Browsing: Sports

A Brief History On December 29, 2013, 44 year old champion auto racer Michael Schumacher suffered a major head injury from a skiing accident in the French Alps.  A seven-time Formula One champion, Schumacher would not take the wheel again, although he did survive. Digging Deeper Other celebrities have suffered death on the ski slopes which might serve as a warning to us not so famous folks.  Amateur skiers killed while skiing include: Hugh Lindsay, 1988, Equerry to Queen Elizabeth II. Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz, 1989, grandson of King Alfonso XIII of Spain. Michael Kennedy, 1997, son of…

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A Brief History On December 18, 1932, the first NFL Championship game was played between the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans.  Due to the snow and cold weather, the game was played indoors at the Chicago Stadium, on a reduced size “field.”  The Bears won, 9-0, and in 1934 the Spartans moved to Detroit and became the Lions. Digging Deeper Portsmouth now has a population of only 18,000, but in 1930 boasted over 42,000 people.  Some other small cities that hosted major league teams include: Troy, New York, Trojans, of MLB’s National League, played from 1879 to 1882…

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A Brief History On December 12, 2021, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was won by Max Verstappen, beating Lewis Hamilton because of a mistaken conduct of a “safety car” restart at the end of the race.  Later investigation showed that race officials “misapplied” the rules, costing Hamilton his 8th Formula 1 World Championship. Digging Deeper Sometimes game or event officials blow a call or fail to make a call and cost a team or player a championship or important game.  Two of those incidents include: In 2010, Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was robbed of a perfect game by a wrong…

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A Brief History On November 15, 1968, the Cleveland Transit System of Cleveland, Ohio linked downtown with the metro airport, becoming the first city in the western hemisphere to link its downtown and its main airport by rapid transit. Digging Deeper CTS ran the buses and the Rapid Transit electric trains in Cleveland, linking the East and West sides of the city and its inner suburbs with the downtown area.  Later, CTS would become the Regional Transit Authority. Despite jokes about its burning river and the “Mistake on the Lake,” and of course the recent history of alleged pro football, Cleveland…

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A Brief History On November 2, 2016, the Chicago Cubs broke the “Curse of the Billy Goat,” a championship drought of 108 years, by beating the Cleveland Indians in the 2016 World Series. Digging Deeper The Cubs had last won a World Series in 1908, while the Indians, now known as the Guardians, have not won a World Series title since 1948, now a 75 year dry spell. The 2016 World Series was notable not only for the reemergence of the Cubs as champions, but because the Indians had blown a 3 games to 1 lead to lose the Series…

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