Things I Learned While Quarantined Quiz

Answer: Auburn University

Bo Jackson attended Auburn University on a football scholarship between 1982 and 1986; when his football career finished at Auburn, he had rushed for more than 4,500 yards, scoring 45 touchdowns, including the famous 'Bo Over The Top' score in the 1983 Iron Bowl against Alabama.

However, he also represented Auburn in baseball, for whom he played 90 games, scoring 28 home runs, and track & field, where he qualified for the NCAA National Championships in the 100m in his freshman and sophomore years.

In the 1986 NFL Draft, he was the first overall pick, selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he refused to join the team, instead entering the 1986 MLB Draft, where he was picked by the Kansas City Royals. Although he indicated that he had no interest in playing football, after the Buccaneers forfeited his rights, Jackson was selected by the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1987 Draft. Jackson's contract that allowed him to complete the baseball season before reporting to the Raiders for the remainder of the football season.

In the four years he played for the Raiders before his career was ended by a hip injury, he had 2,782 rushing and 352 receiving yards, scoring 18 touchdowns, while in his professional baseball career he scored 141 home runs, with a batting average of .250

Answer: Pittsburgh Pirates

On October 10 1992, Deion Sanders lined up for the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium. At the time, Sanders had contracts with both the Braves and the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, which stated that he was a Braves player until July 31, and from August 1 he belonged to the Falcons; however, he had a clause in his Falcons contract that said he would be permitted to return to the Braves in the event that they got to the post-season.

The Braves believed this meant they would have him exclusively, but Sanders insisted that, to him, it meant when the Braves weren't playing he was free to return to the Falcons. So, after the end of Game 4, Sanders left Pittsburgh on a private aircraft chartered by Nike and flew to Miami to report for the Falcons' game against the Miami Dolphins at Joe Robbie Stadium on October 11, where he had one reception for 9 yards, and two kickoff returns and a punt return for a total of 43 yards.

He then left Miami to return to Pittsburgh and report back for the Braves in Game 5 of the NLCS, becoming the first player to appear in both NFL and MLB games on the same day.

Answer: Dave Roberts

In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 4, the Red Sox, at that point three games down in the best-of-seven series, were losing by 4 runs to 3 and on the verge of elimination, when Kevin Millar was allowed a walk to first on his at bat, where he was replaced by pinch runner Dave Roberts.

Then, while Bill Mueller faced his first pitch, Roberts was able to steal second base, putting him in a position to score. Two pitches later, Mueller hit the ball with enough force down the middle of the field to allow Roberts to score, tying the game at 4-4 and taking it to extra innings.

In the twelfth, David Ortiz eventually won the game for the Red Sox with a two-run walk-off home run. Over the following three nights, the Red Sox won the next three games to eventually take the series by four games to three and reach the World Series, the first time that a team had come from three down in a postseason series to win. Later in October, the Red Sox beat the St Louis Cardinals by four games to none to win their first World Series Championship since 1918.

Answer: Boston Celtics

Having graduated from high school in Hyattsville, Maryland in 1982, Len Bias went to the University of Maryland where, under the tutelage of coach 'Lefty' Driesell, he developed into one of the country's great college players, going from "raw and undisciplined" in his freshman year, to being named the Atlantic Coast Conference's Player of the Year in both his junior and senior years, as well as twice being named as an All-American. Several NBA teams expressed interest in him, with the Boston Celtics leading the way.

In the 1986 draft, held in New York City on June 17, Bias was selected by the Celtics as the second overall pick. Following this, he first went to his parents' home to Maryland, before going to Boston the next day for his official signing ceremony. Returning to his university campus, during the early hours of June 19, Bias took cocaine, after which he suffered a seizure and died in hospital.

Answer: Jim Courier

In 1990, Jimmy Connors, by then an eight time Grand Slam champion, was able to play only three matches on the ATP tour due to a severe wrist injury, dropping to 936 in the world rankings. However, following an operation and successful rehab, he came back in 1991 to play in fourteen tournaments.

As a result, he was given a wildcard to that year's US Open. In the first round against Patrick McEnroe, Connors was two sets down and 3-0 down in the third, before rallying back to win the match. Following two successive straight sets wins, he played his practice partner Aaron Krickstein in the fourth round on Labor Day, eventually winning the see-saw match in a final set tie-break. Connors' run, which captured the imagination of the nation, was eventually ended by Jim Courier in the semi-final in straight sets.

Answer: Todd Blackledge

Todd Blackledge was the second quarterback selected, and the seventh overall pick, when he was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1983 draft. During his college career at Penn State, he led the team to victory in the 1983 Sugar Bowl, which gave them the National Championship for 1982, as well as winning the Davey O'Brien Award as the country's best college quarterback.

