WEBVTT - Special Teams: Christmas Day 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:19.600 Greetings and welcome inside the latest edition of the Special 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:22.400 Teams podcast, where we take a look at a very 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.680 special year in sports history for one team because they 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:27.440 win it all and because they get so close to me, 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.040 because they don't put it all, but they're relevant, their 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:34.440 teams who remember, and we relive that special season for them. However, 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.920 a bit of a twist on this week's podcast, considering 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:40.760 it is the you Old Tide season after all, So 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:42.839 we're going to look back at some of the special 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:47.600 teams who had big games on Christmas Day in sports history. 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:50.440 And we can still call it the holiday, holiday, holiday 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:54.320 and holiday, but these games were on Christmas Day. So 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:57.080 we're gonna relive some of the big games on Christmas 0:00:57.160 --> 0:00:59.160 Day and some of the big teams that had big 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.319 games on Christmas Day. Well, because let's face it, over 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.280 the course of our lives, you know, you've got a 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.880 lot of family time. Presents get unwrapped. Maybe you go 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:12.160 to services, maybe a gluttonize with some big meals along 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:15.160 the way. Maybe maybe you're a Turkey family, maybe a 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.280 Prime rib family. Maybe you're just going out to the 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:21.800 whatever restaurant down the street is open as you roll through. 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.120 But eventually you get tired of looking at your family, uh, 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:27.039 and you want to either enjoy a game with them 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:29.040 because then you're just talking about the game because you 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:32.400 don't want to go deep into those family discussions again, right, 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:35.120 what Uncle Billy's doing? I could I could always tell 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:40.080 when my family was annoying my grandfather more because the 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:43.320 volume of the game slowly went up. Like the beginning, 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:45.920 if the volume was low and we were watching, he 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:48.360 was fine talking to other people. But as the game 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:50.200 went on and he was done talking with everybody, the 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:52.200 volume would go up until finally it was so loud. 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:54.840 Oh god, he's done talking to anybody. He just wants 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.000 to watch whatever game is on telem that's just a 0:01:57.080 --> 0:01:58.880 you can go hide in the game. So it's always 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.800 a all right, what's on? Is there a great replay on? 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:05.360 But this this is over the course of like, you know, 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:13.840 two hours. This is not like you whoa you just 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.400 jump from thirty to hang on? Hang on? Are we 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.200 really done talking about things? All right? So we're gonna 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:21.440 take a look back. We're gonna at very first here 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:23.800 in the show. We're gonna look back at the National 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:27.040 Football League and one very special team that played two 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.240 big games on Christmas Day. The NFL has not had 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:34.000 a huge run of memorable games on Christmas Day because 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:35.919 they didn't play on Christmas Day for a very long 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:38.560 period of time. But very first team we're gonna look 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.000 back at our the Miami Dolphins, because they played the 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:45.600 very first Christmas Day game because it was a playoff 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.320 day in the National Football League in ninety one. The 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.040 league decided in seventy one, Hey, we're gonna play games 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:55.239 on Christmas Day. Okay, great two playoff games earlier in 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.840 the day. The Cowboys beat the Vikings twenty to twelve. 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:01.440 Then four o'clock Eastern playoff game between the Chiefs and 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.040 the Dolphins, and the the stats in this game don't 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:07.000 really matter, just the fact it was the first NFL 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:09.799 game on Christmas Day. But it was about the length 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:13.800 of the game that made things special. This game went 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:17.360 to double overtime and gar are your Premian who was 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.160 known for one of the greatest football follies of all 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:22.160 time with you know, kicking the field goal in the 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:24.679 in the Super Bowl and knocking the ball up in 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.720 the air. The game was tied at twenty four and 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:31.239 your premier and kicked the game winning field goal with 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:34.360 seven twenty left in double overtime. Alright, so the game 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.760 is over at this point. It was the longest NFL 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.960 game ever. It clocked in at three hours and twenty 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:47.320 one minutes, which is an average NFL game in one. 