History Archives - The Bank

Northwestern A.D. Derrick Gragg on Tulsa Legacy Game Origin, Meaning

June 8, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Today saw Dr. Derrick Gragg formally unveiled as the 23rd Athletic Director at Northwestern University, succeeding the ultra short tenure of the scandal-plagued Mike Poliskey. But in the greater sense Gragg is following in the foot steps of Dr. Jim Philipps, who is now ACC Commissioner.

Gragg is a lot like Phillips in that he’s an innovator, bringing big and important events to life. One such example is the Tulsa Legacy Game, started with the intention of bringing greater awareness to the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: College Football, college sports, History, Northwestern Wildcats

WORST (or BEST) of the Indianapolis 500 Infield People Watching

May 31, 2021 By paulmbanks 1 Comment

The Indianapolis 500 is the world’s highest attended single day event. Its total capacity is approximately 400,000 with about 125,000 located in the cheapest and most “festive” seats of the infield.

All newbies marvel at the sheer size of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway upon entering it the first time. The modern day answer to Circus Maximus is large enough to hypothetically house the Vatican, Churchill Downs, Yankee Stadium and the Rose Bowl all at the same time.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: Entertainment/Media, History, Social Issues, Tech, Travel Tagged With: indianapolis 500, indianapolis 500 fans, indy 500, indy 500 fans, indy 500 infield, infield, Keystone light, white trash, zubaz

Super Bowl Peaked in 1991 with Giants-Bills and Whitney Houston

February 7, 2021 By paulmbanks 1 Comment

As Super Bowl LIV arrives, it’s time to reflect on the best of all the big games. In the early 1990s, the Buffalo Bills went to four straight Super Bowls and lost all four, but man did they help to provide one of the best Super Bowls of all time. Like Tom Petty said, “even the losers- get lucky sometimes.”

Obviously, they never did, in the end, but sometimes history is better when it’s written from the point of view of the losers. It wasn’t just the Buffalo Bills who made that Super Bowl so special.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: Business, History, NFL

In Die Hard, What Christmas Eve Bowl Game has Notre Dame vs USC?

December 11, 2020 By paulmbanks 1 Comment

(Editor’s note: re-publishing this holiday season article from a previous year because it’s Christmas time)

This weekend begins the bowl season, and with it the crappy bowl games that very few of us care about. Saturday brings us a cadre of bowl games that are just as awful as whatever bowl game hosted Notre Dame and USC in the classic Christmas film “Die Hard.”

The total number of bowl games has multiplied at an absurd rate these past few decades, but one truth still remains- real bowl games don’t start until after Christmas, and for the most part well after Christmas. Genuinely desirable bowl games still adhere to tradition, and take place on New Year’s. (For a preview of #14 Notre Dame vs #17 LSU go to this link)

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: College Football, Entertainment/Media, History, Notre Dame

History of How Football Betting Evolved

December 1, 2020 By Jeff Trudeau Leave a Comment

The history of football itself is long, fascinating and somewhat mysterious. No one can precisely pinpoint the date, year or even century when the sport came to being. Taking into consideration remainings, sports fields, and balls made out of organic materials some scientist say that it can be traced back to ancient civilisations such as Ancient China and Egypt.

However, the football as we know it today, or at least a very similar form can be traced back to 19th century England. this was the first time rules to football were presented, and this is precisely why the UK is the place commonly related to this sport.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: Business, History

Montreal Expos: the Unfiltered and Brutally Honest History

August 17, 2020 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

The Montreal Expos, Sacre Bleu! Yes Les Expos, what other franchise, in Major League Baseball history, had a weirder existence. They existed from 1969-2004, and only had one division title, in a strike shortened season.

The postseason has only been cancelled once in our lifetimes, during the labor crisis of 1994, and yes, it was the Montreal Expos who held the best record in baseball when that season ended abruptly. Their history is strange, as is this current Major League Baseball season, and the times we currently live in.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: History, MLB

1919 Black Sox World Series Centennial Will Likely Go Overlooked

July 21, 2020 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Sunday sees the ending of the Chicago White Sox season, with not much of note to show for it, except Tim Anderson winning the batting title. Tuesday marks the centennial of the beginning of the most intriguing and interesting thing the White Sox, or anyone else in sports for that matter, has ever done.

We are referring of course to the 1919 World Series, which will forever be defined by the Black Sox scandal, in which eight ballplayers were forever evicted from the game, due to their conspiring to intentionally suffer defeat. The Sox were heavily favored to beat the National League-champion Reds that fall classic, which began Oct. 1, 1919, but fell behind 4-1 in the best-of-nine, and lost in game eight (they were experimenting with the format that autumn). Eight Sox players, including one of the most mythical figures in baseball history, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, were charged in 1920 with conspiring to throw the Series, but were acquitted.

[Read more…]

Follow paulmbanks

Filed Under: Business, Chicago White Sox, History, MLB