title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: During the 1980s New Zealand also had the services of one of its best-ever batsman, Martin Crowe and a number of good players such as John Wright, Bruce Edgar, John F. Reid, Andrew Jones, Geoff Howarth, Jeremy Coney, Ian Smith, John Bracewell, Lance Cairns, Stephen Boock, and Ewen Chatfield, who were capable of playing the occasional match-winning performance and consistently making a valuable contribution to a Test match.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: The best example of New Zealand's two star players (R. Hadlee and M. Crowe) putting in match-winning performances and other players making good contributions is New Zealand versus Australia, 1985 at Brisbane. In Australia's first innings Hadlee took 9–52. In New Zealand's only innings, M Crowe scored 188 and John F. Reid 108. Edgar, Wright, Coney, Jeff Crowe, V. Brown, and Hadlee scored between 17 and 54*. In Australia's second innings, Hadlee took 6–71 and Chatfield 3–75. New Zealand won by an innings and 41 runs.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: One-day cricket also gave New Zealand a chance to compete more regularly than Test cricket with the better sides in world cricket. In one-day cricket a batsman does not need to score centuries to win games for his side and bowlers do not need to bowl the opposition out. One-day games can be won by one batsman getting a 50, a few others getting 30s, bowlers bowling economically and everyone fielding well. These were requirements New Zealand players could consistently meet and thus developed a good one-day record against all sides.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: Perhaps New Zealand's most infamous one-day match was the "under arm" match against Australia at the MCG in 1981. Requiring six runs to tie the match off the final ball, Australian captain Greg Chappell instructed his brother Trevor to bowl the ball underarm along the wicket to prevent New Zealand batsman Brian McKechnie from hitting a six. The Australian umpires ruled the move as legal even though to this day many believe it was one of the most unsporting decisions made in cricket.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: When New Zealand next played in the tri-series in Australia in 1983, Lance Cairns became a cult hero for his one-day batting. In one match against Australia, he hit six sixes at the MCG, one of the world's largest grounds. Few fans remember that New Zealand lost this game by 149 runs. However, Lance's greatest contribution to New Zealand cricket was his son Chris Cairns.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: Chris Cairns made his debut one year before Hadlee retired in 1990. Cairns, one of New Zealand's best all-rounders, led the 1990s bowling attack with Danny Morrison. Stephen Fleming, New Zealand's most prolific scorer, led the batting and the team into the 21st century. Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan also scored plenty of runs for New Zealand, but both retired earlier than expected.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: Daniel Vettori made his debut as an 18-year-old in 1997, and when he took over from Fleming as captain in 2007 he was regarded as the best spinning all-rounder in world cricket. On 26 August 2009, Daniel Vettori became the eighth player and second left-arm bowler (after Chaminda Vaas) in history to take 300 wickets and score 3000 test runs, joining the illustrious club. Vettori decided to take an indefinite break from international short form cricket in 2011 but continued to represent New Zealand in Test cricket and returned for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: On 4 April 1996, New Zealand achieved a unique world record, where the whole team was adjudged Man of the Match for team performance against 4 run victory over the West Indies. This is recorded as the only time where whole team achieved such an award.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: New Zealand started the new millennium by winning the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy in Kenya to claim their first ICC tournament. This was a knockout tournament where teams were seeded according to their performance in Cricket World Cup 1999, the top five teams from that world cup gained direct entry to quarter-finals and while remaining six teams had to play the pre-quarter finals. New Zealand gained direct entry to quarter-finals where they faced Zimbabwe against whom they had recently lost an ODI series, after a nervy start they pulled things back and romped to a crushing 64-run victory to get through to the semis. In semis they faced Pakistan, a team who had managed to knock New Zealand out from last World Cup at this very stage. New Zealand beat Pakistan this time in a thrilling run-chase to enter the final. In the final, they faced India who had knocked out world champions Australia and defending champions South Africa. New Zealand won the toss and opted to bowl but the decision seemed to backfire as India romped to a 141 run opening partnership in 27 overs, New Zealand somehow managed to pull things back but the target was a daunting 265, and in reply they struggled for the most part of their innings but in the end, it was a 122-run partnership between Chris Cairns and Chris Harris that took them close the target before Cairns finished the game with two balls to spare as New Zealand won its first-ever ICC event.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: Shane Bond played 18 Tests for NZ between 2001 and 2009 but missed far more through injury. When fit, he added a dimension to the NZ bowling attack that had been missing since Hadlee retired, taking 87 wickets at an average of 22.09.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: The rise of the financial power of the BCCI had an immense effect on NZ cricket and its players. The BCCI managed to convince other boards not to pick players who had joined the rival Twenty-20 Indian Cricket League. NZ Cricket lost the services of Shane Bond, Lou Vincent, Andre Adams, Hamish Marshall and Daryl Tuffey. The money to be made from Twenty-20 cricket in India may have also induced players, such as Craig McMillan and Scott Styris (from Test cricket) to retire earlier than they would have otherwise. After the demise of the Indian Cricket League Bond and Tuffey again played for New Zealand.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: Vettori stood down as Test captain in 2011 leading to star batsman Ross Taylor to take his place. Taylor led New Zealand for a year which included a thrilling win in a low scoring Test match against Australia in Hobart, their first win over Australia since 1993. In 2012/13 Brendon McCullum became captain and new players such as Kane Williamson, Corey Anderson, Doug Bracewell, Trent Boult and Jimmy Neesham emerged as world-class performers. McCullum captained New Zealand to series wins against the West Indies and India in 2013/14 and both Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2014/15 increasing New Zealand's rankings in both Test and ODI formats. In the series against India McCullum scored 302 at Wellington to become New Zealand's first Test triple centurion.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: In early 2015 New Zealand made the final of the Cricket World Cup, going through the tournament undefeated until the final, where they lost to Australia by seven wickets.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: In 2015 the New Zealand national cricket team played under the name of Aotearoa for their first match against Zimbabwe to celebrate te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week).


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: In mid-2015 New Zealand toured England, performing well, drawing the Test series 1–1, and losing the One Day series, 2–3.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: From October to November 2015, and in February 2016, New Zealand played Australia in two Test Series, in three and two games a piece


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: With a changing of an era in the Australian team, New Zealand was rated as a chance of winning especially in New Zealand. New Zealand lost both series by 2-0


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: In February 2016, Kane Williamson was appointed as the captain of the team after Brendon McCullum's retirement after playing his 101st test against Australia at Christchurch. Williamson's first international series as the full-time captain was Men's T20 World Cup 2016 in India in which the team won all four of its group games but lost to England in the semi-final at Delhi. After the annual rankings update on 4 May 2016 the team was awarded the No. 1 ranking in T20Is. The team then got into a rough patch after the T20WC where they would go onto lose away series to South Africa, India and Australia. In their home season they managed to beat Pakistan for the first time in a test series after 32 years, whitewashed Bangladesh across formats, won the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy against Australia but went onto lose to South Africa in T20I, ODI and Test series.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: New Zealand started the 2017 international season with a tri-series involving hosts Ireland, and Bangladesh as a preparation for upcoming Champions Trophy in England. New Zealand managed to win the tri-series as they finished at the top of the points table but the Champions Trophy turned out to be a disastrous campaign as they get knockout out by Bangladesh and ended the tournament without even a single win which was the worst performance for them in an ICC Event. After that the team had to wait four months for their next tour which was to India in which both the ODI and T20I series were closely contested but New Zealand lost both by a scoreline of 2-1. The home season started with whitewash of the West Indies across formats followed by whitewash of Pakistan in the ODI series but after that New Zealand lost the T20I series to Pakistan and in the process lost their No. 1 ranking in T20Is. Then they took part in the first ever T20I tri-series involving full-members the Trans-Tasman T20I Tri-Series in which they ended up runners-up to Australia and England finished third. Then they played England where they lost the ODI series but then managed to win the test series. This was their first test series win against England after 19 years and 4th overall in their 87 year old rivalry.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: New Zealand didn't have any matches scheduled for 2018 season, so after a 7-month wait from their last series they toured UAE in Oct-Dec 2018 to play Pakistan, the tour started with New Zealand suffering whitewash in the T20I series but then managed to win the first ODI which marked their 12th consecutive ODI win against Pakistan. The ODI series ended up as a one-a-piece draw. After that New Zealand produced a stunning act of resilience to register their first away test series win against Pakistan after 49 years. This put New Zealand 3rd on the test rankings table with No. 2 ranking in sight. After this in their home season they beat Sri Lanka across formats, lost to India in the ODI series before managing to beat them in the T20I series and lastly they beat Bangladesh across formats and they climbed to No. 2 spot in Test rankings as a consequence of test series win against them.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: New Zealand started the 2019 season with the mega event, the Cricket World Cup in England & Wales. New Zealand had a terrific start to their World Cup campaign as they remained unbeaten and top of the table for their first six games. Their formed dipped after that initial burst as they managed to lose their next three group games convincingly and just managed to get through to the semis as the fourth placed team on net run-rate. They were tipped rank underdogs in their semi-final clash against table-toppers India, but managed to stun the favorites on the reserve day to enter their second consecutive final. The final ended up in heart-breaking manner as New Zealand missed out on the opportunity of lifting the World Cup for the first time by the barest of margins as they lost the match due to hitting fewer boundaries than England. This boundary countback rule was criticized by fans and media all over the world and a couple of months later ICC abolished this rule for future ICC events.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: In December 2022, captain Kane Williamson stepped down as test captain with Tim Southee to replace him. Many people have said Tom Latham should have been named captained as he’s already captained nine tests. Kane Williamson Will remains as the Blackcaps white-ball captain.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: "Listed chronologically in order of first match and include neutral fixtures such as World Cup and World Cup Qualifier games"


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: This is a list of every player contracted with NZC or was named in the recent Test, ODI or T20I squads. Contracted players are listed in bold. Uncapped players are listed in "italics".


