Each NBA Team's Worst Uniform In Franchise History

No ABA uniforms and the short shorts will not be taken into account, because let's face it, those made every uniform look bad.


Atlanta Hawks – 1970-1972

Wow…I don’t think I have anything else to say, the picture says it all. Everything about this uniform is terrible, it’s no wonder it only lasted 2 seasons.

Boston Celtics - St. Patrick's Day

Boston has had the same uniforms since the beginning of time, and they are great, so it's hard to say which is the worst. If I had to pick one it would have to be the annual St. Patrick's day uni's because I don't like the gold lettering, but it's definately the best of the worst on this list.

Charlotte Bobcats - NASCAR Night

That's right, NASCAR Night. I didn't believe it either, until I saw these disasters. Michael Jordan must really be hurting for fans, and/or ticket sales if he has to result to a NASCAR promotion night with jerseys that have checkered flags on them. Rumor is that the players are only allowed to go left.


Chicago Bulls - 1995-1997

Not sure what Chicago was thinking here with red pinstripes. This one thankfully only lasted 2 seasons until they corrected the ugliness, got rid of the pinstripes, and went with plain black like we see today.


Cleveland Cavaliers - TIE- 1969-1974 and 2011-Present Road

Who thought this looked good? Even in 1969 these were ugly. The worst part is that Dan Gilbert brought them back as throwbacks in recent years. Canary Yellow is NEVER good.

The Cavs finally got it right during the LeBron James era with these uni's, but as soon as he took his talents to South Beach, they reverted back to yellow, and aparently wanted a uniform that matched how bad they were about to be.

Dallas Mavericks - 1981-1992

As if the dark green wasn't bad enough, they added curly lettering to put it over the top. The Mavs better be greatful for Mark Cuban, who has upgraded the team in more ways than putting good players on the floor. 

Denver Nuggets - 1982-1993

It is baffling that the Nuggets wore these for a decade. Uni's with the Denver skyline, and a rainbow in the background for good measure. I can't imagine what the players must have thought as they suited up every night in this train wreck. This is easily one of, if not the worst, uniforms of all time.


Detroit Pistons - 1978-1981

Most people think the ugliest was the old logo with the horse on the front, but that one comes in 2nd when you look at this monstrocity. Lightning bolts everywhere. What does a lightning bolt have to do with a piston? It's no wonder it only lasted 3 seasons.


Golden State Warriors - 1997-2002

Like Detroit, they have lightning bolts...lots of them. This was the start of the weird, cartoony Warriors era. They have since made major upgrades.


Houston Rockets - 1995-2003

Take one of the worst logos of all time (a cartoon rocket with scary teeth orbiting a planet) and slap it onto some pinstripes, and you get the Rockets uniforms from the Pippen and Barkley era.


Indiana Pacers - 1984-1990

This one didn't take a lot of effort. Blue jersey, slap some yellow on it...done.


Los Angeles Clippers - 1978-1982

This one comes from the San Diego Clipper days. Try to ignore Walton's curly red hair, and knee pads...ok I guess you can't. Good thing they moved to LA after just 3 seasons, because these are awful.

Nice form Bill.


Los Angeles Lakers - 1960-1966

When the Lakers first moved to LA from Minneapolis, they wore these blue uniforms. By far the worst they have had, compared to the traditional purple and gold, and old blue and gold Minneapolis uni's.

Memphis Grizzlies - 1995-2000

Holy....Crap. What is this? From the giant grizzly on the shorts, the word grizzlies carved out of rock, to the hieroglyphic trim - and of course the TEAL! The move to Memphis couldn't have happened soon enough to get rid of these monstrosities.

Miami Heat - 1988-1999

The Heat have had only two uniforms in their short history, both of which are great looking. The current uni is better, so this one loses by default.


Milwaukee Bucks - 1995-1999

I can't decide if this is terrible or awesome...They put a freaking giant deer on it. If that's not intimidation, I don't know what is.

Minnesota Timberwolves - 1996-2008

This uni the Timberwolves had during the Kevin Garnett era loses by default, because Minnesota's current uni's are about as good as it gets. And because the trim on this one has a bunch of little trees...very corny.

Enough about their uniforms, can we talk about how awesome Mark Madsen is?

