When you hear the word equinox, many think of the fitness club or the Chevy Equinox or the spring equinox which officially marks the beginning of spring. Not too many people are familiar with the sports equinox which occurs when the 4 major sports all have games being played on the same day. The four major sports in America are considered the NFL, MLB, NBA, and the NHL. The first such instance was October 17th, 1971. Roberto Clemente homered twice in Game 7 of the World Series to capture Pittsburgh’s 4th title over the Baltimore Orioles. The NFL had 12 games going on as Bob Griese, the quarterback of the Miami Dolphins threw for 4 touchdowns in a 41-3 win over the New England Patriots. The NBA had 3 games happening as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recorded a triple double in a Milwaukee Bucks monster blowout win over the Portland Trail Blazers. The NHL hosted 6 games on that day including an 8-4 win by the NY Rangers over the Montreal Canadiens to move to the top of the East Division standings. Including the first one, between 1971 and 1980, there was 9 instances of a sports equinox. Then, another in October of 1985, but then a 16-year gap took place, so the next one happened on November 4th, 2001. Starting in 2015, there has been at least 1 every year since. That brings us to Halloween 2022. The 29th sports equinox saw World Series Game 3 take place between the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies, Monday Night Football broadcasted the battle between the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns, the NBA hosted a 7-game slate that featured the Sixers, Bucks, Grizzles, and Clippers amongst others, and the NHL had a 3-game slate. October 31st was the 3rd and final sports equinox of 2022 with the others occurring on October 20th and 23rd. Any equinox is special, but as a sports fan, there is nothing more satisfying than having a sports equinox and not enough televisions. You are forced to bounce back and forth from game to game and pick the ones that matter the most to you. Ideally in my man cave, in roughly 20 years, there will be no discussion and there will be enough televisions to watch them all at once. On a day like Halloween, different houses have different candies, sports households will have a variety of games. The sports equinox is fun and not be taken for granted because we can all remember the dark days in 2020 when there was no choosing between games to attend or watch. It was back to reruns of television shows on cable or a movie on Netflix. The sports equinox is the apex of watching sports. Check out my sports show: “Game Time with The Goose” every Saturday from 8:00 to 9:00 AM on WTBQ AM 1110 FM 93.5 and on WGHT Radio with co-host Zach Kruk, Sports Director of WTBQ and WGHT!
