Category: History and More

In 1978, the National Football League extended its regular season from 14 to 16 games and reduced the number of exhibition games from six to four.

“One of the basic reasons teams were in favor of going to 16 games was the fact that a number of clubs have had difficulty selling the preseason game,” NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle told the Associated Press when the decision was made in March, 1977. “They felt they’d be better off making them regular season games and that the public would be more willing to accept them as regular season rather than preseason.” 

The move certainly made sense. Six exhibition games meant teams spent a month and a half playing contests that didn’t count in the standings, which seems a bit excessive.

From the standpoint of putting a team together, though, such games have merit. True, the statistics teams pile up during the preseason won’t find their way into record books. And wins and losses should be disregarded.

However, these are job interviews for young players and newcomers, and you won’t see any of them going half-speed. Practice is important, but until coaches see players in game action, they won’t know who fills their team’s needs and who doesn’t.

Of course, all these things can be determined in closed scrimmages, so it’s not necessary that dress rehearsal games have a live audience. Yet while some fans might feel cheated when they only see starters make cameo appearances in a preseason clash, there are those like me who enjoy the live audition aspect.  

It’s fun to watch rookies get their first taste of pro game action, and this year we’ve witnessed more than 50 guys from the 2022 USFL earn tryouts.

Beyond that, though, you’ll find these games can be important historical markers for fans (or at least the fan who’s writing this).

Does August 23, 1986, mean anything to you, football-wise?

It does to me.

Even though in the big buffet of gridiron competition it was little more than a burp, that date marks the first time I ever saw a live NFL game.

My then-girlfriend and I were in Atlanta that weekend, and we got together with her cousin and her cousin’s boyfriend. He and I hit it off immediately, and soon the four of us were plotting what to do while we were there.

He suggested that we spend Saturday night at Fulton County Stadium where the Falcons were hosting the Cleveland Browns in a Week Three preseason game.

I was pumped.

I’d seen plenty of World Football League clashes and was just over a year removed from watching the final (original) Birmingham Stallions game in the late, great United States Football League, but this was new territory.

At last, I’d be in the stands for a game in the greatest tackle football league of them all.

Cleveland won, 27-21, behind second-year quarterback Bernie Kosar. Kosar threw a pair of touchdown passes while Earnest Byner racked up 100 yards and scored three times.

Even though I was a New York Jets fan I cheered for the Falcons on this night, and watched quarterbacks David Archer and Turk Schonert split time behind center and account for one aerial TD each.

A bigger draw for me was running back William Andrews, who I’d last seen play live during Auburn’s 22-22 tie with Georgia in 1978 (a game that saw the Tigers break out their orange jerseys). He returned to the Falcons lineup after a two-year absence due to a knee injury.

The 33,637 fans at Fulton County Stadium saw no play or performance that was particularly memorable, and I imagine many of them quickly forgot about the whole thing when it was over.

Not me.

Once we left the stadium and headed for the car, I babbled on about the experience because I was no longer a guy who had never seen an NFL game in person. And that was kind of a big deal.

My next in-house NFL experience came two years later when Atlanta and Washington played a preseason game at Legion Field on August 27, 1988 – the first NFL appearance in Birmingham since 1970.

This time I was working at my first newspaper job and covered the game, one that saw the defending world champions defeat the Falcons, 34-17, in front of 51,400 fans. Again, it was a big deal to me.

My most vivid memory was seeing Doug Williams take a few snaps for the victors; I had cheered against him at Legion Field when his Oklahoma Outlaws were thumped by the homestanding Stallions, 41-17, in an April, 1984, USFL game. This time, he was less than seven months removed from lighting up the Denver Broncos for 340 yards and four touchdowns in Super Bowl XXII.

Don’t get me wrong … I’m not gonna run traffic lights in order to get home in time for tonight’s preseason game between the Bears and Seahawks. And anyone – especially NFL fans in an NFL city – would rather watch a showdown that affects the standings than one that has no real standing in the grand scheme of things.

But for me, there’s plenty to enjoy about preseason football. Who knows? A guy you might’ve never heard of before might be one you can’t forget in a few years.

And if the first NFL game you ever see live happens in August instead of September, don’t let anyone tell you it doesn’t mean anything.

It might not count, but it still matters.

At its core, auto racing is a team sport. There might be only one driver who winds up in victory lane, but it takes an entire crew to make it happen.

