Now that Girardi is the Yankee manager, it's easy to forget what kind of a player he was. He was a good defensive catcher, but hitting a triple off Maddux in a World Series game was really unexpected. It wasn't quite the U.S. college kids beating the "amateur" hockey players in their 30s put up by the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics, nor was it quite Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson in 1990. But it was a shock. A beautiful shock.
When Mariano Rivera, then the "bridge" reliever, was on the mound in the 8th, Fox announcer Tim McCarver said, "There's not a lot of secret as to what you're gonna get from Mariano Rivera: A lot of high gas." It would be the next year, when Mo succeeded John Wetteland as the closer, that he developed the cut fastball that made him the greatest relief pitcher of all time.
When Mo got a strikeout to end the 8th, McCarver and Joe Buck wisely didn't say a word, and let the roar of the crowd be what took them to commercial. Those cheers seemed to contain not a word, but they spoke volumes. Some who were there said that the old Yankee Stadium actually shook at that moment.
An inning later, Wetteland, who became the 1st reliever ever to save all 4 of his team's wins in a World Series (and remains the only one) and was named MVP, got Mark Lemke to pop up to 3rd base, and Charlie Hayes caught it. As John Sterling said on WABC (the Yankees' radio station at the time), "Hayes... makes the catch! Yankees win! Theeeeeeee Yankees win!" He didn't start adding "Ballgame over!" until the next year, and didn't start adding "(name of series) over!" until the next.
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October 26, 1996 was a Saturday. There were no NFL games played that day, but there were college football games of note:
* Number 1-ranked Florida did not play. Nor did Notre Dame, having been Number 8 the week before, but losing at home to the Air Force Academy.
* Number 2 Florida State did play, beating Number 14 Virginia, 31-24 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida. On November 3, Florida State beat Florida in Tallahassee, only to have the AP and UPI poll give in to Florida's "God Wants a Rematch" campaign. Florida got their revenge in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, 50-25, to win the National Championship.
* Number 3 Ohio State beat Number 20 Iowa, 38-26 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. Ohio State blew their shot at the National Championship, and essentially forced the "God Wants a Rematch" title game, by losing to Michigan 4 weeks later.
* Number 6 Tennessee beat Number 7 Alabama, 20-13 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. This was in a rare stretch in which Tennessee dominated this rivalry, taking 9 out of 10. But Alabama has now beaten Tennessee every year since 2007, including 2021.
* Number 17 Penn State beat Indiana, 48-26 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.
* Rutgers beat Temple, 28-17 at the new Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. In their season opener, Rutgers beat Villanova at home. In games that were against teams in Philadelphia's "Big 5," RU were 2-0. In all other games, they were 0-9.
* And Princeton lost to Harvard, 24-0 at Palmer Stadium. Opened in 1914, Palmer Stadium hosted its final game on November 23, and Princeton lost to Dartmouth, 24-0. The stadium was then demolished, and Powers Field at Princeton Stadium opened in 1998.
In 1997, Princeton played a "home game" at Giants Stadium, and another on the campus of The College of New Jersey -- ironically, using the original name of Princeton University. That school, in Ewing, had previously been known as Trenton State College. Otherwise, the Tigers played all official away games.
The NBA season didn't start for another 5 days. But 11 NHL games were played:
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1 at the Ice Palace (now the Amalie Arena) in Tampa. The Devils got goals from Bobby Carpenter, Randy McKay, Dave Andreychuk and Bill Guerin.
* The New York Islanders played the San Jose Sharks to a tie, 2-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-5 at the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre) in Montreal.
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Hartford Whalers, 6-3 at the Marine Midland Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens.
* The Washington Capitals beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-4 at the Kiel Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.
* The Dallas Stars beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-1 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 at the Northlands Coliseum (then known as the Edmonton Coliseum).
* The Calgary Flames played the Los Angeles Kings to a tie, 0-0 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.
* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1 at GM Place (now Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.