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.480 It was a long time, and there was such an 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:54.480 outcry that it cut into Christmas Day. It prompted the 0:03:54.600 --> 0:04:00.280 NFL to not schedule another Christmas Day game until nine. 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:04.280 You had a Kansas legislature go through and propose a 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:08.880 bill to ban Christmas Day games for the NFL. That's 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:10.840 how big a deal this one. Glad you said Christmas 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:13.240 Day games because it's Sally, you said they're gonna ban 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:17.840 Christmas Day. I'd love to know how many letters calls 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:21.360 to the big switchboard operators whatever it was, or someone 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:25.559 complaining to an owner directly who had some sway saying 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:28.640 that this kind of worked against Christmas dinner. Here, come 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:30.599 on now, I mean four, you're eating Christmas dinner at 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:34.440 two o'clock. I mean, waits till that late Christmas? Not everybody, 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.039 but but you can. You can watch the game or 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:40.200 not watch the game. You know, it's it's a playoff game. Hey, 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:42.880 this is nineteen seventy one. This is a big deal. Well, 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:46.239 there were only three stations back then. It was NBCCBS. 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:49.480 The point it's like, you know you this wasn't looking 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:53.359 for a very special edition of Murder. You could wheeld 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:56.400 the TV into the into the living room and dining room, 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:00.279 but not everybody had fourteen TVs. Like I to do 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:03.240 in the seventies and eighties was eat my dinner downstairs 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:05.880 in front of the TV. When the Jets were actually 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:07.919 had to teat while you were relegated to the basement. 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:10.919 That was always the best part. Was was on a 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:13.480 holiday or when the when the Jets were playing late 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:15.720 and it was like seven o'clock because they were playing 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:18.640 a four o'clock game, and I my grandmother was awesome. 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:20.800 I'd go upstairs, get my big play to spaghetti. Whatever 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:23.640 we g is usually spahetti on Sunday, spaghetti, glass of milk, 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:25.760 whatever had, I got to bring it downstairs and eat 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:28.480 downstairs and watch the game with my grandfather, which was 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:30.039 that was the greatest thing in the world. I'm like, 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:31.400 I'm getting to eat down I don't have to sit 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:33.480 at the dinner table I could eat downstairs. I mean, 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:34.960 now I'm in my forties and I eat wherever the 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.919 hell I want to, so that that bit of regular 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:40.880 it's kind of gone by the wayside a little bit, 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:42.560 but still back then it was a treat. This would 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:44.080 have been a treat for me. Oh, I get to 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:47.800 eat Christmas dinner and watching it I watched, sure, absolutely 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.359 everybody would celebrate it. Instead it goes uh in in 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.240 the moth balls for quite some time. So that's the 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:56.960 first big Christmas Day game the Dolphins play in it, 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:01.440 and then the NFL doesn't have one for another seventeen years. 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:06.520 But then in nine the Dolphins played another very memorable 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.360 Christmas Day game, more so because of what it meant 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:12.440 for head coach Don Shula than what happened on the field. 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.960 The Lions played the Dolphins. Both teams were nine and 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.919 five coming into this game. In and that year, I 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:23.599 had Barry Sanders in Fantasy, but more importantly, I also 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.760 had Bernie Parmelely in Fantasy. Like that, Bernie Parmeley was 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:29.599 Fantasy relevant, and I remember how nervous I was about 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:31.720 this game, having to my two running backs playing in 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:35.120 the same game, and Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders, and Bernie 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.120 Sanders said, how are we gonna pay for this? I 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:41.120 want to make sure that college and everybody pay everybody. 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.279 Barry Sanders had a bad game, but Bernie Parmly had 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.039 three touchdowns and I was so excited, you know me 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:49.440 Jets fan Dolphins. I'm like, oh, the Dolphins are winning, 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:52.120 but hey, I need every one of those Bernie Parmley touchdowns. 