Getting Their Careers In Order Quiz

Answer: Giants, Patriots, Jets, Cowboys

Bill Parcells reputation has been crafted on taking woeful football teams and turning them around, usually quickly. Coaching the Giants from 1983-1990, he took them to two Super Bowl titles. His Patriots, which he coached from 1993-1996, went to Super Bowl XXXI, where they lost to Green Bay.

The New York Jets, who he coached for three seasons, lost the 1998 AFC title game. Parcells also coached the Dallas Cowboys from 2003-06.

Answer: Between his third and fourth NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls

Before his middling basketball comeback with the Washington Wizards and being fired as a team executive, Michael Jordan's baseball career may have been the biggest chink in his athletic armor. He "retired" from basketball before the 1993/94 season began, citing his decreased passion for the game, and despair over the murder of his father during the summer of 1993 after the Bulls had won their third title. Jordan had been a standout Little League baseball player, and was soon expressing interest in trying his hand at pro ball. Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf also owned the Chicago White Sox, and engineered Jordan's joining the Birmingham Barons, a AA affiliate of the Sox, for the 1994 season. Jordan batted .202 with three home runs and 114 strikeouts (not surprising, given the big strike zone associated with his tall stature).

It wasn't a horrible effort, but not up to his Jordanesque standards, and it exposed him to his first widespread criticism in the sporting press (Sports Illustrated incurred his wrath by running a cover with a photo of him swinging and missing, with the words "Bag It, Mike"). With the 1995 baseball season in limbo because of the 1994 player strike, and the Chicago Bulls keeping the door open for his return, he quit baseball in March 1995 to return to the NBA, leading the team to league titles in 1996-98, his final three seasons with them.

Answer: Won her sixth Wimbledon singles title

At the age of 31, King won her sixth and final Wimbledon singles title in 1975. It was one of the 10+ Grand Slam titles she won in each of three categories (singles, doubles, mixed doubles), but that only scratches the surface of her impact on tennis and sports.

She was instrumental in tennis being open to professionals, and then in women's prize money being made equal to that of men. Her 1973 victory over Bobby Riggs in tennis' "Battle of the Sexes" legitimized female athletes in many people's minds, and catapulted tennis to levels of international popularity it had never before seen. World Team Tennis, which she founded in 1974, gave the sport even more exposure.

As Sports Illustrated's 1972 "Sportsman of the Year," an honor she shared with UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, King became the first woman to win that distinction.

Answer: .400 season, first triple crown, World War II service

The magical 1941 baseball season was highlighted both by Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak and Ted Williams' .406 batting average. Williams followed this by winning the triple crown (titles for batting average, home runs, and RBI) in 1942, and would earn a second triple crown in 1947. Probably because of his contentious relationship with the press corps who voted for MVP, he failed to win the award for those seasons, although he won in 1946 and 1949.

His baseball statistics, though impressive, would have been even bigger if he'd not flown combat missions in both World War II and the Korean War, keeping him out of the Red Sox lineup for more than four full seasons in what would have been the prime of his career. Next to his .406 season, Williams is probably best known for hitting a home run in his final at-bat in 1960.

Answer: New York Yankees, Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Reds, Dallas Cowboys

"Prime Time" Sanders' baseball career saw him with the New York Yankees from 1989-90, the Atlanta Braves from 1991-93, the Cincinnati Reds from 1994-95 and again in 1997 and 2001, and the 1995 San Francisco Giants. His NFL career began with the Atlanta Falcons from 1989-93.

He then played for the San Francisco 49ers (1994), Dallas Cowboys (1995-99), and Washington Redskins (2000). Sanders came out of retirement in 2004 to play two seasons for the Baltimore Ravens. His football legacy is spectacular, with eight Pro Bowl selections, and his 19 touchdowns returning interceptions and punts were an NFL record at the time of his retirement.

He is also the only person to play in both a Super Bowl and World Series, and on October 11, 1992, he pulled off the amazing feat of playing in both an NFL game and a baseball playoff game.

Answer: Indiana Pacers

Brown's six seasons (1997-2003) with the Philadelphia 76ers was the longest the nomadic coach spent with any one team during those years. His 1988 Kansas team won the NCAA title, and his Detroit Pistons won the NBA title in 2004, giving him the distinction of coaching teams to championships on both levels.

Answer: He'd quarterbacked the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl victory before this happened

The 41-7 victory over the Raiders came on December 22, 2003, a day after his father had suffered a fatal heart attack. Favre threw for 399 yards and four first-half touchdowns in a spectacular effort under the most trying of circumstances. The other events mentioned here happened in 1995 (99 yard TD pass to Robert Brooks), 1997 (Super Bowl victory for the 1996 season, then later 1997 season MVP, his third in a row), and 2002-04 (36 straight games throwing a TD pass).

Answer: 1970-71 playoff MVP

Dryden, a college standout whose Cornell team won the 1967 NCAA title, graduated in 1969 and played minor league hockey before being pressed into service for the Montreal Canadiens late in the 1970-71 season. In the first round of the playoffs that year, he faced the mighty Boston Bruins, the defending Stanley Cup champions who'd had a record-breaking season of team and individual performances. Dryden's Canadiens lost the first game, but took the Bruins in seven to advance.

In the finals, they beat the vaunted Chicago Blackhawks of Bobby Hull and goalie Tony Esposito to win the Cup, with Dryden being named playoff MVP. Because he'd played so few regular season games in 1970-71, he was technically a rookie the following year, and took advantage of that standing to win Rookie of the Year honors.

When Dryden retired in 1979 after just seven full seasons (he sat out the 1973-74 year), his most powerful legacy was that he'd amassed 46 career shutouts while losing just 57 games.

Answer: His 3,000th hit

Ripken's streak lasted from May 30, 1982 to September 20, 1998, a period of 2,632 straight games. Besides breaking Lou Gehrig's record in 1995 and being one of the best players in baseball during that time, he was the 1982 American League Rookie of the Year, AL MVP in 1983 and 1991, All Star MVP in 1991 and 2001 (after the streak ended), and his Orioles won the 1983 World Series. Ripken's 3,000th hit came early in the 2000 season.

When he retired after the 2001 season, he had 3,141 hits and 431 home runs, plus a legacy for integrity and hard work that made him universally respected.

He was selected for the Hall of Fame in 2007, amassing the highest percentage of votes ever attained by a position player.

Answer: The Masters

Less than a year after joining the PGA tour, Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters by a record 12 strokes, with a record 18 under par performance. At 21, he was also the youngest player to have won the venerable tournament. Another noteworthy achievement for Woods came when he won the 2001 Masters: he was the defending champion in the other three majors and thus the first player in modern golf history to concurrently hold all four major titles.