My Very Own Sports Fantasies

Like anybody else, I have a lot of sports fantasies. On very rare occasions, a few have come true, such as the NY Jets beating the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Another was Pete Rose, a player I absolutely hated, getting into deep molasses late into his career.

Here is a list of more of my sports fantasies. Of course, some can’t happen because of death or the passing of many years. I still wish they could have happened anyway.

I wish that someone would have beaned George Foster. He always drove me crazy when he would step out of the batter’s box just as the pitch was being thrown. I would have loved to have seen him do that against Don Drysdale or Bob Gibson. He would have stopped that nonsense quick.

I would love to have seen someone, anybody in the media, question Bear Bryant on why it took him so long to integrate his Alabama football team. His first African American freshmen arrived in 1970, and made their Crimson Tide debut in 1971. The Civil Rights Act was enacted in 1965. The SEC’s first African American athlete, a basketball player, made his debut at Vanderbilt in 1967. As it was, Bryant was far more powerful in the state of Alabama than George Wallace could have ever hoped to be. He could do both anything he wanted and do no wrong. But the national media botched their chance. I wouldn’t have hesitated to ask. Bear Bryant owed plenty of answers on that matter. He didn’t deserve the free pass that he got.

I always dreamed of shoving Red Auerbach’s cigar straight up his keister. An L.A. radio reporter once tried to in a hotel elevator during the NBA Finals in 1985. They got into it, but it got broken up. Auerbach may have been a major reason for the Celtic’s legend, but he was one of the poorest winners ever in sports.

I wish Angel Stadium of Anaheim would be re-done the way it used to be before the Rams moved there in 1980. They’ve knocked out most of the extra seating since the Rams left, but there are still remnants, such as luxury boxes and outfield seating. I get it that the suites are now an economic necessity, but I would love to see the outfield seats taken out, and the original Big A scoreboard, now an advertising sign in the parking lot, moved back into it’s old left field position. Back then, as far as I was concerned, Anaheim Stadium, as it used to be called, was the greatest little ballpark in the majors. And the city of Anaheim sullied it.

I would have loved to have seen a World Series played in the Astrodome.

I wish Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could have played just one game against each other. It never happened. Russell retired the season before Kareem entered the NBA.

I wish that the Baltimore Colts, Houston Oilers, and Montreal Expos were still around. I miss them.

I wish that Jackie Robinson could have played in L.A. with the Dodgers. He was from nearby Pasadena, and played four sports at UCLA. Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley knew long in advance that he was moving the team to Los Angeles. Why wouldn’t he keep Jackie Robinson?

It’s a shame that Willie Mays had to spend the bulk of his career playing in Candlestick Park in San Francisco. If he had been able to play in a decent ballpark during his prime, he might well have had over 800 home runs. Candlestick’s architect should have been flogged.

The Great Piss-Off: Notre Dame – Mich. St. 1966

In November of 1966, Michigan State and Notre Dame were in a virtual dead heat atop all the wire service polls for the No. 1 ranking. The Spartans were 9-0 going into their final game against the Fighting Irish, who were 8-0, and still had USC to play a week later.

No game before or since had the build up that this one had. It was labeled The Game of the Century. ABC was rubbing it’s hands in anticipation, as it was obviously going to be the highest rated program on television that week, and perhaps for the year. The first Super Bowl was a few months away.

The entire nation was talking about this game. As a high school junior in southern California, I can remember there being much talk about this game among mostly UCLA & USC fans. The pregame suspense was torture.

This game had everything on the line. Neither team was going to a bowl game. At the time, the Big 10 had an idiotic “no-repeat” rule. Michigan State had gone to the Rose Bowl the previous year, thus was ineligible for any post season play, as only the conference champion could go to a bowl, and only to Pasadena.

Notre Dame had not gone to any bowl since the 1924 Rose Bowl. The Irish had a “no-bowl” policy, period. They just played the regular season, and that was it, win, lose, or draw.

Finally, Game Day. You couldn’t beg, borrow, buy, or steal a ticket to Spartan Stadium in East Lansing that day. People outside the stadium were supposedly offering as much as $2000 to ticketholders for their ducats.

After spotting MSU a 10-0 lead, Notre Dame scratched and clawed it’s way back to even the score in the fourth quarter. With about 3 minutes left in the game, the Spartans punted, figuring they’d get the ball back.

Then it happened. Or should I say, it didn’t happen. Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian ordered QB Coley O’Brien to run the ball. No passes whatsoever. Even though deep in their own territory, the Irish ran repeated safe running plays. The crowd smelled the rodent immediatly, and the game ended in a 10-10 tie to a monsoon of boos. Even Notre Dame boosters were observed booing. The next day, Sunday sports editions nationwide were about ready to construct a cross for a coaching crucifiction.

In Notre Dame’s defense (I can’t believe I’m saying that), Parseghian made what he felt was the correct call. Starting QB Terry Hanratty had been knocked out of the game in the 2nd quarter by Bubba Smith. Backup QB O’Brien was worn out from defensive pressure, late hits, and was diabetic.

The general thinking in the era of tie games was that a tie was just as good as a win for the road team. The next week, Notre Dame, leaving it’s starters in the entire game, beat USC in Los Angeles 51-0. Notre Dame was overwhelmingly voted as the National Champions.

Things have obviously changed since then. After many years of one proposal or another, the NCAA finally got rid of tie games in college football. The new overtime rules should have been called The Ara Parseghian Rule in his honor. Parseghian himself now refuses to talk about that game. When he turned down an ABC interview request for the 40th anniversary of the game in 2006, he said that he’s done all the talking about it that he’s ever going to do. He still gets grief from people about that game.

Michigan State coach Hugh (Duffy) Daugherty went to his grave kicking himself over this game. He blamed himself for making the decision to punt. An unimaginative offensive plan, which was typical in the Big 10 in those days, didn’t help either.

This was the game that made nobody happy.