2/25/1977 - Maravich scorches New York Knicks

"Pistol" Pete Maravich, playing for the New Orleans Jazz, scores a career-high 68 points against the New York Knicks, giving him the eighth-highest single game total in history. Maravich fouled out with a minute to go and missed an opportunity to reach the 70's, a feat that only Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain had accomplished. It was the most points ever scored by a guard, a record that was later broken by David Thompson.

"It was pretty amazing," said Dave Fredman, who worked in public relations with the Jazz. "Had there been a three-point line, there's no telling how many points he would have scored that night. He had it going."

Maravich was a phenomenal talent coming out of LSU, but he never quite evolved into the superstar that he was in college. He continued to be an impressive scorer, averaging 24.2 points per game over the course of his ten-year career, but his teams never went far in the playoffs. In fact only twice was he on a team that won more games than they lost. In the final year of his career, he was traded to the 61-win Boston Celtics, where he became a bench player behind the likes of Larry Bird and Nate "Tiny" Archibald.

While he pulled off many of the greatest-looking passes and shot attempts anyone had ever seen, it was the 68-point game that was the highlight of his pro career.

2/25/1986 - NBA bans Micheal Ray Richardson

In the 1970's, the drug of choice for professional athletes was amphetamines, or greenies. Everyone was taking them. In the 1990's and early 2000's, the drug of choice was steroids and more efficient performance-enhancing drugs. Everyone was taking them. But in the 1980's, the drug of choice was something different: crack cocaine. Everyone was taking them, and the drug use was so rampant and so destructive to the NBA, NFL, and MLB that the leagues initiated severe drug policies in an attempt to curb it.

The most notable basketball player to get banned for drug use was Micheal Ray Richardson, a phenomenal talent who spelled his first name with the 'e' in front of the 'a'. Richardson was a four-time All-Star and was one of the best point guards in the league, once averaging 15.3 points, 10.1 assists and 3.2 steals per game in 1980. His immortal moment in sports came in 1982, when he was asked how his struggling New York Knicks were holding up. Micheal Ray famously answered, "The ship be sinking," and when he was asked how low they could go, he responded, "the sky's the limit." That year, the Knicks finished 33-49 and Richardson was traded to the New Jersey Nets after the season.

Richardson had the chance to apply for reinstatement after two seasons, but after another pair of failed drug tests, he was never able to return to the league. He contended the results of his tests for years and played ball in France, Croatia, Italy, Israel, and the Continental Basketball Association.

Years later, after staving off drug use and alcoholism for years, he claimed that his banishment from the league had actually saved his life. "It got me out of the environment I was in," he said in 2000. "Like they say, out of sight, out of mind. At the time (cocaine) was a fad. It's just like now with all these young players smoking reefer."

2/25/1989 - Out goes Landry, in comes Johnson

It is the dawning of a new era of Cowboys football, as the new Dallas owner fires Tom Landry and immediately hires Jimmy Johnson. For a couple years, Jerry Jones might have been the most hated man in Texas. But the 'Boys eventually got better, and all was forgotten when they won the Super Bowl.

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