Chamberlain Scores 72

On Nov. 3 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 72 points for the San Francisco Warriors against the Los Angeles Lakers. This was one of four games in 1962 in which Chamberlain scored at least 72 points. The highlight was the 100 points he scored in March of 1962.

Chamberlain holds numerous NBA all-time records in scoring, rebounding and durability categories. He is the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game or average more than 40 and 50 points in a season. He also won seven scoring, nine field goal percentage, and eleven rebounding titles, and once even led the league in assists.

Although he suffered a long string of professional losses, Chamberlain had a successful career, winning two NBA championships, earning four regular-season Most Valuable Player awards, the Rookie of the Year award, one NBA Finals MVP award, and being selected to 13 All-Star Games and ten All-NBA First and Second teams.

Chamberlain was subsequently enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, elected into the NBA's 35th Anniversary Team of 1980, and chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History of 1996^.

After his basketball career ended, Chamberlain played volleyball in the short-lived International Volleyball Association, was president of the organization, and is enshrined in the IVA Hall of Fame for his contributions.

Foles' Eagles Fly By Raiders

OALAND, Calif. – The Oakland Raiders were looking to get back to the .500 mark with a win on Sunday over the Michael Vick-less Philadelphia Eagles. However, the Raiders second consecutive week against a franchise from Pennsylvania would look much different than their first week, when they edged out the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Raiders would get behind early as former Arizona Wildcat, and current backup quarterback for the Eagles, Nick Foles would have an impressive day. Foles would light up the Raiders secondary in the first quarter to the tune of a 21-3 lead, with three passing touchdowns, two on back-to-back plays to Riley Cooper, in which the Raiders first round draft pick DJ Hayden was burned both times.

The Raiders did have opportunities to pull closer to the Eagles, with a 66-yard pass from Terrelle Pryor to Rod Streater on their second drive, posting up a first and goal down just 7-0, but the offense would stall in the red zone and would settle for a Sebastian Janikowski field goal.

But settling for field goals wasn’t the worst of what the Raiders offense had in store for its fans on Sunday. Running back Darren McFadden would once again hit the sideline with an injury, a hamstring issue, and would not return to the game, making Rashad Jennings, once again the workhorse to the carry the load.

Jennings would have a decent day, carrying the ball 15 times for 102 yards and a score, but most of those came late in the game once the Eagles were up big.

After Jennings score, the Raiders were down 21-10, but the Eagles offense kept on pushing as Foles would hit another former Pac-12 product in former Stanford tight end Zach Ertz for his fourth touchdown of the game.

The Raiders would settle for another field goal late in the first half to pull within 15 at 28-13, but that was as close as they would get for the rest of the game.

The second half started and it was the Eagles who go the ball rolling quickly, not the Raiders. Foles continued to impress as he tossed three more touchdowns in the second half, one of which was a 46-yard pass to former Cal wide receiver DeSean Jackson, on a play in which Raiders defensive back Mike Jenkins was also called for defensive holding.

Foles seven touchdown passes on the day tied an NFL record, that Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning also reached this year in week one of the season. Foles now joins George Blanda, Sid Luckman, Y.A. Tittle, Joe Kapp and the previously mentioned Manning in the seven-touchdown club.

"A couple people came up to me and said that I tied the record with seven touchdowns," said Nick Foles. "It's a great honor. Hats off to our guys for doing a great job."

Just to put this in perspective, the Jacksonville Jaguars through eight games in the 2013-2014 campaign have scored seven touchdowns on offense all season, and those seven touchdowns are more than the Raiders have accounted for through the passing game all year as well.

"When a quarterback has seven touchdowns, we have to sit there and take that personal," said Tracy Porter. "We can't give a guy seven touchdowns in a game, let alone put up 49 points on us. It was flat-out embarrassing that we allowed that to happen."

Down 48-13 the Raiders struggled to get anything going, as they were held without a score in the third quarter.

Then it was time for the backups, as both teams brought in their back up quarterbacks. For the Eagles it was another Pac-12 product in former USC rookie quarterback Matt Barkley, and for the Raiders it was a Penn State rookie, Matt McGloin.

While Barkley would only complete one pass, McGloin would lead the Raiders to s score, albeit in garbage time. The score for the Raiders came on a Jeremy Stewart rush up the middle for two-yards after McGloin had moved the offense 71-yards.

The final score was 48-20 in favor of the Eagles as the Raiders drop to 3-5, and the Eagles raise their record to 4-5 on the season.

"It's embarrassing," said Pryor. "I hate losing. It's not acceptable to me and I don't like it. All the guys in here agree with me. We have to do something about it instead of tanking it."

The next game for the Raiders comes on the road as they travel to face their second NFC East opponent in as many weeks as the New York Giants (2-6) open their doors to host the silver and black.

