Image courtesy of GreatestHockeyLegends.com

Twenty-five years ago this weekend, a team of NHL All-Stars faced off against the Soviet National Team in a pair of exhibition games in Quebec City. The games were two of the main attractions of Rendez-Vous 87, a week-long series of events held during Quebec’s Winter Carnival. The “Super Bowl of hockey” featured lavish meals, fashion shows, the Bolshoi Ballet, and even Ontario native Alan Thicke. Here’s a brief history of the spectacle.

The Idea Is Born

According to Sports Illustrated writer E.M. Swift, the idea for Rendez-Vous 87 was hatched at a 1983 NHL Board of Governors meeting in Quebec City. The league expressed interest in hosting an All-Star Game in one of North America’s oldest cities in the near future and Quebec Nordiques president Marcel Aubut began brainstorming ideas to spice up the typically boring midseason exhibition between the NHL’s two conferences. Quebec City was officially awarded the 1987 All-Star Game in 1984. Two years later, Aubut presented his idea for a two-game series between the NHL All-Stars and the Soviet National Team, which would serve as the centerpiece of a larger celebration and showcase for the city. “It should be an event where sports fans who otherwise have no interest in hockey have no choice but to watch and where even the people who are not interested in sports have no choice but to watch,” Aubut said.

The Date Is Set

The league liked Aubut’s idea and moved to extend the All-Star break from two to five days, even before the NHL Player’s Association and Soviet Hockey Federation agreed to participate. “The players haven’t said yes yet because they haven’t been asked,” said Alan Eagleson, the executive director of the player’s association. “The Soviets haven’t agreed because they don’t know anything about the project. It is my guess that if the money is right – if the pile is high enough – there will be no problem.”

Eagleson used the series as a source of leverage during collective bargaining, but eventually gave his blessing. The Soviets were also on board. Each of the NHL All-Stars received $1,000 per game plus expenses, while the Soviet National Team earned $40,000 per game plus expenses. The dates for the series were set for Wednesday, February 11, and Friday, February 13.

Much More Than Hockey

Aubut was determined to make Rendez-Vous 87 hockey’s version of the Super Bowl. “If people think this is going to be just a couple of hockey games with a few other things thrown around it, they’re wrong,” he said at a press conference. “That’s not the case at all. This is going to be one of the big events of the decade.” Indeed, the hockey games were but two items on a jam-packed schedule of events.

Festivities began on Monday with a 10-course, $350-a-head dinner for 1,500, prepared by top chefs from the Soviet Union, United States, and Canada. Subsequent events included a variety show featuring local acts, the Soviet Red Army Chorus, and members of the Bolshoi Ballet; a business lunch with Chrysler president Lee Iacocca; brunch in a museum decorated by Pierre Cardin to resemble Maxim’s of Paris; and a $250,000 fashion show. United States President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Andrei Gromyko delivered video messages of peace during a black-tie gala. Guests included Joe Dimaggio, Gordon Lightfoot, Wilt Chamberlain, Pele, and Thicke, who wrote the words for the event’s official theme song.

Previous Series

Individual NHL teams and various all-star teams had played exhibition games against the Soviet National Team before, but Rendez-Vous 87 marked the first time that North America’s best professional players faced off against the world’s most dominant team. In the 1972 Summit Series, the NHL team that defeated the U.S.S.R. 4-3-1 in an eight-game series was made up exclusively of Canadian-born players. The Soviets won two out of three games in the 1979 Challenge Cup held in New York, but that exhibition excluded World Hockey Association stars. The WHA merged with the NHL after the 1978-79 season, putting all of North America’s best players in one league.

Coaching Controversy

It was customary at the time for the coaches who appeared in the previous season’s Stanley Cup to coach in the All-Star game. Montreal hoisted the Stanley Cup in 1986, but the Canadiens’ bitter relationship with the Nordiques led many to wonder if their head coach, Jean Perron, would be selected to lead the NHL’s team of stars. Aubut, whose dislike for Perron was well known, wisely removed himself from the process for picking the coaching staff. Perron, Nordiques head coach Michel Bergeron, and Calgary Flames head coach Bob Johnson were eventually tapped to lead the NHL team.

Picking the Team

Picking the players was almost as controversial. The NHL team’s starting lineup, save for the goalie, was determined by fan vote, while eight NHL executives picked the rest of the squad. Many fans cried foul when Mario Lemieux beat out Wayne Gretzky for the starting center spot, despite the fact that the Great One’s scoring stats were far and away the best in the league. These fans accused the Nordiques organization of being, as one reporter put it, “tastelessly aggressive in the manner in which it has distributed and collected all-star ballots.”

Ten days before the first game in the series, Lemieux offered Gretzky his starting spot, but the Great One politely declined.

