Tonight, the Washington Capitals will play the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. If the Caps win, they will win the Stanley Cup for the 1st time in their history.
It would not be the 1st World Championship for a team based in or around Washington, D.C. But most of those titles have been rare:
* The Washington Nationals have only played in the District of Columbia since 2005, and have never won a postseason series.
* Before them, the Washington Senators existed from 1901 to 1971, and only won 1 World Series, in 1924, losing the Series in 1925 and 1933.
* The Washington Redskins have been to 11 NFL Championship Games, winning 5 of them: The NFL Championship Games of 1937 and 1942; and Super Bowls XVII, XXII and XXVI, the titles for the seasons of 1982, 1987 and 1991.
* And the team now known as the Washington Wizards, known from 1973 to 1997 as the Washington Bullets, have reached 3 NBA Finals, losing in 1975 and 1979, and winning in 1978.
Their only NBA Championship came on June 7, 1978, in Game 7, beating the Seattle SuperSonics 105-99 at the Seattle Center Coliseum. That's exactly 40 years. How long has that been?
*
Hail the Champions: Number 10, forward Bob Dandridge; 11, center Elvin "Big E" Hayes; 14, guard Tom Henderson; 15, guard Charles Johnson; 20, guard Phil Walker (did not appear in the Finals); 25, forward Mitch Kupchak; 32, guard Larry Wright; 35, forward Kevin Grevey; 41, forward Wes Unseld; 42, forward Greg Ballard; 44, center Joe Pace; 45, guard Phil Chenier. Their head coach was Dick Motta.
Hayes and Unseld would be elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players. They and Chenier, later a broadcaster for the team, would later have their numbers retired by the Wizards. Dandridge had previously won the title with the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks. Kupchak would later win titles with the 1982 and 1985 Los Angeles Lakers. Johnson died in 2007, Ballard in 2016, while the rest are all still alive.
There were 22 teams in the NBA. The Dallas Mavericks, the Charlotte Hornets, the Miami Heat, the Orlando Magic, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Toronto Raptors and the New Orleans Pelicans did not yet exist. The New Jersey Nets, the Buffalo Braves, the Kansas City Kings, the New Orleans Jazz, and the team the Bullets beat in the '78 Finals but would lose to in the '79 Finals, the Seattle SuperSonics, did.
The Sonics, the Heat, the Mavericks, the Detroit Pistons since moving from Fort Wayne, the Houston Rockets, the San Antonio Spurs and the Cleveland Cavaliers had not yet won their 1st NBA title. The Pistons, the Rockets, the Jazz, the Spurs, the Nets, the Heat, the Mavericks, the Cavs and the Indiana Pacers had not even been to the NBA Finals.
All of those facts were true then. They are not anymore.
Madison Square Garden in New York and what's now named the Oracle Arena in Oakland were the only NBA arenas in use in the 1977-78 season that will still be in use in 2018-19 -- and after that, the Oracle can be dropped from the list. The Garden is the only NHL arena from that season still in use.
Maurice Podoloff, the founder of the NBA and its 1st Commissioner, was still alive -- and he was older than the sport itself. The defining players of my childhood were, at most, in their prime: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Moses Malone and Julius "Dr. J" Erving were superstars; Bernard King was an NBA rookie; and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were in college. Michael Jordan was in high school. Shaquille O'Neal was 6 years old, Tim Duncan was 2. Dirk Nowitzki was born 12 days later, Kobe Bryant 2 months later. Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Steph Curry were a long way off.
The current Knicks coach, David Fizdale, was 4 years old. Kenny Atkinson of the Nets was 11.
Todd Bowles of the Jets, Barry Trotz of the Islanders, and Domènec Torrent of NYCFC were in high school. Pat Shurmur of the Giants was in junior high school.
David Quinn of the Rangers was 12, Aaron Boone of the Yankees and Jesse Marsch of the Red Bulls were 5, and Mickey Callaway of the Mets and John Hynes of the Devils were 3.
The Bullets had dethroned the Portland Trail Blazers as World Champions. The Yankees and the Montreal Canadiens would succeed themselves, and the Dallas Cowboys were defending NFL Champions.
The Heavyweight Champion of the World? In February, Muhammad Ali lost the undisputed title to Leon Spinks, but the WBC, seeing that the 1976 Olympic Gold Medalist didn't have enough pro fights, recognized Ken Norton as champ. Norton was then beaten by Larry Holmes. Ali beat Spinks in September, to regain the title, then retired. The WBA then recognized Holmes as well.
The Olympic Games have since been held in America 4 times; Canada, Russia and Korea twice, and once each in Bosnia, France, Spain, Norway, Japan, Australia, Greece, Italy, China, Britain and Brail. Argentina was about to win the World Cup on home soil. The tournament has since been held in America, Spain, Mexico, Italy, France, Japan, Korea, Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Russia.