The matchup will be the twelfth between the two teams, and the Raiders first game in the new MetLife Stadium. The Raiders lead the all-time matchup 7-4, however the Giants have won the last two meetings in 2005 in Oakland and 2009 in New Jersey.

The game is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 10 with a 10 a.m. kickoff.

NFL Touchdown Record Set

On Nov. 2, 1969, an NFL record of 12 passing touchdowns is set as New Orleans Saints Billy Kramer and St. Louis Cardinals Charlie Johnson pass for six touchdowns each.

Giants Win World Series

On Nov. 1, 2010, the San Francisco Giants defeated the Texas Rangers 3-1 in Game 5 of the World Series. The win gave the Giants their first championship since 1954 when they defeated the Cleveland Indians.

The Giants continued their legacy in San Francisco as they won the World Series last year, sweeping the Detroit Tigers. 

 The San Francisco Giants now have seven World Series championship titles dating back to their time in New York, and have two since moving to San Francisco in 1954.

Basketball Association of America Is Born

On Nov. 1, 1946, professional basketball was officially born.

The Basketball Association of America was founded in 1946 by owners of the major ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Canada.

On Nov. 1, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens, in a game the NBA now regards as the first played in its history.

Although there had been earlier attempts at professional basketball leagues, including the American Basketball League and the NBL, the BAA was the first league to attempt to play primarily in large arenas in major cities.

During its early years, the quality of play in the BAA was not significantly better than in competing leagues or among leading independent clubs such as the Harlem Globetrotters.

For instance, the 1948 ABL finalist Baltimore Bullets moved to the BAA and won that league's 1948 title, and the 1948 NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers won the 1949 BAA title.

On August 3, 1949, the BAA agreed to merge with the NBL, creating the new National Basketball Association.

The new league had seventeen franchises located in a mix of large and small cities, as well as large arenas and smaller gymnasiums and armories.

In 1950, the NBA consolidated to eleven franchises, a process that continued until 1953–54, when the league reached its smallest size of eight franchises, all of which are still in the league (the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Royals/Kings, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, and Nationals/76ers). 

The process of contraction saw the league's smaller-city franchises move to larger cities. The Hawks shifted from "Tri-Cities" (the area now known as the Quad Cities) to Milwaukee (in 1951) and then to St. Louis, Missouri (in 1955); the Royals from Rochester, New York to Cincinnati (in 1957); and the Pistons from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Detroit (in 1957).

Since the NBA has been formed the Boston Celtics have won the most titles with 17.

Colts Win On Monday Night Football

On Oct. 31, 1988, the Indianapolis Colts host their first Monday Night NFL game in Indianapolis. The Colts end up winning, beating the Denver Broncos 55-23.

The Colts were members of the National Football League from their founding, however, they were one of three teams to switch to the AFC following the 1970 merger.

While in Baltimore the team advanced to the postseason ten times and won three NFL Championship games in 1958, 1959 and 1968.

The Colts had two Super Bowl appearances while in Baltimore, losing to the New York Jets in Super Bowl III, while defeating the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V.

The Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984 and have since appeared in the playoffs fourteen times, with two conference championships and one Super Bowl championship coming against the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.

It was under quarterback Peyton Manning that the Colts saw their greatest success since relocating to Indianapolis, with the team appearing in the playoffs nine consecutive seasons, tying a league record.

Following Manning's departure in 2012, the Colts drafted Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck as their new franchise quarterback.

The Baltimore and Indianapolis Colts have played in 34 Monday Night Football games, winning 20 and losing 14. Their .606 winning percentage is good enough for the fourth highest winning percentage on Monday Night Football trailing only the Seattle Seahawks, .703, Pittsburgh Steelers, .634 and the San Francisco 49ers, .632.

The Colts last appearance on Monday Night Football came this year as they lost to the San Diego Chargers on Oct. 14 in a 19-9 contest.

Rumble In The Jungle

On Oct. 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali defeated George Foreman in eight rounds to win the world heavyweight title. The fight took place in Zaire and was dubbed the Rumble in the Jungle. The fight was famous for the promotional tour by both fighters. It also marked a return to glory for Ali after he had been suspended for dodging the draft.

The event was one of Don King's first ventures as a professional boxing promoter. He managed to get Ali and Foreman to sign separate contracts saying they would fight for him if he could get a $5 million purse. However, King did not have the money, so he began looking for an outside country to sponsor the event. Zaire's president Mobutu Sésé Seko asked for the fight to be held in his country, eager for the publicity such a high-profile event would bring. King had pulled together a consortium that included a Panamanian company called Risnelia Investment, the Hemdale Film Corporation, a British company founded by film producer John Daly and the actor David Hemmings, Video Techniques Incorporated of New York and Don King Productions. Although King is most closely associated with the fight, it is Hemdale and Video Techniques Inc. with whom King was a director, who were the official co-promoters of the fight.

