THE CINDERELLA EVERYONE LOVED TO HATE
The 1990 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels
The early ‘90s was a contentious time in college basketball, full of pure amateur competition. The days of the “one and done” player were far ahead, which meant that all the top-level talent was bred in the hotbed of the NCAA. Players like Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and David Robinson had to prove their NBA mettle in the grueling basketball tournament we all know as March Madness. It has always showcased the best of the best, but America has always loved an underdog. Last year, audiences adored Loyola Chicago as they made their way to the Final Four. Cinderella teams fill our hearts with hope and optimism, but not all of them are loveable. Perhaps no small school is more polarizing than the UNLV squad that was put together by the late, great Jerry Tarkanian. The team was nasty, flashy, and, most importantly,
downright impossible to beat. “The Runnin’ Rebels” ran the court like no team before. Reports have the 1991 Tarkanian squad referring to the Arkansas Razorbacks’ “40 minutes of hell” as “40 minutes of vacation” when it beat the then second- ranked team on its home court. The team embodied swagger and wasn’t afraid to create a splash everywhere it went. Most of the noise wasn’t positive, but when you win the national championship the year prior, a little arrogance is necessary to maintain your “bad guy” image. Formally a small state school known to locals as “Tumbleweed Tech,” UNLV wasn’t even a Division I school until 1970. When Tarkanian took over in ‘73, the school went from an institution most acclaimed for its hospitality program to an NCAA basketball tournament regular. After making their first Final Four appearance in 1977, the
team started down a path that would take them to four Elite 8s in five years, and there would be no greater success than the season that came to pass in 1990. Most games are back-and-forth, with drama centering around every possession. That was not the case during the 1990 national championship game. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski guided his team to the final through steady stellar performances throughout the tournament, and all was well until the legendary program met UNLV’s rowdies. The opening tipoff was about as close as Duke ever got to controlling any part of that game. Anderson Hunt, Stacey Augmon, and Larry Johnson ran the Blue Devils off the court, and the Cinderella team everyone came to hate won 103–73 in the biggest blowout in NCAA tournament history.
MORE INTERESTING THAN YOU MIGHT THINK
A History of Key Fobs
The first example of remote access as an option in a vehicle was in the 1983 AMC/Renault Alliance; the key fob locked and unlocked the doors. By the end of the decade, keyless entry technology went mainstream and was available in several General Motors vehicles. In 2003, Mercedes-Benz created the first fob to start their vehicles remotely, but the design of the fob was flimsy, so Mercedes-Benz began working to improve durability the following year. In 2004, the Chevrolet Malibu became the first vehicle to boast remote start technology straight from the factory. Since then, auto manufacturers have added various other functionalities to their models’ key fobs, such as opening the trunk or setting climate control. Over the past two years, some car manufacturers have begun adding smartphone app functionality that may render key fobs obsolete if it takes off. On some 2018 and 2019 models, you can start your car with an app on your smartphone. While this may seem revolutionary, millions of cars around the U.S. still rely on key fob technology. If you lose your key fob or need to make a duplicate, Pop-a-Lock can do so with virtually any make and model. Give us a call today.
While the technology in key fobs today is not very old, the concept and the term “fob” date back well over 100 years. A modern key fob, technically referred to as a remote keyless system (RKS), is an electronic device that controls access to a car or building without the use of a traditional key. The word “fob” came from a German word “fuppe,” meaning “pocket.” This makes sense considering it originally referred to decorative ornaments hung from pocket watch chains as early as 1888. Today, we use key fobs to unlock our cars, apartments, and even our offices, but until the early 1980s, fobs were still more decorative than functional. It was more or less a word to describe items on key rings that added a little personality to someone’s set of keys. They might have some basic function, like a bottle opener or a flashlight, but they were a far cry from the RKS functionality we are used to today.
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