Category: History and More

Early last week, the Canadian Football League sent out a news release concerning its ridiculous playoff format for 2027.

Eight of nine teams qualify for the postseason?

Top two seeds in each division guaranteed two games?

You’re kidding me, right?

Just a few months ago, I’d have hammered out a thousand words on the subject and misspelled the CFL commissioner’s name at least once (it’s Stewart Johnston, not Stewart Johnson). My missive would’ve been posted within hours of the news.

Instead, what I just wrote is all I’ll write about it.

Why?

Because truthfully, I no longer have anything interesting to say about sports.

After 333 alternative football pieces, 152 history stories, 85 soccer reports, 72 basketball articles and hundreds of other columns ranging from OmegaBall to the Premier Lacrosse League, the clock has hit double zeroes. Whether or not I was in the victory formation when the game ended is for other people to decide.

When I started adamsonmedia.com, I had just wrapped up a 30-year career as a newspaper sports editor/writer. Since I was no longer getting paid to pontificate, I figured my site was a place where I’d write what I wanted when I wanted.

It’s great fun.

Originally, I wanted to concentrate mostly on soccer, my favorite sport, but soon discovered that there were approximately 857,634 soccer bloggers. I was not needed in that area and quickly called an audible.

Thus, I shifted most of my focus to alternative football, and that was a hoot for several years. However, my interest in tackle football in general has waned considerably over the last couple of years, and I don’t even watch minor league spring football anymore. I’m glad it exists, but I’ll leave it for others to cuss and discuss.

Of course there was always sports history, and I love research. That became my favorite brand of sports writing by far, and I spent hours going down rabbit holes in search of quirky tales that were long forgotten. It was fascinating.

Then, I finally ran out of material – at least material that interested me. I mean, I milked all I could from the World Football League and World Hockey Association. As weird as it sounds, I know as much about the WFL and WHA as I care to.

It’s crazy … I never imagined there’d come a time when I lost interest in sportswriting, but that time is here – and I’m absolutely fine with it. I’m content to be a casual fan.

*  That said, I won’t completely rule out ever writing sports again. If, say, the NFL folded or FIFA passed a rule banning players from using their feet in association football, I’d be compelled weigh in.

My new writing passion is flash fiction.

To date, I’ve done 111 short stories for adamsonmedia.com, and that will be my primary focus going forward. I love creating characters and, once I do, watching them evolve as they come to life in my head and on my computer screen. Fiction was something I always wanted to write, but it scared me because it takes me out of my comfort zone.

It’s still scary but man, it brings me the most joy I’ve ever had as a writer.

I’ve even written a young adult novel titled Red Mountain Phantoms. It still hasn’t been published – that’ll probably be something I have to do on my own dime – but I’m proud of it. Authoring a non-fiction book (The Home Team: My Bromance With Off-Brand Football) was great, but the YA project is even more rewarding.

I might even do some humor columns from time to time. There are 98 currently posted, and it’d be a shame if I didn’t hit 100 sooner or later.

And – in a strange plot twist – I’ve become obsessed with painting. I’m trying my hand at everything from landscapes to abstracts, and it’s addictive.

I’ve done more than 50 on stretched canvasses, ranging from “Eh, I guess that’s not too bad” to “Scott spilled a bunch of paint.”

None are or will ever be museum-worthy, yet I rarely go a day without at least playing around in my makeshift studio.

So, for my next act, I’m going to concentrate on writing about the world of make believe and believing in a world where I’m also a painter.

Wish me luck …

Super Bowl LX is today, meaning people who don’t know the difference between football and foosball will still be tuning in to the event. And make no mistake about it – it is an event, with 60 minutes of gridiron action augmented (and sometimes overshadowed) by music, marketing and talking – lots and lots of talking.

But while February 8, 2026, will see the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots battle for the Lombardi Trophy, February 8, 1926, was also a pretty big day in NFL history.

