Today in Sports History: January 20th

(Lawrence Tynes celebrates his winning kick. Photo by David J. Phillip, AP)

1/20/1996 - FOX unveils glowing hockey puck

At the 1996 NHL All-Star Game, FOX introduces the "FoxTrax" hockey puck. A common complaint of casual viewers was that the regular puck was too hard to see; FOX thought that by illuminating it they could grab more viewers. Developed by the people who would later create the yellow first and ten line in football, FoxTrax gave a blue halo around the puck which was only seen by the television viewers. It also produced a tail when a shot was attempted -- red if it was hit at 50 MPH and green if it reached 75 MPH.

Needless to say, the glow puck was met with a considerable amount of criticism. FoxTrax was heavier than the average puck because of the computer tracking motherboard inside it. It also ran on batteries, meaning that every ten minutes or so it would have to be replaced. FOX claimed a survey they conducted found that seven out of ten people approved of the puck. The hockey purists were louder in their disagreement and considered it tacky. When FOX lost their NHL license in 1999, the glowing puck went with it.

1/20/2000 - The hound loses its tongue

Craig MacTavish, the last NHL player to play without a helmet, was known as someone you didn't want to mess with. He wasn't the type of guy who you'd think would be the target of an NHL mascot. And yet when the Edmonton Oilers played at the Calgary Flames, such an event occurred.

Harvey the Hound, the Flames' furry snow hound mascot and the first official mascot in NHL history, began taunting MacTavish, who was then the Oilers' head coach. Perhaps spurred on by his team's 4-0 deficit, MacTavish lost it. With the mascot leaning over the glass, MacT grabbed the hound's giant tongue, ripped it off, and tossed it into the crowd. He then reached for a hockey stick with the intention of malice, but he was held off by his assistants.

"You deal with a lot of stuff as a coach, and Harvey the Hound isn't normally in the job description, nor should it be," the coach later said. The Oilers, perhaps spurred on by the hound's silence, scored three goals in the final period but still lost 4-3. After the game, the person inside the costume was reprimanded by the Flames' organization.

(Photo by Jeff McIntosh, AP Photos)

1/20/2008 - Giants go to Super Bowl on OT field goal

The final pass of Brett Favre's career with the Packers ends in an interception, allowing the New York Giants to advance to the Super Bowl on a Lawrence Tynes field goal. The meeting between the storied Packers and the big-market Giants drew a colossal 29.0 rating and 53.9 million viewers, the most for a non-Super Bowl telecast since the season finale of Seinfeld.

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