The Sopranos has just made their debut on HBO. Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More” was about to take America by storm. And the hype machine was building to crescendo for the scheduled May release of the new Star Wars movie called The Phantom Menace.
Today we flashback to January 1999 and remember the biggest sports stories of the month.
Gary Anderson missed field goal in NFC Championship game
Even much more so than Blair Walsh, this Minnesota Vikings kicker had a track record of success that spoke for itself.
Prior to missing a game-winning field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship game against Atlanta, Anderson had hit on 39 consecutive field goals, including a perfect 35-of-35 during the regular season.
Obviously feeling the pressure on a kick that could have sent the 15-win Vikings to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1977, Anderson missed what was a chip-shot 38-yard field goal.
Instead of ending it right there, the game went into overtime. Much to the chagrin of Vikings fans at the now defunct Metrodome, Atlanta came through in that extra stanza to earn its first trip to the Super Bowl.
In a postseason history that has been defined by heartbreaking Vikings losses, this one takes the cake. Fran Tarkenton at least led the team to four Super Bowls. And in reality, this year’s version of the Vikings represented the start of something special for the young squad.
Back in January of 1999, everything seemed to be in place for the Vikings. They finished with the best regular season record in the NFL. They boasted a dynamic offense and an opportunistic defense.
Sadly, that year will forever be remembered for this missed kick by a player that should end up in Canton one day.
Tennessee beats Florida State in first ever BCS National Title game
Tee Martin was able to do something Peyton Manning couldn’t do. That is lead the Volunteers to a national title — an accomplishment that came one year after Manning himself departed Knoxville.
It came in the first ever national championship game under the now defunct Bowl Championship Series. It also came against a Florida State team that was starting third-string quarterback Marcus Outzen.
In a game that featured over two dozen future NFL starters, Tennessee came out on top 23-16.
Martin put up two touchdown passes, including a 79-yard touchdown strike to Peerless Price to give Tennessee a two-score lead in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Travis Henry put up just 28 yards while starting for the injured Jamal Lewis.
Tennessee’s perfect 13-0 record still represents the single greatest season in modern program history. It also culminated in the Volunteers’ first national title in over 30 years.
Michael Jordan announces his retirement … for the second time
Jordan would return to play for the Washington Wizards a couple years later, but that’s a part of his career that most of us would like to forget.
For all intents and purposes, January of 1999 represented the end of a career that stills stands above the rest in the history of the Association.
The retirement came just seven months after Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to their sixth title in eight years. It also came with him embroiled in a conflict with the Bulls front office.
Jordan earned a NBA title in each of his last six full seasons in the NBA. His last year with the team, 1997-98, Jordan led the NBA in scoring and earned both the regular season MVP and the NBA Finals MVP.
Chicago would go on to finish the 1998-99 season with a 13-37 record. It wouldn’t earn a spot in the postseason again until the 2004-05 campaign — a sure sign that Jordan was pretty much Bulls basketball.
Former NHL player Doug Wickenheiser loses battle with cancer
A former No. 1 overall pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 1980, Wickenheiser wasn’t necessarily the toast of the town after he was selected.
With the obvious French-leaning population in Montreal, fans wanted the team to take Denis Savard, who would immediately become a star with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Wickenheiser would go on to struggle in his first season with Montreal, compiling just seven goals and eight assists in 41 games for the Norris winning team.
He would then improve a great deal over the next couple seasons before being dealt to the St. Louis Blues midway through the 1983-84 season.
In St. Louis, Wickenheiser became famous for a game-winning goal he scored in an elimination playoff game against the Calgary Flames that was dubbed the “Monday Night Miracle.”
While Wickenheiser saw limited success in his 10-year NHL career, he will always be remembered for his impact on Blues hockey.
Just four years after retiring, Wickenheiser was diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma — a rare form of cancer. After beating this dreadful disease, it came back with a vengeance three years later. And in January of 1999, Wickenheiser died at the young age of 37 in St. Louis — a city that had adopted him.
John Elway leads Denver Broncos to Super Bowl title in final game
We use the term “leads” loosely here, as it really was Terrell Davis who led the Broncos to a dominating 34-19 win over the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl.
Davis put up 152 total yards and two touchdowns to cap off one of the best seasons in the history of the NFL for a running back.
But it will be Elway riding off to the sunset on a white Bronco (you see what we did there) that will forever be ingrained into the memory of fans from the Mile High City.
Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount voted into the Hall of Fame
Three of the greatest players of their generation retiring the same year. All three being inducted into the Hall of Fame the same year.
For Nolan Ryan, it actually came 33 years after he made his debut with the New York Mets. In a career that spanned four decades, Ryan put up 324 wins and a record 5,714 strikeouts — a mark that bests any other pitcher in baseball history by nearly 1,000.
Known for his hot temper and imposing frame, Ryan’s claim to fame for future generations of baseball fans was his duel (almost literally) with youngster Robin Ventura in 1993.
Equally hot around the collar, George Brett of the Kansas City Royals will also be remembered for one particular situation in which he lost his cool after being accused of using pine tar in 1983:
This might be what Brett is known best for outside of Kansas City and the larger baseball world, but his 21-year career stands up there among the best of his era.
Overall, Brett put up a career .305 average with 317 homers and nearly 1,600 runs batted in. He hit over .300 11 times, including a league-leading .390 average back in 1980. Named to the All-Star team 13 times, Brett remains the greatest player in Royals history.
Robin Yount’s career pretty much paralleled that of Brett’s career. The two entered the Majors one year apart and retired the same year. They played in the American League together for 20 years, facing Nolan Ryan countless times in the process.
While Yount isn’t as well known outside of Milwaukee as the other two first ballot Hall of Famers here, his impact on baseball in that city makes him a true legend in the Midwest.
Yount earned two MVP awards, hit over .300 six times and finished his career with over 1,400 runs batted in.
Ron Dayne scores Rose Bowl record four touchdowns in Wisconsin win
One of the greatest college football players this one scribe has ever seen, what Dayne did on the field was absolutely stunning during a historical four-year career in Madison.
When all was said and done, this bulldozer of a running back tallied 7,125 rushing yards and 71 touchdowns.
A few weeks after losing out on the Heisman Trophy to Ricky Williams, Dayne put on an absolute show against the UCLA Bruins in the Rose Bowl. He finished one yard shy of Charles White’s record with 246 rushing yards and scored what is still a Rose Bowl record four rushing touchdowns.
Dayne would go on to win the Heisman Trophy for his performance during the 1999 regular season and would be selected in the first round of the 2000 NFL draft where he starred for five years in a thunder-and-lightning role with Tiki Barber.