1970, a plane crashed that was carrying the entire Marshall University football team. The crash occurred at 7:35 p.m. Southern Airways Flight 932 was returning to Ceredo, West Virginia after leaving Kinston, North Carolina. The team was returning home after a 17-14 loss to the East Carolina Pirates at Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina. The crash occurred during the flight’s final approach into the Tri-State Airport when it collided with the tops of some trees. 

The cause for this could be due to the heavy fog and rain in the local area, but nothing will be know for sure until the NTSB concludes their investigation into the crash, which could take a year or more to complete. It could have also been the fact that neither pilot had flown into the Tri-State Airport before. Just a combination of unfortunate circumstances could have led to this accident. Tragically, everyone on board was killed on impact. A total of 75 people were on board the flight including 37 players from the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, 8 members of the coaching staff, 25 boosters who supported the team, 4 members of the flight crew, and one employee of the chartering company for the team. 

This is coming out late on the 15^th, so I would be able to tell everyone what kind of memorial services were held and how the nation reacted to the tragedy. Earlier today, a memorial service was held in the Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse that included moments of silence for those that we lost and prayers. An early report of how many people attended the service reaches nearly 7,000. For those of you who do not know, the Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse is an arena in Huntington, West Virginia. It holds its place as the home of the Marshall University basketball teams. It is able to hold around 8,500 people at once. 

Classes on campus at Marshall University were cancelled out of respect for those we lost. Shops and government buildings in Huntington were also closed, a sign that the whole town is grieving over this loss. A question that no one wants to ask is what about the future of football at Marshall? This is certainly not the time to be asking such a question, but it makes you wonder. Hopefully the community will be able to pull through this tragedy and move on. My condolences go out to those affected by this tragedy and my prayers are with you and the families of those deceased. 

Super Bowl IV

As many of you are probably aware, since I’m assuming most of you are sports fans, this past Sunday January 11, 1970 was the fourth annual Super Bowl. This year, it was held at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. The two teams who were able to make this this year were the Kansas City Chiefs, who were the AFL Champions, and the Minnesota Vikings, the NFL Champions. The Chiefs were led this year by their coach Hank Stram. Stram is well known to many of us, since he has coached the same team since 1960 when the Chiefs were still the Dallas Texans. 

With Stram holding their reigns, the Chiefs seemed invincible during the game. The way he taught his quarterbacks to use the moving pocket helped the Chiefs tremendously. The moving pocket is when a quarterback reads the linemen’s blocks and moves around them until he can get a clean pass off to a receiver. Stram also utilized the triple-sack defense, a defense structure that gives much more movement freedom to the linebackers. Both of these strategies helped dominate the Vikings during the game. 

On the other side of the ball, we had Bud Grant leading the Vikings in his second year of coaching them. Grant is well known in the league for his tough discipline and the way he treats his team. When the National Anthem is played before game time, he requires all players to stand at attention in a straight line on the sideline. He also does this before every practice. A rather unusual tactic he uses is outdoor practices during the winter to get his players use to the cold. What is even more unusual is that he does not allow heaters on the sidelines. 

Going into the game, the general consensus of fans and sports writers was that the Vikings would win the game, due to the belief that the NFL is better than the AFL. Instead, the Chiefs were able to pull out a victory of 23-7. Not only did they win, but the Chiefs were able to limit the Vikings to 67 rushing yards, took three interceptions, and recovered two fumbles. 

Unsurprisingly, the MVP of the game went to Kansas Chiefs’ quarterback Len Dawson. Dawson completed 12 of 17 passes for 142 yards, one of which was a touchdown. He also had three rush attempts for 11 yards and threw one interception. While this was an amazing game that shows how the AFL is just as good as the NFL, two things stand out as a major change from previous Super Bowls. 

Instead of having local bands perform the half-time show, comedian and actress Carol Channing performed a tribute to Mardi Gras, which is always held in New Orleans. Coach Stram was also wearing a hidden microphone during the game, the first time a coach has been able to broadcast what he is saying during a live game. Who knows what this means for the future of sports? Whatever it means, it is sure to be interesting.