A rare and bizarre photograph of the unfinished Golden Gate Bridge, back when San Francisco—like much of the world—was black and white (Seriously, folks—where would we be without color television?). After four years of construction, the world-famous bridge hosted "Pedestrian Day" on May 27, 1937, and opened to vehicular traffic the very next day ("Bridge History and Construction"). (ca. 1935)
Princess Diana photographed alone at the Taj Mahal during a state visit to India with Prince Charles. Whether or not this particular picture shows the aftermath of royal lover’s quarrel, Diana and Charles would go on to divorce in August of 1996- twelve months before the Princess’s fatal car accident in Paris ("Biography of Diana, Princess of Wales"). (ca. 1992)
Maria Ginest—a 17-year-old girl, communist, and militant in the Spanish Civil War—takes a moment to pose while overlooking Barcelona. La Guerra Civil Española, which involved a great number of foreign participants from Germany, Italy, and elsewhere, resulted in the establishment of General Francisco Franco's 36-year fascist regime in Spain. (ca. 1936)
Louis Armstrong serenades his wife in perhaps the most romantic of settings: in front of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids of Giza (note: This is a colorized version of the original photograph). Next to the 4500-year-old ancient Egyptian wonders, "Satchmo" was actually quite young at 60 years old. Three years later, when Armstrong's "Hello, Dolly!" knocked The Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" off the top of the charts, he became the oldest artist to ever hold the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 ("Chart Beat Chat"). A true legend indeed. (ca. 1961)
A gorgeous New York Central Mercury train departing Cleveland’s Union Station in the mid-1930's. The Mercury train series was designed by Henry Dreyfuss, the industrial designer responsible for the Western Electric 302 Telephone and the iconic John Deere Model A Tractor ("Henry Dreyfuss"). Cleveland... was not so fortunate in its design. (ca. 1936)
Poetry in Motion: The 1966 NBA Finals, which pitted the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers, as shot by Walter Iooss. Perhaps even more striking than Bill Russell's imposing defensive posturing is the lack of corporate advertisement that dominates today's arenas (and tomorrow's uniforms…). (ca. 1966)
The earliest-known photograph of Jerusalem, taken by French photographer Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey in 1844. The photograph, which was was unknown to the general public until the 1920's, shows The Temple Mount as it was more than 150 years ago. The sacred site, which has been in use for thousands of years, is associated with at least four religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Roman-era Paganism. (ca. 1844)
It's the most wonderful time of the year, folks: the NBA season will finally get underway tonight, as the defending champions, the Miami Heat, face the Chicago Bulls. Derrick Rose's return to regular season action promises to be an exciting one, despite the collective cringe that Bulls fans will perform each time he falls to the floor.
Between Miami's pursuit of a three-peat, an accomplishment that would arguably thrust Lebron James into the Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant echelon of the NBA Pantheon, and #The(LongAwaited)Return,
the 2013-14 Season Opener has been hyped since the matchup was announced in August. From a historical perspective, though, it is just the next in a long line of highly anticipated NBA Tip-Off contests.
Over the past sixty-seven years, the National Basketball Association has transformed itself from a small amalgamation of teams known as the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to a multi-billion-dollar display of dazzling sports entertainment. Each season has been accompanied by new story lines, new faces,
The first-ever NBA game took place on November 1, 1946- in Canada, of all places. The New York Knickerbockers defeated Toronto Huskies 68-66 in a game that hardly resembled that of the modern era ("The First Game"). The shot clock had not yet come into existence, the jump shot was a less-popular alternative to the set shot, and tickets prices didn't exceed the GDP per capita of a developing nation.
In its awkward teenage years, the NBA would gain one of its all-time greats. Having already achieved national recognition for his dominance as a Kansas Jayhawk and a Harlem Globetrotter, twenty-three year old Wilt Chamberlain made his NBA debut on October 24, 1959. "The Big Dipper" gave a glimpse of his record-setting career to come, scoring 43 points while gathering an absurd 28 rebounds ("Philadelphia Warriors at New York Knicks"). Three years later, Wilt would become the only player to ever score 100 points in a single game.
Ever the scoring threat, Chamberlain would later claim to have slept with 20,000 women. According to MentalFloss.com, that'd be about 500 women per year...
Over the next few decades, the NBA competed with the American Basketball Association (ABA) for basketball hegemony. That changed on August 5, 1976, when the NBA-ABA merger resulted in the addition of four new teams for the 1976-77 season. On October 21, 1976, the Indiana Pacers became the first former ABA team to compete in a regular season NBA game, falling to the John Havlicek-led Boston Celtics, 129-122 ("Boston Celtics at Indiana Pacers"). Interestingly, no former ABA team would win an NBA title until 1999, when the San Antonio Spurs won their first of four championships.
Less than a decade after the merger, Michael Jordan made his debut in the NBA. By the 1984-85 season, the NBA had asserted itself among the major sports leagues in North America- due in large part to the marketability of superstars such as Ervin "Magic" Johnson and Larry "The Hick from French Lick" Bird. Michael Jordan took the term "superstar" to an entirely new level during his illustrious career with the Chicago Bulls. That all started on October 26, 1984, when he gave the 13,913 in attendance at Chicago Stadium a glimpse of what was to come over the next decade and a half (6 championships, 6 Finals MVP Awards, 5 Regular Season MVP Awards, 10 Scoring Titles, and 14 All Star Appearances, to be exact).
After Jordan’s retirement, no player’s NBA debut was as highly anticipated Lebron James's first appearance with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003. Since
that time, though, James's name has become more associated with “The Decision,” in which he
left Cleveland for Miami in July 2010. Arguably the most impactful free agent
decision since Shaquille O’Neal left Orlando for Los Angeles in 1996, it came
as no surprise that Miami’s 2010-11 season opener against the Boston Celtics
delivered record-setting ratings, reaching a total of 7,433,000 viewers ("TNT Has Record-Setting Ratings for NBA Season Opener").
Hell hath no fury like a Cleveland sports fan scorned, though, and much to their
delight, James committed 8 turnovers in Miami’s 88-80 defeat.
Since that time, the Heat have made
three straight Finals appearances—winning the last two. Tonight, they begin
their journey towards a fourth straight Finals appearance, a feat which has only
occurred three times in the history of the NBA (Boston Celtics, 1959-66; Los
Angeles Lakers, 1982-85; Boston Celtics, 1984-87). Meanwhile, the Bulls seek to
live up to the high expectations surrounding Derrick Rose’s return to action
after an 18-month recovery from his ACL tear in the 2012 NBA Playoffs. At 8 PM ET on TNT, the journey will begin for the Bulls, Heat, and
twenty-eight other teams across the league.
"Boston Celtics at Indiana Pacers." Basketball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. <http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/197610210IND.html>. Goldaper, Sam. "The First Game." NBA.com. National Basketball Association. Web. 28 Oct. 2013 <http://www.nba.com/history/firstgame_feature.html>.
"Philadelphia Warriors at New York Knicks." Basketball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. <http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/195910240NYK.html>. "TNT Has Record-setting Ratings for NBA Season Opener." NBA.com. National Basketball Association, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nba.com/2010/news/10/27/tnt-ratings/>.