However, when selected by the Chiefs, he was primarily used as back-up to Bill Kenney, whom Blackledge had been drafted to replace; in the 1983 NFL season, Kenney went on to set franchise records for both passing yards and completions. Blackledge spent five seasons at the Chiefs, before moving to the Pittsburgh Steelers for another two, eventually retiring in 1989.

Answer: One dollar

The USFL was founded in the early 1980s to act as competition for, but not a direct competitor with, the NFL. The USFL planned its season around a spring / summer schedule, beginning play in 1983. At the end of the 1983 season, the New Jersey Generals were purchased by a New York property owner called Donald Trump. Trump had been prevented from purchasing an NFL franchise, and saw the USFL as a potential way to achieve that ambition. Almost immediately, he began angling to have the USFL move to a fall competition schedule, directly competing against the NFL, in hopes of forcing a merger between the two leagues where some USFL franchises (likely including the Generals) would move across.

In 1984, the USFL's owners voted to move to a fall schedule beginning in 1986.

The league then launched its lawsuit, claiming the NFL had stopped it from gaining television contracts for fall football, as well as limiting access to stadia. Following a 42-day trial, the jury found in favour of the USFL in its claim that the NFL constituted an 'illegal monopoly', but rejected all of its other claims, finding instead that the USFL had adopted a high-risk strategy, largely instigated by Donald Trump, of attempting to force a merger.

As a result, the jury awarded the USFL one dollar in damages, eventually tripled to three dollars under federal anti-trust legislation. The USFL eventually closed in 1987.

Answer: Miami Hurricanes

By the mid 1980s, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Miami Hurricanes had differing fortunes - the Hurricanes had won two National Championships, while the Fighting Irish were in the doldrums. The contrast between the two programs became apparent in the last game of Notre Dame head coach Gerry Faust's time in charge - the Hurricanes ran out 58-7 winners, a result that caused much bad feeling among Fighting Irish players and fans.

In 1986, Lou Holtz became the new head coach at Notre Dame, and began a turnaround in their fortunes and, by 1988, had turned the Irish into a top team. During the 1988 season, both the Irish and the Hurricanes had unbeaten starts, leading up to their meeting on October 15. For this game, t-shirts had been produced proclaiming it to be 'Catholics vs Convicts', as several members of the Miami team had, prior to the start of the 1988 season, been arrested and lost scholarships.

In the game, the Irish eventually ran out 31-30 winners, with two late questionable refereeing calls cancelling each other out.

The Irish won their five remaining games to reach the Fiesta Bowl, defeating West Virginia and winning their eleventh National Championship, while the Hurricanes reached the Orange Bowl and ended up with the number 2 ranking that year.

Answer: Edmonton Oilers

Wayne Gretzky joined the Edmonton Oilers as an 17-year old in 1978 while they were part of the World Hockey Association. The following year, following the league's merger with the NHL, the Oilers were one of four WHA teams to transfer to the senior league. Over the next decade, the Oilers won four Stanley Cup titles in a five-year period, becoming one of the teams of the decade. But, after their 1988 title, the owner of the Oilers sought to open contract negotiations with Gretzky, as he would become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the next year.

When Gretzky refused to open negotiations at that point, the Oilers instead sought a trade as a means to raise revenue - "The Trade", as it came to be known, saw Gretzky, Marty McSorely and Mike Krushelnyski move to the Los Angeles Kings, in return for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gélinas, a first-round draft pick plus cash. Gretzky's arrival saw an upturn in both the Kings' fortunes, with a rise in attendances and regular playoff appearances, including the 1993 Stanley Cup finals, and the fortunes of hockey in California, with two new franchises founded there during Gretzky's time in Los Angeles.

Answer: Southern Methodist University

With the hiring of Ron Meyer as head coach in 1976, the SMU Mustangs began a major drive to recruit the best high school players in the country. At the time, SMU was not a major program, so being able to bring in players such as Eric Dickerson and Craig James was seen as a major coup.

However, it was later learned that the university had used a slush fund to pay players in violation of NCAA rules. SMU had been placed on probation, with a number of penalties received, most recently in 1985. Although the university stopped making payments to new players, it continued with what it saw as existing commitments, with 13 players receiving $61,000 from 1985 to 1986.

When this came to light, the NCAA launched an investigation which eventually led to SMU having their football program shut down for the entire 1987 season, all of their home games for 1988 cancelled, a ban on playing in bowl games and the loss of 55 scholarships. SMU eventually went two years without playing, only returning to action in 1989, and had only one winning season between then and 2009.