Sports history on Christmas Day

Today, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) marks a milestone in its 28-year history. The league will play its first-ever Christmas Day game. It’s never ended a season so late in the year so PBA Commissioner Jun Bernardino is rolling out the red carpet to welcome the fans in a Yuletide treat that’s one for the books.

Upper box seats will be free to the public in Game 4 of the best-of-5 Alaska versus Coca-Cola duel for the Selecta All-Filipino Cup title at the Big Dome tonight. All you’ve got to show is a proof of purchase of any product related to the PBA and you’re in for free. It’s as simple as that.

Then, if you’re picked with the best Christmas costume, you go home with a Samsung appliance. A TV awaits the grand prize winner.

Alaska coach Tim Cone said two years ago, he was at the Staples Center to watch the Los Angeles Lakers play the visiting Portland Trail Blazers in a Christmas Day game. He called it a unique and fun experience. To be sure, it was different. Instead of rock and roll music blaring out of the public address system, Cone heard Christmas carols. Fans came out wearing Santa suits or anything that was in bright red. Alas, the homecrowd was disappointed in the end as the Blazers swamped the Lakers, 109-104.

Cone recalled the Staples Center was sold out for the contest. He said he was lucky to get two tickets from Lakers assistant coach Tex Winter.

If it’s entertainment and excitement you want on Christmas Day, you can’t pass up the PBA’s rare treat. It’s the league’s Christmas gift to the fans. You couldn’t ask for a more thrilling encounter–Game 4 could be the title clincher. The Tigers may or may not play Jeffrey Cariaso tonight but they’re definitely going for the crown. Alaska, on the other hand, are battling to survive and extend the series to a winner-take-all Game 5 on Friday.

In pro boxing, there has been only one world title fight in history on Christmas Day. Frankie Klick of San Francisco knocked out Kid Chocolate–real name Eligio Sardinias of Cuba–in the seventh round to wrest the world junior lightweight crown in Philadelphia on Dec. 25, 1933.

A world title bout is a festive event and it’s strange why promoters shy away from staging cards on Christmas Day. Maybe because one of two fighters in the championship match won’t exactly enjoy a merry Christmas if there isn’t a draw.

A Filipino fighter Rene Busayong had a chance to win the newly-created International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight title in Seoul on Dec. 24, 1983, but he went home empty-handed after losing to Soon Chun Kwon on a fifth round knockout. That was the closest day to Christmas that a Filipino fought in a world title bout.

In sports history, the biggest Christmas Day story was when Garo Yepremian delivered a 37-yard field goal-7:40 into the second overtime–to lift the Miami Dolphins to a 27-24 win over Kansas City in the longest game ever in National Football League annals in 1971.

In all, the marathon playoff game for the American Conference division pennant lasted 82 minutes and 40 seconds at the Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. Aside from Yepremian, the other stars who saw action in the historic contest were Bob Griese, Ed Podolak, and Larry Csonka.

In pro hoops, Christmas Day was special for New York Knicks forward Bernard King who erupted for 60 points but not so special for his National Basketball Association (NBA) team. The Knicks couldn’t capitalize on King’s explosion as they lost a 120-114 decision to the New Jersey Nets in 1984.

Also, on Christmas Day in 1956, Fort Wayne’s Corky Devlin tied a dubious NBA record of frustration–shared by two others–when he went 0-of-15 from the field in a game against the Minneapolis Lakers in Rochester, New York.

It wasn’t sure if Corky was naughty or nice that year but from all indications, Santa Claus was on the Lakers’ side that night.

In college basketball, Coca-Cola cager William Antonio’s alma mater Chaminade University captured the Western Airlines Classic title in Honolulu on Christmas Day in 1984. It was a first-class Yuletide upset as the little Hawaiian school from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) shocked unbeaten Division I power Southern Methodist, 71-70, for the crown.

Jon Koncak, who later played in the NBA, led Southern Methodist with 24 points but couldn’t hold off Chaminade whose varsity is called the Silverswords. Chaminade has a student population of about 1,000 yet it proved to be a giant-killer on Christmas Day.