The Oilers had an NHL-best seven players selected to the team, but only one – Ontario native Paul Coffey – was voted a starter by the fans. (Coffey would sit out the series with an injury.) The final roster was comprised primarily of Canadians, but also included four Americans, two Swedes, and two Finns.

The Hype

A few months before the event, a report emerged from Moscow that, while the Soviets supported the series publicly, they were privately against it, fearing the embarrassment that would come with potential defeat. “It is ridiculous to say one side or the other does not want to play because it may lose,” said Gennadi Kasnachev, the Soviet consul in Montreal. “The game, the two sides meeting; that’s what’s important, particularly now with the political situation being so dangerous.” Pundits argued over who should be favored. The NHL All-Stars would only have a couple of days to prepare as a team, which was one of the main reasons that Philadelphia Flyers owner Ed Snider ripped the series. “I think it’s terrible,” Snider said. “(The Soviets) have all the advantages and we have all the disadvantages. They’ve created this illusion of being supermen. But all they do is maneuver and manipulate to always get the edge in sports, just like they do in everything else.” On the other hand, the Soviets would be jet-lagged.

The Ticket Fiasco

A month before the first game in the series, Eagleson threatened a player boycott. Aubut made 500 of the 15,000-plus tickets for each game at Quebec’s Colisée available to the public. Most of the rest were reserved for Nordiques season-ticket holders, corporate sponsors, and government officials. The 75 tickets Aubut set aside for the players and NHL officials was “unsatisfactory” to Eagleson, who asked that each player receive two tickets and the right to purchase two more in the best section. Aubut eventually caved and averted a crisis, providing Eagleson with 500 tickets no more than 20 rows from the ice. The ticket fiasco was only one of the headaches leading up to the event. Toronto pulled out of the parade, which was supposed to feature a float from every NHL team, because its owner didn’t like the Soviets. Eagleson and Aubut also haggled over hotel rates.

Game 1: NHL All-Stars 4, U.S.S.R. 3

After the Red Army Choir, Harvard Glee Club, and Quebec Symphony Orchestra Choir sang the national anthems of the Soviet Union, Canada, and United States, the NHL All-Stars jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson. The Soviets came back to tie the score at 3-3 in the third period, but Dave Poulin’s goal off a deflection of a Lemieux shot with 75 seconds remaining gave the NHL team a stirring victory. “We can’t win every game,” Soviet coach Victor Tikhonov told reporters after putting his team through a rigorous practice the following day.

Game 2: U.S.S.R. 5, NHL All-Stars 3

The Soviets got a strong performance from goalie Evgeny Belosheikin and overcame an early 1-0 deficit. Before the event, the two sides agreed that co-champions would be declared if the teams split the series. Given that his team had outscored the United States 8-7 in the two games, Tikhonov was asked if he considered his squad the champions. “It is important that you know that the NHL didn’t win, and neither did we,” he said. “The person that won was hockey itself. Both games were like holidays, like festivals, two of the greatest hockey games you’ll ever see.” Tikhonov praised the performance of the NHL All-Stars. “If they were my team, they’d never lose a game,” he said. “ …Of all teams, this is the one I admire the most.”

A Success

For all the consternation leading up to Rendez-Vous 87, the event was a success. At least 125 million people in more than 20 countries watched the games, with Game 2 drawing a 50 percent audience share. CBC produced the telecast and controlled the Canadian rights to the broadcast, while ESPN owned the rights everywhere else except the Soviet Union. Aubut would later report that the event, which cost $9.4 million, turned a $1.9-million profit and generated at least $18.5 million in economic spinoffs. Aubut returned $500,000 to the public purse as “an exemplary gesture.”

Postscript

Hockey hasn’t had another event like Rendez-Vous 87, partly because the Soviet Union collapsed. In 1989, Sergei Priakin became the first player from the Soviet Union permitted to play for a professional team in North America when he signed with Calgary. Today, there are Russian stars throughout the league. Aubut remained president of the Nordiques until 1995, when he sold the team to an American company that relocated the franchise to Denver. Today, he is the president of the Canadian Olympic Committee. Eagleson, who fought so hard for those tickets, was later convicted of fraud and embezzlement, disbarred, and removed from the Hockey Hall of Fame.

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If the ceremonial coin toss before Sunday’s Super Bowl turns up heads, everyone enrolled in the Papa John’s customer loyalty program will win a free large one-topping pizza and a two-liter bottle of Pepsi Max. Thousands of other fans will collect on a 50-50 prop bet. The Super Bowl coin toss hasn’t always been such a big deal. Here’s a brief look at the history of the pre-game spectacle.