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: Ross Taylor and Colin de Grandhomme were contracted with NZC, but have since announced retirement from international cricket.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: New Zealand's kit is manufactured by Canterbury of New Zealand, who replaced previous manufacturer WStar in 2009.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: When playing Test cricket, New Zealand's cricket whites feature logo of the sponsors Gillette on the left of the shirt, the ANZ logo on the left sleeve and on the middle of the shirt and the Canterbury logo on the right sleeve. New Zealand fielders may wear a black cap (in the style of a baseball cap rather than the baggy cap worn by some teams) or a white sun hat with the New Zealand Cricket logo in the middle. Helmets are also coloured black (although until 1996, they used to be white with the silver fern logo encased in a black circle).


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: In limited overs cricket, New Zealand's ODI and Twenty20 shirts feature the ANZ logo across the centre, with the silver fern badge on the left of the shirt, Canterbury logo on the right sleeve and the Ford logo on the right. In ODIs, the kit comprises a black shirt with blue accents and black trousers, whilst the Twenty20 kit comprises a beige shirt with black accents and black trousers. In ICC limited-overs tournaments, a modified kit design is used with sponsor's logos moving to the sleeve and 'NEW ZEALAND' printed across the front.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: In ODI, New Zealand wore Beige and brown between 1980 World Series Cricket and 1988 World Series Cricket. The 1983–1984 version was made popular by the Black Caps supporter group Beige Brigade, who sells the version of this uniform to the general public together with a "moral contract" which explains the expectations that come with being a Beige Brigadier. and was also worn in the inaugural Twenty20 international between New Zealand and Australia. Between 1991 and 1997 grey or silver (with some splashes of black or white) was worn instead. Until 2000, the ODI uniform was teal with black accents.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: Previous suppliers were Adidas (World Series Cricket 1980–1990), ISC (World Cup World Cup 1992 and 1996, World Series 1993–97) Canterbury (1998–1999), Asics (who supplied all the 1999 Cricket World Cup participating teams) and WStar (2000–2009).


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: Previous sponsors were DB Draught (1990–1994 in the front, 1995–1997 in the sleeve), Bank of New Zealand (1993–94 and 1997–99 in the front), Clear Communications, later TelstraClear (1997–2000 in the front, 2001–2005 in the sleeve), National Bank of New Zealand (2000–2014) and Dheeraj and East Coast (2009–2010), since 2014 ANZ is the current sponsor, due to National Bank's rebranding as ANZ. Amul became the new sponsor in May 2017 for the ICC CT17.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: <nowiki>*</nowiki> Only bilateral series wherein a minimum of 2 matches were played have been included here. One-off matches are not credited as a bilateral series.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: <nowiki>*</nowiki> "Tie+W" and "Tie+L" indicates matches tied and then won or lost in a tiebreaker such as a bowlout or one-over-eliminator ("Super Over").


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: <nowiki>*</nowiki> The win percentage excludes no results and counts ties (irrespective of a tiebreaker) as half a win.


title: New Zealand national cricket team

text: <nowiki>*</nowiki> "Tie+W" and "Tie+L" indicates matches tied and then won or lost in a tiebreaker such as a bowlout or one-over-eliminator ("Super Over")


title: College basketball

text: In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), and the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). Each of these various organizations is subdivided into one to three divisions, based on the number and level of scholarships that may be provided to the athletes.


title: College basketball

text: Each organization has different conferences to divide up the teams into groups. Teams are selected into these conferences depending on the location of the schools. These conferences are put in due to the regional play of the teams and to have a structural schedule for each team to play for the upcoming year. During conference play the teams are ranked not only through the entire NCAA, but the conference as well in which they have tournament play leading into the NCAA tournament.


title: College basketball

text: The history of basketball can be traced back to a YMCA International Training School, known today as Springfield College, located in Springfield, Massachusetts. The sport was created by a physical education teacher named James Naismith, who in the winter of 1891 was given the task of creating a game that would keep track athletes in shape and that would prevent them from getting hurt. The date of the first formal basketball game played at the Springfield YMCA Training School under Naismith's rules is generally given as December 21, 1891. Basketball began to be played at some college campuses by 1893.


title: College basketball

text: The first known college to field a basketball team against an outside opponent was Vanderbilt University, which played against the local YMCA in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 7, 1893, where Vanderbilt won 9–6. The second recorded instance of an organized college basketball game was Geneva College's game against New Brighton YMCA on April 8, 1893, in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, which Geneva won 3–0.


title: College basketball

text: The first recorded game between two college teams occurred on November 22, 1894, when the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now known as Drexel University) faced Temple College (now known as Temple University). Drexel won the game, which was played under rules allowing nine players per side, among many other variations from modern basketball, 26–1. The first intercollegiate match using the modern rule of five players per side is often credited as a game between the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, Iowa, on January 18, 1896. The Chicago team won the game 15-12, under the coaching of Amos Alonzo Stagg, who had learned the game from James Naismith at Springfield YMCA. However, some sources state the first "true" five-on-five intercollegiate match was a game in 1897 between Yale and Penn, because although the Iowa team that played Chicago in 1896 was composed of University of Iowa students, it reportedly did not officially represent the university, rather it was organized through a YMCA. By 1900, the game of basketball had spread to colleges across the country.


title: College basketball

text: The Amateur Athletic Union's annual U.S. national championship tournament (first played in 1898) often featured collegiate teams playing against non-college teams. Four colleges won the AAU tournament championship: Utah (1916), NYU (1920), Butler (1924) and Washburn (1925). College teams were also runners-up in 1915, 1917, 1920, 1921, 1932 and 1934.


title: College basketball

text: The first known tournament featuring exclusively college teams was the 1904 Summer Olympics, where basketball was a demonstration sport, and a collegiate championship tournament was held. The Olympic title was won by Hiram College. In March 1908, a two-game "championship series" was organized between the University of Chicago and Penn, with games played in Philadelphia and Bartlett, Illinois. Chicago swept both games to win the series.


title: College basketball

text: In March 1922, the 1922 National Intercollegiate Basketball Tournament was held in Indianapolis – the first stand-alone post-season tournament exclusively for college teams. The champions of six major conferences participated: Pacific Coast Conference, Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Western Pennsylvania League, Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The Western Conference and Eastern Intercollegiate League declined invitations to participate. Wabash College won the 1922 tournament.


title: College basketball

text: The first organization to tout a regularly occurring national collegiate championship was the NAIA in 1937, although it was quickly surpassed in prestige by the National Invitation Tournament, or NIT, which brought six teams to New York's Madison Square Garden in the spring of 1938. Temple defeated Colorado in the first NIT tournament championship game, 60–36.


title: College basketball

text: In 1939, another national tournament was implemented by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The location of the NCAA tournament varied from year to year, and it soon used multiple locations each year, so more fans could see games without traveling to New York. Although the NIT was created earlier and was more prestigious than the NCAA for many years, it ultimately lost popularity and status to the NCAA Tournament. In 1950, following a double win by the 1949–50 CCNY Beavers men's basketball team (when the NIT comprised 12 and the NCAA 8 teams), the NCAA ruled that no team could compete in both tournaments, and effectively indicated that a team eligible for the NCAA tournament should play in it. Not long afterward, assisted by the 1951 scandals based in New York City, the NCAA tournament had become more prestigious than before, with conference champions and the majority of top-ranked teams competing there. The NCAA tournament eventually overtook the NIT by 1960. Through the 1960s and 1970s, with UCLA leading the way as winner of ten NCAA Tournament championships, a shift in power to teams from the west amplified the shift of attention away from the New York City-based NIT. When the NCAA tournament expanded its field of teams from 25 to 32 in 1975, to 48 in 1980, to 64 in 1985, and to 68 teams in 2011, interest in the NCAA tournament increased again and again, as it comprised more and more teams, soon including all of the strongest ones. (Expansion also improved the distribution of playing locations, which number roughly one-third the number of teams in the field.)


title: College basketball

text: In 2011, the NCAA field expanded to 68 teams and the last 8 teams playing for four spots making the field into 64, which is called the first round and so on. The former first round is called the second round, the second round is called the third round, and the Sweet Sixteen is the same, but it is technically the fourth round in the current format, etc.


title: College basketball

text: In 2016, the field did not expand, but the round numbers changed again. The first four games containing the last 8 teams is now referred to as the first four. Consequently, the first round does not start until the first four games are out of the way and the field is narrowed to 64 teams. So after the first four games the first round starts instead of that being the second round. The Second is now when there are 32 teams left, the sweet sixteen is the third round, and so on.


title: College basketball

text: In 2020, for the first time in the NCAA's history, the tournament had to be canceled due to fears of the COVID-19 pandemic. This move was done largely out of fear of the virus spreading to players and watchers, with prior attempts to limit the spread without canceling by first choosing to limit attendees, and then canceling the tournament in its entirety.


title: College basketball

text: The cancellation of the tournament, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, led to a lot of uncertainty for the coaches, players, and NCAA as a whole. Many people were very disappointed and had wished it was just delayed, rather than completely being cancelled. Unfortunately, this pandemic really effected the seniors on the teams, considering their last season just got abruptly taken from them. The NCAA did consider granting waivers to the student athletes who participated in winter sports (including basketball) so that they could regain eligibility for the 2021 season. However, many of the seniors were projected to be picked in the NBA draft, so this led to the difficult decision of playing one more year with their college teammates or moving on to the big stage.


