Some are calling the game between #1 Ohio State and #2 Michigan, the biggest game ever but how in the world do you measure something like that? Let's just call it what it is - the biggest college football game of the year. The winner is the #1 team in the country since it's the last game of the season for both and both teams are 11-0. The winner will get to stay #1 by winning the BCS National Championship Game in Phoenix on January 8th...
There have been games that would determine the #1 team this late in the season, around the same November 18th date in the past. In 1967, on the same November 18th date, #3 USC upset #1 UCLA 21-20 en route to winning their 1st national title since 1962. On November 19th, 1966, #1 Notre Dame and #2 Michigan State played to a 10-10 tie when Irish coach Ara Parseghian plays it safe, settling for a tie instead of a win (something he was roundly criticized for)...
Now, to the question of whether these two teams create the biggest rivalry in sports or is it the Yankees and Red Sox ? Let's trace the history of the two rivalries: The 1st game ever played between Boston (Americans) and New York (Highlanders) was in 1903 with Boston winning 6-2. The 1st game between Ohio State and Michigan was played in 1897 when the Wolverines posted a 34-0 shutout of the Buckeyes of Ohio State. The rivalries started even before then. The cities of Boston and New York have shared a rivalry since before the start of the American Revolution with Boston choosing independence and New York wanting to stay loyal to the crown. The rivalry between the states of Ohio and Michigan can be traced back to 1835 in the border dispute known as the Toledo War...
Take your pick. All I know is that at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon, we'll be watching the game of the year between #1 Ohio State and #2 Michigan. For some comical background on the rivalry, click on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSLSyHESRNA ...
November 17th Timeline Memories...
- [1956] Jim Brown finishes his college career at Syracuse by running for 6 touchdowns and kicking 7 extra points in a 61-7 massacre of Colgate...
- [1968] NBC-TV switches from an exciting Jets-Oakland game to "Heidi". Here's what we didn't see: The Raiders score 2 TD's in 9 seconds to hold on to a 43-32 win over the Jets. The final score is shown in a crawl over, what else ? "Heidi"...
- [1973] President Richard Nixon tells an AP managing editors meeting in Orlando (FL) that "people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook" (in front of a news organization's meeting ? Nice timing Mr. President)...
- [1997] From the Joe Gibbs (get elected to the Hall of Fame and then come back) school of thought, NHL great Mario Lemieux gets inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame and then returns to play (and eventually get into ownership)...
- [2003] John Allen Muhammad is convicted of two counts of capital murder in the Washington (D.C.)-area sniper shootings (he is awaiting execution in Virginia)...
#1 on this date: 1965] "I Hear a Symphony" - Supremes...1975] "That's The Way (uh huh, uh huh) (I Like It)" - KC & the Sunshine Band...1984] "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" - (my boys) Wham...
Released on this date: 1980] "Double Fantasy" - John Lennon...
Debuted on this date: 1985] Howard Stern on K-Rock (WXRK)...
"Signed, Sealed, Delivered": 2003] Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governator of Cahl-ee-for-nee-uh...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in every timeline]...
Commentary...
After 23 years as host of "The Sports Machine", the syndicated sports highlight show based at WRC in Washington (D.C.), George Michael is stepping down in March. I was at George's going away party in Philadelphia when he left WFIL and gave him an aircheck of his first show at WABC New York. Good luck to you George, whatever you decide to do...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Daisy Fuentes (40), RuPaul (46), Howard Dean (58), Tom Seaver (62), Lorne Michaels (62), Danny DeVito (62), Lauren Hutton (63), Martin Scorsese (64), Bob Gaudio (64) and Gordon Lightfoot (68)...
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Saturday, November 18, 2006...
Timeline Memories...
- [1928] The 1st successful sound-synchronized animated cartoon premiers in New York City. It's Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie" a.k.a Mickey Mouse...
- [1978] People's Temple leader Jim Jones forces his followers to commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana by drinking a cyanide-laced fruit-flavored concoction. Only about a dozen escape. The final death toll: 913, including 276 children...
- [1991] Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon free Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite and educator Thomas Sutherland...
"Happy Trails": 1969] The Kennedy patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy dies in Hyannis Port (MA) at 81. He had suffered a massive stroke 8 years earlier...1994] Cab Calloway dies in a Delaware nursing home of a stroke at 86...
#1 on this date: 1963] "I'm Leaving It Up To You" - Dale and Grace...1973] "Photograph" - Ringo Starr...1987] "Mony, Mony" - Billy Idol (13 years after Tommy James version was #1)...
On "The Ed Sullivan Show": 1956] Fats Domino (sings "Blueberry Hill")...
On "Shindig": 1964] The Supremes and Righteous Brothers...
Wedding Bells: 1990] Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall tie the knot in Bali (they have 2 children after a marriage this is disolved in 1999 after allegations that Mick fathered a child by Brazilian model Luciana Morad)...
Premiered on this date: 1959] William Wyler's "Ben-Hur" at a Loew's Theater in Times Square...2005] "Walk The Line", the story of Johnny Cash opens...
Ch-Ching: 1987] CBS, Inc. agrees to sell its record division to Sony Corporation for about $2 billion (the pink slips are in the mail)...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
David Ortiz (Big Papi) (31), Owen Wilson (38), Gary Sheffield (38), Kevin Nealon (53), Linda Evans (64) and Brenda Vaccaro (67)...
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Sunday, November 19, 2006...
Timeline Memories...
- [1863] President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address as he dedicates a national cemetery at the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania...
- [1954] Sammy Davis, Jr. losses an eye in a serious auto accident in San Bernardino (CA)...
- [2004] In one of sports ugliest days, Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson of the Indiana Pacers charge into the stands and fight with fans during an NBA game in Detroit. Officials end the Pacers' 97-82 win with 45.9 seconds left (fines and suspensions follow. Just yesterday, John Green, the fan who tossed his drink at Ron Artest, has been banned for life from Detroit home games. It took them 2 years to do this?)...
"Sayonara": 1959] The Ford Motor Company halts production of the unpopular Edsel (the car not the Ford offspring)...
Hanging up his spikes: 1966] Future Hall of Famer, Sandy Koufax announces his retirement from baseball, one month away from his 32nd birthday...
MVP...MVP...MVP...MVP: 2001] Barry Bonds wins his 4th (4 down, 3 to go)...
"Fly Me To The Moon": 1969] Apollo XII astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean make man's second landing on the moon...
Ch-Ching: 1954] Two automatic toll machines are installed on the Garden State Parkway (NJ)...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Jodie Foster (44), Meg Ryan (45), Ann Curry (50), Calvin Klein (64), Garrick Utley (67), Ted Turner (68), Dick Cavett (70), Larry King (73) and Alan Young (87)...
Timeline Countdown: 4 days until Thanksgiving, 26 days until Chanukah, 36 days until Christmas, 42 days until 2007, 49 days until the NFL playoffs and 77 days until Super Bowl XLI in Miami...
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