Red Grange Breaks the Ice

For the first 11 Super Bowls, a game official conducted the coin toss. In 1978, at Super Bowl XII in New Orleans, Chicago Bears great and Hall of Famer Red Grange became the first celebrity to perform the toss. The Dallas Cowboys – the designated visiting team – called heads and won the toss. Dallas went on to beat the Denver Broncos, 27-10. Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, who gave the Super Bowl its name and may have also been responsible for the coin toss becoming a televised event, participated in the coin toss ceremony before Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta. A month after her husband’s death in December 2006, Norma Hunt took part in the coin toss with Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino before Super Bowl XLI.

By the Numbers

In 45 Super Bowls to date, the opening coin toss has come up heads 24 times and tails 21 times. The NFC has won the toss 31 times out of 45, including a remarkable 14 straight years. The New England Patriots were the last AFC team to win the coin toss, way back in 1997. The team that wins the coin toss is 22-23 all-time and has lost 10 of the last 15 Super Bowls. All but two teams that have won the coin toss have elected to receive the opening kickoff. The Arizona Cardinals became the first team to defer to the second half in Super Bowl XLIII and lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-23. The Green Bay Packers deferred after winning the toss in last year’s Super Bowl en route to a 31-25 win.

Another Set of Eyes

Most of the ceremonial coin tossers have been former coaches and players. Los Angeles Rams great Elroy Hirsch performed the duty at Super Bowl XVII with a ceremonial coin that had helmets on one side (tails) and players holding helmets on the other side (heads). Miami’s Bob Kuechenberg called tails and the coin landed with the helmets side up, but referee Jerry Markbreit was confused. Markbreit turned to Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann and said, “Heads. You win the toss.” Hirsch pointed out the mistake, and after Markbreit turned off his microphone to avoid any further embarrassment, sorted things out. According to Markbreit, Theismann turned to him and said, “You know, I remember when you used to work in the Big Ten and you stunk then. Where the hell did they get you?” It wasn’t the last time Markbreit would hear about his mistake. NFL commissioner Peter Rozelle came into the locker room after the game, found Markbreit in the shower, and said, “Markbreit, once you got past the coin toss, you did fine.”

Teach Me How to Flip It?

Marie Lombardi, the widow of legendary Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi, whose name adorns the Super Bowl trophy, was selected to toss the coin before Super Bowl XV. “Somewhere up there, a coach is looking down and saying, ‘What is that woman doing out there on the field?’” Lombardi told reporters after learning that she had been chosen. Lombardi had reportedly never flipped a coin before, so NFL officials spent time practicing with her at the dress rehearsal on the day before the game.

Coins in Space

In 1992, CBS reached out to NASA to see if it would be willing to conduct a pre-game coin toss aboard the Discovery space shuttle. There was only one problem. “A coin flip in space would be mighty tough since the coin won’t come down,” NASA chief flight director Randy Stone told reporters. “It will just flip and flip and flip.” Instead, Canadian astronaut Roberta Bondar held a coin and performed two backward flips before being brought to a stop. The coin came up heads, just as it did at the actual coin toss before the game, which was conducted by Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll. A ceremonial coin that was going to be used for the coin toss before Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston flew with the space shuttle Columbia that was destroyed upon reentry to the Earth’s atmosphere in 2003. The Columbia’s crew was honored at halftime of the game. The coin used in the ceremonial toss before Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 traveled more than 4 million miles on space shuttle Atlantis. Leland Melvin, who played with the Lions and Cowboys before becoming an astronaut, was among the people who traveled with the coin in space.

Presidents

In 1985, Ronald Reagan became the first president to perform the coin toss, but he wasn’t on the field at Stanford Stadium. San Francisco 49ers Hall of Famer Hugh McElhenny relayed the call to the president, who was shown tossing the coin from the White House. George H.W. Bush and Roger Staubach performed the ceremonial coin toss before Super Bowl XXXVI.

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Sunday will mark the 17th time that NBC has broadcast the Super Bowl, tying it with CBS for the most in NFL history. Here’s a brief history of the Super Bowl on TV.

The AFL-NFL World Championship Game Simulcast

In 1967, NBC and CBS simulcast the first Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers, which was then called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. NBC and CBS used the same video feed, but different announcers. NBC was still in commercial when the second half kicked off, leading the referee to blow the ball dead while it was in the air. The Packers were asked to kick off again. The simulcast marked the last time that an NFL game was televised on two networks until December 2007, when the league allowed NBC and CBS to show the New England Patriots’ bid to complete a perfect regular season against the New York Giants.

