In 1992 The U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball team clinched the gold medal with a 117-85 win over Croatia. The Dream Team, led by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Charles Barkley (to name a few) was simply the greatest basketball team ever assembled. The addition of Christian Laettner secured their place in basketball lore (kidding). They steamrolled their ridiculously overmatched opponents with victory margins averaging 44 points per game. It was funny to hear players such as Karl Malone and Johnson trying to be diplomatic when discussing opponents such as Angola (won by 68), Brazil (by 44) and Germany (43) by saying, “we have to be careful,” and “we don’t want this to turn into an all-star type game.” Barkley put it better by saying, “They in trouble. They in trouble.” (www.usabasketball.com)
In 1931: We all know how rare a perfect game is in baseball; as there have only been 17 such masterpieces (including one post season) throughout the history of the game. No-hitters, on the other hand, are a little different; and it seems almost every starting pitcher has a chance to catch lightning in a bottle – including forgettables such as Joe Barney, Ed Head, Jose Jimenez and Hod Eller (I swear I didn’t make those up). It was an obscure left-hander named Bobby Burke of the Washington Senators who accomplished the feat on this day in 1931. Burke shut down the Boston Red Sox 5-0. Burke had just a 38-46 career record with a 4.29 ERA, but will always be remembered in baseball legend for one brilliant afternoon. (baseball-almanac.com)
