Before the dynasties, before the banners, before Brady, before Belichick, even before Bledsoe, there was the 1985 New England Patriots.

A team built on grit, not glamour.

History often remembers the champions, yet the 1985 New England Patriots didn't win a championship. Yet in this case, they are remembered for the journey, a journey that was one of the most memorable in NFL History.

In this episode of the Historically Speaking Sports Podcast, the place where we give you sports from back in the day, Co hosts Charles Combs and Dana Auguster will bring you back to the mid 1980s.

In this edition will will talk about Patriots' first AFC Championship team that posted three, count them, three postseason upsets that included ending a losing streak that dated back to the Lyndon Johnson administration.

This was a team that was devoid of big names and huge stars. But was comprised of several solid individuals that was the personification of blue collar teamwork.

Leading this group was a head coach who had made his own way into Canton as a Hall of Fame receiver, but his quiet understated style was the trademark of this great team.

Later in the show we will send a shout out to a former Patriot great, whose clutch performance that season made him a New England legend plus a discussion on who was actually the worse Super Bowl participant.

You could contact the show at Historically.Speaking.Sports@gmail.com

In his episode of the Historically Speaking Sports Podcast, hosts Dana Auguster and Charles Combs discuss, and in some cases, debate on the cities that could be considered the best and worst sports cities in the United States.

We breakdown in our opinion the Top Five Best Sports Cites, where celebrating championships come second nature. Places where championships, culture, loyalty and sheer sports madness collide to create something both unforgettable and special. These cities live and breathe their teams and often have the championship banners to prove.

then here is the other side of the coin where we also rank in our humble opinion out Top Five Worst Cities, where heartbreak come standard, expectations go unmet, and hope is often the MVP. Whether its a lack of success, fan apathy, bad ownership or just years of pure misery, these cities have earned their place -though not the one their fans were hoping for.

If you wish to contact the show, please e-mail us at Historically.Speaking.Sports@gmail.com

There are certain college football rivalries that resonate around the country.

There is Michigan vs. Ohio State, Alabama vs. Auburn and Notre Dame vs USC just to name a few.

However, there is another football rivalry based in Louisiana that over the years has become more than just a battle for bragging rights between two institutions. It has become the cornerstone event for both a city, and a culture.

In this all new edition of the Historically Speaking Sports podcast, the Sports History podcast that gives you the sports for back in the day, we will talk with author Tom Aiello and his book the History of the Bayou Classic.

The annual game between the Grambling State Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars evokes memories of great coaching matchups which featured the great Eddie Robinson and incomparable players on both sides with a good number of them reaching the pro football hall of fame.

Even though the game known as the Bayou Classic has been around since 1974, the rivalry between Southern and Grambling goes back nearly a century with a very interesting history and back story.

Along with the game there is a number of other events connected with the bayou classic that includes the Greek Show, job fair and the famous Battle of the bands.

Yet of course, what makes the game are the players. And some of the greatest players in NFL history have played in this game. In our shout out segment, we will highlight some of the players that have stared in this annual game that has become the biggest and most important football rivalry in the state of Louisiana.

All that and more in this all new edition of the historically Speaking Sports here on the sports history network.

To contact the show, please e-mail us at Historically.speaking.sports@gmail.com

Here is the link to Tom Aiello's books: https://www.thomasaiellobooks.com/

The year was 2002.

The price of gas was roughly a $1.19 a gallon, a dozen of eggs were under a dollar and the biggest hits in Hip Hop was "Getting Hot in Here" by Nelly and the song from the movie Eight Mile "Lose Yourself" by Eminem.

In the world of college football, the Miami Hurricanes were coming off of a national championship run and were looking to continue their 22-game winning streak, a streak that seemed to have no end in sight.

However "The U" was beginning to hear rumbles from other programs looking to knock them off of their lofty perch.

In this episode of the podcast, we will travel back to the year 2002 in College Football in our first episode of the series we call "A Year in the League" where we talk about all of the headlines, best teams and memorable moments that made that season so memorable.

