That Championship Season

The 2007 New York Giants won 11 straight games on the road and became known as the Road Warriors. Their last road game, Super Bowl 42, against the undefeated New England Patriots, produced one of the biggest upsets in sports history.

The Florida Marlins shocked baseball fans when they won the 2003 World Series. This is the story of their championship season.

Bill Mazeroski's ninth-inning walk-off home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series gave the Pittsburgh Pirates one of the most dramatic championships baseball has ever seen. Veteran sportswriter Jay Greenberg recounts the story of the 'never say die' '60 Bucs and their epic victory over the New York Yankees.

The sum of a championship team is greater than its parts. Never was that more true than with the Detroit Pistons of 2004. What they had was a team ethic, a belief in themselves, and a coach who insisted basketball should be played, in his words, “the right way”. They became known as the ‘Goin to Work’ Pistons -- which suited blue-collar Detroit just fine.

The Philadelphia Flyers of 1973-74 were known as the Broad Street Bullies. Their nickname tells you what they’re most remembered for. The '74 Flyers never met an opponent they didn’t want to beat up; their logo should have been a clenched fist. They also had a coach, a center, a left wing and a goaltender who would make it to the Hall of Fame. But the '74 Flyers elevated goon hockey to a new level. The Bullies broke noses, filled seats, grabbed headlines, and paved the way for an unprecedented era of brawling in the NHL. They also won a Stanley Cup.

It’s Saturday, July 24, 2004.   Boston's Red Sox are 52 and 44, second in the AL East, 9 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees.  The Sox are loaded with talent, but so far they've lacked a spark.   The night before, at Fenway Park, the Yankees won, 8 to 7.  It’s starting to look like 2004 will be another season without a championship.  The 86thth since 1918 when the Sox won their last World Series.  The 85th season since they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000.  When they fell under the Curse of the Bambino. But wait.  Before the game there’s a band on the field:  The Dropkick Murphys.  The Dropkicks  cut loose with a punk Irish baseball song called "Tessie."  So what happens? A bench-clearing brawl, that's what.  And Bill Mueller's two-run walk-off home run gives the Sox an 11-10 win. At the time nobody credits the turning point of the season -- and Red Sox history --  to "Tessie."  But in hindsight, all these years later, how could you not?

It’s November 2004 in Siler City North Carolina. Siler City is a small town -- population 7500 -- in the center of the state. Poultry processing drives its economy. Siler City’s high school, Jordan-Matthews, is about to play for the boys state soccer championship. Now, to be clear, high school championship games are commonplace. They happen every year, in 50 states. But this one is different. It’s different because of the coach of the Jordan-Matthews team. His name is Paul Cuadros, and when the 2004 season is over he will write a book about it. Cuadros’ book will be about more than soccer. It will be about the Latino immigration that transformed Siler City, and much of America, at the millennium. It will be about the young Latino immigrants who played on his team. His book will be called “A Home on the Field” and it will provide a window on the issue that most perplexes America in the second decade of the 21st century.

The 1963 Loyola Ramblers helped change the face -- and color -- of college basketball in winning the national championship with four African-American starters. Guest Lew Freedman, author of "Becoming Iron Men: The Story of the 1963 Loyola Ramblers", recounts how Loyola confronted the racism of the civil rights era, and how it prevailed in a dramatic final against defending champion Cincinnati.

In sports the action on the field is usually what matters. But for 15 seconds in 1989 the action beneath a field was what mattered. Game 3 of the 1989 World Series between the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants was upstaged by a massive earthquake in northern California.

In 1986 Jack Nicklaus was 46 and in the sunset of his fabulous career. Nicklaus was six years removed from his last major championship and had won just twice since 1980. So when the Masters got underway at Augusta National, he wasn't given much of a chance, least of all by Atlanta Constitution golf writer Tom McCollister. But when Nicklaus read what McCollister wrote his blood boiled and his competitive hackles rose. What happened in the final round is one of golf's most glorious and improbable legends.

African refugee Akoy Agau lifted Omaha Central High to four state championships from 2010 to 2013. But his signature moment came against a vaunted national power, Oak Hill Academy, when it journeyed to Nebraska in February 2013. Nebraska had never seen a high school basketball game like this one, nor a player like Akoy Agau.

In September 1964 the St. Louis Cardinals ignited a legendary run to a pennant and world championship, led by ace right-hander Bob Gibson. Delmar Givehand, 13, took an unforgettable train ride from Omaha to St. Louis to watch history unfold.

In 1995 Major League Baseball was bruised and battered from the labor war that caused the cancellation of the '94 season. Fans were disgusted. As a prominent member of the union negotiating team, Atlanta Braves star southpaw Tom Glavine was an easy target for public anger. Glavine took his lumps and responded in Game 6 of the 1995 World Series.

Before coronavirus, the 1918-19 Spanish Flu killed between 17 million and 50 million people, including an estimated 675,000 Americans. One who survived it was 23-year-old Babe Ruth as he led the Boston Red Sox to a World Series triumph. World War 1 shortened the 1918 season just as the second wave of deadly Spanish Flu descended.

The 1919 Stanley Cup final was unlike anything before or since. The Montreal Canadiens and Seattle Metropolitans were valiant opponents, but neither were a match for the pandemic Spanish Flu.

Sophia Popov was ranked 304th among women pro golfers when she won the AIG Women's British Open in August 2020. Her first LPGA victory in 5 1/2 years as a pro came after she was laid low by a debilitating disease and almost quit golf.

primary source: "The Longest Shot: Jack Fleck, Ben Hogan, and Pro Golf's Greatest Upset at the 1955 U.S. Open", by Neil Sagebiel, Thomas Dunne Books, 2012

Source: "One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, An Unlikely Coach, And a Magical Baseball Season", by Chris Ballard, 2012, Hyperion

interviews with Lynn resident Ozzie Gauvain and Agganis biographer Richard Johnson

The NBA finals in 1969, Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers, seven games for the title, is recounted by author Leigh Montville, who covered the series as a 25-year-old reporter for the Boston Globe, and wrote about it in his latest book, "Tall Men, Short Shorts."

Since 1925 the Scripps National Spelling Bee has featured some of America's best and brightest students under the age of 15. For the last 20 years students of South Asian/Indian descent have dominated the event and turned it into a cultural touchstone. Harini Logan, 14, of San Antonio, Texas, won the 2022 title and built upon the Indian-American spelling dynasty.