The final week of the previous millennium was a doozy for the Atlanta Braves, as it turned out.
On Dec. 22, 1999 — 20 years ago this week — the latest issue of Sports Illustrated began arriving in mailboxes and on newsstands around the country. The internet was still in its infancy in those days, and it was still not only possible, but routine, for a print-only story to make a worldwide impact (the issue was dated Dec. 27, 1999, which is 20 years ago Friday).
What caught the ire of SI’s readers was not the magazine’s ranking of the 50 greatest athletes of the 20th century from each state.