There were then 26 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The President of the United States was Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan had run for President in 1976, but lost the nomination to incumbent Gerald Ford, who then lost to Carter. Reagan was now 67, and the idea of him ever becoming President was considered to be ludicrous.
George H.W. Bush was out of public office, teaching at Rice University in Houston. Ford, Richard Nixon, their wives, and the widows of Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson were all still alive.
Bill Clinton was the Attorney General of the State of Arkansas, and was about to be elected Governor at age 32. George W. Bush was running for Congress from a district in north Texas, but would lose. Barack Obama was attending the Punahou School. In his native Honolulu. Native Honolulu. Donald Trump was getting sued for racist practices in the slums he owned.
The Governor of the State of New York was Hugh Carey, the Mayor of the City of New York was Ed Koch, and the Governor of New Jersey was Brendan Byrne. Andrew Cuomo was attending Fordham University, Bill de Blasio was in high school, and Phil Murphy was at Harvard University.
There were still surviving veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Boer War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Philippine Campaign, and the Russo-Japanese War. The current Pope, Benedict XVI, then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, was Archbishop of Munich. The Prime Minister of Canada was Pierre Trudeau, and of Britain, James Callaghan. The head of state of both nations was Queen Elizabeth II -- that hasn't changed. There have since been 7 Presidents of the United States, 7 Prime Ministers of Britain and 5 Popes.
Nottingham Forest, of the East Midlands, had won the Football League for the 1st time, still their only title ever – completing the comeback of their manager, Brian Clough, who had previously won the 1972 title with Forest's nearby arch-rivals, Derby County, before a disastrous spell in charge of Yorkshire's Leeds United.
Liverpool FC had won the European Cup, but Forest were about to take it away. Arsenal had lost the FA Cup Final to Suffolk club Ipswich Town, managed by Bobby Robson, but were about to take it in the season that had just begun – and along the way, 2 days before Christmas, would travel to their North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, and beat them 5-0, on a hat trick by Alan Sunderland, and Liam Brady feeding a header to his Dublin childhood pal Frank Stapleton and then scoring a goal that made broadcaster John Motson yell, "Look at that! Oh, look at that! What a goal by Brady!"
John Irving published The World According to Garp, Stephen King Children of the Corn, Richard Matheson What Dreams May Come, Ken Follett Eye of the Needle, and, a book many would come to regret by 1995, William Luther Pierce published The Turner Diaries.
Ira Levin moved away from the grimness of Rosemary’s Baby, The Boys from Brazil and The Stepford Wives, and wrote Deathtrap, a comedy like his first play, No Time For Sergeants, which, in 1955, made stars of Roddy McDowall and Don Knotts. Douglas Adams hadn't yet published any of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. George R.R. Martin was best known for writing science fiction and fantasy short stories. J.K. Rowling was 13 years old.
No one had yet heard of Jason Bourne, Hannibal Lecter, Celie Harris, Kinsey Millhone, Jack Ryan, Forrest Gump, John McClane, Alex Cross, Bridget Jones, Robert Langdon, Bella Swan, Lisbeth Salander or Katniss Everdeen.
Major films released in the late Spring of 1978 included the musical biography The Buddy Holly Story; the musical Grease; the baseball sequel The Bad News Bears Go to Japan; the football-themed remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Heaven Can Wait; the trucker film Convoy; the murder mystery The Cheap Detective; the science fiction films Capricorn One and The Cat from Outer Space; the horror sequels Damien: Omen II and Jaws 2; and the greatest horror of them all, a discofied version of the Beatles' story Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, with Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees standing in.
Roger Moore was still basking in the glow of perhaps the best James Bond film of them all, The Spy Who Loved Me, released late the previous year, and was now killing his momentum by filming Moonraker, an attempt to link Agent 007 with the sci-fi movie craze.
Christopher Reeve was about to debut as Superman, and Lynda Carter was still starring on TV as Wonder Woman, but Adam West was still the last live-action Batman. Tom Baker was The Doctor. Gene Roddenberry was filming Star Trek: The Motion Picture, trying to show everyone enamored with Star Wars that the future in our own galaxy was better than "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." On that occasion, he did not succeed. George Lucas was preparing to film The Empire Strikes Back. Steven Spielberg had filmed Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
No one had yet heard of Mad Max, Jason Voorhees, Ash Williams, John Rambo, the Terminator, the Ghostbusters, Freddy Kreuger, Marty McFly, Roboco, John McClane, Jay & Silent Bob or Austin Powers.
In the television season that had just ended, Fantasy Island, The Incredible Hulk, Dallas, Vega$, the game show Card Sharks, and the ABC news magazine 20/20 had recently debuted; while both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, The Carol Burnett Show, Police Woman, The Bob Newhart Show, Maude, Columbo, Baretta and Chico and the Man had ended their runs.
That week, the panelists on
Match Game 78 were:
M*A*S*H actor Gary Burghoff, regular Brett Somers, regular Charles Nelson Reilly, Charles' former
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir co-star Hope Lange, regular and now
Family Feud host Richard Dawson, and comedy writer Patti Deutsch, the lady with the whiny voice, weird way of coming up with definitive answers, long red hair, and large, as she put it, "upper frontals."
