What was happening in the world the last time the Cincinnati Bengals were in the Super Bowl

Joe Burrow was the first-overall pick, and almost always the first pick is a quarterback. On occasion, it will be a defensive end or an offensive tackle. In 1988, the Atlanta Falcons pulled the ultimate zag. They took Aundray Bruce out of Auburn, who was…a linebacker. He is the only linebacker who was ever taken with the first pick, and he never even made a Pro Bowl.

1988 was a weird draft. A quarterback wasn’t taken until the third round, and that was Tom Tupa, who primarily became a punter. However, the draft wasn’t all bad. With the sixth pick, the Raiders took Hall of Famer Tim Brown, while at 11 the Dallas Cowboys took Michael Irvin.

The Cardinals franchise began in Chicago, before moving to St. Louis. Then, they continued their move west. In 1988 the Phoenix Cardinals debuted. Eventually, they would become known as the Arizona Cardinals.

Landry is a Hall of Fame head coach and a Cowboys legend. However, but 1988 things weren’t going great. The Cowboys went 3-13 that season. Then, Jerry Jones bought the team, and his first order of business was to fire Landry and hire Jimmy Johnson. It worked out, but the 1988 NFL season proved the end of the line for Landry.

How did the Bengals make it to the Super Bowl? Well, having an MVP under center helped. Boomer Esiason threw 28 touchdown passes against 14 interceptions and was named the league MVP.

The Fighting Irish had a killer season in 1988. Lou Holtz’s team went undefeated, including ending the Miami Hurricanes’ 36-game win streak. That was the infamous “Catholics vs. Convicts” game. After beating West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl, Notre Dame was declared champions.

Sanders was maybe the most exciting running back to ever take the field, and that was even true back when he was in college at Oklahoma State. He actually served as Thurman Thomas’ backup in his first two seasons, but in 1988 he had an all-time record-breaking season. Sanders rushed for 2,628 yards during the regular season, which was a record, before adding 222 yards and five touchdowns in the bowl game. He won the Heisman in a landslide, more than doubling the points of runner-up Rodney Peete.

The 1988 World Series ended in five games, but honestly, people only remember Game 1. That’s when Kirk Gibson stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter for the Dodgers against Dennis Eckersley of the Oakland A’s. Gibson, in spite of his leg injury, hit a huge homer, which helped propel the Dodgers to a World Series victory.

Gibson did plenty leading up to that point for the Dodgers. In fact, he was the MVP of the National League. Meanwhile, Jose Canseco of the A’s was the AL MVP. Canseco had become the first person to put up 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in a season.

It was not a busy year in Cooperstown in 1988. Only one player got the percentage of the votes necessary to be elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. That would be Willie “Pops” Stargell, the longtime Pittsburgh Pirates legend.

The Los Angeles Lakers and the Detroit Pistons fought tooth and nail for the NBA title at the end of the 1987-88 season. It went seven games, but in the end, the Lakers prevailed behind James Worthy’s MVP performance. LA became the first team to repeat since the Boston Celtics in 1968 and 1969. This led to Pat Riley’s proclamations of a “Threepeat” that didn’t come to fruition.

Jordan would be a few years away from winning his first NBA title, but “His Airness” was already the NBA’s best player. In fact, he had an all-time great campaign in the 1987-88 season. Jordan won the MVP by not only averaging a league-high 35.0 points per game, but he was also named the Defensive Player of the Year.

The NBA was getting ready to grow in 1988. Four new franchises were announced. We’re talking the Charlotte Hornets, the Miami Heat, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Orlando Magic. Charlotte and Miami would start play in the 1988-89 season, while Minnesota and Orlando would debut in the 1989-90 season.

To many, Mark Jackson is just the guy who says nonsense while calling NBA games on ESPN and ABC. Prior to that, though, he had quite the NBA career. Jackson won Rookie of the Year with the New York Knicks, which probably felt good for a guy who played his college ball at St. John’s.

Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but the Los Angeles Clippers had the first-overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft. They took the consensus top player Danny Manning. Manning ended up making two All-Star Games and won Sixth Man of the Year, so he largely panned out. This wasn’t a very good draft class, to be fair. Only one player made the Hall of Fame, and that’s Mitch Richmond, one of the least-remarkable Hall of Famers there is.

The ‘80s began as the decade of the Islanders, but it then become the decades of the Oilers. By sweeping the Boston Bruins, the Oilers won their fourth Stanley Cup in five seasons in 1988. Edmonton lost only two games en route to hoisting the Cup, and Wayne Gretzky won the Conn Smythe.

Gretzky only played in 64 games during the 1987-88 regular season, and thus he finished second in the NHL with “only” 149 points. That being said, Lemieux definitely earned his Hart Trophy. He led the league with 168 points, including 70 goals.

To the surprise of many, this ended up being the swan song for Gretzky in Edmonton. That offseason, Gretzky would be traded from the Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings. It was a move that reverberated through the sports world.

One goalie, Billy Smith, had been credited with a goal in the NHL, but that was because a player on the opposing team had put the puck in his own net. Hextall took things to the next level. The Flyers goalie shot a puck into the opposing net, becoming the first goalie to shoot a puck into the net for a goal. Sure, it technically happened on December 8, 1987, but it was the 1987-88 season, so we wanted to count it.

Hockey is Canada’s sport, but let’s shout out the good old U.S. of A here. The first-overall pick of the 1988 NHL Draft was an American, Mike Modano. The Michigan native became a big star, and set records for the most goals and points for an American-born player.

We mentioned Danny Manning was the first-overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft. That came after he won the Wooden, the Naismith, and also the Most Outstanding Player in the men’s NCAA tournament. The Kansas Jayhawks, led by Larry Brown, won the title by beating their fellow Big Eight school Oklahoma in the final game.

Sloan was an assistant for a few years with the Jazz, but when Frank Layden stepped down to take over as the team president, he named Sloan his replacement. Sloan was named the new head coach of the Jazz in 1988, a position he held all the way until 2011. While he never won a title, he won 1,223 games with the Jazz en route to the Hall of Fame.

After Larry Brown won his title with the Jayhawks, he bolted for the NBA to take over the San Antonio Spurs. That left the job open for Williams, who had been an assistant under Dean Smith at North Carolina. Williams would win Coach of the Year once and make the Final Four four times before heading back to North Carolina.

The Lady Techsters of Louisiana Tech used to be a powerhouse in women’s college basketball. They won their second title in 1988 by beating Auburn in the finals. Interestingly, Long Beach State made the Final Four that year as well, averaging over 100 points per game en route to the semifinals.

The Summer Olympics were held in Seoul, South Korea in 1988. Canada’s Ben Johnson ran a 9.79 100-meter dash, which set a world record. Then, two days later, the gold was taken away from him because he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. Thus, Carl Lewis was given the gold instead.

Louganis had won two golds in diving in 1984, but the 1988 Olympics got off to a tough start for him. He hit his head in the preliminary rounds, busting it open and giving himself a concussion. This was concerning after the fact, as Louganis had tested positive for HIV prior to the Olympics. Louganis was able to recover, though, and won two gold medals again.

Jamaica is not a country you would expect to compete in the winter Olympics. Don’t tell that to the Caribbean nation, though. Jamaica put together a bobsled team for the 1988 Olympics. While the two-man team finished 30th and the four-man team crashed, people loved the Jamaican bobsled team. Thus, the movie “Cool Runnings.”

Representing East Germany, Witt was one of the best figure skaters of all time. After winning gold in 1984, she returned to defend her title in Calgary in 1988. It’s rare for a figure skater to win multiple golds, but Witt managed to do it.

For years, the Soviet Union was a dominant force at the Olympics. However, 1988 would prove the last gasp of the sporting giant. The Soviet Union collapsed prior to 1992, making 1988 the last year the Soviet Union competed.