Ali began the first round by attacking Foreman with unconventional (and provocative) 'right-hand leads'. This was notable, as Ali was famed for his speed and technical skills, while Foreman's raw power was his greatest strength; it seemed that close range fighting would inevitably favor Foreman and leave too great a chance that Ali would be stunned by Foreman's powerful haymakers. Ali made use of the right-hand lead punch (striking with the right hand without setting up the left) in a further effort to disorient Foreman. However, while this aggressive tactic may have surprised Foreman and allowed Ali to hit him solidly a number of times, it failed to significantly hurt him, and before the end of the first round, Foreman began to catch up to Ali, landing a few punches of his own. Foreman had also been trained to cut off the ring and prevent escape. Ali realized that he would tire if Foreman could keep making one step to Ali's two, so he changed tactics.

Ali had told his trainer, Angelo Dundee, and his fans that he had a secret plan for Foreman. As the second round commenced, Ali frequently began to lean on the ropes and cover up, letting Foreman punch him on the arms and body (a strategy Ali later dubbed the rope-a-dope). As a result, Foreman spent his energy throwing punches that either did not hit Ali or were deflected in a way that made it difficult for Foreman to hit Ali's head, while sapping Foreman's strength due to the large number of punches he threw. This loss of energy was key to Ali's "rope-a-dope" tactic.

Meanwhile, Ali took every opportunity to shoot straight punches to Foreman's face (this quickly took a toll on his face, which was soon visibly puffy), and when the two fighters were locked in clinches, Ali consistently out-wrestled Foreman, using tactics such as leaning on Foreman to make Foreman support Ali's weight, and holding down Foreman's head by pushing on his neck. He constantly taunted Foreman in these clinches, telling him to throw more punches, and an enraged Foreman responded by doing just that.

After several rounds of this, he began to tire. His face became increasingly damaged by hard, fast jabs and crosses by Ali. The effects were visible as Foreman was staggered by an Ali combination at the start of the fourth round and again several times near the end of the fifth, after Foreman had seemed to dominate that round. Although he kept throwing punches and coming forward, after the fifth round Foreman looked increasingly worn out. Ali continued to taunt him by saying "They told me you could punch, George!" and "They told me you could punch as hard as Joe Louis." According to Foreman, near the end of the fight, Foreman slammed Ali with a thundering body blow, and Ali whispered to him "Is that all you got, George?" to which Foreman thought "Yep...that's about it." After that, Ali began to dominate Foreman.

As the fight drew into the eighth round, Foreman's punching and defense became ineffective as the strain of throwing so many wild shots took its toll, and Ali pounced as Foreman tried to pin him on the ropes, landing several right hooks over Foreman's jab followed by a 5-punch combination culminating in a left hook that brought Foreman's head up into position and a hard right straight to the face that caused him to stumble to the canvas. Foreman did get up, but not before being counted out by referee Zack Clayton.

The fight showed that Ali was capable of taking a punch and also highlighted his tactical genius, changing his fighting style by adopting the rope-a-dope, instead of his former style that emphasized movement to counter his opponent. Film of the Zaire fight shows Foreman striking Ali with hundreds of thunderous blows, many blocked, but many others getting through. Foreman mostly struck to the sides and kidney region, but also landed some vicious shots to the head, seemingly with no effect.

This fight has since become one of the most famous fights of all-time because it resulted in Ali, against the odds, regaining the title against a younger and stronger Foreman. It is shown several times annually on the ESPN Classic network. After this fight Ali once again told the world he was the greatest. A year later Ali won an epic battle with Joe Frazier in the Thrilla in Manila. Although his skills and reflexes deteriorated noticeably in later bouts,^[4] he remained Champion until 1978, when he was dethroned by Leon Spinks. He regained the title for an unprecedented third time after beating Spinks in a rematch. However, his later comebacks proved less successful and he was beaten by Larry Holmes in 1980 and Trevor Berbick in 1981.

Despite repeatedly calling Ali out, Foreman was unable to secure a rematch with the champion before he (Foreman) abruptly decided to retire after a loss to Jimmy Young in 1977. (Ali did not hurry to set up a rematch, making title defenses against unheralded opponents such as Jean Pierre Coopman and Richard Dunne. However he would repeatedly state that his rematch with Foreman was one of the major fights he wanted to get to before retiring.) 10 years later, Foreman made an unlikely comeback, culminating in him regaining the world heavyweight championship at age 45 — at that time, the oldest man ever to win the title.

Dodgers Sign Jackie Robinson

On Oct. 30, 1945, Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson to a deal with the Montreal Royals, an affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers. By 1947, Robinson was in the majors and on his way to winning the Rookie of the Year award. Robinson is most known for being the first African-American to play baseball in the major leagues.