New Jersey Nets - 1990-1991

The Nets had these light-blue uniforms for one season...and rightly so. Your eyes aren't failing you, there is no glare, there are literally 20 different shades of blue on that uni. Well done New Jersey.

New Orleans Hornets - Alternate 2010-Present

I'll be honest, the purple one from the Charlotte days is probably worse. However, the current alternate for New Orleans has everything that is wrong with uniforms...ugly yellow, TEAL, and pinstripes all on the same shameful uni.

...Fine the purple is worse.

New York Knicks - 1979-1983

Honestly I can't look at this one without laughing. The giant number, dead center on the chest is priceless. A little known fact about the Knicks, aparantly they were sponsored by the Yankees as you can see by the Yankee logo on the shorts.

Oklahoma City Thunder - 1995-2001

Since moving to Oklahoma City, the Thunder have had the same and only uni so we will have to go back to Seattle to find the worst one. This isn't the worst in history, but the big cartoony "Sonic" across the front isn't the best either.

Orlando Magic - 1998-2003

The Magic have a history of good uniforms, but they stuggled with this one. It looks like something you would see at Disney World. Photoshop a Mickey Mouse head onto this picture and tell me I'm lying.

Philadelphia 76ers - 1991-1994

The Sixers might as well have draped an American Flag on them for 3 seasons. My favorite part of this one is that the exact same logo that is on the chest is also on the shorts.

Phoenix Suns - 1992-2000

Another team without a lot of uniform history. The current uni's have the slight edge over this one, because of the sun shooting across the chest. I guess in the 90's it was hard to design a sun with actual flames.

Portland Trailblazers - All of them

They've had basically the same design for their entire history and each one of them are as bad as the others. For some reason they can't get away from the diagnal red and black stripe. Portland should get rid of their current uni's, and wear their alternate "rip city" uni's from here on out, it is far better.

Sacramento Kings - 1990-1994

Some franchises have come a long way with their uniform design - The Sacramento Kings are one of them. This boring, blue uni with cursive writing and gigantic numbers is not Sacramento's finest moment. Not to mention one of the worst logos of all time that they put on the shorts. The Kings have improved and today their current uniform is one of the best looking in the league.

San Antonio Spurs - 1983-1989

These are the definition of lazy. The uniforms the San Antonio Spurs wore from '83 to '89 look like something you would see in your local recreation league.

Toronto Raptors - 1995-1999

(see Milwaukee Bucks section, except it's a big freaking dinosaur)

Utah Jazz - 1996-2004

These are the grand daddy of them all. Nothing says Jazz music like some purple uniforms with a snowy mountain range. I speak for all Jazz fans when I say I can't believe we watched our team wear these for almost a decade. Without question, one of the worst uniforms in the history of the NBA.

Washington Wizards - Alternate 2006-2009

The Wizards mismatched black and gold alternate uni's came out of nowhere. It was different, but not the good kind of different. It only lasted 3 seasons and was eventually done away with.

Championship Sunday

Patriots 23   Ravens 20

Tom Brady had a streak of 35 games with at least one touchdown pass entering Sunday’s AFC Championship game. That streak was snapped, but the Patriots defense played outstanding as the Patriots outlasted the Ravens at Gillette Stadium.

New England’s victory was sealed by a missed field goal by Billy Cuniff with 11 seconds remaining in the game.

"It's a kick I've kicked probably a thousand times in my career," Cundiff said. "I went out there and didn't convert. That's the way things go."

Unfortunately, Cundiff’s missed field goal will receive most of the attention and blame for the 3-point loss. However, the Ravens had a chance to win the game two plays earlier as Lee Evans caught a Joe Flacco pass in the endzone, but was stripped by Pats cornerback Sterling Moore.

Flacco has been criticized his whole career, even by his own teammates, but he played great on Sunday completing 22/36 passes for 306 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Tom Brady struggled for most of the game, and acknowledged it after in his postgame interview, “Well, I sucked pretty bad today, but our defense saved us.”

This will be Brady’s 5^th Super Bowl, and he’s going for his 4^th championship. Expect big numbers from him on February 5^th.

Giants 20   49ers 17

For the second time in his career, Lawrence Tynes kicked the game winning field goal in overtime of the NFC Championship Game to send his team, the New York Giants, to the Super Bowl.

