Sports History Network

The central point is that we present our Week Six NFL game predictions and discuss the betting results to date. I am Darren Hayes and I am joined by Ed Cleese as we make picks both straight up and against the spread. We note that Ed leads the spread standings and has net winnings, while I have sustained losses. We give specific game calls, including Seahawks over Broncos, Texans over the Jaguars i...

Gridiron America is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY With two weeks left in the CFL season, the playoffs begin now for the final two playoff spots with Calgary, Winnipeg and defending Grey Cup champion battling it out for either a third place west spot or an eastern crossover slot. We then talk about the Da Coach, why he was overrated, a...

Ed Kleese joins us as we review the history-making Week 5 of the 2026 NFL season. Ed rants about his Commanders' blunder, and we enjoy the week's best moments. Of course, the Scorimangi Index score is released. Don't forget to check out and subscribe to the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel for additional content and the regular Football History Minute Shorts. Miss our football by the day of the ye...

The Official PFRA Podcast is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . LINKS The Official PFRA Podcast Website The Professional Football Researchers Association Website EPISODE SUMMARY Jon & George speak with Michael MacCambridge, an American author and journalist. THE OFFICIAL PFRA PODCAST BACKGROUND The Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA)...

Yesterday's Sports is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . YESTERDAY'S SPORTS HOME PAGE EPISODE SUMMARY With the NFL about to begin its 107th season, I have a question for my followers. Among the 32 teams, which would you say has had the most success? I'm not asking which team had the best single season, the best decade, or the best dynasty. I'm talking abo...

Timoth Brown if Football Archaeology joins me to state plainly that helmet logos were not immediate: the Los Angeles Rams painted horns on their helmets in 1948 and the change went largely unnoticed until decades later. Tim explains why early teams often put markings on the back or top of helmets and why the side logo only became standard later. We trace scattered experiments in the 1920s and 1930...

Imagine two baseball teams that finished in last place in their divisions one year, only to find themselves battling for a World Series championship the next. Now imagine seven games filled with dramatic comebacks, extra-inning battles, spectacular individual performances, and a winner-take-all Game 7 that would go down as one of the greatest in baseball history. That's exactly what baseball fans...

NDN All-Stars is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY It's the final lap of the Olympic ten thousand meters in Tokyo. An American runner is surrounded by the best distance runners in the world, including the world-record holder. Nobody expects him to win. What happens next becomes one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history! This week in N...

Total Sports Recall (TSR) is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . TOTAL SPORTS RECALL HOMEPAGE EPISODE SUMMARY This episode's guest is Jerry Vecchia who hails from New Jersey and is a past winner of the Visa Hall of Fans Award representing the New York Giants. Jerry Vecchia is also a former president of the Professional Ultimate Fans Association (PFUFA). He...

Scott Pery and his alter ego, Professor Perry, join us to trace the Chicago Bears' history, focusing on the team's lineage since 1970, based on findings from Scott's book NFL Since 1970. Learn the amazing journey that the Bears have had in Scott's life's work of monitoring NFL teams and the W/L records since 1970. Don't forget to check out and subscribe to the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel for...

StatMan and Robin is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY StatMan and Robin take a deep dive into two painful opportunities where their teams were in a position to win a championship, but failures to deliver in the clutch doomed them to be runners up. Join us for a review of the 1975 NBA Finals between the Bullets and Golden State Warriors,...

Guest Ed Kleese and I present our Week Five 2026 NFL prediction show, focusing on our game-by-game forecasts and the current state of our records. I note that Ed holds a substantial advantage against the spread, having a hypothetical profit of $530 versus my $-940 when wagering $100 per pick. We enumerate key selections, including Dallas over Tampa Bay, Jacksonville favored in London over Philadel...

We observed that five teams began the season 0-4, the first time that has occurred since 1976. Guest Ed Kleese identifies those teams as the Dolphins, Texans, Titans, Chargers, and Bucks. We also noted that the Minnesota Vikings opened 4-0 and recorded two wins without scoring a touchdown, a feat not seen since the 1934 Detroit Lions. I examined several rare score facts, including a 32–26 finish t...