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:54.640 A brilliant is that? A guy who had seventeen for 0:06:54.800 --> 0:07:00.720 his career, seventeen rushing touchdowns and that was the year 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:04.279 to have Bernie Parmly fantasy? What was it? What was 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:05.320 nub What do the end of the year? What do 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.960 you want to add? Six rushing touchdowns eight hundred sixty 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:11.920 eight yards in ninety four and then in ninety five 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:15.640 nine touchdowns eight hundred seventy eight yards. A little bit 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.400 of work in the passing game. You know about forty 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.800 catches in each of those years with one receiving touchdown. 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.880 But yes, from a rushing perspective, he would go on 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.480 from ninety six to ninety nine with zero rushing touchdowns, 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.840 very few attempts to Those are the only two years 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.040 where he really was the bell cow uh in the 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.240 Miami offense. And now I said nine to five. I 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:40.880 think both teams were nine and six going into this 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:43.400 having having playoff holps. But this is not about both 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:45.680 teams having playoff holps for me having Bernie Parmly, even 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:47.880 though I tried to make it about but you're celebrating 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.080 Bernie Parmly and his entire catalog. It's okay. But this 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:55.240 was the day that Don Shula broke the NFL record 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:59.480 for regular season victories, win number three hundred and nineteen 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.320 of his NFL career. I mean, Don Shula was Bill 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.360 Belichick before Bill Belichick. He didn't win as many Super 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.040 Bowl titles, but he was a coach who started out 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:11.920 coaching the Colts. I mean in the in the salad 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.400 days of the NFL, when the Super Bowl first started. 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:16.800 I don't forget. He coached the Colts, you know, and 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:18.720 they lost to the Jets. They won the next year, 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:22.480 and then he reinvents his team as a team that 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.640 wins super Bowls in the seventies, achieves perfection behind a 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:29.160 great defense and a great running game, and then he 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:32.120 morphs into the air raid attack that he had with 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:35.040 Dan Marino in the nineteen eighties into nineteen nineties, Don 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.120 Shula was Bill Belichick, and you know, if you're old 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:40.600 enough to remember his, boy, Don Shula would just find 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.760 a way whatever players he had, he would move his 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:46.800 system around to what fit. And that was a guy 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.640 that look I at. Nineteen wins is three nineteen wins. 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:51.920 You always had to get by Don Shula. You always 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:53.760 had to get by him in the A f C. 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:56.040 And I'd look up. I'd look up at Don Shula 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:57.680 for most of my life. Then I look at at 0:08:57.679 --> 0:08:59.960 Bill Belichick's. That tells you what my sports life roun 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:01.680 for you right there, when you when you get down 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.160 to it and you think about where the game is 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:08.720 now as a pass happy event, but also just that 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.800 you have less than ten players in eighteen finished with 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:17.360 a thousand rushing yards foren and beyond, we're probably looking 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:19.480 at those numbers being about the same. You're not gonna 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:21.680 suddenly have a resurgence. You know, they win the game. 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:25.240 And it's not that it was the game that Don 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.640 Shula broke the overall record, but it's kind of like baseball, 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.959 where it was the records are really about the regular 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:34.559 season because the postseason can't really count now he had 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:38.640 broken the record for overall wins in but it was 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:40.839 next year where he got win number three nineteen the 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:43.160 regular season. In fact, Don Shula opened up a bunch 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.920 of steakhouses across the country and they were Shula three 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:48.520 nineteen because you know, he always called them that because 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:50.520 of that. That was you know, that was that what 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:52.760 that win meant to him, you know, doing that for 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:54.960 the Miami Dolphins. And you know when it comes to 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:57.280 Don Shula, you know, everybody seems to have a story 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.960 about him. You want my Don Chula story, real face hit. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.120 This is this is also then lamenting the fact that 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.360 he existed in your division. All No, this is this 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:09.080 is great because this was me interviewing Bubba Smith back 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:12.240 in two thousand and three. I want to say, for 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.240 a TV show on Fox of Fox Sports one now 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.320 called the Sports List, it was like, I love the eighties, 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.120 but for sports and we look back it was best 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:25.160 Super Bowls, best shortstops, you know, best NBA Finals games. 