Welcome back to This Day in Sports History … a member of the Sports History Podcast Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear of your favorite sports. Learn more and find additional podcasts at SportsHistoryNetwork.com. It’s June 17th and on this day in 2002, if you are a US soccer fan, all you need to hear is ‘dos a cero’ to know what happened.

It was a Round of 16 match in the 2002 World Cup played that year in South Korea. The US Men's National Team had advanced to the knockout stage after a stunning win over Portugal, a tie with the host country South Korea and loss to Poland. In their round of 16 match, they were paired up with their biggest rival Mexico, on the biggest stage. Mexico had won their group with 2 wins and a draw. As the Americans got off the bus and walked into the stadium on this day, a few of the Mexican players were huddled together and as they peered at the US squad walking in, began to laugh. The Americans didn’t know what was funny or what they had been discussing, but it didn’t matter. They saw that as a lack of respect … and arrogance on the part of the Mexican players. Captain Claudio Reyna remembers thinking at that point ‘we would get chances against Mexico. Sure, they were a strong team, they had just won their group. But we knew them inside and out and felt we could exploit them if we attacked.’ It didn’t take long after kickoff to prove just how right he had been. In the eighth minute, the US caught the Mexican team sleeping a bit, taking a quick free kick that resulted in Reyna attacking down the right, turning it to the middle to Josh Wolff who feathered a touch to Brian McBride all alone in the 18. His right foot rifle shot found the back of the net and the US led 1-nil. The goal was a lightning bolt, providing energy for the US and a stunning shock to the Mexican team. Reyna caused so many problems that the Mexican gaffer made his first substitution just 30 minutes into the game. The Mexicans kept the pressure on though forcing goalie Brad Friedl to make some tense saves. In the second half, the US appeared to get away with a handball in the box when John O’Brien defended a corner. In today’s VAR world, that results in a PK chance for Mexico but in 2002, that didn’t exist and the referee didn’t see it. So they played on into the 65th minute and this happened …

It was indeed a huge goal. A perfectly placed cross to Landon Donovan who hit the running header into the back of the net. Still a lot of time left but Mexico was now reeling and they lost their composure. A straight red card was handed out to Mexico’s Rafael Marquez after spiking Cobi Jones in the side with a karate kick. Friedel continued repelling shots and the US was able to run out the clock to win ‘Dos a Cero.’ It was the first clean sheet for the US in a World Cup match since their 1-nil win over England in 1950.

In 1994, it was game 5 of the NBA finals between the Houston Rockets and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The series was tied at 2 games a piece. (Static creeps in) The Knicks had….

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this special news bulletin. Football great Orenthal James Simpson is being pursued by a line of Los Angeles Police vehicles. The chase is rolling slowly down the I-5 with Mr. Simpson riding as a passenger in a white Ford Bronco driven by his former Buffalo Bills teammate Al Cowlings. Earlier this afternoon, Simpson was charged with murder in the deaths of ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson was scheduled to turn himself in at the Los Angeles Police Department this afternoon but instead is now being pursued by the LAPD. The entire nation is enthralled. People have parked on the side of the highway, cheering on the man known as OJ. Millions on television are tuned in to watch this 60 miles long journey along the Santa Ana Freeway, Artesia Freeway and the San Diego Freeway. The chase will eventually end in front of Simpson’s Brentwood home just before 8 o’clock when Simpson will surrender to the police and put in motion the trial of the century. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program. (Static … fade up audio)

The Knicks won 91-84 behind Patrick Ewing’s 25 points and 12 rebounds and giving them a 3-2 lead in the series. Interesting fact, this game was actually interrupted by the OJ Simpson Bronco chase. 95 million people across the country were mesmerized watching the low-speed chase. NBC was broadcasting the game that night and Knicks and Rockets fans had to watch the game in split screen with the Bronco chase with Tom Brokaw providing commentary of what was happening in LA, instead of Bob Costas with the action from New York.