Eli Manning put his team on his back yet again, like he has done all season, completing 32/58 passes for 316 yards and 2 touchdowns. Manning continues to prove that he belongs in the elite group of quarterbacks in the NFL.

The receiving core for the Giants had a great game, led by Victor Cruz who caught 10 passes for 142 yards. Mario Manningham was held without a reception the entire game, until he made a spectacular 17 yard touchdown catch from Manning to take a 17-14 lead.

Alex Smith had a great season, but he turned back into the Alex Smith of old completing just 12/26 passes, and converting only 1-13 third down chances. He did have two touchdown strikes to Vernon Davis, one for 74 yards and the other for 29 yards, which was basically all the offense for San Francisco.

Smith didn’t get any help from his special teams, in particular Kyle Williams, who botched a punt return in the 4^th quarter that led to the Manningham touchdown, and fumbled a punt return in OT that led to the game winning field goal by Tynes.

Everyone will dogpile on Williams, don’t get me wrong, his mistakes were inexcusable, but don’t forget the 49ers had more than one possession before the Williams fumble to get at least a FG and the offense failed to do so.

Credit Jim Harbaugh for taking a 6-10 team to the NFC Championship in his first year as head coach. He should be the unanimous choice for coach of the year, and the Niners should be contenders for years to come, as long as he’s around.

There will be a rematch of the 2007 Super Bowl between the Giants and Pats. Manning will go after his 2^nd title, one more than his brother Payton, while Brady will try to join Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana with his 4^th Lombardi Trophy.

David Tyree is available…the Giants should re-sign him, just in case.

Are "Yu" Sure?

Yesterday the Texas Rangers agreed to a 6-year $60 million deal with Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish just before the 5PM deadline that was set by his former club, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

Not only do the Rangers owe him the $60 million for his contract, they also have to pay the record $51.7 million posting fee to his former team, which gave Texas exclusive rights just to negotiate with Darvish, bringing the grand total to about $111 million, and making him the most expensive RHP in Major League history.

 If the deadline would have passed without a deal, they would not have had to pay the posting fee, and Darvish would remain with his Japanese club.

$111 million? That is a lot of cash for someone that has not pitched a single inning in the Major Leagues. Darvish does have great velocity, and some stellar numbers in the Japanese league posting a line of 18-6/1.44 ERA/276 SO/232 IP in his final season with the Fighters, but that doesn’t guarantee those same numbers it will transfer over to the Majors, where he will have to face off against the likes of Pujols, Fielder, Bautista, Kemp, etc.

This signing is familiar territory for the Boston Red Sox, when they won the negotiation rights to fellow Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka with a winning bid of $51.1 million. They signed Matsuzaka to a 6-year $52 million contract, making the total price about $103 million.

Daisuke had one good season with the Sox in 2008 when he went 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA, but in his other 4 seasons he was plagued with injuries, and when healthy, his lowest season ERA was 4.40.

Yu Darvish is a gamble, and only time will tell if the Rangers made the correct decision. He could turn out to be the next big thing, but he could also turn out very mediocre like his countryman Daisuke Matsuzaka.  $111 million is a lot for someone that could turn out mediocre, just ask the Red Sox.

NFL Playoffs: Division Round

Denver Broncos at New England Patriots

Well I guess it’s time for me to eat some crow. I can admit when I’m wrong, well sort of. I stand by my comment that Tim Tebow will never win the Broncos a Super Bowl, however, he showed some major improvement in Denver’s win last week against the Steelers. He threw for over 300 yards with just 10 completed passes, 3 of which were for 50 yards or more, including the 80 yard game-winning touchdown to Demaryius Thomas in overtime.

Can the magic continue against the golden boy Tom Brady and the Patriots? There is a chance, but a very small chance mind you.

The Patriots are going to score points, there’s no doubt about that, but it will all hinge on how many the Broncos give up. If Denver’s D can hold Brady and the Pats to 24 or fewer, then we will have a ballgame on our hands.

If you watch ESPN and have a Twitter or Facebook account, but hate Tim Tebow news stories – get on the Patriots bandwagon, because if the Broncos win this game, we will never hear the end of it.

