Ottawa Civics
April 8, 2026 No Comments
The Ottawa Civics were the former Denver Spurs. They moved to the Canadian capital in January 1976 but lasted just 11 games in Ontario.
Spotlight
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Virginia Sailors
September 26, 2021 1 Comment
The Virginia Sailors were a minor league football team that operated in the Washington suburbs for three seasons from 1966 to 1968. The Sailors captured back-to-back ACFL titles in 1966 and 1967 and returned to the championship game once again in 1968, only to see their three-peat bid spoiled by the Hartford Knights.
Cox’s squad returned to the title game in 1968 with a chance for a three-peat, but lost 30-17 on the road to the Hartford Knights.
Honoring the Negro Leagues
Cleveland Buckeyes (1942-1950)
September 7, 2025 No Comments
The Cleveland Buckeyes started as the Cincinnati-Cleveland Buckeyes in 1942, before settling permanently in Northern Ohio in 1943. The club won two league titles as well as a Negro World Series championship.
Retro Hockey
Las Vegas Thunder
November 30, 2013 1 Comment
The Las Vegas Thunder were a six-year entry in the International Hockey League during that organization’s gold rush era of nationwide expansion in the mid-1990’s. Minor league baseball investors Hank Stickney and his son Ken paid a $2.0 million expansion fee for the Thunder in 1993. The Stickneys also owned the Las Vegas Stars Class AAA baseball team.
baseball History
Atlantic City Surf
December 31, 2017 2 Comments
The Atlantic City Surf were one of the six original franchises in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Atlantic League was (and remains) the most ambitious league to arise out of the independent baseball boom of the 1990’s. The Surf played at the Sandcastle, a 5,900-seat ballpark built on the grounds of Atlantic City’s municipal airport, Bader Field. The stadium was built with $11.5 million in Casino Reinvestment Development Authority funds and $3 million in taxpayer bonds.
Soccer Indoor and outdoor
Reno 1868 FC
February 26, 2021 No Comments
Reno 1868 FC was a 2nd Division pro soccer club affiliated on the technical side with the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer and operated on the business side by the front office staff of Minor League Baseball’s Reno Aces of the Pacific Coast League. 1868 played out of Greater Nevada Field, the Aces’ 9,000-seat baseball stadium, from 2017 through 2020.
Arena Football
New York Knights (1988)
November 8, 2011 2 Comments
The Knights were New York City’s first experience of the newly developed sport of Arena Football back in the summer of 1988. The roster included a collection of ex-replacement players from the 1987 NFL player strike along with refugees from the recently defunct United States Football League. The Knights lasted just one season and a mere six home games at Madison Square Garden before going out of business.
Carolina Cougars ABA (1969-1974)
April 7, 2026 No Comments
The Carolina Cougars played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1969 to 1974. The team was established as the Houston Mavericks and spent two seasons in Texas before being purchased by North Carolina syndicate. The team was sold and moved to Missouri and became the Spirits of St. Louis in 1974.
Shreveport Pirates
September 27, 2019 4 Comments
Yes, strange as it sounds, but the small, poverty-stricken city of Shreveport, Louisiana once had its very own Canadian Football League franchise: the Shreveport Pirates. The Pirates’ shambolic leadership made a series of head-scratching personnel moves, including the signings of troubled over-the-hill NFL stars Dexter Manley and Mark Duper, and fired the team’s first head coach before taking a regular season snap. Meanwhile the team staggered to a two-year record of 8-28 in the CFL before going out of business at the end of the 1995 season.