In addition of the Larry Coker coached Miami Hurricanes, there were other teams that included the USC trojans that were on the rise who were led by head Coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Carson Palmer who went on to win college footballs most coveted trophy.

Another team that was making noise in college football that year was Oklahoma who had returned to glory after years of struggle that followed the exit of their legendary coach Barry Switzer and also will revisit one of the most improbable finishes in college football that fans have called the "Bluegrass Miracle".

Yet that season climaxed in the desert of Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl when a team with a second year coach and a freshman running back pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year in one of the best national championship games ever and brought a national title to a place that hadn't celebrated one for more than a generation.

Later in the show, we'll send a shout out to all of the schools in our home state and what they did in that season of 2002 including our alma mater who won their rivalry game for the ninth time in a span of 10 seasons.

To contact the show, send us an e-mail at Historically.Speaking.Sports@gmail .com

This is a short bulletin previewing from a historical perspective the upcoming World Series.

In this, the 121 edition of the fall classic, features the National League and defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. looking to repeat as World Champions and to claim its ninth World Series in history They will face the Toronto Blue Jays, looking to win its first title in 32 years when they themselves won back to back titles under manager Cito Gaston in the early 1990s.

Historically Speaking Sports co hosts Dana Auguster and Charles Combs are both natives of Louisiana and also the southern part of the United States where college football is more than just a sport. On Saturdays in the fall it is the south's secular religion.

In this edition of this podcast, Dana and Charles highlight teams they they consider the best college football teams they had ever seen.

The teams that are highlighted are some of the best college football teams ever. Most won championships. Some came close to winning. A couple won despite of on and off the field controversy. One team made the list that had two losses on the season but in the process had a Heisman Trophy winner and rewrote the NCAA offensive record books.

Later in the show we will send a Shout Out to pair of coaches that were major parts of the college football landscape and had some of the best players and some championship season but for whatever reason, they both had fallen through the cracks of sports history.

We have all that and more coming up on this all new edition of the Historically Speaking Sports Podcast.

To contact the show you could drop us an e-mail at Historically.Speaking.Sports@gmail.com.

Between the years of 1985 thru 1996, the New Orleans Saints had risen from the cellar of the NFL to become a perennial playoff team.

Though they never won a playoff game during that time, the Saints, behind quarterback Bobby Hebert and a legendary linebacking corps known as the Dome Patrol, became one of the NFL's elite teams. Behind it all was the quotable head coach with ties to the USFL, Jim Mora.

In this episode of the podcast, hosts Dana Auguster and Charles Combs will talk about the key players and moments from that time in Saints history along with there own personal memories of that team, both growing up in Louisiana at the time.

Later in the show we will send a shout out to the Who Dat Chant. a chant, which actually became famous in the 1960s thanks to high school and colleges in the area but actually predates the NFL itself and we will settle....sort of ...the debate which have raged on for decades. Which came first the Who Dat chant in New Orleans or the Who Dey chant in Cincinnati?

To contact the show you could send an e-mail to Historically.Speaking.Sports@gmail.com.

September 3rd, 1995 was the start of the 76th season of the National Football league. The San Francisco 49ers were the defending Super Bowl champions and every team was looking at the new season with new hope, possibilities and opportunities.

For two of the now 30 teams in the National Football League however, the hope, possibilities and opportunities were new.

On this early fall afternoon, in 1995 were the first games of the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville jaguars as newly minted members of the NFL.

Though they both lost their opening games of the regular season, no one had any idea just 16 months later, some 497 days later, both would be playing for a right to play in Super Bowl XXXI.

In this all new edition of the podcast, Co Hosts Dana Auguster and Charles will take a look at the first two seasons of the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars. Two franchises that shocked fans and football experts alike, crawling from expansion obscurity to the darlings of the NFL in just two seasons.

Later in the show, we will send a shout out out one of the members of the Carolina Panthers team who embodied the leadership and toughness of that team that was one step away from the Super Bowl. An undersized linebacker who came up with the teams motto that it still follows today and thus far, the only player to have his number retired by the team.

To contact the show with questions, comments or show ideas, please e-mail us at Historically.Speaking.Sports@gmail.com.