http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/sports/baseball/a-slice-of-life-in-1997-when-the-orioles-last-made-the-alcs.html 2014-10-07 05:45:45 A Slice of Life in 1997, When the Orioles Last Made the A.L.C.S. The Orioles, set to face the Royals, are in the American League Championship Series for the first time since 1997. Here’s a glimpse of what life was like back then. === Fair’s fair. Last week we waxed poetic about 1985, the last time the Kansas City Royals were in the playoffs. Now, the Royals have advanced to the American League Championship Series to face the Baltimore Orioles, who are in the A.L.C.S. for the first time since 1997, a year that deserves its due as well. So here’s a trip down memory lane to October 1997, when the Orioles battled the Cleveland Indians for the A.L. pennant. ■ Elton John’s ■ The ■ In the fall of 1997, NBC had new comedies that starred Jenny McCarthy, Kirstie Alley and Fred Savage, and the TV lineup included the new shows “Dharma & Greg,” “George & Leo” and “Hiller and Diller.” More memorably, “South Park,” VH1’s “Behind the Music,” and “Ally McBeal” debuted in the 1997-98 season. ■ “Side Show,” a musical about a circus act of conjoined twins, had its Broadway premiere on Oct. 16. The Broadway revival of the show begins previews in three weeks. ■ On Oct. 15, the day of Game 6 of the A.L.C.S, the Cassini Huygens spacecraft launched for ■ Tiger Woods, 21, was wrapping up his first full season on the PGA Tour, for which he would win the first of his 11 Player of the Year awards. He won four titles, including a 12-stroke victory at the Masters, and gained the No. 1 ranking after only 42 weeks on tour. ■ The W.N.B.A. had recently completed its first season, with the Houston Comets, who no longer exist, winning the title over the Liberty. ■ Disgruntled Michigan fans, bemoaning the state of the current Wolverines, can tell you that the 1997 team was the last Michigan squad to win a college football national championship ( ■ Houston Oilers fans and Hartford Whalers fans had to watch their teams begin their respective 1997 seasons as the Tennessee Oilers and the Carolina Hurricanes. ■ On Oct. 16, 1997, The New York Times published color photographs on its front page for the first time. One showed the Indians celebrating a victory over the