Historically Speaking: 2-9-09

We usually try to hammer out this feature in the morning, but better late than never, right? Good. Glad you agree. C'mon in.

* We'll go back a couple of centuries to get things underway today: In 1895, the first college basketball game was played, and I gotta say that if I could pick one event to go back in time for, it's this one. Skyrocketing to barn-burner status, the Minnesota State School of Agriculture narrowly defeated the Hamline College Porkers -- apparently, they now go by the Hamline University Pipers, and have expanded their athletic program to include an abundance of sports, like women's hockey -- by the margin of 9-3.

* Skipping ahead to the 1932 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York, the United States joined the two-man bobsled competition for the first time.

* In 1951, the St. Louis Browns signed some guy by the name of Satchel Paige.

* Former Phoenix Sun Kevin Johnson ended a 57-game free-throw streak in 1989.

* And in 1997, Scotty Bowman became the first NHL coach to tally his 1000th win.

Today's Sports Illustrated quote of the day comes from the mouth of...



...former coach of the American Hockey League's Marine Mariners. After a December 1985 road trip, McVie voiced his opinion regarding one particularly small hotel room he had stayed in:

"It was so small that when I stuck the key in the lock I broke the window."