WINNER: PATRIOTS

New York Giants at Green Bay Packers

New York made a statement last week by allowing only 2 points to an overrated Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons. This week they will have to go up against Aaron Rodgers and the most efficient offense in the league.

Eli Manning is playing out of his mind, and is not getting the credit he deserves. If the Giants pull off an upset over the Pack, I guarantee you he will get his due (unless of course Tebow pulls off another miracle, then Eli would be as if he never existed).

These two teams met during the season, the Packers won 38-35. I would expect to see a similar game, but I think the Packers have too much talent, and too much firepower to lose this one.

WINNER: PACKERS

Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens

The Texans got stellar performances from their defense and Arian Foster against Cincinnati last week, but against the Ravens and their ruthless defense they will need more than that.

There’s no doubt Terrell Suggs and Ray Lewis will get their team pumped up and ready to get after rookie quarterback T.J. Yates, and I don’t think Yates will be able to handle what they are going to throw at him. Baltimore has a reputation for not being able to run on them, which could make Arian Foster a non factor.

The X-Factor in this game is Joe Flacco. You never know which Flacco will show up, but I can tell you this much, if he makes a lot of mistakes, the Texans will take advantage of them. The Ravens need Flacco to play well to be able to move on to the AFC Championship.

WINNER: RAVENS

New Orleans Saints at San Francisco 49ers

I’m on the Saints bandwagon and I have no problem admitting it. The things Drew Brees does on the football field are downright ridiculous, and in my opinion he should be the MVP of the league.

“The Saints are a different team away from the Superdome” have you heard this on ESPN, sports talk radio, or any other sports station? It’s a load of crap. That statement is basically saying that the Saints aren’t as good on the road as they are at home. Well duh! What team is better on the road than at home!?

The best storyline of the game will be if the 49ers defense can stop the well oiled machine that is the New Orleans offense. The 49ers defense has had a historic season not allowing a singe rushing touchdown for 14 games in a row, until they finally gave way to the skittles man, Marshawn Lynch. Let that sink in – not a single rushing touchdown until week 16…that is staggering.

This is Drew Brees vs the Niners defense, and Alex Smith vs his own inexperience.

Geaux Saints.

WINNER: SAINTS

Time To Change The BCS

After the lowest rated BCS National Championship in history, it has become glaringly obvious that a change in the system is needed to determine the champion of college football.

I understand it’s hard to make an argument that Alabama didn’t deserve to be in the game. Their only loss of the season was to #1 LSU by a field goal in overtime. Every other 1-loss team had a more damaging loss such as, Oklahoma State to unranked Iowa State, Stanford to #10 Oregon, and Boise St. to unranked (at the time) TCU. The numbers were clearly in favor of the Crimson Tide, which is the problem – numbers, polls, and computers are determining who plays for the title.

What if Boise State could recruit a kicker, and Oklahoma State didn’t flop at Iowa State? There would have been three undefeated teams along with LSU. Who gets to play for the championship? Someone will always be left out in the current system.

A sport that puts so much emphasis on its regular season, saying every week matters, looks extremely hypocritical right now. LSU had a perfect regular season, won its conference championship, and was rewarded by playing a team they had already beaten during the regular season in Alabama, who didn’t qualify for the conference championship, yet somehow gets the same reward.

It’s time for change so here is my proposal. An 8-team playoff consisting of 5 conference champions, and 3 at-large bids, with the at-large bids being the highest ranked non-conference champions. Conferences that get auto bids are ACC, Big 12, Big East, SEC, and Pac-12. This way it would put much more emphasis on the regular season, and winning your conference championship. If you can’t win your own conference, you don’t belong in the mix for the national championship.

There would be one bye week, and then the playoff would start the following week. As a result, we could enjoy meaningful bowl games instead of the pointless bowl games we are subjected to now. I’m not saying get rid of the little bowls all together, let the little guys have their moment, but play big bowl games at the same time.

And finally, get rid of the computers and the coach’s poll to rank the teams. Appoint an un-biased committee that can rank the teams like basketball has with the Tournament Committee, or at the very least use the AP poll. As we saw from recent events some coaches aren’t capable of ranking teams fairly (Nick Saban ranked Oklahoma St. 4^th on his ballot, they also happened to be the team rivaling his Crimson Tide for a Championship bid…He didn’t do it by accident).

