It's December 15th and let's start this day off with some college basketball.

And these two games that I'm going to talk about are like that old Clint Eastwood film, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Let's start with the good and what happened on this day in 1973.

This was one of the most anticipated college basketball games ever.

It's a wonder it did not get stuck with the name game of the century.

It was number one and the seven time defending national champion UCLA Bruins against number two NC State.

With the game played on a neutral court in St.

Louis.

It was a made for TV event.

So first, why was this game played in St.

Louis and not on one of the campuses?

Well, that goes back to a handshake agreement the previous summer made at a small basketball camp in rural North Carolina.

A man by the name of Fred McCall had a basketball camp at Campbell University in Buoys Creek.

And to my younger listeners, that is the same town that Rhett and Link grew up in before they became UT stars.

Anyway, McCall's basketball camp drew top coaching talent and camp counselors.

Bruins head coach John Wooden was there in the summer of 73 doing what he loved, teaching basketball to young kids.

Wolfpack coach Norm Sloan had made the short 30 mile trip to the camp as well and the two men started talking as basketball coaches do and they said, hey, we should play each other.

And one of the reasons was due to both of these teams having extended winning streaks and the fact that NC State had been barred from the NCAA tournament the previous spring due to recruiting violations.

Luring David Thompson to Raleigh, the two gentlemen shook hands and they agreed and they left it to their respective athletic directors to hammer out the details.

NC State's athletic director was a power player not only in college athletics, but also with television execs.

He'd already arranged one nationally televised game against Maryland that drew a large audience.

And so when he and Bruin AD JD Morgan landed on the middle of the country neutral side idea, it was an easy sell to the folks at abc.

So on this night the stage had been set for a battle royale.

It was a comfortable stage for the Bruins who'd won their seventh consecutive title on this floor the previous March.

And they were ready to put their 78 game winning streak on the line.

While NC State had a more pedestrian but still impressive 29 game win streak.

This was a Bill Walton led team known as the Walton Gang versus the North Carolina natives of Tommy Burleson and David Thompson.

This game was a battle of the big men in the early going, the 611 Walton and the 7 foot 4 inch Burleson.

And the whistles were quick and often.

Walton had four fouls midway through the first half and he had to take a seat for a long while.

Burleson also got into foul trouble with three personals in the first 20 minutes.

When the teams went to the locker room at half, the wolf pack led 33, 32 with Walton on the bench.

It became the Keith Wilkes show in the second half.

Wilkes seemed to be scoring from everywhere and helped UCLA build a little bit of a lead.

But the Pack fought back to tie it at 54.

Now by that point, Walton had returned and the well rested big man catalyzed the next Bruin run.

Here's Keith Jackson calling the action for ABC that day.

Walton goes deep.

Pass to McPhail.

Take it in.

They're going to put some heat on Burleson now and right.

McKim may play some defense, either that or pick up some more fouls, but he's played an outstanding basketball game.

Every man on the floor has played well.

Djokovic on a drive goes in challenges.

It didn't get any closer the rest of the way.

Wilkes kept pouring in buckets and he finished with a game high 27.

Walton played just 19 minutes in this one, but he was able to notch a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

UCLA won by 18, 84, 66.

Now these two would meet again later in the year with a much different result.

Ok, so now onto the bad and the ugly wrapped up in one game.

And as a sharp contrast to the game going on in St.

Louis on this day, this game was also in 1973 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The Temple Owls traveled south for this one.

Owls coach Don Casey was in his first year as a college basketball coach, and when he looked at film prepping for the Volunteers, he figured the only way to beat them was to keep them from having the basketball.

This was the era of college basketball before the shot clock, and there were a lot of unfortunate games like this one.

Though this one turned out to be among the worst of the worst.

Temple held the ball for 32 of the 40 minutes.

They put two guards about 5ft apart and then 28ft away from the basket and they just passed it back and forth.

That was it, just back and forth, back and forth.

Tennessee managed to score 11 points in the eight minutes they actually possessed the ball.

The Owls scored only six.

Tennessee's head coach Ray Mears was livid after this game, saying, coach, I gave you $10,000 to come in here and play and I'm disappointed.

I'll never invite you back.

The president of the University of Tennessee was so upset, he told the volunteer players that they were going to scrimmage amongst themselves after the game so the fans who stuck around could actually watch some basketball being played.

Many years later, ESPN.com voted this 116 game the worst game of the 20th century.

On this day in 1968, Philadelphia Eagles fans booed Santa Claus Eagles fan Frank Olivo went to Franklin Field to watch Phillies final game of the season against the Minnesota Vikings.

On this day he was a 19 year old skinny kid who for the past few years had decided that for the game closest to Christmas he would dress up as jolly old Saint Nick.

He didn't really fit the profile or have more than a rudimentary red Santa suit.

He was not expecting to be forever famous when he traveled to the game.