The Swedish Wilander is not necessarily mentioned much these days as an all-time tennis great, but if you were a fan of the sport in the ‘80s you know his name well. In 1988 he won his third French and Australian Opens, as well as his first U.S. Open. However, Wilander didn’t have much skill on grass, and he was only a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon.

Three Grand Slam wins are great! Do you know what’s better? Winning all four of them. That’s exactly what Graf did in 1988. She took home all four Grand Slam events, further solidifying her as one of the greatest women’s tennis players of all time.

The Indy 500 is America’s race, so winning it is always a big event. In 1988, Mears took home the checkered flag and drank the milk. It was probably special, but not too special. After all, it was his third Indy 500 win, and he would win one more in 1991.

If you are more of a NASCAR fan, let’s turn to the Daytona 500. In 1988, another legendary racecar driver took home a big race. Bobby Allison won his third and final Daytona 500 that year.

Let’s move from sports to entertainment. Here’s how long ago 1988 was: The box office wasn’t dominated by comic book movie sequels! Instead, the movie that won the box office was the sibling drama “Rain Man,” starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman.

Second in the box office? That would be “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” In addition to being a huge hit, Robert Zemeckis’ film was a massive achievement. It mixed live-action and animation like no film before it, and also brought Disney and Warner Bros. characters together.

Welcome to the party, pal. In 1988, Bruce Willis was propelled to movie stardom thanks to his turn in “Die Hard.” It’s now known as a favorite during the holiday season. Interestingly, “Die Hard” was actually released in July, several months from Christmastime.

This was a pretty impressive year for film. Eddie Murphy’s “Coming to America” came out. So did the first “Naked Gun” movie, turning the cult TV show into a hit comedy. Tom Hanks’ star continued to grow with “Big.” Hey, even “Twins” has its fans.

“Rain Man” didn’t just win the box office. It won at the Academy Awards as well. “Rain Man” took home Best Picture and Best Director, and Hoffman won for Best Actor as well.

Comedies rarely win at the Oscars, but when they do it tends to be in a supporting turn. Kevin Kline, for example, won Best Supporting Actor for “A Fish Called Wanda.” Over at the BAFTAs, the British version of the Oscars, “A Fish Called Wanda” won Best Supporting Actor as well. However, this time it was Michael Palin, not Kline.

A small romantic comedy was released in 1988 called “Mystic Pizza.” It was reasonably liked by critics, and Roger Ebert highlighted the star Annabeth Gish. However, a lot of eyes also turned to the actress in the supporting role of Daisy. In only her second credited role, we got to spend some time with Julia Roberts.

The WWE likes to kick off the year with the “Royal Rumble,” a pay-per-view event headlined by a 30-man (and now also 30-woman) battle royal. In 1988, the very first Royal Rumble match occurred, though it was actually aired as a television special on USA, not as a pay-per-view. There were only 20 men in this Rumble, and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan took home the win.

Nickelodeon had been around since 1979 when it debuted as Pinwheel. In 1988, though, they added an early-afternoon block for a preschool audience. Nick Jr. was introduced, and down the line, it would give us shows like “Blues Clues.”

From 1976 through 1985, Richard Dawson hosted the popular game show “Family Feud.” Then, the survey said it was time for the show to be canceled. However, in 1988 they decided to reboot the show. Now, though, Dawson was replaced by Ray Combs as the host. This version would last until 1995 before it too came to an end.

In the not too distant future, or in this case the past, the Minneapolis channel KTMA aired a show that featured a man and some robots watching a bad movie for the first time. This was the introduction of “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” Joel Hodgson’s show had its “Season 0” on KTMA for a year, before movie nationally and become a cult hit.

