NFL Hall of Fame Quiz: [Continuing along the lines of last time,
players only.] 1) Name the two in the Hall with the initials B.G.
[One was on defense.] 2) Name the two with the initials J.J.
[One played in the 50s and 60s.] 3) Name the two with the
initials B.L. [One played a portion of his career in the 50s] 4)
Name the four with the initials J.S. who played at least a portion
of their career in the 70s. Answers below.
The Death of Winston Churchill
January 24 marked the 40th anniversary of the death of Sir
Winston at the age of 90. On January 9 he had suffered the latest
in a series of strokes and never awoke.
The funeral was on January 30, 1965, his coffin having lain in
state in Westminster Hall for the preceding three days as some
321,000 filed past to pay their respects.
In the United States, a Memorial service was held on the 29th at
the National Cathedral. Adlai Stevenson, who would die himself
about six months later, issued one of the eulogies.
“Today we meet in sadness to mourn one of the world’s greatest
citizens, Sir Winston Churchill is dead. The voice that led
nations, raised armies, inspired victories and blew fresh courage
into the hearts of men is silenced. We shall hear no longer the
remembered eloquence and wit, the old courage and defiance, the
robust serenity of indomitable faith. Our world is thus poorer,
our political dialogue is diminished and the sources of public
inspiration run more thinly for all of us. There is a lonesome
place against the sky.
“So we are right to mourn. Yet, in contemplating the life and
spirit of Winston Churchill, regrets for the past seem singularly
insufficient. One rather feels a sense of thankfulness and
encouragement that throughout so long a life, such a full measure
of power, virtuosity, mastery and zest played over our human
scene.”
Former President, General Dwight Eisenhower spoke as a
wartime colleague and personal friend.
“Upon the mighty Thames, a great avenue of history, move at
this moment to their final resting place the mortal remains of Sir
Winston Churchill. He was a great maker of history, but his
work done, the record closed, we can almost hear him, with the
poet, say:
‘Sunset and Evening Star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning
of the bar.
When I put out to sea…
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no
sadness of farewell When I embark…’”
But I thought I’d go back in time to the period of the Battle of the
Bulge and the fighting in the Ardennes. Churchill gave this
speech to the House of Commons on January 18, 1945. At this
time the Russians were also advancing in the East into Prussia
and a British / Indian Army was making headway against the
Japanese in the jungles of Burma.
“I am clear that nothing should induce us to abandon the
principle of unconditional surrender, or to enter into any form of
negotiation with Germany or Japan, under whatever guise such
suggestions may present themselves, until the act of
unconditional surrender has been formally executed. But the
President of the United States, and I in your name, have
repeatedly declared that the enforcement of unconditional
surrender upon the enemy in no way relieves the victorious
Powers of their obligations to humanity, or of their duties as
civilized and Christian nations. I read somewhere that when the
ancient Athenians, on one occasion, overpowered a tribe in the
Peloponnesus which had wrought them great injury by base,
treacherous means, and when they had the hostile army herded
on a beach naked for slaughter, they forgave them and set them
free, and they said:
‘This was not because they were men; it was done because of the
nature of Man.’
“Similarly, in this temper, we may now say to our foes, ‘We
demand unconditional surrender, but you well know how strict
are the moral limits within which our action is confined. We are
no extirpators of nations, butchers of peoples. We make no
bargain with you. We accord you nothing as a right. Abandon
your resistance unconditionally. We remain bound by our
customs and our nature.’
“There is another reason why any abrogation of the principle of
unconditional surrender would be most improvident at the
present time, and it is a reason by no means inconsistent with, or
contradictory to, that which I have just given. We should have to
discuss with the enemy, while they still remained with arms in
their hands, all the painful details of the settlement which their
indescribable crimes have made necessary for the future safety of
Europe and of the world; and these, when recited in detail, might
well become a greater obstacle to the end of the struggle than the
broad generalization which the term ‘unconditional surrender’
implies.
“The Germans know perfectly well how these matters stand in
general. Several countries have already surrendered
unconditionally to the victorious Allies, to Russia, to Britain and
to the United States. Already there is a tolerable life appointed
for their peoples. Take Finland, take Italy: these peoples have
not all been massacred and enslaved. On the contrary, so far as
Italy is concerned, there are moments when one has almost
wondered whether it was they who had unconditionally
surrendered to us, or whether we were about to surrender
unconditionally to them. This, at least, I can say on behalf of the
United Nations to Germany: ‘If you surrender now, nothing that
you will have to endure after the war will be comparable to what
you are otherwise going to suffer during the year 1945.’
“Peace, though based on unconditional surrender, will bring to
Germany and Japan an immense, immediate amelioration of the
suffering and agony which now lie before them. We, the Allies,
are no monsters, but faithful men trying to carry forward the light
of the world, trying to raise, from the bloody welter and
confusion in which mankind is now plunged, a structure of
peace, of freedom, of justice and of law, which system shall be
an abiding and lasting shelter for all. That is how I venture to set
before the Committee today the grave issue called ‘unconditional
surrender.’”
[Sources: Winston S. Churchill “Never Give In! The Best of
Winston Churchill’s Speeches”; Roy Jenkins “Churchill: A
Biography”; BBC News]
Stuff
–Nice piece in USA Today by Michael Hiestand on the Wilson
Sporting Goods factory in Ada, Ohio. The 130 workers there
make 3,000-5,000 footballs a day. Of course each employee has
their own task, such as with those responsible for stitching, in
their case about 150 a day. Annuals sales for Wilson are around
700,000 game balls, with another 3 million manufactured for
recreational use. But did you know that an entire cowhide yields
25 footballs? Go ahead, stump your spouse….or significant
other.
