New Orleans Saints Quiz (1967-2004…hey, someone has to do
it!): 1) Rushing, career? 2) Passing yards, career? 3)
Receptions, career? 4) 1st coach? [1967-70] 5) 1st season over
.500? 6) Who was the last QB taken in the first round? Answers
below.
The Battle of the Bulge
It’s the 60th anniversary of one of the last, great battles of World
War II. Fought from December 16, 1944 to January 16, 1945, it
was Hitler’s final gasp; a colossal gamble that cost both sides
dearly but spelled the end of the Third Reich. I thought I’d tell a
few tales.
In the fall of 1944, Hitler had been disguising a tremendous
buildup opposite France’s Ardennes Forest. Germany had
already suffered four million casualties; its cities and industrial
plants were being pulverized; the Luftwaffe had been decimated
and his remaining forces were being battered from both sides.
But while he knew he couldn’t defeat the Red Army in the east,
according to historian Donald L. Miller, “he had contempt for the
fighting ability of the Americans. The Americans were winning
the war, he was convinced, by the sheer power of their mass
production economy. If he cut their precarious supply line he
might be able to force them to capitulate.”
Hitler’s generals vehemently opposed the plan to split the
American and British forces and retake the port city of Antwerp,
but Hitler proceeded to raise a new army, the Volksgrenadier, “a
people’s infantry of former airmen and sailors, conscripts from
Nazi-occupied countries who spoke no German, and grandfathers
and young boys, some of them only 15 years old. It would link
up with veteran army units, including the Waffen SS, in a
lightning counterattack along an 85-mile front that ran from
southern Belgium to the middle of Luxembourg.” [Miller]
As Hitler himself described it, he was depending on “Fog, night,
and snow” to give him his victory; that and Albert Speer’s new
tanks.
On the eve of the German attack, General Eisenhower bet his
British counterpart Montgomery that the war would be over by
Christmas. Rumors were rampant among the troops that Hitler
was dead. General Omar Bradley postponed orders for winter
gear in order to bring in more military equipment to finish the
job instead.
But by the night of December 15, 250,000 German troops (with
another 50,000 in reserve), 1,900 pieces of artillery and 970
tanks had been brought up to the staging area in total secrecy,
poised to attack 83,000 Americans. Radio silence was strictly
enforced; tanks and vehicles heavily camouflaged. Just three
days earlier, an intelligence summary issued by General Bradley
declared: “It is now certain that attrition is steadily sapping the
strength of German forces on the western front.” But General
Troy Middleton, at headquarters in Bastogne, said the front
assigned to him in the Ardennes was too thinly held. “Don’t
worry, Troy,” Bradley assured him, “they won’t come through
here.”
On the morning of December 16, the Germans struck. All along
the front, Americans were roused from their sleep by the thunder
of artillery. Forward observers found their radio wavelengths
jammed by the martial music of German bands. “One officer
who did reach his commander by phone was interrupted in mid-
sentence by a German voice announcing triumphantly, ‘We are
here!’” [“The Illustrated History of World War II,” editor George
Constable]
The surprise of the Americans is also captured in the reaction of
a GI in the village of Honsfeld. He opened his door and saw a
giant Tiger tank rumbling past. Slamming it he shouted, “My
God! They’re German!”
Tragically, Hitler had issued a directive that the offensive
must be “preceded by a wave of terror and fright.” In one
instance, 22 Americans walked outside a building to surrender.
They were shot. In another, 200 (including some Belgian
villagers) were herded and a tank opened fired on them. But the
worst, involving some 150 GIs, was in what would later be called
the Malmedy Massacre, details of which I will leave out as they
are too brutal. [3 incredibly survived, however. For the record, I
also read varying estimates on the number of GIs involved.]
But word of Malmedy swept through the American lines and it
had an electrifying effect. American resistance quickly stiffened.
For his part, Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe, acting
commander of the 101st Airborne, moved his 11,000 men to
General Middleton’s VIII Corps headquarters in Bastogne with
the orders to hold it at all costs.
The winter fog was so thick that the Germans had trouble
gauging the force they were facing there, allowing the Americans
to dig in, and by Dec. 20, McAuliffe felt confident enough that
he could repel any German offensive. Bastogne was encircled,
though, and McAuliffe did have to worry about a lack of
supplies.