Robinson would have a great Major League career batting .311, with 1,518 hits, 137 home runs, 734 RBI’s and 197 stolen bases in his 10 years in the Major Leagues. Some of the accolades Robinson collected during his tenure with the Dodgers were being named an All-Star six times, being named the 1947 Rookie of the Year, winning the 1949 National League batting title, also winning the 1949 National League MVP, he was also a two-time National League stolen bases champion in 1947 and 1949, and finally being crowned a World Series Champion in 1955.

Robinson was inducted into Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 on the first ballot in which he appeared on with 77.5 percent of the vote. He was the first even African-American to be elected into Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Robinson's career is generally considered to mark the beginning of the post–"long ball" era in baseball, in which a reliance on raw power-hitting gave way to balanced offensive strategies that used foot speed to create runs through aggressive base running.

Robinson exhibited the combination of hitting ability and speed, which exemplified the new era. He scored more than 100 runs in six of his ten seasons (averaging more than 110 runs from 1947 to 1953), had a .311 career batting average, a .409 career on-base percentage, a .474 slugging percentage, and substantially more walks than strikeouts (740 to 291).

Robinson was one of only two players during the span of 1947–56 to accumulate at least 125 steals while registering a slugging percentage over .425 (Minnie Miñoso was the other).

In 1997, Major League Baseball "universally" retired his uniform number 42, across all major league teams; the first pro athlete in any sport to be so honored.

Since that time, Major League Baseball has adopted a new annual tradition, "Jackie Robinson Day," in which all players on all teams wear his number 42 jersey. Robinson was also named a member of the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.

Robinson was also known for his pursuits outside the baseball diamond. He was the first black television analyst in Major League Baseball, and the first black vice-president of a major American corporation. In the 1960s, he helped establish the Freedom National Bank, an African-American-owned financial institution based in Harlem, New York. In recognition of his achievements on and off the field, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

Ali Wins First Fight

On Oct. 29, 1960, Muhammad Ali also known as Cassius Clay makes his first professional fight. In that fight Ali would beat Tunney Hunsaker in six rounds.

At the ripe age of 18 Cassius Clay, now known as Muhammad Ali, earned a Gold for the United States in the 1960 Rome Olympics in the Light Heavyweight class.

At the age of 22, Ali won the world heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston. 

Ali changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964, subsequently converting to Sunni Islam in 1975.

In 1967, three years after Ali had won the heavyweight championship, he was publicly vilified for his refusal to be conscripted into the U.S. military, based on his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. 

Ali would go on to become the first and only three-time lineal World Heavyweight Champion.

Nicknamed "The Greatest," Ali was involved in several historic boxing matches.

Notable among these were three with rival Joe Frazier, which are considered among the greatest in boxing history, and one with George Foreman, where he finally regained his stripped titles seven years later. Ali was well known for his unorthodox fighting style, epitomized by his catchphrase "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee", and employing techniques such as the Ali Shuffle and the rope-a-dope.

Ali brought beauty and grace to the most uncompromising of sports and through the wonderful excesses of skill and character, he became the most famous athlete in the world.

He was also known for his pre-match hype, where he would "trash talk" opponents, often with rhymes.

In 1999, Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated and "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC.

Ali finished his career with 61 fights, winning 56 times, 37 by knock out, with only five losses. His fastest win came via knockout when he was just 19 years old. On Feb. 7, 1961, then Clay beat Jim Robinson in the first round just 1:34 into the fight.

Muhammad Ali lighted the one hundredth anniversary Olympic torch in a very emotional moment in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia. Ali was also given a replacement gold medal for his boxing victory at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Ali had supposedly thrown his previous gold medal into the Ohio River after being refused entry into a restaurant. 

Rickey Becomes General Manager Of Brooklyn Dodgers

On Oct. 29, 1942, Branch Rickey is named president and General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

He was perhaps best known for breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier by signing African American player Jackie Robinson, for drafting the first Afro-Hispanic superstar, Roberto Clemente, for creating the framework for the modern minor league farm system, for encouraging the Major Leagues to add new teams through his involvement in the proposed Continental League, and for introducing the batting helmet.

Rickey played in MLB for the St. Louis Browns and New York Highlanders from 1905 through 1907. After struggling as a player, Rickey returned to college, where he learned about administration from Philip Bartelme. Returning to MLB in 1913, Rickey embarked on a successful managing and executive career with the St.Louis Browns, the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.

During his playing career Rickey posted a career .239 batting average, with 82 hits and 39 RBIs.

As a manager Rickey had much more success winning the World Series in 1926, 1931, 1934, and 1942 with the St. Louis Cardinals.

His managerial record was 597-664.

In 1967 Rickey was inducted into Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame by the veterans committee.