Going Global

The first Super Bowl was broadcast on two networks, but in only one language. Sunday’s game will be shown in more than 180 countries and in 30 different languages. According to David Tossell, director of public affairs for NFL International, 15 foreign crews are in Indianapolis to broadcast the game. “That’s a big increase over the last few years,” Tossell said. SiriusXM radio will offer 12 different live broadcasts in eight languages, including English, Spanish, French, Japanese, German, Flemish, Russian, and Mandarin Chinese. Super Bowl XXX between the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers marked the first time that the game was broadcast in the Navajo language. Former Eagles tight end Chad Lewis, worked as a color analyst for CCTV, a Chinese network, during Super Bowl XXXVIII. Lewis, who played college football at BYU, became fluent in Mandarin while on a Mormon mission to China.

What’s a Super Bowl Broadcast Worth?

Super Bowls regularly rank among the most-watched primetime programs. In fact, the past four Super Bowls rank as four of the five most-watched broadcasts in U.S. history, with the M*A*S*H finale from 1983 now ranked No. 3. More than 110 million people are expected to watch Sunday’s game. According to Forbes, the price of a Super Bowl ad has increased by 5.7% annually over the last 14 years and the average 30-second spot this year cost $3.5 million. (A 30-second spot during Super Bowl I cost $42,000, or roughly $280,000 when controlling for inflation). While NBC will use some Super Bowl ad space to promote its own shows, it should bring in more than $250 million in advertising revenue this year. Given the number of viewers, many analysts consider Super Bowl spots a bargain for advertisers.

Rotating System

From 1968 through 1984, NBC and CBS alternated the rights to the Super bowl. ABC got into the mix in 1985, and garnered buzz leading up to the game by shaking up its announcing assignments. For its Super Bowl debut, ABC bumped O.J. Simpson from the broadcast booth to a studio analyst gig in favor of Joe Theismann, who provided color commentary along with Don Meredith. Frank Gifford handled the play-by-play duties. Fox broadcast its first Super Bowl in 1997 with the familiar team of Pat Summerall and John Madden in the booth. ABC last had the Super Bowl’s broadcast rights in 2006. Since then, the rights have rotated among CBS, Fox, and NBC. Those three networks recently extended their TV deals with the NFL through the 2022 season, with the total combined annual rights fees totaling around $3 billion.

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1. Memphis Hound Dogs (NFL, 1993)

The selection of Charlotte and Jacksonville left the prospective ownership group in Memphis, led by cotton magnate William “Billy” Dunavant, crying all the time. After Elvis Presley Enterprises, which controls the late singer’s licensing rights, became an investor, Dunavant nicknamed his prospective team the Hound Dogs. Not everyone was enamored with the idea, however. More than 70% of respondents to a poll in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal didn’t like the nickname, which was inspired by the hit single originally recorded in 1952 by Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton and adapted by Elvis four years later. “We don’t see a wimpy little Hound Dog logo,” Presley Enterprises spokesman Todd Morgan told reporters. “It will be rough and tough just like Elvis. He had that element of danger about him.”

But the Hound Dogs never came to be. The city was awarded a Canadian Football League franchise in 1995, but the Mad Dogs (Presley Enterprises wasn’t an investor) folded after one season. Five years later, an American Basketball Association team called the Houn’Dawgs played a season in Memphis before disbanding.

2. Baltimore Bombers (NFL, 1993)

Baltimore was another city in the running for an expansion team in 1993. Charm City had been without an NFL team since 1983, when the Colts left town for Indianapolis. Retail executive Leonard “Boogie” Weinglass and Florida businessman Malcolm Glazer, the heads of the two prospective ownership groups of the Baltimore franchise, expressed interest in buying the Colts nickname from Indianapolis Colts owner Robert Irsay, but it wasn’t for sale. Rhinos was chosen as a replacement nickname, but the backlash from fans was so great that Weinglass and Glazer reopened the search.

While Ravens was the leading vote getter in a Baltimore Sun poll, the team feared a Ravens logo would too closely resemble the Atlanta Falcons’ logo, and ultimately decided on Bombers. “It’s a cowardly bird anyway,” Weinglass said of the Ravens nickname. “It’s a scavenger. I never read a book in my life and Edgar Allan Poe never met me.” Baltimore missed out on the NFL in 1993, but had a successful CFL team in 1994 and 1995. The NFL returned to the city before the 1996 season when the relocated Cleveland Browns franchise began play as the Baltimore Ravens.

3. St. Louis Stallions (NFL, 1993)

St. Louis was the third city that came oh-so-close to being awarded an expansion NFL team in 1993. St. Louis was considered one of the favorites to land a team and a local radio station wrote a fight song for the Stallions, who would wear purple and gold.

But the Gateway to the West, which was home to the Cardinals before they left for Phoenix after the 1987 season, missed out as the result of an internal dispute over the lease for the newly built Edward Jones Dome. After awarding one of the two expansion teams to Charlotte, the NFL delayed the announcement of the second city to give St. Louis’s prospective ownership group time to resolve its issues, but the Stallions never made it out of the stable. St. Louis didn’t have to wait long for an NFL team, though. Los Angeles Rams owner Georgia Frontiere relocated the team to her native St. Louis before the 1995 season and kept the Rams nickname.

