December 23, 1995: The New York Giants close their season in ignominious fashion -- and the result is far from the worst of it.
They were playing the San Diego Chargers, at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. It's important to note that the Giants have no rivalry with the Chargers. This was only the 7th time the 1925-established NFL mainstays and the 1960-established original AFL team had played in the regular season. The Giants had won at Yankee Stadium in 1971, at Shea Stadium in 1975, at Giants Stadium in 1986, and at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego in 1989. The Chargers had won at The Murph in 1980 and at Giants Stadium in 1983.
None of those games had been particularly contentious. Indeed, even this game had no incidents between the Giant players and the Charger players.
For the Giants, it was a bad season, by any measure. They started out 0-3, closed to within 3-5, fell to 3-9, got up to 5-9, and went into this game 5-10. The Chargers had started 4-7, but had won 4 straight, and had a chance to make the Playoffs if they beat the Giants and other games went their way.
There had been significant snowfall the day before, and only 50,243 fans, out of a possible 78,000+, showed up. While the seats at Giants Stadium had been cleared of snow, there was still a lot of it lying around, waiting for angry -- or, at least mischievous -- fans to turn them into snowballs. At least in the 1st half, they only threw them at each other, because they were pleased with the product on the field: The Giants went into the locker room up 17-3.
This was understandable: There was snow all around, and the temperature was 34 degrees, 24 with the wind chill. The New York-based team was used to this kind of weather. The San Diego-based team was not.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Giants giving their fans a Merry Christmas: They ended up giving their fans a big lump of coal instead. The Chargers scored a touchdown, but it was still 17-10 Giants after 3 quarters.
By this point, the snowballs were flying from the stands, the onto the field. Bob Sheppard, who had been the Yankees' public address announcer since 1951 and the Giants' since 1956 put his best "Voice of God" to work on the crowd, telling them that the game could be forfeited if the barrage continued.
On the 1st play of the 4th quarter, referee Ron Blum called time-out. He went over to the Charger sideline to call up to the booth, and repeat the threat. A fan threw a snowball in his direction. Except it wasn't a snowball: It was an iceball, much harder. And it didn't hit Blum: It hit Sid Brooks, the Chargers' equipment manager, right in the face, knocking him out.
The game should have been forfeited right there. It wasn't. The Chargers completed their drive with a touchdown, and the game was tied. ON their next drive, Junior Seau hit Giant quarterback Dave Brown, whose throw had been intended for the end zone. Instead, Shaun Gayle -- now with the Chargers, he had been an All-American sprinter in college and a member of the Chicago Bears' 1985-86 "Super Bowl Shuffle" team -- intercepted it, and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown. Well before he reached the end zone, fans sitting there began throwing snowballs at him. Many got as far as him, but none hit him.
The Giants fumbled on their next possession, and John Carney kicked a field goal for the final score: Chargers 27, Giants 17. It was one thing for the Giants to humiliate their fans, which had happened before. It was another thing for the fans to humiliate each other, and the players.
Giants management announced that any snowball-thrower who could be identified would be banned from the Meadowlands Sports Complex for life, even if that meant revoking his season ticket. Six such spectators were identified, including one who ended up on the back page of the New York Daily News. Giants management also bought a full-page at in the next day's San Diego Union-Tribune -- the Sunday edition -- apologizing to San Diego for the incident.
By a quirk in the NFL schedule, the New York Jets were scheduled to play at Giants Stadium the very next day. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, operator of the stadium, went into overdrive to get all the snow removed from the stadium before kickoff. Given that the Jets were going in 3-12, a 2nd angry fanbase was possible. But the snow was cleared, there were no incidents, and the Jets lost to the New Orleans Saints, 12-0.
The Chargers did end up making the Playoffs. Since then, they've played the Giants 6 times. The Giants won in San Diego in 1998. The Chargers won in San Diego in 2005 and 2013, at the Meadowlands in 2009 and 2017, and, following their move back to Los Angeles, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California 11 days ago. None of those games had any incidents, either. Only the one on Christmas weekend 1995.
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December 23, 1995 was a Saturday. There were 2 other NFL games played that day, instead of the next day, Sunday, Christmas Eve:
* The Detroit Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 37-10 at Tampa Stadium. No danger of snowballs in Florida.
* And the Indianapolis Colts beat the New England Patriots, 10-7 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. No danger of snowballs in a dome.
There were 12 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the expansion Toronto Raptors, 103-91 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 98-85 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Miami Heat, 87-75 at the Charlotte Coliseum.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Indiana Pacers, 97-97 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse) in Cleveland.
* The Orlando Magic beat the Detroit Pistons, 94-79 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz, 100-86 at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 115-111 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Dallas Mavericks, 111-98 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Houston Rockets, 110-95 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Denver Nuggets, 107-92 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 102-99 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Washington Bullets, 118-100 at the KeyArena in Seattle.
There were 11 games played in the NHL:
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Florida Panthers, 2-1 at the Miami Arena.
* The New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals, 3-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 1-0 in one of the last games played at the Montreal Forum.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 7-5 at the Fleet Center (now the TD Garden).
* The Philadelphia Flyers played the Hartford Whalers to a tie, 3-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the XL Center).
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-2 at the Ottawa Civic Centre (now the TD Place Arena).
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Dallas Stars, 2-0 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* The Winnipeg Jets beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.
* The Colorado Avalanche played the Los Angeles Kings to a tie, 2-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Vancouver Canucks, 1-0 at General Motors Place in Vancouver (now the Rogers Arena).
Also, Arsenal went to Anfield, and lost to Liverpool, 3-1.