It’s common to launch a new show after the Super Bowl. Here, we’re talking about the Super Bowl that happened in 1988. “The Wonder Years” aired its pilot episode for the first time. Fortunately, plenty of people tuned in after a game that saw Washington rout Denver 42-10. By the way, after the Bengals lost to the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIII we were treated to the first part of the two-part miniseries “Brotherhood of the Rose.”

It was a notable year for debut shows. Two sitcoms featuring female leads also began airing that year. “Roseanne” and “Murphy Brown” not only both originally aired in 1988, but they would also both eventually get rebooted as well.

Tom Selleck’s dashing private eye had his final adventure in Hawaii in 1988. The two-hour series finale of “Magnum P.I.” brought the show to a close. It was the culmination of eight seasons and 162 episodes.

Want to talk about a finale that takes a big swing? No show has swung as big as “St. Elsewhere.” The medical drama came to a conclusion with “The Last One” in 1988. At the very end, it seems to be revealed that the entire show was the dream of an autistic boy looking at a snow globe? Yeah, you read that right.

We got two Emmy winners for acting on opposite ends of the age spectrum in 1988. Fox took home Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his turn as Alex P. Keaton in “Family Ties.” Meanwhile, Bea Arthur would win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for “Golden Girls.”

Apparently “The Wonder Years” was loved right out of the gate. Its debut season took home Outstanding Comedy Series at the Emmys. Over on the drama side of things, the winner was “Thirtysomething.” Interestingly, neither show won any acting awards.

Larroquette won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for playing Dan Fielding on “Night Court.” It wasn’t the first time, or even close to it. In fact, this was Larroquette’s fourth win for “Night Court.” After this, he withdrew his name from consideration for any future Emmys for the role.

The beat goes on, as they say. Sonny Bono’s time as a star musician and variety show host was over, and he moved on to something new: politics. Bono ran for mayor of Palm Springs, California, and he managed to take home the win. As per usual, Sonny Bono paved the way for Clint Eastwood.

Whether or not you’re a fan of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you have to admit the 1988 ceremony was a huge one. Who was nominated that year? Oh, only just the Beatles, the Supremes, the Beach Boys, and Bob Dylan. Also the Drifters, but they certainly are following the pack this time.

At the 30th Grammy Awards, U2 were the big winners. Their album “The Joshua Tree” took home Album of the Year. 1988 proved big for Bono and company, as they also released “Rattle and Hum.”

Without Pixies, who knows where music would have gone. Their “loud, quiet, loud” song structure influenced bands from the Smashing Pumpkins to Nirvana. We may now have gotten “Nevermind” if not for “Surfer Rosa.” Pixies’ debut album also gave us two of their biggest songs, “Gigantic,” and “Where is My Mind?”

Pixies may have influenced a lot of bands, but they didn’t sell albums like George Michael did. The former member of Wham had the highest-selling album in the United States in 1988. “Faith” was actually his debut album as a solo artist. Clearly, it worked out.

If you’ve read the comics in your newspaper over the years, you are certainly familiar with “Foxtrot.” The Fox family were all over the funny pages for years. “Foxtrot” debuted in 1988 and ran seven days a week until 2006. Now, it’s only in Sunday papers.

1988 was an election year in the United States, and it was not exactly a competitive one. George H.W. Bush, who had served as Vice President under the popular Ronald Reagan, was going up against Michael Dukakis. Bush took home 53.4 percent of the vote to Dukakis’ 45.6, and he won 426 electoral votes to Dukakis’ 111.

The internet was still gearing up in 1988, in ways both good and bad. On the good side, Europe got the internet! On the bad side, we got the Morris Worm, aka the 1988 Internet Worm. This was not the first computer virus, but it was the first to get mainstream attention. It also led to the first felony conviction under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

James Hansen, a NASA scientist, spoke to Congress. The topic? Global warming. Hansen was there to warn about man-made global warming and climate change, and this was arguably the first time the concept of global warming got such mainstream attention.

A lot of people are born every year, including famous people. Among those is bad girl RiRi herself. Yes, music superstar, Rihanna was born in Barbados on February 20.

