12 memorable weather-related events in Chicago sports: From 72 fans at a Bulls’ blizzard game to the Bears moving indoors to host a playoff game

With historically arctic temperatures bearing down on Chicago, it is as a good a time as any to crank up the heat, grab another blanket and cup of cocoa and reflect on the 12 most unforgettable weather-related events in Chicago sports history.

12. April 14, 2018: Cubs come back in the cold

April baseball is always dicey in Chicago, weather-wise. On this Saturday afternoon, the Cubs and Braves braved a wind chill factor in the 20s in an icy rain as players on both teams complained of losing the feeling in their fingers.

The lousy weather precipitated lousy play. The Braves jumped to a 9-1 lead through 2½ innings and led 10-2 through five. But the Cubs scored nine eighth-inning runs on just three hits — buoyed by two hit batters and five walks — to win 14-10.

“The game should really not have been played,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “Those were the worst elements I’ve ever participated in a baseball game in.”

11. Jan. 29, 1967: Lakers 142, Bulls 122, Crowd 72

The Bulls, in their debut season, refused to call off their game with the Lakers despite a storm that dumped 23 inches of snow on the city.

Weather-related travel delays, rerouting and unscheduled stops meant it took the visitors a day and a half to get to town from Los Angeles, arriving at the International Amphitheatre about an hour before tip, which was delayed 55 minutes.

The announced crowd was 1,007, but that was inflated. According to the Bristol & Lynden Press’ Chicago Sports Memories blog, Bulls owner Dick Klein later conceded attendance, “including security guards, was something like 72 people.”

Considerably more fans made it to Chicago Stadium that night for the Blackhawks’ victory over the Maple Leafs and that afternoon to see Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) score 45 points in UCLA’s 120-82 rout of Illinois, although there were plenty of no-shows there as well.

10. July 23, 1976: College Football All-Star Game ends

The annual preseason exhibition at Soldier Field featuring the defending NFL champion and a team of college all-stars for the benefit of Chicago Tribune Charities ended when the sky opened up on a hot, humid night in ’76.

Play was halted with 1 minute, 22 seconds remaining in the third quarter and the Steelers up 24-0 on coach Ara Parseghian’s stars. A thunderstorm dumped three-quarters of an inch of rain in 20 minutes, causing the field to flood. Wind gusts up to 64 mph and small hail were reported at nearby Meigs Field.

As if that weren’t enough, a group of fans rushed the field, sloshing around in the puddles, then starting to take apart the goal posts, helping ensure the field was unplayable.

The game never was resumed, and with NFL owners, players and insurers wary of injuries, neither was the series that began in 1934.

9. Oct. 31, 1994: Haunting Halloween night

The Bears honored all-time greats Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers at halftime of this “Monday Night Football” game played in a virtual monsoon.

Packers quarterback Brett Favre, who didn’t complete a pass until the third quarter, nevertheless overcame the elements and the Bears, leading Green Bay to a 33-6 victory.

“Favre had a tremendous game, but the thing I most remember is … before the game, it was raining so hard — sideways — I was on the 30th floor of the hotel and it was just pelting the windows,” announcer Al Michaels recalled.

8. March 1, 2014: NHL Stadium Series at Soldier Field

The wind off Lake Michigan swirled and so much snow fell it was hard to follow the game at times as the Blackhawks beat the Penguins at Soldier Field. And it was great.

“Probably the greatest setting you could want,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said.

“With how hard it was snowing it was like, ‘Wow, these are amazing conditions.’ I think everybody went back to when they were kids.”

7. Dec. 9, 1934: 1934 NFL championship game

Necessity is the mother of invention and, unfortunately on the slick, iced-over Polo Grounds turf in New York, the Giants had more inventiveness than the previously unbeaten Bears.

Giants end Ray Flaherty observed sneakers would provide better traction than cleats, and someone immediately was dispatched at halftime to get basketball shoes for the home team.

The suddenly sure-footed Giants rallied with 27 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to take the title 30-13. It was the shoes.

6. Feb. 4, 2007: Super Bowl XLI under water

A hard rain fell hard through the Bears’ second Super Bowl appearance. The Bears fell, too, despite jumping to an early lead on Devin Hester’s touchdown return of the Colts’ opening kickoff. Bears quarterback Rex Grossman couldn’t keep up with Peyton Manning, who led the Colts to a 29-17 victory at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

What most remember of this day is not the Bears faltering but Prince’s fantastic halftime show in a downpour. (Feel free to go to YouTube and watch it again. It’s fantastic.)

5. Oct. 23, 2005: Game 2 of the World Series

A cold, nagging rain is embedded in the memory of this game at U.S. Cellular Field, not so much because it was extraordinarily bad weather for fall. It wasn’t. But it was the backdrop for one of the most dramatic White Sox games ever.

Paul Konerko’s two-out grand slam put the Sox ahead of the Astros 6-4 in the seventh. But Jose Vizcaino answered in the ninth with a single to tie it up.

That set up an unlikely walk-off home run in the bottom of the inning by Scott Podsednik that gave the Sox a 7-6 win and 2-0 Series lead en route to a four-game championship sweep.

4. June 27, 1975: Lightning strikes at the Western Open

Before thunderstorms suspended second-round Western Open play, reigning PGA champion Lee Trevino and Jerry Heard were standing under umbrellas by the 13th green at Butler National in Oak Brook when lightning struck, knocking Trevino unconscious.

The two, along with Bobby Nichols, would be hospitalized.

Trevino, who had burns on his back and would suffer from chronic back problems afterward, later liked to joke that he should have taken out his 1-iron and pointed it to the heavens “because not even God can hit a 1-iron.”

3. Dec. 18, 1932: NFL playoff game at Chicago Stadium

The Bears and Portsmouth Spartans had to break a tie atop the league standings. Snow and cold made Wrigley Field unplayable. So George Halas’ team, led by Bronko Nagurski, opted for a Sunday night date indoors at Chicago Stadium.

A circus staged a few days earlier had spread tanbark and dirt across the stadium floor, making for an acceptable, if somewhat foul-smelling playing surface. One Bears player was said to have gotten sick, overcome by elephant essence.

Special rules including prohibitions against dropkicks and field goals were necessitated by the stadium’s shortened field, but it worked out for the Bears, who won 9-0.

2. Dec. 31, 1988: The Fog Bowl

Cold and warm air collided by the lakefront, resulting in a fog that enveloped a small part of the city for about three hours. But that area included Soldier Field, and the time overlapped with the Bears-Eagles playoff matchup, leading to one of the most interesting games practically no one saw all that well.

The fog arrived in the second quarter. Passing became an act of faith. Most in attendance could not see the field. Even on the sidelines, it was hard to see across to the other bench. TV cameras on field level were deployed for hazy shots. Referee Jim Tunney announced the down and distance for each play.

The Eagles threatened late until quarterback Randall Cunningham, working from the Bears 16, was was picked off in the mist by Maurice Douglass, helping ensure the Bears’ 20-12 victory.

1. Nov. 2, 2016: World Series Game 7 rain delay

As if you don’t remember: The score was tied 6-6 after nine innings in the seventh and final game of the 2016 World Series when umpires in Cleveland halted play because of rain.

All told, the break lasted just 17 minutes, but Cubs star Anthony Rizzo would call it “the best rain delay of all time.”

Jason Heyward gave a pep talk for the ages, and his Cubs teammates answered the call with two runs in the top of the 10th. The Indians responded with a run but stranded the would-be tying run on base as the Cubs recorded the third out and their first World Series title since 1908.

philrosenthal@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phil_rosenthal