IRSAY IN TALKS TO BUY TEAM; MCNAIR, MACKEY PASS AWAY

By Joe Platania

1933 -- For the first time since the league was founded 13 years earlier, it was broken up into two divisions, with the winners to meet in an annual championship game.

1956 -- Even though night games were rare at the time, the league discontinued the use of the white ball with black stripes for such games and instead approved the use of a regular brown leather ball with white stripes on each end.

1971 -- When the Colts and Oakland Raiders engineered a multi-draft-pick trade, it ended up well for both of them. The Colts ended up selecting former Oklahoma standout quarterback Jack Mildren and the Raiders wound up with center Dave Dalby, who anchored their offensive line through many successful seasons during the '70s.

1972 -- Negotiatons were progressing in Chicago air conditioning magnate Robert Irsay's attempt to buy the Los Angeles Rams and swap them for owner Carroll Rosenbloom's Colts.

1987 -- For the first time, players that were in the NFL before 1959 received benefit payments from team owners.

1999 -- The Ravens agreed to a free-agent deal with receiver/returner Eric Metcalf, a multiple-threat player who is also the son of former St. Louis Cardinals star Terry Metcalf. But Metcalf never played a game for Baltimore after being released in early September.

2006 -- Ravens free safety Ed Reed signed a renegotiated contract that, at the time, practically ensured that he would remain with the team for the rest of his career.

2009 -- Quarterback Steve McNair, a former co-Most Valuable Player who led the Ravens to their best-ever regular-season record (13-3 in 2006), was murdered in Nashville at the age of 36. He is first-time-eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2013.

2010 -- The Ravens tried to bolster their ranks with youth and experience by signing veteran NFL cornerback Walt Harris and a rookie sixth-round pick at tackle, Barbados native Ramon Harewood.

2011 -- Former Colt John Mackey, who revolutionized the tight end position and later fought many battles in behalf of the still-nascent players' union, died of complications of dementia at the age of 69.

Posted July 2, 2012