title: College basketball

text: In 2021, the tournament was able to take place, and the teams were so ready to be back. Baylor was the Men's 2021 NCAA Champions. In 2022, Kansas won the tournament, defeating North Carolina in the championship. For the women's league, the 2021 champions were Stanford, who defeated Arizona in a very close game. In 2022, the women's NCAA champions was South Carolina, defeating UConn in the championship.


title: College basketball

text: Racial integration of all-white collegiate sports teams was high on the regional agenda in the 1950s and 1960s. These issues included inequality, racism, and the alumni demand for the top players needed to win high-profile games. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) took the lead. "College basketball data allow for direct comparisons of the racial differences in the marginal revenues generated by players" (Brown and Jewell 1995). First they started to schedule integrated teams from the North. The wake-up call came in 1966 when Don Haskins's Texas Western College team with five black starters defeated the all-white University of Kentucky team to win the NCAA national basketball championship. This happened at a time when there weren't any black varsity basketball players in either the Southeastern Conference or the Southwest Conference. Finally ACC schools—typically under pressure from boosters and civil rights groups—integrated their teams. With an alumni base that dominated local and state politics, society and business, the ACC flagship schools were successful in their endeavor—as Pamela Grundy argues, they had learned how to win:


title: College basketball

text: The original rules for basketball were very different from today's modern rules of the sport, including the use of eight players per side. James Naismith established 13 original rules:


title: College basketball

text: The following is a list of some of the major NCAA Basketball rule changes with the year they went into effect.


title: College basketball

text: For the 2022 season, there are some new rules that will be implemented. The goal of adding these rules is to make the game, overall, more offensively entertaining and to avoid some foolish behavior that is sometimes present on the court. The first change is moving the men's college basketball three-point line from twenty feet and nine inches to 22 feet 1.75 inches. The women's line stayed the same distance, meaning there will now be two different lines on the collegiate floors.


title: College basketball

text: Another rule that will be implemented is the clock will change to only 20 seconds on an offensive rebound. The point of this rule change is to increase the tempo of the game and to add more possessions. However, if the ball gets back to the midcourt line, the clock will reset back to 30 seconds. Another interesting rule change is getting rid of flopping. Teams will get one warning, and then the second flop will be a technical foul. This rule change will help to minimize the number of delays during games, due to players faking injuries or foul play. Also, in the 2022 season, more rules are to be implemented on the number of flagrant fouls to eventually lead to an overall cleaner game.


title: College basketball

text: The One-and-done rule has been a part of college basketball since 2006, the first NBA draft it affected. The rule was created by NBA Commissioner, David Stern, which changed the draft age from 18 years old to 19 years old. This change meant players could not be drafted into the NBA straight out of high school. Instead, however, they usually went to a college to play only one season before entering the following NBA draft when they are eligible, hence the name One-and-Done. The first player to be drafted during this "one-and-done era" was Tyrus Thomas, a forward out of Louisiana State, who was drafted fourth overall in 2006.


title: College basketball

text: In 2021–2022, a total of 358 schools played men's basketball in 32 Division I basketball conferences. All of these schools also sponsor women's basketball except The Citadel and VMI, two military colleges that were all-male until the 1990s and remain overwhelmingly male today.


title: College basketball

text: In the early decades of college basketball, and well into the 1970s, many schools played as independents, with no conference membership. However, the rise of televised college sports in the 1980s led to the formation of many new conferences and the expansion of previously existing conferences. The last Division I school to play as an independent in basketball was NJIT, which was forced to go independent in 2013 after the collapse of its former all-sports league, the Great West Conference. NJIT joined the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2015, leaving no Division I basketball independents.


title: College basketball

text: As of the upcoming 2020–21 college basketball season, there are 23 Division II basketball conferences:


title: College basketball

text: There are expected to be five independent Division II schools without conference affiliations for the 2020–21 season.


title: College basketball

text: The most recent change in the list of Division II conferences is the demise of the Heartland Conference, which disbanded at the end of the 2018–19 school year. In 2017, eight of its nine members announced a mass exodus to the Lone Star Conference (LSC) effective in 2019. The remaining member would soon announce that it would become a de facto member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA), and one of the original eight schools to announce a move to the LSC later changed course and chose to become a de facto MIAA member as well. The two schools that moved to the MIAA are technically associate members because they do not sponsor football, a mandatory sport for full conference members.


title: College basketball

text: Since its introduction in 1973, Division III has always had the lowest share of Black coaches. As of 2015, less than 10% of the coaches in Division III were black (compared to around 20% in Division II and 25% in Division I).


title: College basketball

text: The most recent change to the roster of D-III conferences came in 2020, when the American Collegiate Athletic Association merged into the Capital Athletic Conference.


title: College basketball

text: From 1992 to 2020, the NAIA operated separate Division I and Division II men's and women's basketball championships; the distinction between the two divisions was that D-I schools awarded basketball scholarships while D-II schools chose not to. Basketball divisions were abolished after the 2019–20 season, and from 2020 to 2021 single men's and women's championships will be held.


title: College basketball

text: In past decades, the NBA held to tradition and drafted players who had graduated from college. This was a mutually beneficial relationship for the NBA and colleges—the colleges held onto players who would otherwise go professional, and the NBA did not have to fund a minor league. As the college game became commercialized, though, it became increasingly difficult for "student athletes" to be students. A growing number of poor and under-educated, but highly talented, teenage basketball players found the system exploitative—they brought in funds to schools where they learned little and played without income.


title: College basketball

text: The American Basketball Association began to employ players who had not yet graduated from college. After a season of junior college, a season at the University of Detroit, and an Olympic gold medal, Spencer Haywood played the 1969–70 season with the ABA's Denver Rockets. He signed with the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics in 1970, before his college class graduation, defying NBA rules. Haywood pleaded that, as his family's sole wage earner, he should be allowed to earn a living in the NBA or else his family would face destitution. The ensuing legal battle went to the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled in 1971 that the NBA does not have the same antitrust exemption enjoyed by Major League Baseball. Thereafter, collegiate players demonstrating economic hardship were allowed early entry into the NBA draft. The hardship requirement was eliminated in 1976.


title: College basketball

text: In 1974, Moses Malone joined the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association (which became part of the NBA after the ABA–NBA merger in 1976) straight out of high school and went on to a Hall of Fame career. The past 30 years have seen a remarkable change in the college game. The best international players routinely skip college entirely, many American stars skip college (Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Dwight Howard, Amar'e Stoudemire, and LeBron James) or only play one year (Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Kevin Durant, and John Wall), and only a dozen or so college graduates are now among the 60 players selected in the annual NBA draft. Fewer high schoolers have progressed directly to the NBA without at least one year of college basketball beginning in 2006; citing maturity concerns after several incidents involving young players, the labor agreement between players and owners now specifies that players must turn 19 years of age during the calendar year of the draft to be eligible. Additionally, U.S. players must be at least one year removed from their high school graduation.


title: College basketball

text: The pervasiveness of college basketball throughout the nation, the large population of graduates from "major conference" universities, and the NCAA's marketing of "March Madness" (officially the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship), have kept the college game alive and well. Some commentators have argued that the higher turnover of players has increased the importance of good coaches. Many teams have been highly successful, for instance, by emphasizing personality in their recruiting efforts, with the goal of creating a cohesive group that, while lacking stars, plays together for all 4 years and thus develops a higher level of sophistication than less stable teams could achieve.


title: College basketball

text: College basketball remains more popular than the NBA in some regions of the United States, such as in North Carolina and the Midwest (where traditionally strong programs at Louisville, Kentucky, and Indiana are found).


title: College basketball

text: The NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee, consisting of coaches from all three divisions of the NCAA, sets the rules for college men's basketball play. A parallel committee sets rules for college women's play. Although many of the NBA and WNBA rules apply in NCAA play, there are differences that make NCAA play unique.


title: College basketball

text: As of the 2021–22 season, NCAA men's games are divided into two halves, each 20 minutes long; NBA games are played in four quarters of 12 minutes each; and WNBA and NCAA women's games are played in 10-minute quarters. The NCAA shot clock gives teams of both sexes 30 seconds to shoot, while the shot clock used in both the NBA and WNBA gives teams 24 seconds. Also, NCAA teams are allowed 10 seconds to move the ball past the halfcourt line (with this rule only having been added to the women's college game in the 2013–14 season), while NBA and WNBA rules allow only 8 seconds. However, like the NBA and WNBA (and high school basketball), during the last minute of each period, the game clock keeps time remaining in the period measured in tenths of a second, rather than full seconds.


title: College basketball

text: Prior to the 2015–16 season, NCAA men's basketball used a 35-second shot clock, while NCAA women's basketball was played with the same 20-minute halves as the men's game.


title: College basketball

text: Though the height of the basket, the foul line's distance from the backboard, and the court dimensions are the same, the distance between the three-point line and the backboard is different. The NBA three-point line measures at the top of the circle, or 22 feet (6.7 m) in the corners or baseline. On the NCAA court, the three-point line had been a constant , but the NCAA Rules Committee voted in May 2007 to extend it a foot more to , which became effective beginning the 2008–09 season for men and the 2011–12 season for women. Effective in 2019–20, the NCAA adopted the current FIBA three-point arc of at the top of the circle and at the corners and baseline for Division I men's play, with Divisions II and III following in 2020–21. The previous college men's arc will remain in use for women's play for the time being, but the FIBA arc was to be used on an experimental basis in the 2020 Women's National Invitation Tournament and Women's Basketball Invitational (which ultimately were not held). The WNBA's three-point line was , which FIBA used before it extended its three-point arc to at the top of the circle and at the corners and baseline. The NCAA lane measures in width, while the NBA and WNBA lane is ; the FIBA lane is marginally wider than the NBA/WNBA lane at exactly .