“If you see four hundred Germans in a hundred yard area and
they have their heads up,” he told one officer, “you can fire
artillery at them. But not more than two rounds.”
Medical supplies were nonexistent because on Dec. 19 the
101st’s medical unit, including surgeons, was captured. The only
painkiller left was brandy.
At 11:30 AM on Dec. 22, Sergeant Oswald Butler saw four
Germans walking toward a farmhouse he was occupying. On the
field telephone he reported, “There’re four Krauts coming up the
road. They’re carrying a white flag. It looks like they want to
surrender.”
The Germans asked to see the American commanding general.
Major Alvin Jones took them to his command post and relayed
the message to divisional headquarters. “It’s an ultimatum, sir,”
Jones said to Lieut. Colonel Ned D. Moore, the 101st’s chief of
staff. Moore handed the document to McAuliffe. “They want
you to surrender,” he said.
“Aw, nuts!” exclaimed McAuliffe, leaving the room. Reminded
the Germans needed a reply, McAuliffe said, “Well, I don’t
know what to tell them.”
Lieut. Col. Harry Kinnard then chimed in, “That first crack you
made would be hard to beat, General.”
“What was that?” McAuliffe asked.
“You said, ‘Nuts!’”
“That’s it!” McAuliffe said.
So a note was typed up: “To the German Commander: Nuts!
The American Commander.”
McAuliffe then handed the reply to Col. Joseph H. “Bud”
Harper, commander of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment. “Will
you see that it’s delivered?”
“I’ll deliver it myself!” said Harper. Then, at the command post,
Harper handed the note to the German major and said, “If you
don’t understand what ‘Nuts’ means, in plain English it’s the
same as ‘Go to hell.’ And I will tell you something else – if you
continue to attack, we will kill every goddamn German that tried
to break into this city!”
The Germans saluted formally. “We will kill many Americans,”
the captain declared. Upon learning of this whole episode, Hitler
was furious.
On December 23 the weather broke and the Americans received
the long-awaited supply drop of ammunition, medical supplies
and food.
We continue the story next chat.
[Other source: “The Story of World War II,” Donald
Miller…revised and updated from the original text by Henry
Steele Commager]
Stuff
–Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg were selected to Baseball’s
Hall of Fame on Tuesday. No complaints here in either case.
But the big debate is always about who falls short. Reliever
Bruce Sutter missed out by just 43 votes, 66.7% of the votes
versus a required 75%. Sutter, who deserves to be enshrined,
should get in next year when the list of those eligible for the first
time is weak. [Will Clark, Orel Hershiser and Dwight Gooden
being the biggest names; none of whom are worthy.]
Which also means that if Jim Rice is ever to make it (he was on
59.5% of the ballots cast this go around), he needs to do it next
year as well, because in 2007 the list of first timers includes Cal
Ripken Jr., Mark McGwire and Tony Gwynn.
As for my own personal cause, now that Dave Kingman is no
longer on the ballot, Bert Blyleven only drew 40.9% and will
clearly be waiting for the Veterans Committee down the road.
Speaking of which, the Vet ballot is announced on March 2.
Johnny Mac and I will have some thoughts next month as we get
closer. It’s a fascinating group, including Ron Santo, Vada
Pinson, Gil Hodges, Tony Oliva, Curt Flood, Sparky Lyle and
Wes Ferrell.
–No doubt who the national champion of college football is…
…USC. Auburn could have staked a legitimate claim with a
more impressive win over Virginia Tech, who actually outgained
the Tigers 375 to 299. And as you know by now, Auburn didn’t
help itself in scheduling Citadel and Louisiana Monroe. So shut
up, already, Auburn!
[I have to admit I was very distressed in watching the USC –
Oklahoma game. Where were the shots of the Trojan
cheerleaders? Where were they all season? And how awful was
Ashlee Simpson during the halftime show? And why couldn’t
the Orange Bowl organizers provide the entertainers with better
equipment? Geezuz, giving them Mr. Microphones would have
been better than the crap they had to use……………Remember
the Mr. Microphone commercials? “Hey good looking!”