I admit, this still would not be a perfect system, but it’s far better than what is in place right now. If change doesn’t happen soon, College Football fans will dwindle and begin to not care…just look at the TV ratings from LSU-Bama.

There are a million ways to tweak the system, what’s your take? Comment with how you would want to determine the champion of College Football, or send me your ideas at batkinson42@gmail.com

NFL Wild Card Weekend

Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos

I’ve said it all year – Tim Tebow will not win Denver a Super Bowl…ever. All year long we listened to Tebowmaniacs ignorantly say “all he does is win” while they just flat out ignored his stats and Denver’s stellar defensive play. Now Denver has lost 3 in a row (it would be 4 in a row if Marion Barber didn’t run out of bounds) and are barely limping into the playoffs thanks to an anemic offense that can’t put more than one drive together in an entire game, and Raider loss in week 17. It’s even been reported that Brady Quinn has been taking snaps with the first team in practice. Tebowmaniacs have been very quiet all the sudden.

Pittsburgh’s concern will be the play of Ben Roethlisberger as he comes back from an ankle injury that dramatically affected his play down the stretch of the regular season. The Steelers still have one of the premiere defenses in the league and shouldn’t have a problem stopping the Broncos and advancing to the next round.

The only chance the Broncos have is if their defense holds the Steelers to 10 points or less, because the gimmicky, cater-to-Tim Tebow offense that Denver runs does not and will not work…unless divine intervention is involved, then all bets are off.

Winner: Steelers

Cincinnati Bengals at Houston Texans

Congratulations to the Texans who, because of Peyton Manning’s injury won the AFC South and are playing in their first playoff game in franchise history.

The Texans come into this game losing 3 in a row. If Matt Schaub was healthy this would be a no brainer, but he’s not and the Texans will have to rely on quarterback T.J Yates to take them to the playoff promised land. Of course they still have Arian Foster to anchor their stellar running game that will give them a chance to advance.

If you thought the Bengals would be in the playoffs this year you are a filthy liar. Cincinnati rookies, Andy Dalton and A.J. Green have had spectacular first seasons and have performed far above expectations. Not to mention Andy “shawshank” Dalton has one of the best nicknames of all time (his name is Andy and he has red hair. Two main characters in the movie Shawshank Redemption were named Andy and Red).

As much as I want to pick Houston in this game, I can’t with T.J. Yates under center. I think the Bengals will shock Houston.

Winner: Bengals

Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants

Two great quarterbacks will face off on Sunday afternoon at Metlife Stadium in New York.

The Falcons started off the season slow losing to the Bears and Bucs, but have played great ever since. The last 3 seasons, Atlanta has missed or been beat in the first round of the playoffs, and with such high expectations placed on this team year after year, this game is being called a must win for Matt Ryan and company. Ryan is one of the great guys in the league and needs a good showing on Sunday to solidify the name “Matty Ice” that the fans and media have given him.

With the self-proclaimed “dream team” completely flopping, that opened up an opportunity for the Giants to get into the playoffs. At one point New York lost 5 out of 6 games and looked like they were dead in the water, until they beat the Jets and a winner-take-all game against the Cowboys in week 17.

Eli Manning is one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the league and has put this team on his back as he passed for 4,933 yards and 29 touchdowns this season.

This one could go either way, but I think the pressure is all on Atlanta.

Winner: Giants

Detroit Lions at New Orleans Saints

If you only watch one game this weekend, make it this one.

The Detroit Lions haven’t been to the playoffs since black and white TV and will most definitely be up for this one. Matthew Stafford to “Megatron” has been an unstoppable attack all season, and you should expect to see a lot more of it on Saturday night. The Lions have no running game, their leading rusher Jahvid Best collected only 390 yards on the season, but who needs a rushing game when your quarterback throws for 5,038 yards and 41 touchdowns?

Drew Brees is a machine. He broke Dan Marino’s all-time single season passing record and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. He threw for 5,476 yards and 46 touchdowns this season and has a weapon on the ground in Derren Sproles, the best free agent signing of the year. He hasn’t been stopped yet, so if the Lions can do it they deserve to move on.

It will be a shootout in the Superdome, but in the end I think Brees will be too much to handle.