On that date, newspapers across the United States reported that the head of the newly-anointed NFL champion Chicago Cardinals had taken a pass on his team being declared champion. Plus, a new football league was being formed to challenge the National Football League.

That’s a lot to unpack, so let’s open the suitcase …

One hundred years ago, NFL owners held their winter meetings in Detroit. Among the agreements reached for the 2026 season included banning college players from playing in the NFL until their class had graduated; limiting league clubs to scheduling no more than two games per week; upping guarantee money from $1,000 to $1,500, with one percent of gate receipts going to a league fund; increasing team roster size from 16 to 18 players; and reelecting NFL President Joseph Carr for a new three-year term (at $5,000 per year).

“Professional football successfully passed its crisis at the Detroit meeting,” Green Bay Packers president A.B. Turnbull proclaimed to the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “It was the unanimous opinion of the delegates that some drastic steps were necessary and those in attendance lost little time in putting across several regulations that will be of benefit to the postgraduate sport.”

Those “regulations” were interesting, but pale in comparison to the main headlines.

For openers, Carr decided to dethrone the Pottsville Maroons, who finished the 1925 season with a 10-2 NFL record. They were 13-2 overall, counting exhibition conquests of independent Colwyn Darby, Eastern League foe Atlantic Roses, and the Notre Dame All-Stars (featuring Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim  Crowley and Elmer Layden of “Four Horsemen” fame).

However, the franchise violated the territorial rights of the Frankford Yellowjackets by playing the Notre Dame exhibition in Philadelphia, an offense Carr found so grievous that he suspended the Maroons, stripped them of their title and awarded it to the Cardinals (who lost to Pottsville, 21-7, in 2025).

But … Chicago owner Chris O’Brien declined the honor. The Cardinals, in fact, were on probation for suiting up four high school players in a 2025 contest. He said that sanction – and the fact that Pottsville had been removed from the league – convinced him it would be wrong to accept a crown. He wanted a championship “clearly won on the field of play.”

Thus, league owners voted that there would be no champion for the 1925 season.

Turns out, the NFL had even bigger concerns.

On February 7 it was revealed that a  new football league would be formed in Chicago later in the month. C.C. Pyle, manager of superstar Red Grange (who played with the Chicago Bears in 1925), made the announcement when he was denied a franchise in New York.

While Pyle – who had a lease with Yankee Stadium – said the majority of owners were fine with a second team in America’s First City, New York Giants officials blocked the move.

“There is room for two teams in New York, just as there is in Chicago,” Pyle told the Associated Press.

On February 18, Pyle announced that Grange would be the main attraction for the New York Football Yankees of the American League of Professional Football. Philadelphia and Milwaukee were also granted franchises, with St. Louis, Cleveland and Boston awarded conditional franchises.

So, by the end of February, the National Football League found itself without a defending champion and also had to fend off a challenge from another circuit showcasing the sport’s biggest draw in Grange.

O’Brien, however, was confident the senior organization would prevail.

“We have most of the high class stars under contract and a war chest of which we draw, and we certainly intend to protect our investment to the best of our financial ability,” he said in an interview with the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “If the newcomers think they can break in without a fight, they are welcome to try it.”

A century later, it’s obvious things have turned out just fine for the NFL.

Pyle’s circuit lasted only one season, although his Yankees were granted admission to the NFL for 1927. They folded after two seasons, and Grange returned to the Bears in 1929. Frankford – pictured at the top of this article – won the 1926 NFL championship with a 14-1-2 record and nary a hint of controversy.

The National League has held off all challengers ever since. Its biggest, coming from the modern American Football League, resulted in a full merger that went into effect in 1970. Now at 32 clubs and an international brand, it’s hard to imagine any serious future competition.

And as for that vacated title in 1925, well, the NFL officially awarded it to the Chicago Cardinals in 1963.

Travel to the Borough of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, however, and you might find there remains some disagreement over that decision.

A normal pro basketball game lasts 48 minutes.