title: College basketball

text: NCAA players are allowed five personal fouls before fouling out, as opposed to their NBA counterparts, who are allowed six. This maintains the same ratio of minutes of play per foul allowed, eight. However, the WNBA allows players six personal fouls despite playing the same number of minutes as the NCAA. The number of team fouls allotted is also different. In all three competitions, team fouls can be categorized as shooting or non-shooting. A shooting foul occurs when a player gets fouled in the act of shooting (while airborne), giving him the chance to shoot free throws. A common foul (non-shooting foul) consists of all other fouls, including making contact with the opposing player while "reaching in" to steal the ball.


title: College basketball

text: A team may make a certain number of non-shooting fouls per period before the opposing team is awarded free throws. In the NBA, WNBA, and (since 2015–16) NCAA women's basketball, the fifth team foul in a quarter places the team in penalty. For every foul starting with the fifth, whether shooting or non-shooting, the opposing team receives two free throws. In addition, if an NBA or WNBA team has not entered the penalty in the last two minutes of a period, its team foul count is reset; the second team foul in the last two minutes triggers the penalty. In the NCAA men's game, the penalty begins with the seventh team foul in a half. However, the fouled player must make the first free throw in order to get the second. This is called a "one-and-one" or "one and the bonus" situation. On the tenth team foul, the "double bonus" situation comes into play, meaning that every subsequent team foul results in two free throws for the opposing team. No free throws are shot at either level for a player control foul, which is an offensive foul (usually a charge). Unlike NBA/WNBA rules, the team foul count does not reset in the last two minutes of a half (men's) or quarter (women's). Overtime periods are considered an extension of the second half under NCAA men's rules and the fourth quarter under NCAA women's rules, but not under NBA/WNBA rules; in those leagues, the fourth team foul in any overtime period, or the second in the last two minutes, triggers the penalty.


title: College basketball

text: When a dispute over ball possession arises, the jump ball is used in the NBA and WNBA. In the NCAA, once the first possession has been established from the opening tip, no further jump balls occur except to begin an overtime period. Since 1981, a possession arrow on the scorer's table has dictated which team should possess the ball, with the arrow switching directions after each use.


title: College basketball

text: NCAA teams can call a timeout after they made a basket (Indiana scores a 3-point field goal and calls a timeout); in the NBA and WNBA, only the opposing team can call a timeout after a basket is made. From the 2015–16 season through 2018–19, NCAA men's coaches were banned from calling timeouts from the bench while the ball is live at any time in the game; from 2019 to 2020, they are again allowed to call such timeouts, but only during the last 2 minutes of any period (half or overtime). Players have not been subject to this restriction.


title: College basketball

text: In addition, the NBA limits what types of defense a team can play, primarily in an effort to prevent coaches from slowing down the pace of the game by using zone defenses. Zone defense is permitted in the NBA and WNBA; however, players cannot stand in the lane for more than three seconds if they are not guarding anyone. In NCAA basketball, no such restriction exists, and coaches are free to design a variety of defensive techniques.


title: College basketball

text: In college basketball, it is required by rule that the home team wears their white or light-colored jerseys while the visiting team wears their darker jersey color. The NBA, like most other professional sports leagues, lets the home team decide which uniform to wear, but with a few exceptions the home team has continued the tradition of the college game and wears white (or in the case of the Los Angeles Lakers for non-Sunday home games, gold) at home. Since the 2017–18 season, the NBA only requires that road teams wear colors that contrast sufficiently with the home team's choice, meaning that "color on color" games are now possible. This is for regular season play only; home teams always wear white during the playoffs. The WNBA, however, follows the college rule for all games.


title: College basketball

text: The NBA introduced a new dress code rule in 2005. Now players are required to wear business casual attire whenever they are engaged in team or league business. This includes a long or short-sleeved dress shirt (collared or turtleneck), and/or a sweater; dress slacks, khaki pants, or dress jeans, and appropriate shoes and socks, including dress shoes, dress boots, or other presentable shoes, but not including sneakers, sandals, flip-flops, or work boots. The WNBA has a similar dress code, adjusted for standard women's attire. NCAA rules have no set dress code rule, leaving it up to individual teams or conferences.


title: College basketball

text: The organizations also have different rules for jersey numbers. While the NBA and WNBA allow players to wear any number from 0 to 99, including 00, so long as it is available, the NCAA disallows any jersey number with a 6, 7, 8, or 9 in it. This is done to allow the referee to report fouls using hand signals with one hand, as each hand has only five fingers. High school basketball, whose rules are set by the National Federation of State High School Associations, also follows the NCAA's convention on jersey numbering.


title: College basketball

text: While less commercialized than Division I, Division II and Division III are both highly successful college basketball organizations. Women's Division I is often televised, but to smaller audiences than Men's Division I. Generally, small colleges join Division II, while colleges of all sizes that choose not to offer athletic scholarships join Division III. Games other than NCAA D-I are rarely televised by national media, although CBS televises the Championship Final of NCAA Division II, while CBS College Sports Network televises the semifinals as well as the Division III Final.


title: College basketball

text: The NAIA also sponsors men and women's college-level basketball. The NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship has been held annually since 1937 (with the exception of 1944 and 2020), when it was established by James Naismith to crown a national champion for smaller colleges and universities. Unlike the NCAA Tournament, the NAIA Tournament features only 32 teams, and the entire tournament is contested in one week instead of three weekends. Since 2002 the NAIA National Tournament has been played in Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. (in 1994–2001 it was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and 1937–1999 it was held at Municipal then Kemper Arena in Kansas City). Media coverage has sporadically been provided by CBS, the Victory Sports Network, and various lesser-known media.


title: College basketball

text: From 1992 to 2020, the NAIA sponsored a Division II championship, similar to the NCAA Division I and II. There is also an NAIA Women's Basketball Championship, which was also split into Divisions I and II through the 2019–20 season. From 2020 to 2021, the NAIA will adopt a single-division format for basketball, with the men's and women's tournaments featuring 64 teams each. In both tournaments, the first two rounds will be held at 16 regional sites, with only the winner at each site advancing to the final tournament site.


title: College basketball

text: The only school to have won national titles in both the NAIA and NCAA Division I is Louisville; the Cardinals have also won the NIT title. Southern Illinois has won NAIA and NIT titles. Central Missouri and Fort Hays State have won NAIA and NCAA Division II national titles. Indiana State has won an NAIA title and finished as the National Runner-Up in the NAIA (twice), in NCAA Division II (once) and NCAA Division I (once).


title: Fief

text: A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal allegiance, services and/or payments. The fees were often lands, land revenue or revenue-producing real property like a watermill, held in feudal land tenure: these are typically known as fiefs or fiefdoms. However, not only land but anything of value could be held in fee, including governmental office, rights of exploitation such as hunting, fishing or felling trees, monopolies in trade, money rents and tax farms. There never did exist one feudal system, nor did there exist one type of fief. Over the ages, depending on the region, there was a broad variety of customs using the same basic legal principles in many variations.


title: Fief

text: In ancient Rome, a "benefice" (from the Latin noun , meaning "benefit") was a gift of land () for life as a reward for services rendered, originally, to the state. In medieval Latin European documents, a land grant in exchange for service continued to be called a (Latin). Later, the term , or , began to replace in the documents. The first attested instance of this is from 984, although more primitive forms were seen up to one hundred years earlier. The origin of the and why it replaced has not been well established, but there are multiple theories, described below.


title: Fief

text: The most widely held theory is put forth by Marc Bloch that it is related to the Frankish term "*fehu-ôd", in which "*fehu" means "cattle" and "-ôd" means "goods", implying "a moveable object of value". When land replaced currency as the primary store of value, the Germanic word "*fehu-ôd" replaced the Latin word . This Germanic origin theory was also shared by William Stubbs in the 19th century.


title: Fief

text: A theory put forward by Archibald R. Lewis is that the origin of 'fief' is not (or ), but rather , the earliest attested use being in Astronomus's (840). In that text is a passage about Louis the Pious which says , which can be translated as "(Louis forbade that) military provender which they popularly call 'fodder' (be furnished)."


title: Fief

text: A theory by Alauddin Samarrai suggests an Arabic origin, from (the plural of , which literally means "the returned", and was used especially for 'land that has been conquered from enemies that did not fight'). Samarrai's theory is that early forms of 'fief' include , , , and others, the plurality of forms strongly suggesting origins from a loanword. The first use of these terms was in Languedoc, one of the least-Germanized areas of Europe, and bordering Muslim Spain, where the earliest use of as a replacement for can be dated to 899, the same year a Muslim base at Fraxinetum (La Garde-Freinet) in Provence was established. It is possible, Samarrai says, that French scribes, writing in Latin, attempted to transliterate the Arabic word (the plural of ), which was being used by the Muslims at the time, resulting in a plurality of forms ( and others), from which eventually derived. Samarrai, however, also advises that medieval and early modern Muslim scribes often used etymologically "fanciful roots" in order to claim the most outlandish things to be of Arabian or Muslim origin.


title: Fief

text: In the 10th and 11th centuries the Latin terms for 'fee' could be used either to describe dependent tenure held by a man from his lord, as the term is used now by historians, or it could mean simply "property" (the manor was, in effect, a small fief). It lacked a precise meaning until the middle of the 12th century, when it received formal definition from land lawyers.


title: Fief

text: In English usage, the word "fee" is first attested around 1250–1300 (Middle English); the word "fief" from around 1605–1615. In French, the term is found from the middle of the 13th century (Old French), derived from the 11th-century terms , . The odd appearance of the second "f" in the form may be due to influence from the verb 'to grant in fee'. In French, one also finds (land and rights possessed by a or "lord", 12th century), which gives rise to the expression "seigneurial system" to describe feudalism.