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:26.720 Where it was a list of the top ten best 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:28.760 things of all time. So Bubba Smith comes in to 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.000 do an interview. We're talking about best Super Bowls and 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.000 Bubba Smith played on that Colts team that Don Shula 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:37.680 coached that lost to the Jets and Super Bowl three. 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:39.640 So he comes and he sits down, and I'm talking 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:41.880 to Bubba Smith doing the pre interview stuff with him 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.199 and East why I saw my Jets fan. He Jets 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:46.920 fan and like he saw red. And he started telling 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:49.160 me about how Super Bowl three was fixed and he 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:51.200 knew it was fixed and he wanted to prove all 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:53.320 of his life that the game was fixed. He said, 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:55.160 I got into a cab after the game was over, 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:57.160 and even the cab driver said to me, all the 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:00.240 smart money was on the Jets. Everybody knew. He was 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.079 really mad. He said. He went to the party after 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.080 the game was over and other players were dancing. He 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:06.760 was really mad. He told me got thrown out of 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:10.160 the Dolphins post of the Colts post super Bowl party 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.120 because he was really mad they lost the game. And 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:15.840 I said, well, I said, whoa. I said, nobody said 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:17.280 this about anything. It happened to me, because well, let 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:19.760 me tell you what happened at halftime. For some reason, 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:22.679 Don Shula put us in this different and these are 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:24.480 this is Bubba Smith telling the story, and this this 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:26.480 is me recalling it for him because he passed away. 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.240 He said they had us do something different defensively that 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:31.400 wasn't working. And I went to him a halftime and 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:33.800 I said, put me here, put me back here, and 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:36.360 I will dominate. Get in the backfield and stop the 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:38.480 Jets what they're doing. And he wouldn't do it all. 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:40.160 He said that he was shut up in play your position, 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:42.439 and so he was really mad about that, and he 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:44.880 wanted to prove the rest of his life that the 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:47.320 Super Bowl was fixed. When we won the next year, 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:49.760 I didn't feel the same because I felt like we 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:52.480 should have had two. And I joked around with him 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:54.640 and I said, well, after all, you're telling me right 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.120 here I go kind of telling my life is a lie. 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:59.480 And he looked at me. He said, well, your life 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.640 is a lie. What do I have to look back 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:08.520 at that? Yeah? I had the Christmas game in in 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:12.479 two thousand eleven Bears at Packers. So you know, you said, 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.680 let me it's just quick, because you know, you get 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.720 excited that your team's playing on Christmas again. At some 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:24.000 point you're done with family stories for the nine thousand time. 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.920 Going through the photo albums, everybody's glutton eyes, some are drunk, 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:31.400 whatever the case. Is, and then you watch Aaron Rodgers 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:37.120 eviscerate your squad throwing five touchdown passes against Josh McCown 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.000 and Khalil Bell in the backfield. Josh McCown who wasn't 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:46.920 nearly at the end of his NFL career, yes, coaching 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.960 high school football and still going. But yeah, Rogers five touchdowns, 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:52.560 so it became one of us. All Right, I just 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:54.160 don't want to go back to the story, so we're 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:58.760 gonna grin and just deal with however bad this gets 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.760 the only lost by four teen, but it was an eternity. 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:04.480 Normally in the podcast, this is where we look back 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.240 at the year that was, but I mean it's we're 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.160 not looking back at the beginning of Christmas. It was okay, 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:12.800 well we can do a little Jesus was born and 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:16.720 they took him out of the manger on Christmas Day. 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:21.520 There you had seventeen games between nine and two thousand seventeen. 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:24.520 They actually moved the regular season by a week in 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.560 nineteen seventy six because they didn't want to go on 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.640 Christmas weekend. So a little bit there. Uh, you know, 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:35.760 there are four teams that are undefeated on Christmas Day. 