Sunday, Jan. 3, 1993 saw a high of 19 degrees in the Mining City.

That was also the day the Buffalo Bills battled back from a 35-3 deficit in the third quarter to beat the Houston Oilers, 41-38, in overtime of an AFC Wild Card playoff game. That still ranks as the biggest comeback in NFL history.

I did not get to watch that comeback, however, because my grandpa had me outside in the bitter cold working to improve the steps on my aunt’s deck. It was a job she asked him to do, figuring he would do it when the weather warmed up.

But my grandpa was always in a rush to get things done.

He called me after I watched the first half of the Bills-Oilers game. Since it was a blowout — and because I always helped my grandpa when he asked — I went along with it.

When I got home, my dad asked me if I saw the Bills’ game.

“The Oilers killed them,” I said.

“No,” my dad said. “Buffalo came back to win.”

“I’m going to kill grandpa,” I said. Then I walked down the alley to his house to have a talk with him about a game he made me miss.

That was back before there was an NFL Network to show the game again that night, too. If you missed the game, you missed the game.

Sure, I got to watch the highlights on SportsCenter, but that is not the same. That was a once-in-a-lifetime game to watch, and I had to miss it.

It was the most regrettable game of my lifetime. Until Sunday.

Thanks to a thief or thieves stealing a wheel off my daughter’s car in Missoula, I missed the University of Connecticut’s incredible comeback to beat Duke to earn a spot in the Final Four.

I was on the couch watching Duke get all the calls. I watched every Duke game of this year’s tournament, and they seemed to get every call as they squeaked out victories that ruined my day.

I have despised Duke ever since the Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley days. I still can’t stand Laettner, even after the “I Hate Christian Laettner” 30 for 30 documentary was made to try to turn hearts like mine.

It didn’t work. The Blue Devils are still the Dallas Cowboys of college basketball.

Laettner should have never even made that shot to beat Kentucky and send Duke to the 1992 Final Four. He should have been ejected from that game for his dirty play long before the final seconds.

Even though the Blue Devils built a 19-point lead, I kept the game on Sunday. I watched that lead dwindle to 10 before my 22-year-old daughter called me in hysterics.

She left her apartment at an off-campus complex owned by the University of Montana only to find a jack under her car and her front, driver’s-side wheel missing. The lug nuts were gone, too.

It was like a scene from the TV show “Everybody Hates Chris,” but in Missoula, not Bed-Stuy.

We put studded snow tires on her car in November, and I had her normal set of tires at our house in Butte.

Trying to calm her down, I told her I would be there as soon as I could. I said I would bring her those tires and put the donut spare on for her. Then she could go to the Honda dealer, where they would find her a rim and put the regular tires back on.

I loaded the tires into my truck and strapped them down. Then I drove away, heading to Missoula. As I pulled away from my house, I turned on KBOW to see if I could catch a final score of the Duke-UConn game.

The refs would bail the Blue Devils out from the UConn comeback bid, I figured, but I still wanted to hear the score.

Right when the radio came on, I heard the announcer screaming that UConn just took the lead on an incredible play with three-tenths of a second left on the clock. It turned out that it was .4 seconds on the clock, but it still was not enough time for Duke to answer with a miracle of its own.

UConn freshman Braylon Mullins stole a tipped pass that should have never been thrown, passed to a teammate, then got the pass back and sank a 35-foot 3-pointer to give the Huskies a 73-72 win.

For the record, I also don’t normally cheer for UConn because I can’t stand head coach Dan Hurley. That isn’t because he is Bobby Hurley’s brother, either. It’s because the UConn coach is the biggest crybaby this side of UCLA coach Mick Cronin.

The play and shot by Mullins were simply incredible. That will be replayed more than the shot Laettner should not have been allowed to shoot.

But I didn’t get to see it live because of some thief or thieves in Missoula. In the middle of the night, they stole a wheel from a girl who is working hard to pay for school along with the high cost of living in Missoula.

The thieves got an assist from a school that constantly gouges its students. At night time, the complex a few blocks south of the campus is only as bright as the moonlight. There are no street lights, and only about one in four of the lights above each apartment door work.

The ones that do give out light, however, are dim or flickering. That gives the complex a nice Cabrini-Green, Candyman kind of vibe.

I’m sure that is exactly how the highly-paid administrators at the school like to live at their homes. The school paid former president Seth Bodner around $350,000 a year to not answer emails, so it apparently cannot afford lightbulbs to help keep the students safe.

That, though, is a rant for another day. It is a conversation I cannot wait to have with Bodner now that he bailed on the students to run for the Senate. I bet he will now actually talk to the people since he wants our votes.

It was still kind of light out, but raining like crazy, when I got to Missoula to put the donut spare on the car. I went to O’Reilly’s Auto Parts on Broadway Street and bought a full set of anti-theft lug nuts for the car.

As they say, I was yesterday days old when I knew there was such a thing. Steeling wheels, I figured, was something you only see on television.

I also had to buy a wrench to lower the black-and-yellow hydraulic jack left behind without its handle.

The very nice UM Campus Security officer assured me that the jack would be sent to forensics and dusted for finger prints and DNA. They would get all their best people on the case, and it would be solved in about 42 minutes, like we see on TV.

At least I took his laugh at my request for that as an assurance that it will be done.

He said the officers were going to be on the lookout for a car with a mismatched Honda wheel or a vehicle with one studded tire when they are patrolling the area. My daughter will be looking for that tire, too, when she walks to campus or takes walks around the neighborhood.

If you are in Missoula, maybe you could keep an eye out for that, too. Or maybe you know someone who mysteriously got a new Honda wheel for his or her car over the weekend. Thieves are not the smartest people, and they tend to talk. Maybe you will hear something.

If you do, please call the police. Better yet, contact me and let me know the name of the thief or thieves. They owe us about $600 for the rim and another $200 or so for the studded snow tire.

More importantly, I want to meet these people. I don’t want to fight them or hurt them.

I just want to have a little talk with them about a game they made me miss.

— Bill Foley, who would not vote for Seth Bodner for dog catcher, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.