title: Fief

text: Originally, vassalage did not imply the giving or receiving of landholdings (which were granted only as a reward for loyalty), but by the 8th century the giving of a landholding was becoming standard. The granting of a landholding to a vassal did not relinquish the lord's property rights, but only the use of the lands and their income; the granting lord retained ultimate ownership of the fee and could, technically, recover the lands in case of disloyalty or death. In Francia, Charles Martel was the first to make large-scale and systematic use (the practice had remained sporadic until then) of the remuneration of vassals by the concession of the usufruct of lands (a "beneficatium" or "benefice" in the documents) for the life of the vassal, or, sometimes extending to the second or third generation.


title: Fief

text: By the middle of the 10th century, fee had largely become hereditary. The eldest son of a deceased vassal would inherit, but first he had to do homage and fealty to the lord and pay a "relief" for the land (a monetary recognition of the lord's continuing proprietary rights over the property).


title: Fief

text: Historically, the fees of the 11th and the 12th century derived from two separate sources. The first was land carved out of the estates of the upper nobility. The second source was allodial land transformed into dependent tenures. During the 10th century in northern France and the 11th century in France south of the Loire, local magnates either recruited or forced the owners of allodial holdings into dependent relationships and they were turned into fiefs. The process occurred later in Germany, and was still going on in the 13th century.


title: Fief

text: In England, Henry II transformed them into important sources of royal income and patronage. The discontent of barons with royal claims to arbitrarily assessed "reliefs" and other feudal payments under Henry's son King John resulted in Magna Carta of 1215.


title: Fief

text: Eventually, great feudal lords sought also to seize governmental and legal authority (the collection of taxes, the right of high justice, etc.) in their lands, and some passed these rights to their own vassals.


title: Fief

text: In 13th-century Germany, Italy, England, France, and Spain the term "feodum" was used to describe a dependent tenure held from a lord by a vassal in return for a specified amount of knight service and occasional financial payments (feudal incidents).


title: Fief

text: In northern France in the 12th and 13th centuries, military service for fiefs was limited for offensive campaigns to 40 days for a knight. By the 12th century, English and French kings and barons began to commute military service for cash payments (scutages), with which they could purchase the service of mercenaries.


title: Fief

text: A list of several hundred such fees held in chief between 1198 and 1292, along with their holders' names and form of tenure, was published in three volumes between 1920 and 1931 and is known as "The Book of Fees"; it was developed from the 1302 "Testa de Nevill".


title: Fief

text: Guernsey or the Bailiwick of Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands that is a Crown Dependency. Guernsey still has feudal law and legal fiefs in existence today. Each fief has a Seigneur and/or Dame that owns the fief. The Guernsey fiefs and seigneurs have long existed before baronies and are part of Normandy. While nobility has been outlawed in France and Germany, noble fiefs still exist by law in Guernsey. The owners of the fiefs actually convene each year at the Court of Chief Pleas under the supervision of His Majesty's Government. There are approximately 24 private fiefs in Guernsey that are registered directly with the Crown.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Sharpe is a series of historical fiction stories by Bernard Cornwell centred on the character of British soldier Richard Sharpe. The stories formed the basis for an ITV television series featuring Sean Bean in the title role.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Cornwell's series is composed of many novels and several short stories, and charts Sharpe's progress in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars, though the novels were published in non-chronological order. He begins in "Sharpe's Tiger" as a private in the 33rd Regiment of Foot who is continually promoted, finally rising to lieutenant colonel in "Sharpe's Waterloo". His military career ends with the final defeat of Napoleon, but he has more adventures as a civilian.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Sharpe is born to a whore in the rookeries of London. Orphaned at an early age, he grows up in poverty. He is eventually taken in by prostitute (and later bar owner) Maggie Joyce and becomes a thief. He has to flee the city after killing a man to protect Maggie.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Enlisting in the army, he is promoted to sergeant as a reward for completing a highly dangerous spying mission in India. He is made an officer, an ensign, when he saves the life of his commanding officer, Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington), during the Battle of Assaye. It is a mixed blessing, as he constantly has to fight class prejudice in an army where an officer's rank is often purchased without regard to qualification. Cornwell sees to it that he is improbably present at many important battles of the British Empire at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, including the Battle of Waterloo.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Sharpe is described as "brilliant but wayward" in "Sharpe's Sword", and he is portrayed by the author as a "loose cannon". He becomes a highly skilled and experienced leader of light troops. In contrast to the honourable Horatio Hornblower, the inspiration for the series, Sharpe is a rogue, an unabashed thief and murderer who has no qualms about killing a bitter enemy when the opportunity arises. However, he is protective of women in general and has a number of lovers over the course of his life.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: He is six feet tall, with an angular, tanned face, long black hair, and blue eyes. He has a deep scar on his right cheek which pulls at his right eye, giving his face a mocking expression when relaxed; this disappears when he smiles, which is not too frequently. By the end of the series, he has had two wives and three children.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Cornwell had enjoyed C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels, which depict a Royal Navy officer's career from midshipman to Admiral of the Fleet and retirement. When he could not find a similar series for the British Army, he decided to write it himself. As a further inducement, he fell in love with an American woman who, for various reasons, could not leave the United States, so he relocated. He could not get a green card or work permit, so he wrote the first Sharpe novel to make a living.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Struggling to come up with a name as distinctive as Horatio Hornblower, he used a placeholder based on the rugby union player Richard Sharp; eventually, he kept it, just adding an "e". The author had intended to write 11 novels, the same number as in the Hornblower series, ending with "Sharpe's Waterloo", but later changed his mind and continued writing.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Sean Bean played Sharpe in the British television series "Sharpe". Cornwell was so impressed with Bean's portrayal that he expanded Sharpe's backstory to have him growing up in Yorkshire to account for Bean's accent. The author also avoided further mention of Sharpe's black hair (Bean's hair being blond).


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Richard Sharpe is born in London circa 1777 (he believes that he may be 22 during the early months of 1799) to a prostitute residing in "Cat Lane" and possibly a French smuggler. When Sharpe is three, his mother is killed in the Gordon Riots.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: With no other known relatives to claim him, Sharpe is deposited in Jem Hocking's foundling home at Brewhouse Lane, Wapping, where he spends his days picking his assigned quota of oakum. He is malnourished and regularly beaten, resulting in his being undersized for his age. Because of this, he is eventually sold to a master chimney sweep to train as an apprentice at the relatively late age of 12. Fearing the high mortality rate among apprentice sweeps (who are forced to climb inside chimneys and remove soot by hand), Sharpe flees to the Rookery, a slum in St Giles, and is taken in by prostitute (and later bar owner) Maggie Joyce. He stays under Maggie's protection for three years, learning various forms of thieving. Maggie is his first lover.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: After killing a gang leader during a fight over Maggie, he flees from London to Yorkshire at the age of fifteen. He works in a tavern in Sheffield. Within six months, Sharpe kills a second man, the landlord of the tavern where he is working, in a fight over a local girl.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: To avoid arrest, Sharpe takes the "King's shilling", joining the 33rd Foot, as a result of the blandishments of recruiting sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill. The regiment is first sent to Flanders in 1794, where Sharpe fights in his first battle, at Boxtel. The next year, he and his regiment are posted to India, under the command of the British East India Company.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: In 1799, Sergeant Hakeswill goads Sharpe into striking him. Sharpe is sentenced to 2,000 lashes (effectively a death sentence), but is released after only 200 by executive order ("Sharpe's Tiger"). He is assigned to accompany Lieutenant William Lawford on a secret mission to rescue Lawford's uncle, Colonel Hector McCandless, the head of British East India Company intelligence. They join Tipu Sultan’s army, posing as British deserters, but are later exposed and imprisoned. Lawford teaches Sharpe to read and write whilst they languish in Tipu’s dungeon. Sharpe escapes during the Siege of Seringapatam and prematurely detonates a mine meant to devastate the British army. The British enter the city through the breach Sharpe has provided. He then kills the fleeing Tipu unobserved during the fighting and loots a fortune in jewels from the corpse. He is promoted to sergeant for his efforts.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Sharpe serves four uneventful years as a sergeant. In 1803, he is the sole survivor of a massacre of the garrison of a small fort carried out by a turncoat Company officer, William Dodd ("Sharpe's Triumph"). Because he can identify Dodd, Sharpe is taken along by McCandless on a mission to capture and punish Dodd, to discourage others from deserting. Their search takes them first to battles at Ahmednuggur and then Assaye.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: At Assaye, the greatly outnumbered British force is commanded by Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington). When Wellesley's orderly is killed, by chance Sharpe is the only one available to take his place, and so is at hand when Wellesley is unhorsed alone and among the enemy. Sharpe single-handedly saves the general's life, killing about half a dozen enemy soldiers and holding the rest at bay until help arrives. Wellesley rewards him with a battlefield commission as an ensign for his act of bravery, though Wellesley doubts it will turn out well. Sharpe joins the 74th Regiment.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Sharpe receives a cold welcome from many of his fellow officers, who dislike him due to his low birth, as well as the common soldiers, and he has great difficulty adjusting to his new status and role. In the end, the commander of the 74th pressures him to transfer to the newly formed 95th Rifles Regiment. Before leaving India, he takes part in the assault on Gawilghur, leading troops in action for the first time. Sharpe finds a way into the nearly impregnable fortress, ignoring the orders of his cowardly commanding officer. Once inside, he confronts and kills Dodd, at the cost of a scar on his right cheek ("Sharpe's Fortress").


