11/27/1971 - The Gator Flop

With only 80 seconds left in the final game of the season, the Florida Gators were destroying the Miami Hurricanes, 45-8. Florida quarterback John Reaves needed only 14 passing yards to surpass Jim Plunkett of Stanford for the most in history. But the Hurricanes had the ball in the red zone, and it didn't appear that Reeves would get the opportunity to break the record.

That was when the Gators pulled the infamous "Florida Flop." On Miami's next play, every single Gators defender fell flat on the ground as though they had been hit with a tranquilizer dart. With not a single defender impeding his path, Miami quarterback John Hornibrook waltzed into the end zone for a touchdown. The Hurricanes would add a two-point conversion to make the score 45-16. After recovering an onside kick, Reaves was able to complete a 15-yard pass to move him just ahead of Plunkett on the all-time list.

When the game was over, Reaves and the other Florida players dove into the pool near one of the end zones at the Orange Bowl, where the game was being played.

Miami coach Fran Curci was positively livid. Intentionally forfeiting points was bad enough, but to do it in an already decided game just to orchestrate a scoring record? It was hardly the model of good sportsmanship. "It was a disgrace," Curci said furiously, "the worst thing I've ever seen in college football. A pure lack of class. ... I lost all respect for (Florida coach Doug Dickey) as a coach and as a man."

Dickey defended "Operation Laydown," even though he had not instructed his players to flop on the play. "I would rather not have had to do it that way," he said. "But certain records are worth going after. I did not mean to embarrass the Miami football team in any way."

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There's no easy answer why the Miami Heat, the team some experts had winning 70 or more games, are off to a disastrous 8-7 start. Sure, Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem are big losses, but they shouldn't exactly need them to beat the Memphis Grizzlies or, particularly, the Indiana Pacers. After all, last year's Heat team beat the Pacers by 13, 34, 30 and 9 in the four games they played them, and that Heat team featured both Carlos Arroyo at point guard and Joel Anthony at center -- the two players who are now considered albatrosses on Miami's roster, and who some see as the prime reason they're unable to compete against the top contenders in the NBA.

Miami's start flies in the face of conventional wisdom, that the union of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh would be anything but a potential dynasty. In Cleveland, James had managed to take a team with a mediocre supporting cast deep into the playoffs every single year. And while the Cavs never did win it all, few would say they weren't overachieving. But now James and the Heat find themselves in conjunction and, oddly enough, it's not working. Somehow, the Heat could beat the Pacers on the road by 9 with Arroyo, Wade and Anthony in the starting lineup, but in 2010, they couldn't beat them with LeBron James and Chris Bosh taking the place of Michael Beasley and Quentin Richardson. In fact they got destroyed... by 16... at home. Somehow, LeBron James is less successful with the help he's been dreaming of for seven years than he was with the Cavaliers, when arguably the second-best player on the team -- Zydrunas Ilguaskas -- is with him now in Miami.

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(Luckett, Bettis and a pair of Lions observe the coin flip)

One of the strangest controversies to befall a referee concerned the most basic facet of a football game: the coin flip. It was Thanksgiving day -- the Lions and Steelers were tied at 16 at the end of regulation. Phil Luckett met the team captains at midfield and tossed the coin into the air. Steelers running back Jerome Bettis, to the naked ear, appeared to call tails as the coin hung in mid-air...

But as he knelt down to retrieve the quarter, Luckett announced to the Silverdome crowd that Bettis had called heads and that the coin was showing tails. Bettis and teammate Carnell Lake immediately argued with the head official; it seemed obvious that the word out of Bettis' mouth was "tails." Luckett insisted that he had called "heads" and conferred with the other officials. Despite the protests of the Pittsburgh sideline, Detroit was awarded the right to receive the football at the start of the overtime.

Less than three minutes into the extra session, Jason Hanson booted a 42-yard field goal to put the Lions on top. Since the format for overtime was sudden death, Hanson's kick gave the Steelers a 19-16 defeat, one that could have been prevented had they won the coin flip.

"What makes me mad is when you fight and scratch for 60 minutes out there, and the game is decided by guys who wear striped shirts," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. "There's something wrong about that." He was by no means alone in his thinking. The general consensus was that the Steelers had been robbed by an incompetent official.

After the game, Luckett told reporters that Bettis actually called "heads-tails," and that he honored the first declaration. "That is a lie," Bettis responded. "That's a baldfaced lie."

Detroit cornerback Robert Bailey heard differently. "To me, it sounded like one guy called heads and one guy called tails. That way, no matter what happens, you can argue. It's an old trick."

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11/25/1993 - Lett commits his second blunder

Already known for a gaffe he committed in Super Bowl XXVII, Leon Lett of the Cowboys hands the Miami Dolphins a win on Thanksgiving day. His error would force him to hide from the media for months, although all was forgiven when his team eventually won the Super Bowl.

To read more about this story, click here for an in-depth Inhistoric article:

11/25/2001 - Jim Mora: playoff optimist


Following a 40-21 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Mora went on maybe the most memorable rant of any NFL coach. Discarding the verbiage and eloquence of other coaches, Mora told it like it is: "In my opinion, that sucked," he said of his team.

The best part came when a reporter asked if the 4-6 Colts could still make the postseason, to which Mora responded with a falsetto-level of incredulity. His response of "Playoffs? Are you kidding me? Playoffs?" is probably the most repeated line ever uttered by a coach in his post-game press conference.

