A lot of kids in NYC probably woke up hung over today in 1977. The soundtrack to “Saturday Night Fever” had hit stores the day before and was probably played in clubs all over the city that night. The album hit number one on the music charts and stayed there for 24 straight weeks. It was the only disco record to ever win a Grammy and it is the single most iconic talisman from the disco era.

Well, it wasn’t the best birthday present anybody ever got. Today in 1957, on the state of Oklahoma’s 50th birthday, Notre Dame defeated Oklahoma 7-0 to snap the Sooner’s record 47 game winning streak that spanned over four seasons. The Sooners were 18-point favorites heading into the game. Oklahoma had won back-to-back national titles and had been on the cover of Sports Illustrated the week before the game with the headline, “Why Oklahoma is Unbeatable.” Curiously, Oklahoma entered the game ranked #2, behind Texas A&M. Rankings have always been terrible.

Also in college football, today in 1991 was Wide Right I. Top ranked Florida State lost to #2 ranked Miami 17-16 when FSU kicker Gerry Thomas missed a 37-yard field goal with just seconds to play. The look on Thomas’ face is just heart-breaking, but that’s sports. Florida State would lose to Miami five times over the next 12 years by missing kicks in the last minutes of ball games.

Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” opens in theaters today, 35 years to the day that his third movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” hit screens in 1977. Coming off of his huge hit, “Jaws,” Spielberg had to feel like a little of the wind had been taken out of his sails by the ridiculous success of another Space movie that had come out that May. “Close Encounters” was a huge hit nonetheless, even though it’s always had to deal with some Star Wars envy.

Today in 1990 saw the release of a very peculiar film. Peculiar in that it hit on something that America was looking for at that specific time. “Home Alone” was number one at the box office for 12 straight weeks and by the time it left theaters it was the 3rd highest grossing film of all time. All very weird for a movie that was average at best.

— Bill Hubbell