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: While sailing from India to England to take up his post in the 95th Rifles, in 1805, Sharpe is caught up in the Battle of Trafalgar, his first direct encounter with Napoleonic France as an infantry officer. On the journey, he meets and falls in love with Lady Grace Hale, the wife of an ambitious and powerful politician, the much older Lord William Hale ("Sharpe's Trafalgar"). During the sea battle, Lord Hale confronts his wife, having discovered her infidelity. She is forced to kill him in self-defence. Sharpe has the body taken on deck so that it will appear as if Lord Hale died in the fighting.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Grace sets up home with Sharpe at Shorncliffe, but dies giving birth to their child, who survives her by only a few hours. Sharpe's fortune is seized by the lawyers, who believe it to be part of Grace's estate.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: He falls into a deep depression, worsened by his bad relationship with his commanding officer, who relegates him to the role of quartermaster. He is left behind when the regiment is posted to the Baltic in 1807. Sharpe, unable to sell his commission (due to it not having been purchased), considers deserting.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: He returns to Wapping and robs and kills Jem Hocking, the abusive master of the foundling home where Sharpe was raised. He fortuitously encounters General Baird, a former colleague from India. Baird recruits him to protect John Lavisser, a Foreign Office agent being sent to secretly negotiate with the Danish Crown Prince to keep the Danish fleet out of French hands. Lavisser betrays Sharpe, who goes into hiding in Copenhagen. He witnesses the British bombardment of the city and the capture of the Danish fleet ("Sharpe's Prey"). Sharpe considers settling down there, having fallen in love with Astrid, the daughter of Ole Skovgaard, the chief spy for the British in Denmark. However, Skovgaard turns against the British because of their attack, and Astrid obeys his order to break up with Sharpe.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: By early 1809, Sharpe is in Spain with the 95th Rifles, his men serving as the rearguard of the retreat to Corunna. When Captain Murray is mortally wounded, he leaves his heavy cavalry sword to Sharpe, giving him his signature weapon, used in all the subsequent books. Cut off from the main body of the army, he is forced to take command of a handful of surviving but mutinous riflemen (including future best friend Patrick Harper), while protecting a small party of English missionaries. He encounters Spanish Major Blas Vivar and his partisans and unwillingly helps them temporarily seize control of the city of Santiago de Compostela so that Vivar can raise a sacred gonfalon to bolster the Spanish people's flagging morale ("Sharpe's Rifles"). Sharpe's surviving riflemen who begin the retreat to Corunna are:


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: After making their way to Portugal, and taking part in the Battle of the Douro, Sharpe and his surviving 30 riflemen are attached to the Light Company of the South Essex Regiment (a fictional regiment) as part of Wellesley's Peninsula Army. Some of the men Sharpe commanded in the South Essex are:


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Sharpe takes part in a number of notable actions, either with the South Essex, or on detached duty for Wellesley's spymaster, Captain Michael Hogan of the Royal Engineers. These include capturing a French Imperial Eagle at the Battle of Talavera in 1809 (fulfilling a promise to the dying Captain Lennox), and the storming of the breach at Badajoz. He also takes an active role in the first siege of Almeida, the battles of Bussaco, Barossa, Ciudad Rodrigo, Fuentes de Onoro, Salamanca, Vitoria and Toulouse.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Over this period, he rises in rank from lieutenant to captain to major, eventually taking unofficial command of the entire regiment. In parallel, Sharpe's Irish friend Harper rises from rifleman to regimental sergeant major.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: His intelligence work for Wellesley brings him the long-lasting enmity of the fictional French spymaster Pierre Ducos, who conspires several times to destroy Sharpe's career, reputation or life.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Prior to the Battle of Waterloo, Sharpe is appointed aide to the Prince of Orange, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Disgusted by the Prince's dangerous incompetence during the course of the battle, Sharpe deserts his post (making an attempt on the prince's life afterwards), but comes to the aid of his old regiment, steadying the line and preventing a French breakthrough. Wellesley then gives him command of the unit for the remainder of the battle ("Sharpe's Waterloo").


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Following Napoleon's defeat, Sharpe ends up in Paris with the occupying allied armies. There he uncovers and defeats a secret Bonapartist group ("Sharpe's Assassin"). Afterwards, he retires from the army.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: In 1820 Sharpe, living as a farmer in Normandy, is commissioned by the Countess of Mouromorto to find her husband, Don Blas Vivar, who has disappeared in the Spanish colony of Chile; both she and her husband had become acquainted with Sharpe in 1809, during the events leading up to the assault on Santiago de Compostella. Sharpe and Patrick Harper travel to South America. En route, they meet Napoleon, in exile on St Helena, who makes Sharpe an unwitting accomplice to his escape plot. Sharpe becomes entangled in Lord Cochrane's risky schemes on behalf of the rebels in the Chilean War of Independence. In the end, he finds Blas Vivar alive, and Napoleon dies before he can escape.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: During the earliest (chronological) books Sharpe is a private and later sergeant, and so his uniform and weapons largely are in line with Army regulations. His first sword and officer's sash are taken from the dead in the wake of the Battle of Assaye, although no specifics are given on the weapon.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: By the time of "Sharpe's Prey" as a junior rifle officer, although carrying a regulation Pattern 1796 light cavalry sabre, Sharpe has begun carrying a Baker rifle as well, and is noted to prefer a heavier sword like the cutlass used by the Navy, as the point of the curved sabre was never where he expected it to be and also lacked the weight to block attacks from a musket and bayonet in close-quarter battles.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: In "Sharpe's Rifles", Sharpe acquires his other signature weapon. Captain Murray, mortally wounded in the Corunna retreat, leaves his Pattern 1796 heavy cavalry sword to him, a replacement for the sword that broke in the battle. From a French chasseur Harper kills, Sharpe takes his overalls and boots. Sharpe continues to wear his green jacket even whilst serving in a regular infantry battalion out of pride, as do Harper and all of the other elite riflemen. As Sharpe, like the majority of his men, also acquires a French ox-hide pack in place of the inferior British one he is originally issued, more of his equipment is French than British.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Sharpe also possesses a fine telescope made by Matthew Berge, a gift from Wellington for saving his life in the Battle of Assaye. It is inscribed "In Gratitude, AW. September 23rd 1803." It is destroyed by Pierre Ducos in "Sharpe's Honour", but he is given another that belonged to Joseph Bonaparte, which he carries until "Sharpe's Revenge" when it is confiscated after Sharpe's arrest. This is in turn replaced by a sea captain's telescope.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: In "Sharpe's Assassin", immediately after the Battle of Waterloo, Sharpe buries his rifle with rifleman Daniel Hagman and takes Hagman's-a better weapon-as his own. He is later bestowed the Order of Saint Vladimir (2nd class), which was given to Wellington by Emperor Alexander I of Russia. It was first offered to a cavalry colonel who turned it down, so Wellington gives it to Sharpe.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Sharpe, the son of a prostitute, has almost no memory of his mother, and no knowledge of his father. The author, Bernard Cornwell, in answer to a query on his website, wrote a riddle which he claims contains the father's identity: "Take you out, put me in and a horse appears in this happy person!". Bernard later announced on his website that Sharpe's father was a French smuggler, and that is all he "knows".


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Sharpe is both a romantic and a womanizer. In "Sharpe's Rifles", Harper notes that "He'll fall in love with anything in a petticoat. I've seen his type before. Got the sense of a half-witted sheep when it comes to women."


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: In India Sharpe asks for permission to marry Mary Bickerstaff, who later leaves him ("Sharpe's Tiger"), and has a brief affair with Simone Joubert, who bolts with gems he left with her for safekeeping ("Sharpe's Triumph", "Sharpe's Fortress").


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: His relationship with Lady Grace Hale in 1805 has a more lasting impact; the death of his first child, who succumbs only a few hours after Grace dies in childbirth, leaves Sharpe deeply distressed. In Copenhagen, Sharpe falls in love with Astrid Skovgaard, the daughter of an important Danish spy for the British. However, after the British naval attack on Copenhagen, her father refuses to let her marry him. After Sharpe leaves, she and her father are murdered by British spymaster Lord Pumphrey ("Sharpe's Trafalgar", "Sharpe's Prey"), as their loyalty has become suspect.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: During the early years of the Peninsula Campaign, Sharpe's affections are torn between a Portuguese courtesan, Josefina LaCosta, and the Spanish partisan leader Teresa Moreno ("Sharpe's Eagle", "Sharpe's Gold"). Teresa bears Sharpe a daughter, Antonia ("Sharpe's Company"), in 1811, and marries Sharpe in 1812, but is murdered a year later by Sharpe's longtime enemy, deserter Obadiah Hakeswill ("Sharpe's Enemy"). Sharpe leaves his daughter to be raised by Teresa's family, and, as far as is known, never sees her again.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Over the same period, Sharpe also has affairs with an English governess, Sarah Fry ("Sharpe's Escape"); Caterina Veronica Blazquez, a prostitute who has beguiled Henry Wellesley, Sir Arthur's brother ("Sharpe's Fury"); and the French spy Hélène Leroux ("Sharpe's Sword", "Sharpe's Honour").


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: For some years, Sharpe carries a small portrait of Jane Gibbons, taken after murdering her brother ("Sharpe's Eagle"). In 1813, he returns to England to fetch replacements, and meets, elopes with, and marries Jane ("Sharpe's Regiment"). Sharpe remains faithful to his second wife, until, when Sharpe is falsely accused of theft and murder, she embarks on an adulterous affair with Sharpe's former friend Lord John Rossendale and steals the fortune Sharpe had accumulated and entrusted to her. It is while searching for evidence to clear his name that Sharpe meets and falls in love with Lucille Castineau (nee Lassan), the widow of a French officer killed in Russia ("Sharpe's Revenge", "Sharpe's Waterloo").