4. Memphis Grizzlies (NFL, mid-1970s)

The Hound Dogs’ unsuccessful bid wasn’t Memphis’s first brush with joining the NFL. In 1974, the city was named one of five finalists for an expansion team along with Honolulu, Phoenix, Seattle, and Tampa Bay. After Seattle and Tampa Bay were awarded teams, John Bassett moved his World Football League team from Toronto to Memphis and signed several NFL stars, including Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick. The team was wildly popular with local fans – Elvis reportedly attended a game – but the WFL folded in the middle of the 1975 season. Bassett immediately began a push to join the NFL, capping a season-ticket drive with a telethon that garnered 46,000 pledges.

The NFL wasn’t looking to add another team at the time, so Bassett filed a lawsuit against the league claiming that it violated antitrust laws by denying the Grizzlies, who were briefly known as the Southmen, entry into the NFL. By the time the courts ruled in favor of the league several years later, Bassett was owner of the USFL’s Tampa Bay Bandits. The NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies relocated to Memphis in 2001.

5. Hampton Roads Rhinos (NHL, 1997)

Hampton Roads, a metropolitan area in southeastern Virginia that includes Norfolk and Newport News, was one of nine candidates for NHL expansion in 1997. Charlotte Hornets owner George Shinn, who led the bid, chose Rhinos as the team’s nickname and a color scheme of teal, purple, and blue. Shinn wowed the NHL expansion committee with a 14-minute video, which noted, among other things, that two-thirds of the United States population lives within 750 miles of Hampton Roads.

In the end, the region lost out, partly due to its relatively small television market. “We’re not in a position to deal with a market that size at this time, based on where the NHL is and where we need to expand in order to strengthen the league,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. Atlanta, Columbus, Nashville, and St. Paul, which were among the nine candidates, were awarded expansion franchises over the next few years.

6. Orlando SunRays (MLB, 1990)

In 1990, Major League Baseball solicited bids for two expansion teams to join the National League starting in the 1993 season. The last time the league expanded was 1977, when the Toronto Blue Jays joined the American League. Orlando was one of six cities chosen as a finalist and the only one without an existing stadium for its prospective team to call home. But the Orlando bid had the backing of Amway Corp. president Richard DeVos. It also had a nickname (SunRays), color scheme (quicksilver, electric blue, and SunRay magenta), and a manager in waiting (Bob Boone.) “We’re up on everybody with the nickname and the logo,” SunRays president Pat Williams said. As one reporter noted, the logo, designed by the same advertising firm that created the logo for the Orlando Magic, was “strikingly similar to the logo used by Paramount Pictures Corporation for its recent baseball movie, Major League.”

While the shades-sporting baseball never made it to the big leagues – MLB awarded expansion franchises to Miami and Denver – SunRays was the nickname of Minnesota’s AA affiliate in Orlando from 1990-1992.

7. Washington Nationals (MLB, 1990)

Washington, DC, which had been abandoned by two franchises in the previous 30 years, was another city contending for an expansion team in 1990. The prospective ownership group announced it preferred a nickname other than Senators and asked fans to submit ideas on a postcard. (I remember my dad submitted Belters, a reference to both a batter hitting a ball and the Beltway that encircles DC.) The winning name, as selected by Washington Metropolitan Baseball President John Akridge, was Nationals. “It just came to mind,” 17-year-old Tim Stump, one of several fans to submit the winning name, told reporters. “I was thinking, ‘the Nation’s Capital,’ but you couldn’t use Capitals, because of the hockey team. So I just kept going, and Nationals just came tumbling out.” Nationals was the name of Washington’s National League franchise in 1886 and the name the team adopted when the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, DC, after the 2004 season.

8. Buffalo Bisons (MLB, 1990)

Buffalo’s 1990 MLB expansion delegation, which included New York Governor Mario Cuomo and Larry King, was upbeat about its chances to land a team after the minor league Buffalo Bisons set the all-time minor league attendance record in 1988. The Bisons drew 1.15 million fans, which was more than three major league teams, despite the fact that stadium capacity was less than 20,000. There were plans to expand the stadium to a capacity of 45,000 within 7 months if Buffalo was awarded a team. The delegation received nearly 10,000 deposits for season tickets, but the Bisons’ bid was denied.