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:41.079 Go ahead, Philadelphia Pittsburgh. Wow, well they boot Santa Claus, 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:42.840 so they should do well on christ there they like 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.480 to fight on Christmas Day. It's a small sample size, 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:47.920 but two and oh Philly two and O Pittsburgh two 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:53.160 and are one and no Chargers and one of no Jets. 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:55.560 I know, I feel so happy about Yeah, yeah, there 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:59.040 it is. There's your best statins where I can get them. Yeah, no, 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:01.679 that's it. So, oh, there you go. There's the Special 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.440 Teams Miami Dolphins Christmas. What about the NBA? We actually 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:08.719 got two teams coming your way next on the podcast 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:33.400 that did Special Things on It is Special Teams with 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:36.480 Jason Smith and Mike Harmon from Fox Sports Radio, as 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:38.680 we take you through a very special edition of our 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:42.800 Special Teams podcast today. This is a Christmas Day edition. 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.000 As we get near the holidays, you want to look 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:46.840 back at some of the special teams that did good 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.480 things on Christmas Day. Well, that's what we're doing here 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.680 for you today. We talked about the Miami Dolphins what 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.000 they did on Christmas Day. The NFL, they didn't play 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:58.160 for a long time. Christmas Day is now owned by 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:01.120 the National Basketball Association. For many people, it's the real 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.400 official beginning of the NBA season with NFL and full 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.880 swing when the NBA tips off in October. Sometimes it 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:09.800 takes a long time for the NBA to get to 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:11.800 the limelight. Now the past few years with all the 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:14.640 stars going on, basically they have Opening Night almost every 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:17.040 night during the week, all Lebron is playing, the Clippers 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:20.840 are playing, Janice is playing. But Christmas Day, for the 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:24.680 longest time was the big first day of the year 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.680 on the NBA calendar, and we have two teams that 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.520 did special things, the Heat and the Lakers. Let's first 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:35.200 go back to two thousand and four where the Lakers 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:38.960 squared off against the Heat in a much ballyhooed Christmas 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:43.040 Day game because this was Shack versus Kobe for the 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.960 first time. The Lakers were coming off losing the NBA 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:49.120 Finals to the Detroit Pistons. Shack finds his way out, 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.200 gives traded to the Miami Heat. We knew Shack and 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:53.800 Kobe didn't like each other. What was gonna happen as 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.920 they faced off for the very first time as adversaries. 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:03.040 They did shake hands before the game. A video tribute 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.400 for Shaquille O'Neal was played, but he said he didn't 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:10.200 watch it. This was Shack being really mad at the Lakers, 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:12.320 met at Jerry Bus for not giving him the maximum 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:15.560 extension that he wanted a year before, still mad about 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.160 what they did to Phil Jackson because Phil Jackson was 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.200 dismissed after they lost to the Pistons in the finals. 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:24.480 Kobe is getting the blame for Shack leaving. He was 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:28.120 more beloved, you know, Kobe was the harder worker. And 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.960 now it kind of went in the reverse because Shaq 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.320 is coming in as the villain and the Lakers, who 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.160 always had embraced Kobe kind of an arms length because 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.840 they loved Shack so much. Now I had to say, okay, 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:43.400 Kobe's our guy. And this was a really great game. 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:46.680 Shack fouled out in the fourth quarter. Kobe foul him 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.280 out by driving on him and fouling him out. You know, 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.440 Shaq had that big quote before the game when they 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:54.400 asked him what was gonna happen if you know Kobe 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:56.520 drove the lane on you, and Shack said, well, what 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.120 happens when a corvette runs into a brick wall. So 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.200 that was a very big thing from shock Um. Shack 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.720 had twenty four and eleven rebounds. Kobe had forty two, 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:08.639 but he missed a three at the buzzer and overtime. 