No one had yet heard of Bo & Luke Duke, Blake Carrington, Michael Knight, Christine Cagney & Mary Beth Lacey, Sam Malone, Cliff Huxtable, Balki Bartokomous, the Tanner family, Zack Morris, Hayden Fox, Dale Cooper, the Seinfeld Four, Buffy Summers, Fox Mulder & Dana Scully, Andy Sipowicz, Ross Geller & Rachel Greene, Dr. Doug Ross, Xena, Carrie Bradshaw, Tony Soprano, Jed Bartlet, Jack Bauer, Omar Little, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Michael Bluth, Michael Scott, Don Draper, Walter White, Jax Teller, Richard Castle, the Pritchett family, Rick Grimes, Leslie Knope, Sarah Manning, Wynonna Earp or Jane "Eleven" Hopper.
Robert Kardashian Sr. and Kristen Mary Houghton were preparing to get married the next month. Bruce Jenner was busy turning his one Gold Medal into a lifetime of green. As far as I know, he had not yet met either of them.
From the aforementioned film version of the Broadway musical
Grease, stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John's recording of "You're the One That I Want" was the Number 1 song in America. The Rolling Stones launched a U.S. tour in support of their album
Some Girls. The Who, unbeknownst to them, played their last show with Keith Moon as drummer. Grace Slick got drunk before a Jefferson Airplane concert in Hamburg, Germany, and taunted the natives about World War II, and temporarily left the band. The aforementioned Peter Frampton killed his career's momentum, and nearly himself, in a car crash in The Bahamas.
Paul McCartney was still having hits with Wings. George Harrison's and Ringo Starr's runs of hits seemed to be over. John Lennon was still in self-imposed "househusband" exile. Priscilla Presley was busy trying to put her late ex-husband Elvis' estate back together. Bob Dylan was in the process of converting to evangelical Christianity -- temporarily, as it turned out. A movieversion of The Wiz, the all-black musical based on The Wizard of Oz, was being filmed, with Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow.
Inflation has been such that what $1.00 would buy then, $3.86 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 15 cents, and subway ride in New York 50 cents. The average price of a gallon of gas was 65 cents, a cup of coffee 74 cents, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) $1.65, a movie ticket $2.33, a new car $4,645, and a new house $66,400. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed that day at 861.92.
The tallest building in the world was the Sears Tower in Chicago. Desktop computers and mobile telephones had been developed, but hardly anybody had them, and they were both still very bulky and very slow. There was not much of an Internet, and hardly anybody knew about it. America was in the middle of a 6-year spaceflight drought. Automatic teller machines were still a relatively new thing, and many people had never seen one. The leading home video game system was the Atari VCS (later renamed the Atari 2600).
There were heart transplants, liver transplants and lung transplants, and artificial kidneys, but no artificial hearts. There were birth control pills, but no Viagra.
In the late Spring of 1978, the terrorist Red Brigades kidnapped and assassinated former Prime Minister Aldo Moro of Italy. Breton nationalist set of a bomb that damaged the Palace of Versailles outside Paris, but only 1 person was injured, and survived.
Civil wars raged in the African nations of Zaire, Ethiopia, Angola and the Comoros. King Hussein of Jordan married an American woman of Arab descent, Lisa Halaby, who becomes Queen Noor. He was 42, she was 26. And Ian Botham became the 1st cricketer to score a century and take 8 wickets in 1 inning of a Test match.
In America, Affirmed, ridden by Steve Cauthen, won thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown, something no other horse would do for the next 37 years. Pete Rose joined the 3,000 Hit Club, and started a National League record-tying 44-game hitting streak. Tom Seaver pitched the only no-hitter of his career. Both achieved their respective feats for the Cincinnati Reds -- a painful reminder for Met fans. Mavis Hutchinson, age 53, became the 1st woman to run across America, taking 69 days. (This would have been at the time that Forrest Gump would have been repeatedly doing so in the movie.)
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski struck for the 1st time, at Northwestern University. California voters approved Proposition 13, making it nearly impossible for the State legislature to raise taxes, and crippling the State's economy for the next 30 years. The comic strip Garfield made its debut. Resorts International opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey, as the 1st legal casino and hotel in America outside Nevada.
Former Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies, and Real Madrid President Santiago Bernabéu, and Hungarian soccer star József Bozsik died. Erin Andrews, and Brian Urlacher, and Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes were born.
June 7, 1978. The Washington Bullets won the NBA Championship. It was the franchise's 1st, under any of its names: The Chicago Packers, the Chicago Zephyrs, the Baltimore Bullets, the Capital Bullets, the Washington Bullets, and the Washington Wizards.
They have never won a 2nd. Will they contend for it next season? They did make the Playoffs this season, so maybe they're on the right track.
