Sports Fact of the Day 2/20-2/24/2008

Feb. 20:
2/20/1993:
Mexican boxing icon Julio Cesar Chaves defends his WBC junior welterweight championship belt with a fifth-round knockout of American Greg Haugen at Aztec Stadium in Mexico City. More than 130,000 fans provide the festive ambiance of a street fair for Chavez to perform in front of his countrymen. Unfortunately, the passionate crowd is so dangerously unwieldy that thousands of police officers are required to augment the moat and barbed-wire fencing arrangement that encircles the field for soccer games.

Birthdays:
Roger Penske b. 1937
Phil Esposito b. 1942
Charles Barkley b. 1963
Livan Hernandez b. 1975
Stephon Marbury b. 1977

1982:
The New York Islanders outskated the Colorado Rockies, 3-2, and set a National Hockey League record with their 15th victory in a row, surpassing the Boston Bruins' 52-year-old mark.

"Back in 1930, Herbert Hoover was feebly battling the Great Depression, new DeSotos sold for $845, and one could buy a New York Times for two cents and read a report of Babe Ruth's threatened holdout for an $85,000 salary. We're talking long ago." -Mike Delnagro, March 1, 1982

Packers Fact:
Wide receiver Greg Jennings attended the same Michigan high school (Kalamazoo Central) as New York Yankees baseball superstar Derek Jeter.

Feb. 21:
2/21/1974:
Tim Horton of the Buffalo Sabres is killed when his sports car careens off the Queen Elizabeth Way in the early morning hours near St. Catherines, Ontario. The 44-year-old Horton, who had the longest career of any defenseman in NHL history, played 24 seasons (18 with Toronto) encompassing 1,446 regular-season games. He won four Stanley Cups with the Maple Leafs, was named to numerous All-Star teams and founded a doughnut company that has exponentially grown from a single store in 1967 to over 2,500 outlets, making Tim Hortons the largest coffee shoppe/fast food consortium in Canada.

Birthday:
Tom Yawkey b. 1903
Jack Ramsay b. 1925
Alan Trammell b. 1958
Brian Rolston b. 1973
Steve Francis b. 1978

1992:
At the Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France, Kristi Yamaguchi became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating since Dorothy Hamill, in 1976.

"Skating to the Spanish-styled Malaguena, Yamaguchi, calmly nailed her opening triple-triple combination, her ponytail a blur, then assuredly turned the ice into her stage. She landed her jumps so softly it seemed as if she were skating in her slippers." -E.M. Swift, March 2, 1992

Feb. 22:
2/22/1976:
Helped by an eagle on the very first hole, Hale Irwin shoots a 3-under-par 68 to overtake Tom Watson and win the Los Angeles Open at the Riviera Country Club. Watson self-destructs with a bogey, double-bogey, bogey stretch on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes to enable Irwin to overcome a five-stroke deficit. Irwin, a former star defensive back for the Colorado Buffaloes, shoots all four rounds under 70. His 12-under-par 272 sets a new record for this event.

Birthdays:
Julius Erving b. 1950
Amy Alcott b. 1956
Vijay Singh b. 1963
Pat LaFontaine b. 1965
Michael Chang b. 1972

1980:
At the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., Eric Heiden won the 10,000-meter race and swept all five speedskating gold medals.

"His control over his strokes is as precise and as constant as if he were computerized. And his self-confidence is as inexorable as the flowing of a mighty river. Although just 21, Heiden isn't only the best speedskater racing today but also the best speedskater in history." -William Oscar Johnson, February 11, 1980

Packers Fact:
Greg Jennings was the first wide receiver ever drafted out of Western Michigan, which has been playing football since 1906.

Feb. 23:
Almost as if they've played two separate games, the Detroit Red Wings rally from a 6-0 deficit with six goals o ftheir own to gain a 6-6 tie against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Joe Louis Arena. Detroit's fortunes change after Greg Stefan is replaced in net by Glen Hanlon at 6:06 of the second period after the sixth Pittsburgh goal. After that, it's all Detroit. The Red Wings, hearing boos from the loyal home crowd, score three goals in a 4:45 span to get within hailing distance of the Pens, and with five minutes left in the game Steve Yzerman's second goal of the night and 57th of the year draws the Wings even against stunned Pittsburgh goalie Tom Barrasso.

Birthdays:
Dante Lavelli b. 1923
Fred Biletnikoff b. 1943
Ed "Too Tall" Jones b. 1951
Flip Saunders b. 1955
Bobby Bonilla b. 1963

1980:
The United States Olympic ice hockey tam completed its historic "Miracle on Ice" with a 4-2 victory over Finald in the gold medal game.

"For two weeks in February they-a bunch of unheralded amateurs-became the best hockey team in the world. The best team. The whole was greater than the sum of its parts by a mile. And they were not just a team, they were innovative and exuberant and absolutely unafraid to succeed." -E.M. Swift, December 22, 1980

Feb. 24:
Refusing to be roped into endorsing a Democratic candidate for the Senate in North Carolina, superstar athlete and pitchman Michael Jordan explained: "Republicans buy sneakers, too."

Birthdays:
Honus Wagner b. 1874
Alain Prost b. 1955
Eddie Murray b. 1956
Simeon Rice b. 1974
Lleyton Hewitt b. 1981