(Howard after his 93-yard TD. Photo by Brian Masck, Getty Images)

11/23/1984 - The Pass

One of the most thrilling games of all time ends with a game-winning Hail Mary from Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie. The TD gave the Eagles the win and launched the legend of Flutie, who would do little else in American football.

To read more about this story, click here for an in-depth Inhistoric article:

11/23/1991 - Hello Heisman

Desmond Howard was well on his way to winning the Heisman Award when his Michigan team faced arch-rival Ohio State. Michigan crushed the Buckeyes, 31-3, and Howard notched another achievement with a 93-yard punt return. On the play, he eluded several defenders and was by himself as he entered the end zone. In perfect harmony with Keith Jackson's call of "Hello Heisman," Howard struck a perfect pose of the Heisman trophy.

The national spotlight elevated his Heisman campaign and he eventually won the award with 85% of the votes, a record at the time. Howard's NFL career didn't quite live up to his collegiate tenure; his best moment came in Super Bowl XXXI, where, as a member of the Packers, he was named the game's MVP.

(Nov. 22, 1963 is one of the most famous dates in U.S. history. Photo via Boston.com)

11/22/1950 - Pistons beat Lakers: 19-18

In the lowest-scoring game in NBA history, the Fort Wayne Pistons squeak out a 19-18 victory over the defending-champion Minneapolis Lakers. The Pistons were so determined to prevent Lakers center George Mikan from dominating the game that they held the ball for minutes at a time, just so they could run out the clock. The Lakers only managed to put up 18 shot attempts, 11 of which came from Mikan, who scored a game-high 15. John Oldham led the Pistons with a collosal five points.

Pistons coach Murray Mendenhall defended his stalling tactics. "We won, didn’t we? We wanted to get those giants out in the open where we would have a chance to play basketball, not get our heads kicked in." Everybody else found it appaling, including the Pistons' home fans, who booed repeatedly throughout the game. "If that’s basketball, I don’t want any part of it," said Lakers coach John Kundla.

The NBA, which had only been created a few years earlier, was deeply concerned with the low-scoring games that occurred repeatedly throughout the league. It was no way to win over the fans, who came to the arena to watch 100-99 shootouts. It was perhaps this game, more than any other, that led to the invention of the shot clock, which forced teams to shoot the ball within 24 seconds.

In a way it was a blessing in disguise; it made shot clock-era games infinitely more watchable and exciting. Just 33 years later, the Pistons were on the winning end of the highest-scoring game in NBA history: a 186-184 triumph over the Denver Nuggets.

On a side note, Mikan scored 83% of his team's points in that game. That is an NBA record and, considering the circumstances, it's impossible that it will ever be broken.

11/22/1963 - JFK shot in Dallas

It was on this day in 1963 that president John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. The tragedy forced the postponements and cancellations of many events in the country, including the majority of professional sports. Most college football games that weekend were canceled and the American Football League scrapped its full lineup of games. The NFL, however, did not.

NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle stated that the schedule should continue as it had during other national tragedies. The football games were played with a moment of silence before each kick-off and the stadium flags at half-mast. The decision to play on was vastly criticized and Rozelle would later call it the worst decision of his career. In 2001, Rozelle's regret factored into the NFL's decision-making when they postponed a week of games following the attacks on September 11th.

11/21/1969 - Cousy returns to the court

Six years after he last played for the Boston Celtics, NBA legend Bob Cousy steps back on the court in a Cincinnati Royals uniform. He had spent the previous six years coaching at Boston College, and although he was successful, he was tired of the recruiting involved with college basketball. The Royals then offered to make him their head coach. For Cousy, who had worked gas pumps in the offseason to support his family, it was what he deemed a "Godfather offer." "I did it for the money," he said. "I was made the offer I couldn't refuse."

In an effort to increase excitement, Cousy came back on the court at the age of 41; his first game back was at the tail end of a game against the Chicago Bulls. Cousy would play in just seven games for the Royals, amassing only 34 minutes of garbage time with a grand total of five points, 10 assists, and 11 turnovers. His brief comeback did increase attendance, though it did nothing to help the team. He lasted five years with the Royals before stepping down in 1974 with a coaching record of 141-209.

By the time Cousy quit, the Cincinnati Royals (who were originally the Rochester Royals) had moved to Missouri and were known as the "Kansas City-Omaha Kings" -- they couldn't be the Royals since that was the name of the Kansas City baseball team. They soon stopped playing in Omaha and were just the "Kansas City Kings," then moved to Sacramento in 1985 and became the Sacramento Kings.

(Lakers coach Pat Riley. Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein, Getty Images)

11/19/1981 - Riley in, Westhead out

The Los Angeles Lakers do the unthinkable and fire head coach Paul Westhead only 18 months after he  guided them to an NBA championship. The day before, Magic Johnson had stunned the media by demanding to be traded. Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who had given Johnson a colossal contract in the offseason, sided with his star player and exiled the coach, who Johnson complained was running the offense too slowly. Buss denied that Westhead's firing had anything to do with Johnson's trade request, though no one believed anything but the contrary.

Filling Westhead's place was two people, oddly enough. Buss announced that assistant coach Pat Riley and Lakers consultant Jerry West would share the head coaching position, with West controlling the offense and Riley handling the defense. The dual-coaching appointment was quickly abandoned and Riley assumed complete control of the team within a few days.

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