TODAY IN REVISIONIST SPORTS HISTORY

Longtime Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts announces his retirement. Fouts said he could no longer keep up with the time demands of football, family and beard maintenance, and decided to give up the one that was least dear to him.

The Florida Marlins begin selling tickets to the general public. The team sold 10,000 tickets on the first day, a figure that has never been matched in subsequent years.

Debi Thomas of the United States becomes the first black woman to win the world figure skating championship. Thomas's victory was especially impressive because she skated on ultra-slick black ice.

President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Carter opposed the inclusion of invading as a new sport.

Bobby Orr, perhaps the greatest defenseman in NHL history, is born in Parry Sound, Ontario. Orr was delivered by triumphantly leaping out of his mother's vagina, his arms and legs spread as he flew horizontally over the hospital bed.

Major League Baseball announces a five-year, $50 million deal with Pepsi. Under the terms of the deal, Pepsi products would be sold exclusively at major league ballparks, and players would not be able to take steroids in pill form with any other beverage.

Michael Jordan announces he is ending his 17-month retirement from the NBA. The decision left the Birmingham Barons without a fifth outfielder just weeks before the start of the season.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser signs a baseball record three-year, $7.9 million contract. It remains the most money anyone has ever paid for Orel.

Nelly Saunders and Rose Harland participate in the first organized boxing match between women at Hill's Theater in New York. Promoters sold out the event by yelling "Catfight! Catfight!" outside the venue.

The first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, play their first game. It was the first of many intrasquad games until a second professional team was founded.