Winner: Saints

2011: Year In Review

2011 World Series – St. Louis Cardinals vs Texas Rangers

This was one for the ages, a dramatic 7 game series that kept us on the edge of our seats until the last out. 

The Rangers entered game 6 with a 3-2 advantage and all the momentum going back to Busch Stadium, but a Cardinal team that needed a miracle just to get in to the playoffs (they were 10.5 back of the wild card race at the end of September) was not about to go down without a fight.

With 2 on and 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and the Cardinals trailing 5-7, David Freese stepped into the box as St. Louis’ last chance. Down to his last strike and with Neftali Feliz on the mound, the Cards were all but dead until the unthinkable happened. Freese hit a liner to deep right field that dropped behind Nelson Cruz (who should have made the catch, but took a terrible route to the ball) giving Freese a 2RBI triple and tying the game 7-7.

The comeback was short-lived and the electricity was sucked out of Busch Stadium as Josh Hamilton crushed a 2-run homerun to left-center giving the Rangers a 9-7 lead. In the bottom of the 10th and the same situation, 2 on 2 out and down to the final strike…again, Lance Burkman hit a 2RBI single up the middle to tie the game at 9-9…insanity.

After holding the Rangers scoreless in the top half of the 11th, David Freese ended one of the best (if not the best) World Series games of all time with a walk-off solo homerun to center field. The St. Louis Cardinals went on to win the series the next night in game 7.  

They went from virtually eliminated from payoff contention to World Series Champions and will be talked about for years to come. 

NBA Finals – Dallas Mavericks vs Miami Heat

Not 7, not 6, not 5, not 4, not 3…..well as a matter of fact not 1. From the moment LeBron James announced that he would take his talents to South Beach and the Miami Heat held their “victory party” before they had even practiced together, the entire world and especially Cleveland fans wanted LeBron James to fail - and do so miserably.

Thank you Dallas Mavericks. A team full of scrappy veteran players and one the classiest guys around in Dirk Nowitzki were able to defeat the self-proclaimed “champions” in 6 games on Miami’s home court. 

After childish mocking from Dwyane Wade and LeBron, accusing Nowitzki of faking an illness during the series, Dirk simply brushed it off and handled his business on the court claiming Dallas first NBA championship and the only prize his hall of fame career was lacking. 

As for LeBron, he went to the post-game press conference and gave a “my life is still better than yours” speech that he quickly “apologized” for days later because of the PR backlash it caused.  As the 2012 season gets underway, LeBron has shed himself of the “villain” role he embraced last year that clearly affected his game. He has begun with a better attitude and it looks like the Heetles are well on their way to a second finals appearance. 

Green Bay Packers Win Super Bowl XLV

SUCK IT BRETT!....is what Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers wanted to say when he rose the Lombardi trophy after defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. Of course he took the high road and didn’t do anything of the sort, but wouldn’t that have been awesome?!

After suffering major injuries throughout the team, the Packers found a way to crawl into the playoffs on the last day of the season to capture the 6th and final spot.  Their road to the Super Bowl included road wins at Philadelphia, Atlanta, and arch-rival Chicago.

Rodgers put on a show in the Super Bowl. He went 24/39 for 304 yards 3 TD’s and no interceptions, hooking up with Greg Jennings for 2 TD’s  64 yards and Jordy Nelson for a TD and 140 yards, as he captured his first Super Bowl win…equaling Favre.

Brett who?

Kobe’s Divorce

Advice to every professional athlete…Don’t get married if you want to keep sleeping around. Seems to work for Derek Jeter

Advice to every woman on this planet…Don’t marry a professional athlete, because he will cheat on you. Unless you are looking to get all his money – then it seems like a good plan

Advice to every professional athlete that wants to get married, and also wants to continue sleeping around…PRENUP!  Just ask Kobe.

Derek Jeter’s 3000th hit

One of the best players of all time, not to mention one of the best all around guys of all time, no one deserved this milestone more than Derek Jeter. 

After getting off to a slow start as well as dealing with injuries, Jeter finally reached the 3,000 hit mark against the Tampa Bay Rays. He did it in magnificent fashion going 5-5 in the game, his historic 3,000th being a homerun to left in the 3rd inning off David Price. 

This was such a big deal that literally nothing was played on ESPN except for this story for 2 days. Armageddon could have happened and they wouldn’t have broken away from their coverage on Jeter.