But a few things conspired that day so that Frank Olivo would become a household name in Philadelphia and beyond.

1.

It was 28 degrees that day with a wind chill of 15.

2.

There was a foot of snow all over the city and piled up on the bleachers awaiting already surly Eagles fans to arrive.

3.

The Eagles were bad, but not quite bad enough.

Let me explain.

They had started the season 011 but had won their last two games, which in essence took them out of the running for the O.J.

simpson sweepstakes.

Simpson would be the first player selected in the 1969 NFL AFL combined draft and he would wind up not with Philly and 4th.

The Eagles had an annual Christmas parade at halftime, but the guy hired to play Santa that day took one look out the window and said, even Santa ain't going out in that weather.

The Vikings had tied the game up with a Joe capped to Bill Brown 57 yard TD connection and it was 77 at the half.

When Eagles officials were about to start their annual Christmas parade, they realized that their hired Santa was a no show and they found the one guy dressed like Santa in the stands, Frank Olivo.

They convinced him to take part in the parade and he was happy to do it.

But when Eagles fans saw a skinny kid in a shabby costume, it was just one more thing that irritated Philly fans and so they started raining down booze.

But they didn't stop there.

With all the snow in the stands they had a ready arsenal of snowballs and they started winging them at the jolly young elf.

Here's Olivo remembering that day.

I remember watching a fellow make a snowball and throw it at me.

And I just walked up to him, you know, at the bottom of the wall there, and I said, you're not getting anything for Christmas.

It was a sad day for Philly, and one that always gets brought up when talking about Philly sports culture.

But Olivo seemed to enjoy the infamy it brought him.

Former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, who was at the game that day, called Olivo a good sport and a great Eagles fan who is indelibly etched in Philadelphia sports history.

Sadly, olivo died in 2015 at the age of 66.

On this day in 2019, it was a sad day to be an Oakland Raiders fan.

This was the final home game in Oakland before a move to Las Vegas the next season.

Plans to keep the Raiders in Oakland had long since failed.

After repeated efforts by the franchise to get a new stadium built, the Oakland Alameda County Stadium was opened in 1966, and by 2019 it was severely out of date by the standards of any professional franchise.

But at least on this day, the Raiders had a chance to send their unhappy fans into the sunset with a little bit of joy.

But in a game that mirrored their final season in Oakland, The Raiders early 163 lead diminished in the final 5 minutes and 15 seconds of this one as Jags QB Gardner Minshew found his favorite target, Chris Conley.

Here's Kevin Harlan calling the action for CBS that day.

Third and goal comes the all out blitz again.

Minshew and caught for the touchdown.

Conley worked on Joyner and Jacksonville.

That one came with 31 seconds left to give Jacksonville the 2016 lead.

There was still enough time for Derek Carr to throw not one, but two Hail Marys to the end zone.

Neither prayer was answered though, and that was that.

As the Raiders players walked off the field, they were showered with a bevy of booze.

Good thing there wasn't a Santa Claus there, I guess.

After a somewhat promising start at 64 that season, the loss to the Jaguars was their fourth straight.

There would be no magical Hollywood ending in Oakland.

And time now for the say what?

Say what were you talking about, Willis?

What did you say?

What?

What?

Ajax?

That ain't got nothing to do with sports.

Did you know if you were a fan of the 1960s television show I Dream of Jeannie, then you may be surprised to learn that Larry Hagman was a little difficult on set.

Barbara Eden, who played Genie, recounted one story of a group of nuns who visited the set one day.

When Hagman saw the nuns in their habits, he grabbed a sword that was nearby and he started swinging it wildly over his head and screaming profanities at them.

And that was just one of the erratic things he did during the run of that hey, this is Steve White.

The host of this Day in Sports History.

Thanks for listening to this episode.

One quick thing.

I'm I'm up for an award.

I made the short list for the best sports Talk podcast in 2024, and there are some heavy hitters in this category, such as the Kelce Brothers, Scott Van Pelt, and Bill Rhoden.

Now, there's not much hope for me winning this category against those guys, but if you're a fan of the show.

Then you may know that one of.

My favorite sports movies is Will Ferrell's Semi Pro, and one of the things in that movie is his effort to get his team to finish in fourth place.

So I've kind of poached that idea and would love for you to help me finish in fourth place.

I put a link in the show notes that will take you to the page where you can vote.

You can only vote once in the category, so if you would cast your vote for my podcast, that would be awesome.

You know, and if you want to vote for Scott Van Pelt or the Kelsey Brothers, I get it.

Those guys are really good and they've got a lot of backing and support on their end.

You know, this is just a little solo project for me and have a lot of fun doing it and bringing it to you every day.

But if you wouldn't mind, you could vote for my podcast.

That would be super awesome.

Appreciate it.

Have a great day.

I'll be back tomorrow.

This has been an original Thrive Suite production.