But what if there was a league that made racing a team sport in the more traditional sense?

Actually, there was – the Team Racing Auto Circuit, or TRAC.

On May 15, 2001, it was announced that TRAC had been formed in Charlotte, with the plan to feature teams – possibly representing cities – comprised of young drivers. The founders (working under the umbrella of Team Sports Entertainment based in Huntersville, North Carolina) made it clear they had no intention of competing with NASCAR, although stock car legend Cale Yarborough served as spokesperson for the upstart organization.

“This league is not going after NASCAR drivers,” Yarborough told the Associated Press. “There is a pool of talent throughout the United States and the world that hasn’t been tapped yet. We want to bring in those drivers.

“I guess it’s hard to see (NASCAR) welcoming us with open arms, but I would hope they understand and recognize there is room for this sport to grow.”

In TRAC all the cars would be uniform, borrowing a page from the International Race of Champions (IROC). In that series, the idea was that drivers determine the outcome of a race, not the better-equipped vehicle.

“The equipment here is going to be equal,” former NASCAR owner and TRAC board member Michael Kranefuss told AP. “You aren’t going to need $3 million or $4 million for testing.”

TRAC hoped to land a national TV contract and race on some of the ovals that hosted big-time NASCAR events.

I was working in Talladega, Alabama, at the time, so auto racing was a major part of what I wrote about. And personally, I thought TRAC was a terrific concept.

I wasn’t sure how it would be structured – or if NASCAR would ultimately consider it a threat or a feeder system – but I at least wanted to see it get off the ground.

In 2002 TRAC announced a deal to run races at Speedway Motorsports Inc. tracks (including Charlotte Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway) and use cars based on production models of the Dodge Viper, Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Mustang.

TRAC President Jon Pritchett told The Greenville News team names such as the Carolina Storm, Indianapolis Speed, Chicago Blaze and Orlando Orbit were being kicked around.

“The is traditional team sports meets authentic, full-fendered racing,” Pritchett said.

Drivers would be selected by team owners via a draft, and were to be paid a base salary of $200,000 per season. Original plans called for each team to feature three cars with three primary drivers and three backups.

As is the case with virtually any alternative sports league I was intrigued, and already trying to figure out where they would get their drivers.

I assumed the Automobile Racing Clubs of America (ARCA) series would get raided, as well as the myriad short tracks scattered across the country. And as unlikely as it seemed, I was hoping for a “Joe Namath moment” that would see a big-name NASCAR star decide to be a pioneer and join the new league.

Things really heated up by the spring of 2003 when TRAC  announced a TV deal with ESPN. With its inaugural season set for a May, 2004, launch, the cable network had agreed to televise all of the league’s events. The format had changed a bit; six, four-car teams were planned for the first year, which would compete in 13 events.

It was an exciting development, and it appeared TRAC was off and running.

Turns out, though, TRAC was not off and running at all. In fact, it was dead just a few months later.

On August 26, 2003, Team Sports Entertainment announced that it was halting its efforts to form TRAC because it was unable to sell sufficient sponsorship packages.

The end came via a brief statement:

“Following extensive and ongoing discussions between management and the company’s various consultants, the company’s board of directors has concluded that such sales are not possible.”

A year later TSE executives were sued by four TRAC shareholders, who alleged “breach of contract, wrongful conversion of company monies, mismanagement, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud.”

Thus, we never got to experience the border rivalry between the Indianapolis Speed and Chicago Blaze, and I never got to write about a cool new alt-sports league.

But who knows? Maybe some enterprising entrepreneurs will give the stock car team concept another shot one of these days. If at first you don’t succeed …

Raise a glass, tip your cap, or – if you really want to get into the spirit of things – hip check the person standing nearest to you. Today is the 46^th anniversary of the birth of one of the Magic City’s most memorable sports teams.

The club that sparked my passion for ice hockey started the morning of June 29, 1976, as the Toronto Toros but ended the day as the Birmingham Bulls. The move was made official during a meeting of the World Hockey Association’s Board of Governors in Toronto, and in early July some high-profile team members came to town to spread the gospel of the sport.

“This is my first trip to Alabama, and I’m impressed,” Bulls left wing Frank Mahovlich, a future Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, told the Anniston Star for a July 8, 1976, story. “The facility the team will be playing in (the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Coliseum, now known as Legacy Arena) has to be one of the prettiest arenas I’ve ever seen. All you need is a good hockey team.”