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:10.960 Dwyane Wade was the one who had the big game 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.359 twenty nine points and ten assists. And this game was 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.320 the first one that really jump started the NBA on 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.920 Christmas Day tradition because they played on Christmas Day where 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:22.680 but this was where wait a minute, we have a 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:25.080 marquee matchup to look forward to in the NBA realized, 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:27.399 wait a minute, we can own Christmas Day. This is 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.560 pretty cool. That's it. Going into the history of it 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:32.240 and as we do and and looking at old box 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:35.159 scores and some great highlights and and write ups, and 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.000 they've been playing on Christmas Day as as early as 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:42.200 but the evolution we talked about the NFL a little 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:45.560 earlier in the podcast and how they kind of danced 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.600 around it, didn't quite want to embrace it. There was 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:53.280 blowback for the NBA over time, it became a tradition. 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:56.320 But when you had Kobe and Shack, I mean, everybody 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.439 just wanted to watch how they'd interact with one another, 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:04.399 not exactly the best of you know, handshakes, depth, whatever 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:06.320 you want to call it, A little mean mug and 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.240 going on and look, I'm still the big brother kind 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.840 of feeling from Shaquille O'Neal and the fact that they 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:14.040 followed him out on Christmas Day. Man, come on, that 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:16.199 Kobe fouled him out, well, but but I mean that 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:19.000 they called six falls on them. How often when you 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:22.199 watch it, and and dear listener, when you watch an 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:24.119 NBA game, you go, yeah, this guy should have been 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:27.520 gone to the third quarter star rules as it goes, 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:31.359 But not on Christmas Day. Back in two thousand four, No, no, no, no, 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:35.000 not so fast. So that's the first special teams game 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:37.520 between the Heat and the Lakers. Now we fast forward 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:41.000 to two thousand and ten, a much different Lakers team, 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.720 a much different Heat team. This is a Lakers team 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:47.960 that had now been led specifically by Kobe Bryant for 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:51.520 a while, and they had won a couple of championships. 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.560 Now this was how long can this run happen? Phil 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:57.439 Jackson was back as Lakers head coach. He was a 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:01.080 very different vibe as the Lakers navig aided most of 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.200 the odds until you got to the late part of 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:05.080 the odds with boy, when is his team going to 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:07.280 get better? They had a couple of really down years. 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:09.280 But now they went to back to back final, back 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:10.800 to back to back finals, and they won. It was 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.639 a very big deal and now the Lakers were suddenly, hey, 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:17.480 wud beat the Magic, beat the Celtics. Everything is good. Meanwhile, 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:19.359 for the Miami Heat, this was their first year with 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:23.000 Lebron James. How things were going. It was rough going 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.119 at first for the Miami Heat because they didn't win 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:27.960 as much as they expected. Dwayne Wade was very upset. 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.320 Everybody hates us. I can't believe it, but everybody wanted 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:33.240 to see this Christmas Day game between the Heat and 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:37.399 the Lakers. The Lebron backlash at this point was about 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:41.040 at its highest level because the Heat weren't playing great 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:46.520 and many people were very unhappy that Lebron James decided 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:48.199 to do this basically say oh, look, you took the 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:50.879 NBA away from all the other teams by saying, hey, 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.679 we're just gonna team up here and play. Many fans 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:55.879 thought it wasn't fair, but at the same time it 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:58.679 was can't guys go play wherever they want to? But 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:01.399 the point is the backlash for Lebron James was about 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:03.399 at its highest on Christmas Day so much so that 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:05.399 I don't know anybody who wasn't a Heat fan that 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:07.680 wasn't rooting for the Lakers. How many people it aren't 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:09.760 Lakers fans route for the Lakers and games. This is 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:12.840 where you hate watched on both sides if you were 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:15.520 not a fan of either. Lebron had a triple double 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:18.360 in the game, and just like the first best Christmas 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:20.280 Day game that we talked about, Heat won that one, 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:21.960 one oh four, one oh two. As I said, Kobe 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:24.320 missing a three at the buzzer, the Heat pull away 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.600 to win this one nine six to eighty, and that's 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:31.680