9. Seattle Totems (NHL, mid-1970s)

In mid-1974, the NHL awarded Vince Abbey, president of the World Hockey Association’s Seattle Totems, an expansion franchise to begin play in the 1976. The WHA folded before the 1974 season and the Totems joined the Central Hockey League in 1974-1975. Abbey was scrambling to secure funding for the franchise fee that was required to join the NHL and missed a major deadline for a deposit. The NHL reneged on its offer and denied Abbey’s team an expansion bid. Abbey responded by filing an antitrust suit against the league, arguing that his team’s and the WHA’s demise was primarily the result of the NHL’s growth. The case was settled in favor of the NHL more than a decade later.

10. Los Angeles Bulldogs (NFL, 1936)

Harry Myers formed the Los Angeles Bulldogs as an independent football team in 1936 and was granted a “probationary franchise” by the NFL. Myers fully anticipated that his team would join the NFL after the 1936 season, and the Bulldogs, led by former Tulsa coach Gus Henderson, proved they were worthy by averaging nearly 10,000 fans per game and going 3-2-1 against NFL competition. The league decided to add the Cleveland Rams from the AFL instead, in part because of its concerns about the travel costs to the West Coast. The Bulldogs would take Cleveland’s place in the AFL and went undefeated in its first season in the league. The team folded in 1948, two years after the NFL’s Cleveland Rams relocated to Los Angeles.

11. Mexico City (MLB, 1994)

In 1994, Alfredo Harp Helu, the owner of the Mexican League’s Mexico City Red Devils and one of the largest banks in Mexico, submitted a bid for an expansion Major League Baseball team in Mexico City. His group planned to construct a 50,000-seat domed stadium if Mexico City were awarded a team. The following year, MLB announced the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks as its newest members. Mexico City has been an intriguing destination for expansion in several sports. “By the year 2000, we are going to have a franchise in Mexico City,” NBA commissioner David Stern said in 1994. While the NBA has played several preseason games in Mexico and the NFL hosted a regular season game there in 2005, no major professional sports league has expanded south of the border.

Saskatoon Blues and Other Franchise Relocations That Fell Through

It wasn’t exactly a failed expansion bid, but the prairie town of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, was prepared to welcome the St. Louis Blues in 1983. The Ralston Purina Company sold the Blues to an ownership group in Saskatchewan, but the NHL’s Board of Governors rejected the move by a 15-3 vote. Angered with being forced to remain in St. Louis, the Ralston ownership group announced it had no intention of operating the team the following season. With its future in limbo, the Blues did not participate in that year’s NHL entry draft. After filing a lawsuit against Ralston, the league imposed a deadline to sell the team to a new ownership group before it would consider dissolving the Blues. California entrepreneur Harry Ornest’s bid to buy the team was approved before the deadline and the Blues remain in St. Louis today.

For the stories of the Seattle White Sox, St. Louis Patriots and other almost-relocations, read this.

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1. #455 – Cleveland Indians

One of the only triple-digit numbers to be retired, the Indians honored their fans with a ceremony on April 22, 2001. From June 12, 1995, to April 2, 2001, the Indians sold out a record 455 consecutive games at Jacobs Field. The Colorado Rockies owned the previous record for most consecutive sellouts with 203. “I believe it’s safe to say that this amazing feat of consecutive sellouts will never be matched,” Indians owner Larry Dolan said after the streak was snapped in the second game of the 2001 season. “I hope our fans take great pride in setting the standard in major league baseball.” Dolan was wrong. This past season, the Boston Red Sox watched their sellout streak at Fenway Park surpass 700 games.

2. #23 – Miami Heat

Despite the fact that he never played for them, the Heat retired Michael Jordan’s No. 23 before his final game in Miami in 2003. “In honor of your greatness and for all you’ve done for the game of basketball – and not just the NBA, but for all the fans around the world – we want to honor you tonight and hang your jersey, No. 23, from the rafters,” Heat coach Pat Riley said. “No one will ever wear No. 23 for the Miami Heat. You’re the best.”

Jordan averaged 30.1 points in 38 career games against the Miami. LeBron James, who previously wore No. 23, announced his plans to switch to No. 6 out of respect for Jordan during what would turn out to be his final year in Cleveland.

3. #5 – Cincinnati Reds

When the Reds honored Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench in 1984, it marked the second time the franchise had retired No. 5. The first time came under much sadder circumstances.

Late in the 1940 season, Cincinnati backup catcher Willard Hershberger, who was forced into action following an injury to Ernie Lombardi, committed suicide. Hershberger, whose father had committed suicide when Willard was 18, blamed himself after the Reds were swept in a double-header, and reportedly expressed his suicidal thoughts to manager Bill McKechnie. The Reds dedicated the rest of the season to the man they called Hershie and defeated the Tigers in the World Series. Hershberger’s No. 5 was temporarily retired, but reactivated in 1942. Bench, a 14-time All-Star, wore it proudly from 1967-1983.