Wouldn’t be considered PC these days, that’s for sure.]
–The Pittsburgh Steelers became the 4th team to finish 15-1.
Two of the other three went on to win the Super Bowl; the 1984
San Francisco 49ers and the 1985 Chicago Bears. The 1998
Minnesota Vikings lost the NFC Championship game to Atlanta.
–For its 50th anniversary last year, Sports Illustrated did a
comparison on offensive linemen, then and now. 50 years ago
the average lineman in the NFL was 6’1”, 230 lbs. Today he’s
6’5”, 310.
–My humblest apologies to all Bucknell alumni, including Allen
H., who prefers that I not refer to this very fine institution of
higher learning as “freakin’ Bucknell” as I did in describing its
spectacular upset of Pitt in college basketball the other day.
Allen also reminded me that Bucknell has an Orange Bowl win,
one more than Wake Forest. Allen, I owe you three rounds of
your favorite adult beverage. [I know Allen well….better put a
cap on the dollar amount.]
[1935…Bucknell defeated Miami (FL)…and you can look it up.]
–Re my piece on Artie Shaw last time, Harry K. chipped in with
an example of Shaw’s wicked wit. Once, during a concert he
was giving, a fan jumped onto the stage from the balcony. Artie
gave him a deadpan look and said, “John Wilkes Booth, I
presume.”
–Harry K. also passed along a story from Sofia, Bulgaria
(courtesy of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.), where a 67-year-
old man survived a blood alcohol level of 0.914…….0.55 is
considered potentially fatal. No jokes here, but doctors tested
him five times before accepting the extraordinary figure. He was
listed in stable condition after getting hit by a car while crossing
the street.
–The BBC had a piece titled ‘Alcohol hampers depth
perception.’ For example, “under normal conditions, a driver
should be able to judge how far away a tree or another vehicle is
from their own moving car.” The article fails to point out,
though, that this problem is also why some of us can’t drink beer
on the golf course. Without proper depth perception we’re
blasting our irons way over the green…..speaking from
experience.
OK…….so I’m really blasting it into the woods.
–I saw a blurb on the death of baseball scout Rex Bowen at the
age of 93. Imagine the old days when you didn’t have the media
resources you have today, when a good scout was worth their
weight in gold. And so it is that we mark Bowen’s passing
because he was responsible for discovering Hall of Famer Bill
Mazeroski (along with Maury Wills and Dick Groat, among
others).
–Sexy actress Jennifer Garner is sick with a viral infection. All
of us at Bar Chat send our warmest wishes for a speedy recovery.
–Switching gears…in perusing one of Shirley Chisholm’s
obituaries, I found the following anecdote of James Barron’s in
the New York Times rather fascinating; a good piece of
American political history.
Chisholm was the first black woman to serve in Congress as well
as the first woman to seek the Democratic presidential
nomination in 1972. Overall, she served 7 terms in the House.
But picture the scene during the race for the White House in ’72
when Gov. George C. Wallace was severely wounded in an
assassination attempt. Chisholm went to visit Wallace, the
segregationist, in the hospital and paid a heavy political price for
doing so.
“Black people in my community crucified me,” Chisholm later
recalled. “But why shouldn’t I go to visit him? Every other
presidential candidate was going to see him. He said to me,
‘What are your people going to say?’ I said: ‘I know what
they’re going to say. But I wouldn’t want what happened to you
to happen to anyone.’ He cried and cried and cried.”
Barron notes Chisholm believed her visit paid off in the end.
“(Wallace) always spoke well of (me) in the South,” she said,
adding that she had contacted him in 1974, when Shirley was
looking for votes on a domestic issue. “Many of the Southerners
did not want to make the vote. They came around.”
–According to USA Today, of the 14 coaches fired at the
Division I-A level this year, 8 received fewer than five years to
get their respective programs in shape. The flip side is the
coaches are receiving gigantic contracts, like the $2 million per
season Utah’s Urban Meyer got to move on to Florida. As
Auburn athletics director David Housel said, “To whom much is
given, much is expected.”
–Rita Johnson of Wolfeboro Falls, NH, wrote the following
letter to USA Today in defense of children playing poker.