But half a century ago in the American Basketball Association, the New York Nets and Virginia Squires completed a showdown that took 67 and a half minutes of clock time and 17 days – and it didn’t even go to overtime.

On January 7, 1976, at the Norfolk Scope, the Squires brought an ABA-worst record of 5-28 against Julius “Dr. J” Erving and the Nets. After four, 12-minute quarters, lowly Virginia had apparently secured a 112-89 victory, giving fans of the hard-luck squad a rare reason to celebrate in what would be the ABA’s final season.

To say the contest was tense would be quite the understatement.

New York coach Kevin Loughery drew six – yes, six – technical fouls, and his team was issued nine in all. One of the coach’s came in the second quarter, another was issued with 2:46 to play when officials claimed the Nets were using an illegal zone defense, and he was tagged with four more Ts for continuing to argue with the men in black (and white).

Mike Jackson led the hosts with 32 points and 17 rebounds, while rookie teammate Mel Bennett pumped in 24. Dr. J was limited to 26 points after fouling out with 7:28 left to play.

That, however, was not the end of the story – or even the end of the game.

ABA commissioner Dave DeBusschere called Loughery into his office the next day to discuss his rash of technical fouls. When he did, the Nets boss announced that he was protesting the game because Virginia’s Willie Wise was permitted to re-enter the tilt after being injured and failing to participate in a jump ball, a violation of Rule 6, Section 4 of the ABA rule book.

The rule reads: “The jump call shall be between the players involved unless injury precludes one or both of the jumpers from participating. If the injured player must leave the game, he will not be permitted to re-enter the game and the opposing coach selects the replacement.”

Loughery wound up being fined $1,000 and suspended two games for his multiple techs, but DeBusschere upheld the protest.

On January 13, the commissioner fined officials Jess Kersey and Bob Serafin for permitting the violation, which occurred in the third quarter of the contest. And he ruled that the game would be picked up with 19:05 remaining and the Squires leading, 63-49.

Wise would not be allowed to play in the continuation, which would take place on January 24 before the regularly scheduled rematch between the clubs.

“The referees erred by permitting Wise, then an illegal player, to return with 7:05 remaining in the third quarter,” DeBusschere said in a statement released by the ABA. “They are supposed to know the rules and, as a result of the circumstances surrounding the protest, I have ordered a replay from the point of the error and have additionally levied fines on the two officials. This was a book rule mistake.”

So, instead of losing by 23 points on January 7, the Nets found themselves trailing by just 14 with nearly 20 minutes to go on January 24.

New York had nearly half a game to make it closer on this trip to Norfolk, but in the end the Squires still came out on top, 107-100.

Then – following a break – the teams hooked up again in their regularly scheduled matchup. New York got 27 points from Erving and that helped avenge the protest game loss as the Nets took a 94-85 decision.

While this one was certainly notable, it was not the first successful protest in ABA history, nor the longest – at least in terms of days. That honor goes to the San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers, who spent 18 days trying to figure out a winner back in 1973.

On Nov. 13, the Indiana Pacers thought they had defeated the Spurs, 84-83. But Spurs officials insisted the game clock was not reset properly when possession changed hands, costing San Antonio 10 seconds and a chance to cross mid-court and take a shot.

Mike Storen was ABA commissioner at the time, and upheld the protest. His solution was to replay the final 30 seconds before the teams faced each other again on December 3.

This time, the protest worked in favor of the protesters, as the Spurs rallied for a 95-90 overtime conquest.

So, has the NBA had any protested games?

Quite a few – including one that started in one year and ended in another.

The Miami Heat contested a December, 2007, game against the Atlanta Hawks in which Shaquille O’Neal was sent off in overtime when officials ruled he had six fouls. However, O’Neal had only five, and NBA Commissioner David Stern agreed the mistake had to be rectified. Thus, the final 51.9 seconds were replayed in March of 2008 – after Shaq had been traded to Phoenix.

But, that’s another story for another time …