4. #12 – Seattle Seahawks

Quarterback Sam Adkins, a 10th round draft pick out of Wichita State, appeared in 11 games for the Seahawks from 1977-1981. He completed 17-of-39 passes for two touchdowns and four interceptions, and the number he wore is retired along with former teammate Steve Largent’s No. 80 and left tackle Walter Jones’s 71. What gives? In 1984, the team retired No. 12 in honor of its fans (not Adkins) in a ceremony at the Kingdome. The Seahawks have taken great pride in the home-field advantage provided by their 12th Man.

The Seahawks and Texas A&M, which began using the 12th Man slogan in 1922 and trademarked it in 1990, settled a dispute over the use of the slogan in 2006. If the Seahawks use the 12th Man moniker in radio or TV broadcasts, they must mention that the slogan is copyright of Texas A&M.

5. #7 – Washington Capitals

Yvon Labre scored 14 goals in nine NHL seasons, but his No. 7 hangs from the rafters at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. Labre joined the Capitals in their first season, scored the team’s first goal at home, and was captain from 1976-78. Fans and teammates respected Labre’s constant hustle, even as the Capitals struggled through some ugly seasons. He was an assistant coach and color commentator for the team after his retirement and later served as the Capitals’ director of community relations. Labre’s number was retired on Nov. 7, 1981.

6. #1 – Pittsburgh Pirates

Bill Meyer compiled a record of 317-452 during his stint as Pittsburgh manager from 1948-52, and in his final year, the Pirates lost a franchise-worst 112 games. Why then, in 1954, was Meyer the second Pittsburgh player or manager to have his number retired (after the legendary Honus Wagner)?

Meyer’s declining health was well documented and he was a popular figure with the Pittsburgh media and fans. As Baseball Digest’s editors explained in 1990, “He was well liked even though his teams finished 4th, 6th, 8th, 7th, and 8th during his managerial tenure…Meyer’s record as a minor league manager – a highly successful one – also figured in the decision.” Meyer suffered a stroke in 1955 and died in 1957 at the age of 64.

7. #42 – MLB

Major League Baseball retired Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 across the entire league on April 15, 1997, 50 years after Robinson broke MLB’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Players who were wearing the number at the time were allowed to keep it. New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera is the only active player who wears No. 42.

8. #9 – Real Salt Lake

When Real Salt Lake General Manager Garth Lagerwey announced his decision to retire Jason Kreis’s No. 9 earlier this year, controversy erupted. Even Kreis, who scored only 17 of his 108 career goals as an MLS player with Real Salt Lake before taking over as coach, questioned whether he deserved the honor. Internationally, retiring jerseys is rare in soccer, and typically reserved for players who have died. “We live in America,” Lagerwey said at the start of an epic rant defending the decision. “We play in an American soccer league. We have playoffs, we don’t have relegation, we retire numbers.”

9. #7 – New Orleans Hornets

When the Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans in 2002, the team retired Pete Maravich’s No. 7. The Utah Jazz, for whom Maravich played the majority of his career, had previously retired Pistol Pete’s number. All but one of Maravich’s years with the Jazz came before the team moved from New Orleans to Salt Lake City. That, coupled with Maravich’s tremendous college career at LSU, was the Hornets’ reasoning for retiring his number. The team’s only other retired number is 13, which belonged to Bobby Phills. The Baton Rouge native died in a car crash in 2000.

10. #99 – NHL

After Wayne Gretzky played his final game on April 18, 1999, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that his iconic No. 99 would be retired across the league. “You have always been and always will be ‘The Great One,’” Bettman said. “There will never be another.”

11. #40 – Arizona Cardinals

Pat Tillman starred as a linebacker at Arizona State and was selected in the seventh round of the 1998 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. He converted to safety and, in 2000, set a new team record for tackles. Following the 2001 season, Tillman turned down a $3.6 million contract offer to enlist in the Army with his brother, Kevin. Tillman became the first NFL player to die in combat since the Vietnam War when he was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in April 2004. The Cardinals retired Tillman’s No. 40 in a ceremony at Sun Devil Stadium later that year.

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Can you identify baseball stars (and run of the mill players) based on the action figures they inspired?

Take the Quiz: Starting Lineup Figures

© Tony Medina/Icon SMI/Corbis

1. Mike Singletary

Last Job: Singletary, the leader of the Chicago Bears’ Monsters of the Midway defense during his playing days, compiled an 18-22 record as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers before he was fired following a Week 16 loss to the Rams.

New Job: Leslie Frazier, who replaced Brad Childress as the head coach of the Vikings, hired Singletary as Minnesota’s linebackers coach in January.

If This Doesn’t Work Out: Singletary is a motivational speaker and an ordained minister, as his former team can attest. In his coaching debut, Singletary famously dropped his pants during a halftime speech. He later explained, “I used my pants to illustrate that we were getting our tails whipped on Sunday and how humiliating that should feel for all of us. I needed to do something to dramatize my point; there were other ways I could have done it but I think this got the message across.”

