By The Beacon Staff

Emmanuel Perry gets air as he drives against the men Owls of UMPI. Emanuel contributed 3 points and 2 wins in the Men Seawolves win against UMPI>

For the second time this semester, with 5 more columns to go, it’s time to climb into the “WABAC Machine” ~ Google search Mr. Peabody and Sherman, an animation series from late 50’s and early 60’s ~ and you’ll be exposed to history told no other way.
Here’s the skinny, Sherman is a beagle who is the smartest being on the planet. He saves Sherman a dorky bespectacled, red-haired boy from a group of bullies. Peabody, being the smartest and most benevolent creature on the planet adopts Sherman after he discovers that Sherman is an orphan. Mr. Peabody builds a time machine called, “The WABAC Machine” and takes Sherman on adventures to observe history.
This being a sports column, Mr. Peabody and Sherman eventually make it to the first Kentucky Derby. Sad to say, that episode isn’t covered in this column as it aired on December 30th, 1959, nor will the first Kentucky Derby be covered as that took place on May 17, 1875. Keep reading, the Kentucky Derby does get mention.
Regardless of having a “WABAC Machine” or not, here’s what has transpired on This Date in Sports History ~ paranormal activities such as: a power outage during Super Bowl XLVII (47), 2 years ago when the Ravens defeated the 49ers 34-31. Conspiracy theorist from across the football spectrum screamed almost as loud as deflated footballs on a cold rainy night.
More along the lines of the super natural taking over: in 1982 Englishman John Sharples stepped off of the dance floor, a disco-dance floor, after dancing for 371 hours. 106 years earlier in 1876, Albert Spalding started the Spalding Sporting Goods Co. manufacturing the 1st official baseball, tennis ball, basketball, golf ball and football. Cash in hand to start the company, a whooping $800. In 2001, The XFL (Xtreme Football League) debuted. The ill-conceived league was the brainchild of WWF’s Vince McMahon. Needles to say there is only room enough for one professional football league in the USA.
In the category of “rather not hear about it,” in 1998 Brain Cashman replaced Bob Watson as general manager of the evil empire and what else follows, but the Yankees winning the series in 1998, 1999 and 2000. Then there is ~ Peyton Manning winning a 5th Associated Press MVP award making him the only player to win the award 5 times. In case you’re wondering Tom Brady has 2, and Brett Favre has 3.

Amira Jones applies pressure on an inbound pass against UMPI’s Rebecca Campbell. Amira finished with 13 points while grabbing 10 rebounds in the Lady Wolves win at Presque Isle.

The big story: the Patriots winning Super Bowl XXXVI (36), 20-17 over the St. Louis Rams in 2002, which happened to be the Patriot’s first Super Bowl win. The story behind the story: because of the September 11th attacks, the NFL postponed a week of regular season games, which resulted in the Super Bowl being moved from January 27th to February 3rd. The game was designated a National Special Security Event by Homeland Security, and has remained a NSSE since.
Tom Brady was named the games MVP after leading the Patriots downfield setting up an Adam Vinatieri game winning field goal as the game clock struck 00:00. The Patriot’s squandered a 17-3 3rd quarter lead when Kurt Warner ran for a 2 yard touchdown and threw a 26 yard touchdown to tie the game.
The really big story though: Professional jockey Willie Shoemaker saddled up on a thorough breed for his 40,352nd mount. In 40,350 races Shoemaker won 1,100 stakes and 8,833 wins. His career spanned 42 years in which he won 11 Triple Crown races, 5 Belmont stakes, 3 Preaknesses, 1,009 stakes races, 10 national money titles, earned more than $123 million in purses of which $10 million where deposited into his bank account, and to end the column, he won Kentucky Derby 4 times.
And that’s this day in sports history.