–For the record, the only two cities to have a longer drought than
the Philadelphia Eagles in terms of winning a NFL championship
(in Philly’s case the last was 1960) are the Detroit Lions (last
title 1957) and the Arizona / St. Louis / Chicago Cardinals (last
winners in 1947 as Chicago).
–Drat! The New York Mets, having lost out on signing free
agent slugger Carlos Delgado, decided to bring in Boston’s Doug
Mientkiewicz…the jerk who is holding onto the game-ending
baseball from the World Series. I don’t want this guy! How can
I root for him? He’s a………..oh well, I see he did hit .300 twice
…and he’s a good fielder……………..PLAY BALL!
[As for Delgado, he went with the Florida Marlins and ex-Met Al
Leiter. Some of us grew to dislike Mr. Leiter the past few
seasons…he was the clubhouse snitch by all accounts, running to
management with every little complaint. The New York – Florida
rivalry will thus be a good one and nothing would please
us Mets fans more than to shell Leiter when he faces us.]
–Happy 70th birthday to Bob Uecker. Born on January 26, 1935,
in Milwaukee, Ueck went on to have a spectacular career.
Playing for four teams (Milwaukee, St. Louis, Philadelphia and
Atlanta) over six seasons, 1962-67, Uecker hit an even .200 with
146 hits in 731 at bats. And he drilled 14 homers, though he
didn’t steal a base.
But in 1964, when he was traded from Milwaukee to St. Louis,
he played occasionally for the injured Tim McCarver.
According to “Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia,” “two
students at Drury College in Missouri noted that, from Opening
Day until July 2, the Cardinals had not won a game in which
Uecker had played. Such consistency demanded recognition and
the result was the Bob Uecker Fan Club, which eventually
reached 500 members and featured the slogan: ‘Bob Uecker is a
Great American.’”
And in light of Johnny Carson’s death it should be noted that
Uecker’s appearances on “The Tonight Show” propelled him
onto ABC’s Monday Night Baseball from 1976 to 1982.
–Cesar Gutierrez died. Who was he? Back in 1970, Gutierrez
went 7-for-7 (six singles and a triple) in an extra inning ballgame
while playing shortstop for the Detroit Tigers. For that season he
hit .243 with no homeruns in 415 at bats. Lifetime he batted
.235, zero homers in a total of 545 ABs. But yikes…….this is
kind of scary…I see he has the same birthday as Uecker! Jan.
26. Poor Gutierrez would have been 62 had he lived another few
days.
–The New York Times had a nice piece the other day on skier
Bode Miller who is on his way to becoming the first American to
win the overall World Cup title since Phil Mahre accomplished
the feat in 1983.
–Mt. Everest is shrinking. Officially 29,028 feet, Chinese
scientists are going to attempt to quantify the loss which they
estimate at about four feet due to the melting of the ice up top.
In all of Nepal and Tibet, researchers believe the glaciers are
disappearing at a rate of 7% a year due to global warming.
–Sadly, as the death toll rises in South Asia, it would appear the
only natural disasters to take more lives were the Tangshan
earthquake in 1976…255,000; though some have it at as much as
700,000…and the 1887 flooding of the Yellow River where an
estimated 1 million perished.
–The Wall Street Journal had a story on the “Child of Krakatau,”
a “restive volcano growing rapidly atop the spot where its father
blew itself to smithereens in 1883. That eruption, “Krakatoa” in
English, killed an estimated 36,000 as a 130-foot tidal wave
devoured parts of Sumatra and Java.
Anyway, according to reporter Timothy Mapes, Krakatoa’s child
began emerging 70 years ago and is growing in height by 20 feet
each year…rising out of the ocean. While there have been a few
minor eruptions, no one expects another Big One for a hundred
years or so,which by my back of the beer coaster calculation
would be about the time that Bar Chat celebrates its 11,000th
edition!
–I’m not covering the trial in South Africa involving three men
who threw a farm worker into a lion reserve with predictable
results. It crosses even my line.
–Goodness gracious. Trader George passed along the story of a
few days ago from Pointe Noire, Congo, where the army killed a
21-foot-long crocodile, weighing in at around 4,500 pounds and
estimated to be 80 years old. People found it lying on a beach
amidst reports of some locals having disappeared recently.
–OK, sports fans. How much do the five stars of “Desperate
Housewives” currently earn per episode? Survey says……….
………………$47,000 to $76,000. Now because the show has
become such a moneymaker for ABC, the girls believe this
should be upped considerably and who can blame them? After
all, by the last season of “Friends” those folks were making $1.8
million, each, per episode. You’re reading that right.
Top 3 songs for the week of 1/29/77: #1 “Car Wash” (Rose
Royce) #2 “I Wish” (Stevie Wonder) #3 “Dazz” (Brick)
NFL Hall of Fame Quiz Answers: 1) B.G. – Bill George, 1952-
66, LB (Wake grad); Bob Griese, QB, 1967-80. 2) J.J. – Jimmy
Johnson, CB, 1961-76; John Henry Johnson, RB, 1954-66. 3)
B.L. – Bobby Layne, QB, 1948-62; Bob Lilly, DT, 1961-74. 4)
J.S. – Jackie Slater, T, 1976-95; Jackie Smith, TE, 1963-78; John
Stallworth, WR, 1974-87; Jan Stenerud, K, 1967-85. [Joe
Schmidt, LB, is the other with these initials but he played 1953-
65.]
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