September 28, 2011 – The Last Day of MLB Regular Season

What happened this day will never happen again…ever.

Both the AL and NL Wild Card races were tied going into the last day of the regular season, the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays for the American League, the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves in the National League.

At one time the Cardinals trailed Atlanta by 10 ½ games in August and by 8 ½ games at the beginning of September. The Red Sox lead the Rays by 9 games on September 2. Comebacks of that size have never happened in the history of baseball, but on that fateful night there were two.

St. Louis easily took care of business with their ace Chris Carpenter on the hill in Houston, defeating the Astros in a laugher 8-0. Atlanta didn’t fare so well at home against the Phillies, a team that had nothing to play for, as they lost 4-3 in 13 innings.

What happened in the American League was so unreal that it had to be seen to be believed.

The Red Sox were in Baltimore to face the lowly Orioles with their ace John Lester on the mound, while the Rays played host to the New York Yankees who already rapped up the division title and played with a less than stellar lineup.

The Yankees jumped all over the Rays taking a 7-0 lead and it looked like the Red Sox were going to go to the postseason yet again, as they lead Baltimore 3-2 in the 7^th.

…and then the rains came

During a rain delay that lasted about an hour and a half, Boston sat in their clubhouse and watched as the Rays made a storming comeback scoring 6 runs in the 8^th inning to get within one run, 7-6.

Play finally resumed in Baltimore - In the 9^th inning Jonathon Paplebon took the mound for the Sox to try and nail down the save. He started off great, striking out the first two batters and it looked like they would win the Wild Card or at least have a one game playoff in Tampa. Then the Orioles hit back-to-back doubles to tie the game, which brought Robert Andino to the plate, who dropped a short blooper to left that got under Carl Crawford’s glove scoring the winning run for Baltimore.

In Tampa, Joe Maddon, manager for the Rays, sent little used Dan Johnson to the plate with 2 outs in the ninth. Johnson had a .108 avg. and hadn’t had a hit since April, and with 2 strikes on him he hit a game tying homerun down the right field line.

The game continued tied 7-7 until the 12^th inning. With B.J. Upton at the plate the crowd roared so loud that Upton had to ask for time and step out of the box as the final score BOS 3 BAL 4 flashed up on the Tropicana Field scoreboard. The next batter, literally three minutes later, was Evan Longoria who hit a walk off homerun to left that barely squeaked over the wall sending the entire stadium into euphoria, and winning the Wild Card for the Rays.

Drew Brees Breaks Dan Marino’s Passing Record

The day after Christmas we witnessed history as Drew Brees broke Dan Marino’s record (5,084) for most passing yards in a season in, some would say, controversial fashion.

With about five minutes left and the Saints leading the Falcons 38-16 on Monday Night Football, Brees decided to go for Marino’s 27-year old record instead of running the ball to run the clock out and end the blow out.

Brees marched the Saints down the field and broke the record on a 9-yard touchdown pass to Darren Sproles.

A lot of the Falcons players and coaches criticized Brees for passing the ball in a blowout, but can you really blame the guy? On the stage of Monday Night Football and a 27-year old record within reach I say more power to him and congratulations. As for the Falcons, if you don’t like it, stop him.

They didn’t.

NBA and NFL Lockout

Rich people arguing with very rich people over millions and millions of dollars, while the rest of us watched and wished it would end so we could give them more of our money.

I hope I never hear BRI ever again.

Penn State and Jerry Sandusky

The most despicable story in the history of the NCAA.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know the details of this terrible story so I don’t want to get into the details again. Everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves, because they put their football program and the University’s reputation before the lives of the victims that were harmed during these unthinkable and barbaric acts.

Sandusky will be brought to justice, but that won’t heal so much damage that has already been caused. I speak for all of us in saying our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those that were harmed or affected in any way by that despicable person.

Honorable Mentions

UCONN wins the Big East and NCAA Tournament

VCU’s Run to the Final Four

Auburn Wins BCS National Championship (more like dishonorable mention because Cam Newton shouldn’t have been eligible to play for accepting improper benefits, but of course the NCAA looked the other way.)

Of all the memorable moments from 2011, these are just a few. Let us know your favorite moment from 2011, by commenting below.