Let’s hit you with a few more birthdays from 1988, but just a few. In order to make you feel old, Osment was born in 1988. Yes, it’s been a while since you’ve watched “The Sixth Sense.” Also, born in 1988? Michael Cera and Mae “Her?” Whitman. On the sports front, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant both have 1988 birthdays as well.

Gibb, the younger brother of the three members of the Bee Gees, was no slouch himself. He had three number-one hits in the United States in his short life. Sadly, Gibb struggled with drug abuse, and though he got clean his heart was damaged from years of using cocaine. He died of heart failure just five days after turning 30.

Orbison’s distinct voice was heard in his hit songs like “Oh, Pretty Woman” and “Crying.” Then, he joined the Traveling Wilburys as well. Unfortunately, Orbison was also struck down young by heart failure. He died of a heart attack on December 6 at the age of 52.

Extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, are planets found outside our solar system. The first officially discovered exoplanet was unveiled in 1992. However, in 1988 Gamma Cephei Ab was found. Due to uncertainty and questions about the math, it was not officially considered an exoplanet at the time. Then, in 2003, the existence of Gamma Cephei Ab was officially confirmed.

Radner was one of the original cast members of “Saturday Night Live,” and a beloved comedy figure. Unfortunately, cancer got in the way of that. In 1988, while in remission, Radner had a guest turn on “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.” She was supposed to host “Saturday Night Live” that year but had to reschedule. Sadly, her cancer returned, and Radner would die in 1989. “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” would be her last acting appearance.

“A Brief History of Time” is perhaps the most successful book written about cosmology ever, give or take a “Cosmos.” It has sold over 25 million copies. The success of a “Brief History of Time” helped to turn Hawking into one of the biggest names in science.

Nintendo got a challenge on the home video-game console front in 1988. Sega debuted the Genesis and set itself up to directly compete with Nintendo. They gave us “Sonic the Hedgehog” and informed us that Sega does what Ninten-don’t. Ultimately, though, Nintendo would win that battle.

Not everybody wants to eat beef, be it one quarter-pound patty or two all-beef patties on a sesame seed bun. McDonald’s had tried a chicken sandwich in 1980, but it didn’t work. Then, in 1988, the McChicken was introduced. While it was dropped in 1996, they quickly brought it back in 1997, and it remains on the menu.

1988 was big for kids eating in front of the TV. Lunchables and Teddy Grahams were both introduced to the market, targeting children. Teddy Grahams are cookies shaped like Teddy bears you can eat by the handful. Lunchables, meanwhile, are whatever you want them to be.

Nike is synonymous with the slogan “Just Do It.” It remains the calling card of the brand. That slogan was unveiled for the first time in 1988, and clearly, they had a winner on their hands.

Board games aimed at groups of girls clearly had a moment in 1988. That year we got both Girl Talk and Mall Madness. Only one of them can claim to have inspired a musician’s name, though.

As the story goes, American Nintendo executives found the Japanese version of “Super Mario Bros. 2” both too difficult and too similar to the original. Thus, Nintendo basically reskinned the game “Doki Doki Panic” for the American audience and gave us our version of “Super Mario Bros. 2.” Indeed, it is quite different from “Super Mario Bros.,” which a bunch of new enemies and a dreamlike vibe. Plus, you can play as Peach or Toad.

For years, the Cubs clung to tradition. Before there were lights at baseball stadiums, all games were day games. Then, night games became a thing…unless you were the Cubs. Eventually, the Cubs also relented. On August 9, 1988, Wrigley Field hosted its first night game. The Cubs beat the Mets, by the way.

OfficeMax was a bigwig in the world of office supplies for many years, before merging with Office Depot in 2013. Why are we mentioning it? Because it was not just founded in 1988, but founded in Ohio as well. Sure, it was Cleveland, not Cincinnati, but c’mon Bengals fans. Let Browns fans have something for once.