2. Tom Cable

Last Job: Tom Cable led the Raiders to their first non-losing season since 2002 – no small feat for Oakland – but was fired anyway. Team owner Al Davis later accused Cable, who was 17-27 in his three seasons with the Raiders, of lying to him, putting the team in legal harm, and bringing guests on road trips. “All this stuff goes a long way against my wishes…and against the Raider way,” Davis told reporters. “And I just wasn’t going to take it anymore.”

New Job: Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll hired Cable as his offensive line coach. Cable was an offensive lineman at the University of Idaho in the mid-80s.

If This Doesn’t Work Out: Cable, who was accused of breaking Raiders assistant Randy Hanson’s jaw during an altercation in training camp in 2009, might have a career as a bare-knuckle boxer.

3. Eric Mangini

Last Job: Mangini was fired after going 10-22 in two seasons with the Cleveland Browns.

New Job: Mangini, who was 23-25 in three seasons as head coach of the New York Jets prior to taking the Cleveland job, was hired to work as an analyst at ESPN. For a guy who grew up in Hartford and went to college at Wesleyan, Mangini should feel right at home in Bristol.

If This Doesn’t Work Out: Maybe he could land a recurring role on Sesame Street:

4. Jeff Fisher

Last Job: Fisher was the longest-tenured head coach in the league before he and the Tennessee Titans parted ways after 16 seasons.

New Job: Fisher, who previously served as the co-chair of the NFL’s Competition Committee, will continue to assist the committee as a consultant. “I wanted to have an opportunity to stay involved,” Fisher told The Tennessean. “I am very close with all the members on the committee and the support staff. You can imagine the time we’ve spent together over the years, it’s almost been like a second job.” The Competition Committee is tasked with recommending rules and policy changes to the league’s teams.

If This Doesn’t Work Out: If Fisher gets the itch to coach again, he’ll probably have plenty of suitors. His son, Brandon, is in his first season as an assistant to the defensive coaching staff in Detroit.

5. Wade Phillips

Last Job: Phillips was fired as the Dallas head coach in November after the Cowboys lost seven of their first eight games. Assistant coach Jason Garrett replaced the Texas native, who led the Cowboys to two division titles and a 34-22 record in his three-plus years at the helm.

New Job: Phillips wasn’t out of work for long. Houston hired him in early January to fill its vacant defensive coordinator position and improve a unit that ranked 30th in the NFL in total defense last season.

If This Doesn’t Work Out: The son of longtime Houston Oilers and New Orleans head coach Bum Phillips, Wade Phillips was born to coach. There will always be another team willing to bring him on in some capacity.

6. Brad Childress

Last Job: Like Phillips, Childress was fired midseason after the Vikings stumbled to a 3-7 record. In his previous four seasons as the head coach, Minnesota won two division titles and advanced to one NFC championship game.

New Job: Childress interviewed for the offensive coordinator position with the Miami Dolphins and later accepted a position as an analyst with the NFL Network. “I may just sit out this year and maybe two years,” Childress told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “But I’ve coached for 33 straight years and if the right position comes up, I’m going to give it strong consideration. I’m a football coach.” Before he was fired, Childress was one of three active NFL head coaches who attended Eastern Illinois University. (Mike Shanahan and Sean Payton are the other two.)

If This Doesn’t Work Out: Childress, who put his psychology degree to good use while coaching Brett Favre in Minnesota, might make a good therapist. He also has some experience as a flight attendant.

7. Josh McDaniels

Last Job: McDaniels went 8-8 in his first year with the Denver Broncos, but was fired in the middle of a disappointing 4-12 season last year.

New Job: McDaniels, who landed the Denver job after serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the New England Patriots, agreed to become Steve Spagnuolo’s offensive coordinator with the St. Louis Rams. Interestingly, Spagnuolo was the defensive coordinator of the Giants when they slowed McDaniels’ offense and upset the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

If This Doesn’t Work Out: McDaniels, still only 35, has plenty of coaching ahead of him. Perhaps one day he’ll return to his roots in Ohio, where his dad, Thom, was a legendary high school coach.

8. John Fox

Last Job: The Carolina Panthers fired Fox after nine mostly successful seasons, including a trip to the Super Bowl in 2003.

New Job: Fox was hired to replace Josh McDaniels as head coach of the Broncos.

If This Doesn’t Work Out: Fox, who went to high school in San Diego, received his degree in physical education and earned a secondary education teaching credential at San Diego State. He’s not ready to give up the headset just yet, but Denver may be the last coaching stop of his career. “I’m not ready to retire to sitting on the beach,” he told reporters during the offseason.

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