On this day in 1976, the NBA and ABA agreed to a merger or as former ABA legal counsel Mike Goldberg put it, ‘this wasn’t a merger, the NBA never called it a merger, they called it an expansion.’ Goldberg also said that the four teams from the ABA that were swallowed up by the NBA, in essence, bought their way into the league. When it came down to this point, fatigue had set in. The remaining ABA owners were close to bankruptcy. The amount of time, energy, and money that it took to keep the ABA afloat for its nine years of existence was exhausting. And as Goldberg is quoted in Terry Pluto’s fantastic book on the ABA titled ‘Loose Balls,’ ‘the ABA simply ran out of gas.’ The NBA too had been fatigued by the process. With players going directly to the ABA or making the jump from the NBA, it was straining team payrolls to keep guys around and attract others to come in. David Thompson’s move from the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks to the ABA’s Denver Nuggets was a driving force behind the merger. At the end of its run, the ABA had 6 active franchises and they pushed for all six to be included, but the NBA did not want the St. Louis or the Kentucky franchises and would only accept four, the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs, and the New York Nets. Each of those four had to pay $4.5 million over a six year period to join the NBA. The Nets had to pay extra to the Knicks for violation of territorial rights. One more fact from the negotiations, and this is absolutely fascinating to me, but listen to this … St Louis actually came out the best of any of the teams or at least the owners did. In exchange for the Spirits not pressing to go to the NBA, they received a settlement that paid them 2% of all television rights in perpetuity. Before taking a lump sum buyout of $500 million dollars in 2014, brothers Ozzie and Daniel Silna were getting close to $15 million a year from a deal signed on this day in 1976.

In 1973, it was Johnny Miller firing what is believed by many to be the greatest round of golf in major tournament history … at least until Tiger Woods came along. This was the final round of the US Open played at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. Miller started the day 6 shots behind the leaders. He wasn’t on anybody’s radar when he teed off. But he soon showed up on it. He birdied the first four holes and then birdied 9, 11, 12, and 13. He then rode calm waters to the end making pars from 14 onward to record the lowest ever round at a US Open with a 63. His hard charge up the leaderboard won the tournament by one shot over John Schlee. Miller’s 63 was equaled several times over the years but it wasn’t until last year’s US Open when Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffle bettered it by each shooting 62.

In 1962, Jack Nicklaus won the US Open to notch his first PGA tour win and his first major golf title. Oakmont Country Club played host to the ‘62 Open and this was a Sunday 18-hole playoff between Nicklaus and his friend and rival Arnold Palmer. Palmer, from nearby Latrobe, was the hometown favorite and had an army of followers. He had led after the second and third rounds but he faltered a little in the final nine to open the door for Nicklaus to make a charge. Both golfers missed birdie putts at 18 the day before to set up the playoff. Through the first six holes on this day, Nicklaus had a four shot lead but Palmer chipped away at the advantage over the next 6 holes. When Palmer chipped in for birdie at the 12th, the lead was down to 1. But Arnie had problems with the short stick in the final six. A three putt bogey on 13 hurt him and he ended up shooting a 74 to Nicklaus’ 71. An interesting thing happened on the 18th though. After Palmer holed out, he picked up Nicklaus’ ball as an act of concession like you would do in match play. But this was stroke play, so USGA officials intervened, told Jack he needed to place the ball back and putt it out. He did. It was the first of what would become 18 major victories over the next 24 years for Nicklaus.

Oakmont was also the host of the 1994 US Open and on this day Arnold Palmer played his final round in the US Open. Not only was Oakmont the site of Palmer’s battle with Nicklaus in ‘62 but it was also the course that Palmer made his Open debut in 1953. It was a special place for him. The 64-year old Palmer shot an 81 and missed the cut at 16-over. After his round he met with the media but was overcome with emotion after a few minutes and couldn’t regain his composure to continue. He cut the press conference short and walked off the platform to a standing ovation from the media.

Time now for today’s non-sports fun fact … Quick: Name the World's largest tire producer? I'll give you a moment to ponder that and run down all the tire companies you know and I'm going to guess you still don't know. The world's largest tire producer is: LEGO, producing about 320 million little tires a year.

That’s all for today. I’ll have more tomorrow on This DiSH. This Day in Sports History is a member of the Sports History Podcast Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear of your favorite sports. Learn more and find additional podcasts at SportsHistoryNetwork.com.