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Although unable to marry while Jane lives, Sharpe settles with Lucille on her family estate in Normandy and raises two children, Patrick-Henri, who becomes a French cavalry officer (and a character in Bernand Cornwell's "The Starbuck Chronicles"), and Dominique, who ultimately marries an English aristocrat.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: By 1861, Patrick-Henri, then a colonel in the Imperial Guard Cavalry observing the Union and Confederate armies during the American Civil War, mentions that his mother is "very lonely", so it may be assumed that Sharpe has died sometime before that date. (The "Sharpe Companion" gives Sharpe's year of death as 1860, though this is never stated in any of the books.) This is contradicted in the television adaptation "Sharpe's Challenge", set in 1817, in which Sharpe states that Lucille has already died.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Sharpe is often portrayed as the driving force in a number of pivotal historical events. Cornwell admits to taking license with history, placing Sharpe in the place of another man whose identity is lost to history or sometimes "stealing another man's thunder". Such accomplishments include:


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: The first book was written in 1981, with Richard Sharpe in Spain at the Talavera Campaign in 1809. The next seven books were written in order up to "Sharpe's Siege" in 1814. The novel "Sharpe's Rifles" was written next, set earlier in 1809 at the time of the retreat from Corunna, Spain. The next four books follow on from "Sharpe's Siege" up to "Sharpe's Devil", set in 1820–21. Then came "Sharpe's Battle" set between "Sharpe's Gold" and "Sharpe's Company" (set in 1811). Cornwell then moved to the beginning of Sharpe's army career in British India with "Sharpe's Tiger" set in 1799, beginning a series of three books, closing with "Sharpe's Prey" set in 1807. Cornwell followed this with two novels and four short stories which lie between "Sharpe's Rifles" (1809) and "Sharpe's Devil" (1820–21).


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Cornwell published the non-fiction book "" in September 2014, timely for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.


title: Sharpe (novel series)

text: Sharpe possibly appears in Simon Scarrow's "The Fields of Death", although his surname is not confirmed. A major in the 95th Rifles called Richard and who, "unusually for an officer... carries a rifle like his men," delivers captured French orders to the Duke of Wellington indicating the enemy's intention to fall back to Vitoria.


title: Shea Stadium

text: Shea Stadium (), formally known as William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City. Opened in 1964, it was home to the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1964 to 2008, as well as the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL) from 1964 to 1983.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The stadium was named in honor of William Shea, who was most responsible for bringing National League baseball back to New York after the Dodgers and Giants left for California in 1957. It was demolished in 2009 to create additional parking for the adjacent Citi Field, the stadium built to replace it and the current home of the Mets.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The origins of Shea Stadium go back to the relocations of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants in 1957, which left New York without a National League baseball team.


title: Shea Stadium

text: Prior to the Dodgers' departure, New York City official Robert Moses tried to interest owner Walter O'Malley in the site as the location for a new stadium, but O'Malley refused, unable to agree on location, ownership, and lease terms. O'Malley preferred to pay construction costs himself so he could own the stadium outright. He wanted total control over revenue from parking, concessions, and other events.


title: Shea Stadium

text: New York City, in contrast, wanted to build the stadium, rent it, and retain the ancillary revenue rights to pay off its construction bonds. Additionally, O'Malley wanted to build his new stadium in Brooklyn, while Moses insisted on Flushing Meadows. When Los Angeles offered O'Malley what New York City wouldn't—complete ownership of a stadium—he left for southern California in a preemptive bid to install the Dodgers there before a new or existing major league franchise could beat him to it. At the same time, Horace Stoneham moved his New York Giants to San Francisco (although he originally considered moving them to Minneapolis), ensuring that there would be two National League teams in California, and preserving the long standing rivalry with the Dodgers that continues to this day.


title: Shea Stadium

text: In , the National League agreed to grant an expansion franchise to the owners of the New York franchise in the abortive Continental League, provided that a new stadium be built. Mayor Robert Wagner, Jr. had to personally wire all National League owners and assure them that the city would build a stadium.


title: Shea Stadium

text: Soon afterward, Moses and William A. Shea, the New York lawyer who had led the effort to bring National League baseball back to New York, faced a problem. New York state law of the time did not allow cities to borrow money in order to build a stadium. The only way for the city to finance a stadium would be to demonstrate that the stadium could pay for itself. With this in mind, Moses and Shea proposed to have the new team pay substantial rent in order to pay off 30-year bonds. This provision would come back to haunt the Mets years later; they would never live up to that monetary commitment, and the ensuing financial woes would be an albatross around the team for years.


title: Shea Stadium

text: On October 6, 1961, the Mets signed a 30-year stadium lease, with an option for a 10-year renewal. Rent for what was originally budgeted as a $9 million facility was set at $450,000 annually, with a reduction of $20,000 each year until it reached $300,000 annually.


title: Shea Stadium

text: In their inaugural season in 1962, the expansion Mets played in the Polo Grounds, with original plans to move to a new stadium in 1963. In October 1962, Mets official Tom Meany said, "Only a series of blizzards or some other unforeseen trouble might hamper construction." That unforeseen trouble surfaced in a number of ways: the severe winter of 1962–1963, along with the bankruptcies of two subcontractors and labor issues. The end result was that both the Mets and Jets played at the Polo Grounds for one more year.


title: Shea Stadium

text: It was originally to be called "Flushing Meadow Park Municipal Stadium" – the name of the public park within which it was built – but an ultimately successful movement was launched to name it in honor of Shea.


title: Shea Stadium

text: After 29 months of construction and $28.5 million spent, Shea Stadium opened on April 17, 1964, with the Pittsburgh Pirates beating the Mets before a crowd of There were no prior exhibition games or events, and the stadium was barely finished in time for the home opener. Because of a jurisdictional dispute between Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Local 1106 of the Communications Workers of America, the telephone and telegraph wiring was not finished in time for opening day. The stadium opened five days before the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, across Roosevelt Avenue. Although not officially part of the fair grounds, the stadium sported steel panels on its exterior in the blue-and-orange colors of the Fair, the same team colors of the Mets. The panels were removed in 1980.


title: Shea Stadium

text: In accordance with New York City law, in 2009 Shea Stadium was dismantled, rather than imploded. The company with the rights to sell memorabilia was given two weeks after the final game to remove seats, signage and other potentially saleable and collectable items before demolition was to begin. The seats were the first ($869 per pair plus tax, a combination of '86 and '69, the team's two World Series championship years), followed by other memorabilia such as the foul poles, dugouts, stadium signage, and the giant letters that spelled out "SHEA" at the front of the building.


title: Shea Stadium

text: After salvaging operations concluded, demolition of the ballpark began on October 14, 2008. On October 18, the scoreboard in right field was demolished, with the bleachers, batter's eye and bullpens shortly thereafter.


title: Shea Stadium

text: On January 31, Mets fans all over New York came to Shea Stadium for one final farewell. Fans took a tour of the site, told stories, and sang songs. The last remaining section of seats was demolished on February 18. Fans stood in awe as the remaining structure of Shea Stadium (one section of ramps) was torn down at 11:22 am.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The locations of Shea's home plate, pitcher's mound, and bases are marked in Citi Field's parking lot. The plaques feature engravings of the neon baseball players that graced the exterior of the stadium from 1988 onward.


title: Shea Stadium

text: On October 9, 2013, the New York City Council approved a plan to build a mall and entertainment center called Willets West in the Citi Field parking lot where Shea Stadium stood, as part of an effort by the city to redevelop the nearby neighborhood of Willets Point. However, in 2015, the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court ruled that the site, considered parkland, could not be used for commercial development without permission from the New York state government.


title: Shea Stadium

text: Shea Stadium was the home of the New York Mets starting in 1964, and it hosted what would be its only All-Star Game that first year, with Johnny Callison of the Philadelphia Phillies hitting a home run in the ninth inning to win the only Mid-Summer Classic held in the Queens ballpark. A month earlier, on Father's Day, Callison's teammate, future Hall of Fame member and U.S. Senator Jim Bunning, pitched a perfect game against the Mets.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The stadium was often criticized by baseball purists for many reasons, even though it was retrofitted to be a baseball-only stadium after the Jets left. The upper deck was one of the highest in the majors. The lower boxes were farther from the field than similar seats in other parks because they were still on the rails that had swiveled them into position for football. Outfield seating was sparse, in part because the stadium was designed to be fully enclosed.


title: Shea Stadium

text: At one time, Shea's foul territory was one of the most expansive in the majors. This was very common for ballparks built during the 1960s, in part due to the need to accommodate the larger football field. This was also because the stadium was designed to be fully enclosed. However, seats added over the years in the lower level greatly reduced the size of foul territory by the dawn of the 21st century. On the plus side, Shea always used a natural grass surface, in contrast to other multi-purpose stadiums such as Three Rivers Stadium, Veterans Stadium, and Riverfront Stadium, which were built in the same era and style and had artificial turf.


title: Shea Stadium

text: Shea Stadium hosted postseason baseball in 1969, 1973, 1986, 1988, 1999, 2000, and 2006; it hosted the World Series in , , , and . It had the distinction of being the home of the 1969 "Miracle Mets"— led by former Brooklyn Dodger Gil Hodges that defied 100–1 odds and won the World Series, after seven straight seasons in last or next-to-last place. Shea became famous for the bedlam that took place after the Mets won the decisive Game 5 of the World Series, as fans stormed the field in celebration. Similar scenes took place a few weeks earlier after the Mets clinched the National League East title, and then defeated the Atlanta Braves in the first National League Championship Series to win the pennant.