The NFL in 1943 was in an unusual spot. The Cleveland Rams- yes, the Rams played in Cleveland and won an NFL Championship before journeying west to Los Angeles - asked to pause operations for a year. The team's two owners, Dan Reeves and Frederick Levy, Jr., both were heading overseas to serve in the Armed Forces in World War II. That left the NFL with an uneven number of teams: nine. That doesn't...

Damon Bailey was probably the most hyped 13-year-old basketball player ever. In rural Indiana people were already predicting that Bailey would dominate the NBA someday. He even made the cover of Sports Illustrated. But he never played a single NBA game. Bailey is one of thousands of players who showed NBA potential, but did not make it. Episode 248 re-air. CREDITS Rick Loayza: Head researcher, wri...

Yesterday's Sports is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . YESTERDAY'S SPORTS HOME PAGE EPISODE SUMMARY With the NFL about to begin its 107th season, I have a question for my followers. Among the 32 teams, which would you say has had the most success? I'm not asking which team had the best single season, the best decade, or the best dynasty. I'm talking abo...

We recount the remarkable 1893 contest between the United States Military Academy and the Chicago Athletic Club, an early and consequential night and indoor football game staged amid the illuminations of the Columbian Exposition. I explain that West Point cadets encamped on the fairgrounds for weeks and that the match was played in the stock pavilion beneath electric lights, rendering it one of th...

I am joined in the episode by podcast Joe Santos as he recounts how the New York Giants were displaced from Yankee Stadium and forced to play their home games at the Yale Bowl in New Haven. We explain that the move resulted from lease complications and urgent renovations that closed Yankee Stadium. I describe the practical problems that followed, including long fan travel, split team operations, a...

NDN All-Stars is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY World Series heroics, golf championships, football history, NHL breakthroughs and more fill this week in NDN All-Stars History. From Rudy York making the St. Louis Cardinals regret walking Ted Williams, to Tiger Woods adding more championships to his incredible career, Jim Thorpe and the...

Deception in football drove major rule changes, including the banning of a play that hid the ball under a player’s jersey. I recount how John Heisman and Pop Warner each claimed and traded that play for decades. We describe Heisman’s hidden-ball tactic at Auburn and Warner’s elastic garment trick at Carlisle that compelled rulemakers to act. I narrate the rivalry moments that followed, from Heisma...

Guest historian Scott Perry explores Raiders history. He examines the Raiders as the Broncos’ chief rival and traces the franchise’s rise to multiple championships and its prolonged decline since 2002. I recount the team’s origin in Oakland, the impact of Al Davis, and the Super Bowl titles in 1976, 1980, and 1983. We describe pivotal games and moments that shaped the rivalry with Denver and influ...

Gridiron America is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY As we look ahead toward the CFL playoffs, and also deal with some technical issues, we look at the hoped for expansion of the CFL and UFL, and channel our inner Reid Johnson and Mark Perry, as we put on our tin foil hats and ask the question- "Will we someday get the championship game...

Under the Radar is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Tom Hintnaus stood atop the pole vaulting world in 1980, but a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Summer Games derailed his medal plans. While he never won a medal, Hintnaus found a fulfilling life as Calvin Klein underwear model, longtime coach, and lover of Hawaii’s surf, sand, and sunny skie...

Pro Football in the 1970s is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Your Favorite Sport's Yesteryear . JOE ZAGORSKI'S BOOKS ON AMAZON From the Outhouse to the Penthouse: The Football Journey of Hall of Famer Larry Little Free Spirit at Free Safety: The Incredible (But True!) Football Journey of Bill Bradley The 2,003-Yard Odyssey: The Juice, The Electric Company, and an Epic Run...

We present our Week 4 NFL predictions and emphasize that the league remains highly unpredictable. I and my colleague provide both straight-up and against-the-spread picks and note how our early results have diverged. We highlight the Thursday night Steelers–Browns game as an important primetime contest and offer split views on the outcome. Guest-host Ed Kleese joins us once again to help identify...