This is Flashback Week on 101 ESPN. Each day we’ll look back at a decade, the 60’s today, the 70’s tomorrow, the 80’s on Wednesday, the 90’s on Thursday and the 00’s on Friday. Each day, I’ll look back at what I think are five important events of each decade. Hopefully it’ll bring back a memory or two.
In the 60’s…
1) I was born. August 19, 1962. I don’t remember it well, but it was a pretty important event for me.
2) Led by Hall of Famers Bob Gibson
and Lou Brock, the Cardinals appeared in three World Series’, winning two. Philadelphia’s collapse in 1964 was fortuitous, and the Cardinals essentially ended the Yankee dynasty by winning that series. The Cards were the best team in baseball in ’67 and ’68, but didn’t win in 1968…setting the stage for a dozen years of mediocre to poor baseball in St. Louis.
3) The Big Red moved to St. Louis from Chicago. There’s something to be said for being an NFL town, and when we got a team here, we were right in the middle of THE boom period for the league. And, for those of us too young to remember, the Cardinals
were actually pretty good…just not great. They had five winning seasons, and in 1964 and 1968 were literally one point away (a tie in each season) from making the playoffs.
4) The Blues came to town in ‘67, and the Hawks left for Atlanta after ‘68. Regrettably, I never saw the Hawks play, but in my formative years became aware of hockey and the Blues. And the Blues grabbed us…going to the Stanley Cup Finals
in their first three seasons. For people in my generation, that’s where the passion for the Blues started and lasts until this day.
5) I vaguely remember school bringing TV’s into class in first grade so we could watch the Cardinals in the 1968 World Series. But the first event I really remember watching intently was Super Bowl III three months later, when the Jets
beat the Colts. That’s when I REALLY became a sports fan, and have been ever since. Amazingly, I was rooting for Baltimore that day…but the game grabbed me. I’ve lived and died with teams ever since.