title: Shea Stadium

text: Tommie Agee, Lenny Dykstra, Todd Pratt, Robin Ventura, and Benny Agbayani hit post-season, walk-off home runs at Shea (although, while the ball hit by Ventura over the fence may have been the most famous of the postseason walk-off hits, it was famously called "the Grand Slam Single", because when he hit the game-winning ball over the fence, he was mobbed by his teammates before he could reach second base, and never wound up touching second base, third base and home plate. It was not ruled a home run as he never circled the bases completely. It probably made Ventura, known for his penchant for hitting grand slams, even more famous, and the hit itself more famous, because of the very fact that he never circled the bases fully, technically not making it a homer).


title: Shea Stadium

text: Agee was the only player in the history of the ballpark to hit a fair ball into the upper deck in left field. The spot was marked with a sign featuring Agee's number 20 and the date, which was April 10, 1969. Teammate Cleon Jones said the ball was still rising when it hit the seats, so it very likely could have been the longest home run hit at Shea. It came in the second inning, and Agee hit another in the seventh over the center field wall; both solo shots were off of Montreal Expos starter Larry Jaster, and the Mets


title: Shea Stadium

text: In 1971, Dave Kingman – then with the San Francisco Giants and later to play for the Mets on two occasions – hit a home run that smashed off the windshield of the Giants' team bus, parked behind the left field bullpen.


title: Shea Stadium

text: For many years, the Mets' theme song, "Meet the Mets", was played at Shea before every home game. Jane Jarvis, a local jazz artist, played the popular songs on the Thomas organ at Mets games for many years at the stadium.


title: Shea Stadium

text: On October 3, 2004, it was the venue for the last game in the history of the Montreal Expos, and the Mets won Montreal's major league story ended where it had started 35 years earlier: at Shea Stadium. The following year, the Expos relocated to Washington, D.C. and became the Nationals.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The last game played at Shea Stadium was a loss to the Florida Marlins on September 28, 2008. However, the Mets were in the thick of the playoff chase until the last day. A win would have meant another game for Shea as the Mets were scheduled to play the Milwaukee Brewers in a one-game playoff for the National League Wild Card berth. Following the game, there was a "Shea Goodbye" tribute in which many players from the Mets' glory years entered the stadium and touched home plate one final time so that fans could pay their last respects to the players and the stadium the Mets called home for 45 years. The ceremony ended with Tom Seaver throwing a final pitch to Mike Piazza, then, as the Beatles' "In My Life" played on the stadium speakers the two former Met stars walked out of the centerfield gate and closed it behind them, followed by a display of blue and orange fireworks.


title: Shea Stadium

text: Three National League Division Series were played at Shea Stadium. The Mets won all three, and never lost a Division Series game at Shea.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The decisive seventh game of this series was played at Shea Stadium, marking the only time that the Mets lost the deciding game of a National League Championship Series at Shea.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The Yankees' World Series win in 2000 was the only time that a visiting team won a World Series at Shea Stadium. The Mets won both their World Series titles at Shea Stadium (in Game 5 in 1969, and Game 7 in 1986).


title: Shea Stadium

text: The New York Yankees played their home games in Shea Stadium during the 1974 and 1975 seasons while Yankee Stadium was being renovated. The move to Shea had been proposed earlier in the decade, but the Mets, as Shea's primary tenants, refused to sign off on the deal. However, when the city stepped in to pay for renovating Yankee Stadium, the Mets had little choice but to agree to share Shea with the Yankees.


title: Shea Stadium

text: On the afternoon of April 15, 1998, the Yankees also played one home game at Shea, against the Anaheim Angels after a beam collapsed at Yankee Stadium two days before, destroying several rows of seats. With the Mets playing a game at Shea that evening against the Chicago Cubs, the Yankees used the visitor's locker room and dugout and the Angels used the home dugout and old locker room of the New York Jets. Former Mets star Darryl Strawberry, then playing for the Yankees, hit a home run during the game. Stadium operators partially raised the Mets' home run apple signal before lowering it back down, to the delight of the crowd.


title: Shea Stadium

text: Shea Stadium also hosted the first extra-inning regular season baseball opener played in New York, on March 31, 1998, when the Mets opened their season against their rival Philadelphia Phillies, playing the longest scoreless opening day game in the National League and the longest one in Major League Baseball since . The Mets won the game 1–0 in the bottom of the 14th inning.


title: Shea Stadium

text: During the 1977 New York City blackout the stadium was plunged into darkness at approximately 9:30 p.m. during a game between the Mets and the Chicago Cubs. It occurred during the bottom of the sixth inning, with the Mets losing 2–1 and Lenny Randle at bat. Jane Jarvis, Shea's organist (affectionately known as Shea's "Queen of Melody") played "Jingle Bells" and "White Christmas". The game was eventually completed on September 16, with the Cubs winning 5–2.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The New York Jets of the American Football League and later, the National Football League played at Shea for 20 seasons, from 1964 through 1983 (excluding their first home game in 1977, played at Giants Stadium). The stadium hosted three Jets playoff games: the American Football League Championship in 1968 (defeating the Oakland Raiders, 27–23), an AFL Divisional Playoff in 1969 (a 13–6 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs) and the 1981 AFC Wild Card Playoff game (lost 31–27 to the Buffalo Bills).


title: Shea Stadium

text: For most of the Jets' tenure at Shea, they were burdened by onerous lease terms imposed at the insistence of the Mets. Until 1978, the Jets could not play their first home game until the Mets' season was finished. For instance, in 1969, the defending Super Bowl champion Jets didn't play a home game until October 20 due to the Mets advancing to (and winning) the World Series. As a result, the 1969 Jets opened with five consecutive road games, and then played all seven home games in consecutive weeks before closing with two road games. Even after 1978, the Mets' status as Shea's primary tenants would require the Jets to go on long road trips (switching Shea from baseball to football configuration was a complex process involving electrical, plumbing, field, and other similar work). The stadium was also not well maintained in the 1970s. The Jets moved to Giants Stadium for the 1984 season, enticed by the more than 15,000 additional seats there. Fans ripped apart Shea after the last game of the 1983 season, which also was the last game for Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who threw two touchdown passes to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 34–7 victory. Even the scoreboard operator had a field day, displaying the home team as the "N.J. Jets".


title: Shea Stadium

text: It was at Shea Stadium on December 16, 1973, that O. J. Simpson became the first running back to gain 2,000 yards in a single season (and, to date, the only player to do it in 14 games or fewer). In the 1983 season, a Jets game against the Los Angeles Rams featured an 85-yard touchdown run by rookie Eric Dickerson, as well as a brawl between Rams offensive tackle Jackie Slater and Jets defensive end Mark Gastineau when Slater blindsided Gastineau after the Jet performed his infamous "Sack Dance" over fallen Rams quarterback Vince Ferragamo.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The NFL's New York Giants played their 1975 season at Shea while Giants Stadium was being built. The Giants were that year (2–5 at Shea). Their coach was Bill Arnsparger and their quarterback was Craig Morton. The Giants played their final five home games of 1973 and all seven in 1974 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut; Yankee Stadium was closed in October 1973 for a massive renovation, which was completed in time for the 1976 baseball season.


title: Shea Stadium

text: On the night of October 9, 1965, Shea Stadium hosted the football rivalry between Army and Notre Dame for the first and only time. The Fighting Irish blanked the Cadets, 17–0, beginning a 15-game winning streak for Notre Dame in the storied series.


title: Shea Stadium

text: In 1966, the Brooklyn Dodgers of the minor Continental Football League unsuccessfully sued the Jets in an attempt to use the stadium; the team wound up playing on Randall's Island and soon folded. In 1974, the New York Stars of the nascent World Football League also made inquiries to play at Shea, whose schedule was already overcrowded by the Mets, Jets and Yankees (and the following year, the Giants; see below). The Stars also moved out to Randall's Island, playing only a handful of games before shifting to Charlotte.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The football field at Shea extended from around home plate to centerfield, with the baseline seating rotating out to fill left and right fields.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The first soccer game at Shea Stadium occurred during International Soccer League tournament play on June 17, 1965.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The original New York Cosmos beat the Washington Diplomats, 2–0, in an NASL playoff game at Shea on August 17, 1976.


title: Shea Stadium

text: On Sunday, August 15, 1965, The Beatles opened their 1965 North American tour there to a record audience of 55,600. "Beatlemania" was at one of its peaks at their Shea concert. Film footage shows many teenagers and women crying, screaming, and even fainting. The crowd noise was such that security guards can be seen covering their ears as the Beatles entered the field. The sound of the crowd was so deafening that none of the Beatles (or anyone else) could hear what they were playing. Nevertheless, it was the first concert to be held at a major stadium and set records for attendance and revenue generation, demonstrating that outdoor concerts on a large scale could be successful and profitable, and led the Beatles to return to Shea for a successful encore on August 23, 1966. The attendance record was broken within the United States by


title: Shea Stadium

text: the Grateful Dead concert at New Jersey Raceway in Englishtown of 107,019 purchases, on September 3, 1977.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The next major music event to play Shea Stadium after the Beatles' successful appearances was the Summer Festival for Peace on August 6, 1970. It was a day-long fundraiser, which featured many of the era's biggest-selling and seminal rock, folk, blues and jazz performers including: Janis Joplin, Paul Simon, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steppenwolf, The James Gang, Miles Davis, Tom Paxton, John Sebastian, and others.


title: Shea Stadium

text: The next music show at Shea Stadium was the historic concert by Grand Funk Railroad in 1971, which broke the Beatles' then-record for fastest ticket sales. Humble Pie was the opening band. The same filmmakers for the documentary of the Rolling Stones concert at Altamont were commissioned to film it, but to date, a final film has not been released.