“The alarm over kids playing poker is similar to the paranoia of
the parents in the film ‘The Music Man.’
“I learned to play poker when I was 4 or 5, sitting next to my
parents and having a great time. I learned how to add and
subtract, count up to ‘king’ and enjoy good quality time with
family and friends.
“I played through the 1960s and never did drugs; made it through
the 70s without a gambling addiction; went through the 80s
without a need to hit Vegas; and now play without any desire to
toss more than a few quarters into the pot. What’s the big deal –
pun intended – with teaching kids how to have a good time
playing cards with friends and giving them a safe venue to do it?
Get a grip!”
Amen, Sister Rita. Seeing as I just loaded up my 11-year-old
nephew with every poker-related item possible for Christmas, I
couldn’t agree more. And I was thrilled to hear Doug and his
buddies are playing Texas Hold ‘Em between classes. As I’ve
noted before, starting at age 15 I played a game every Friday or
Saturday night throughout high school and these guys are still
some of the best friends I have, 30+ years later. So parents,
don’t discourage it.
–Bird bits:
According to Nigel Hawkes of the Times of London, those
enormous eagles that saved Sam and Frodo in “The Lord of the
Rings” are not as far-fetched as they seem.
“Genetic data just published provides new details of the
evolution of a New Zealand eagle so big that it was near the
upper limit of body weight for flight.”
We’re talking an eagle with a wingspan of 9 feet 10 inches and a
weight of 33 pounds. But these eagles preyed on huge flightless
birds – moas – that weighed ten times more. Yikes!
The ‘Haast’ eagles “arrived in New Zealand relatively recently as
a smallish bird from Asia or Australia, then grew explosively. It
swooped at up to 50 mph, grasping the hindquarters of the
flightless moa, killing it by inflicting crushing wounds.”
But then along came man, the moa were easy to hunt, and the
eagles’ food source was gone. Exit the eagle….to Middle Earth.
And in a separate note in the Times by John Vincent, it turns out
some of Britain’s birds are living far longer than normal, thanks,
some say, to global warming and milder winters.
For example, one Manx shearwater that was tagged back in July
1953, when it was about five-years-old, is still around at age 56,
making it the world’s oldest recorded wild bird. This particular
one has flown an estimated five million miles in its lifetime,
earning it Priority Gold status on Continental Airlines, I presume.
The second-oldest recorded British bird species is an
oystercatcher, with one that had been tagged as a youth found
dead at the age of 37. Well, you know what they say about
oysters. No word on what our friend was doing when he finally
keeled over.
But here’s something truly depressing for those of us battling
Canada geese and their prodigious droppings. In Britain they are
reaching 25 to 27 years of age!
–Bar Chat Animal of the Year / 2005
Heck, might as well just pass out the hardware on this one today.
There’s no reason to wait until December, after all. Yes, it’s the
elephants being pressed into service in Thailand and Sri Lanka
clearing tsunami debris. Those being employed in the area of
Phuket also worked on the film “Alexander.” Of course since
that particular flick bombed at the U.S. box office, the elephants’
careers were thought to be in danger; elephants not being able to
weather a series of film disasters as much as, say, Kevin Costner
or Ben Affleck can.
Top 3 songs for the week of 1/4/69: #1 “I Heard It Through The
Grapevine” (Marvin Gaye) #2 “For Once In My Life” (Stevie
Wonder) #3 “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” (Diana Ross &
The Supremes & The Temptations)
New Orleans Saints Quiz Answers: 1) Rushing, career: George
Rogers…4,267 (1981-84). Now if you thought it has to be
Deuce McAllister, you’re wrong. He finished this season with
4,194. 2) Passing, career: Archie Manning…21,734 (1971-82).
3) Receptions, career: Eric Martin, 532 (1985-93). 4) 1st coach:
Tom Fears, 1967-70 (fired 7 games into season)…13-34-2. 5) 1st
season over .500: 1987…12-3 (strike season)…8-8 in ’79 and
’83. 6) Archie Manning was the last QB taken in the 1st round,
1971, Ole Miss.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
—
Tsunami Relief Aid
American Red Cross
International Response Fund
P.O. Box 37243
Washington, D.C. 20013
800-HELP NOW
www.redcross.org