Mahovlich was joined on his Birmingham visit by teammate Paul Henderson and team owner John Bassett.

“We’re pleased to bring hockey to Birmingham and Alabama and now we want to begin working on fielding a good team and help get people educated to hockey,” Bassett said.

Henderson, also a left winger, tried to assure new fans of the sport that they’d catch on quickly.

“It’s really not that complicated,” he said. “Right now, this is just a transition for everyone here in Alabama. After everyone learns what the whistles are for from the officials, I think everything will fall into place.

“People have the idea that we do a lot of fighting, that we have a couple of guys on the team that don’t do anything but fight. Well, that has been true. Now with an 18-man roster you’ve got to have 18 good hockey players, but fighting is part of it.”

When news broke that Birmingham would be getting a professional hockey team, I read up on everything I could find about the sport. I knew next to nothing, but I did know that the WHA was a major league and I felt it was my obligation to become a major league fan.

And I did.

Man, I loved it.

That first season I sacrificed homework, dates and basically any activity going on opposite the Bulls because they took priority over everything.

Was it because they were a great team?

Nah.

Despite the play of 19-year-old rising superstar Mark Napier and Vaclav Nedomansky (another future Hall of Famer), they finished 31-45-4 – bad enough for fifth place in the East.

But I did get to see legends like Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky skate, which was a pretty big deal.

And when they couldn’t punch out a victory, the Bulls could at least punch out opponents, and what’s not to love about a touring version of Slap Shot? (Fun fact: Dave Hanson, one of the movie’s infamous Hanson Brothers, joined the Bulls during the 1977-78 season).

When they did find ways to get the “W” though, it could be magnificent.

Arguably the franchise’s finest moment came on February 4, 1977, when the Quebec Nordiques (known now as the Colorado Avalanche) came to the BJCC. The WHA champions-in-waiting were facing a Birmingham team riding a five-game winning streak.

It was a massacre.

With a WHA record crowd of 17,489 on hand (and an all-time attendance mark for a first-year club in any pro hockey league) the Bulls blistered the Nordiques, 7-0. Sitting behind one of the goals with a couple of buddies, I got to enjoy much of the carnage as Tim Sheehy scored a pair of goals and Napier, Lou Nistico (my favorite player), J.C. Stewart, Peter Marrin, and Jeff Jacques each tallied one.

It was one of the most enjoyable outings of my life, and Birmingham had established itself as the South’s premiere hockey hub (at least for a day).

Nine months later I was in the stands for the “Thanksgiving Day Massacre,” a 12-2 Bulls wipeout of the Cincinnati Stingers on November 24, 1977. The 12 goals tied a WHA record; Birmingham’s goon-laden starting lineup initiated a brawl 24 seconds into the first period; and 10,259 fans got to see Cincy coach Jacques Demers get so angry with the officiating he threw more than a dozen hockey sticks onto the ice.

Sadly – as is the case with too many Birmingham sports franchises I fall in love with – these Bulls weren’t meant to last.

After three seasons in the WHA, Birmingham was left out of the limited merger with the National Hockey League and dropped down to the Central Hockey League for the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons. They served as minor league affiliates for the Atlanta Flames that first year and were retained as a farm club when the Flames moved to Calgary the next. The CHL was a decent league, but it was no match for the circuit I’d enjoyed since 1976.

The Bulls folded on February 23, 1981. By then they were owned by an entity called Magic City Sports, with Frank Falkenburg serving as president.

The team needed a $30,000 loan from Calgary to finish out the season, but the parent club denied it.

“Without help from Calgary, we’re ceasing to operate the hockey team,” Falkenburg told Associated Press. “It’s an economic decision based on the fact we’re having poor attendance due to a very poor hockey team. I certainly don’t criticize the fans … I wouldn’t pay to see this team play, either.”

It was a painful ending for the franchise that opened up a whole new sports world for me. Even though they were just 99-129-13 in the WHA and 53-76-9 in the CHL, they managed to win my heart without winning a whole bunch of games.

The Bulls brand has been revived in three different leagues since then, and the latest version competes in the Southern Professional Hockey League. Having a local team to cheer for is nice, but there’s no substitute for the original Birmingham Bulls.

I still miss them.