Super Bowl MVP Quiz: 1) Who was the first defensive back to
receive the honor? 2) Who was the first running back? 3) Who
was the first wide receiver? 4) Harvey Martin (Dallas) was the
first defensive end to be game MVP, sharing the honor with
teammate / DT Randy White in Super Bowl XII. Who was the
2nd defensive end to be MVP? Answers below.
***Your Exclusive Super Bowl Prediction…as noted earlier***
Patriots 27…Eagles 10
[This carries the Bar Chat Guarantee…always look for it before
placing your hard-earned dollars on any sporting event.]
Black History Month: Marvin Gaye and the national anthem
I was perusing Michael Eric Dyson’s recent book on the great
Marvin Gaye, “Mercy, Mercy Me,” and the following tale
combines a little history with Gaye’s own unique tale. Many of
you old-timers (the editor included) will remember much of this.
Marvin Gaye sang the national anthem at Super Bowl V in 1971
and did so again in September 1979 before the Ernie Shavers –
Larry Holmes heavyweight championship fight. But it was
Game Four of the 1968 World Series between the Detroit Tigers
and St. Louis Cardinals that represented Gaye’s first go of it on a
big stage. Detroit announcer Ernie Harwell chose the singers and
the front office asked him to speak to Gaye before his
performance.
“They were worried about Marvin because of his Motown
connection,” Harwell told Dyson and remember, the riots of the
previous year, plus some follow through in ’68, had torn up
Detroit. “They told me to go to him and ask him to sing it a little
more traditional than he might ordinarily. He complied with that
and sang it very straight.”
But the next day, blind Puerto Rican singer Jose Feliciano was
up. Accompanied by his guide dog, Feliciano and his acoustic
guitar “shocked the 53,634 fans at Tiger Stadium with a gospel-
laden, heart-thumping, Latin-Jazz version of the anthem. He also
enraged many in the viewing audience of 50 million, 400 of
whom placed irate calls of protest to NBC. Later, Feliciano said
that Gaye disappointed his people with his straight rendition of
‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’ Marvin was incensed. ‘Feliciano is
a magnificent artist,’ Marvin said. ‘Original, dynamic and
controversial. I respect his rights to do his thing with the
national anthem, even though some people say he did it to attract
publicity and sell albums. I don’t agree that he disgraced our
country’s song; he simply sang it as he felt it. But I do think it’s
wrong of Feliciano to say that in singing the national anthem
straight, I was letting my people down. If he means by ‘my
people,’ the black community, I know he is wrong. I am proud
to be black. My fans know this, and they show it by accepting
my records and albums today more than ever….
“ ‘And from the hundreds of phone calls and letters and
telegrams I have received, I know most Americans, black and
white, like the way I did it. So did the Detroit Tigers. And so
would Francis Scott Key! Sure, I agree with Feliciano that a lot
of things need changing in this country, and it’s up to us young
people to do the changing. But, his remarks about me were
uncalled for….I’ll challenge Feliciano any time, at any concert,
on any stage and on any TV show, to a battle of soul songs – the
real thing – and let the people who know soul best, be the
judge.’” [Michael Eric Dyson]
And so it was that Gaye, 15 years later, would perform the
national anthem on February 13, 1983, at the NBA All-Star
game, held that year in Los Angeles. As Dyson writes, “Marvin
had been on a serious coke binge, and already fearful of a live
performance, he failed in his desperate efforts to get singer
Luther Vandross to take his place.”
The day before, Gaye was hours late for rehearsal and when he
finally made it performed a four-and-a-half minute version that
had the Lakers’ director of promotions in a tizzy. Lon Rosen
was responsible for bringing in the singers and his first choice,
Lionel Richie, had been nixed by the NBA. “Who’s Lionel
Richie?” [For the record, Richie had just launched his solo
career the year before, after breaking with the Commodores, and
had two #1s in 1982, “Endless Love” with Diana Ross and
“Truly.”] Magic Johnson had Rosen look into Gaye. But now,
with CBS slated to broadcast it live, Marvin was told that his
original version would have to be cut in half. Marvin was
incensed and refused to talk about it until Julius “Dr. J.” Erving
stepped in to mediate. Gaye agreed to the two-minute limit and
promised to show up the next morning, before the Sunday event,
to rehearse. Dyson writes, “He didn’t show, and by noon, when
he hadn’t appeared, Rosen asked his regular stand-in, a Forum
usher, to be prepared to sing at 12:25 p.m., five minutes before
CBS was slated to go live.”
Well, Gaye showed up at 12:25, “decked in mirrored aviator
glasses and a dark double-breasted suit. He made his way down
the Forum’s steps and handed Rosen a cassette (consisting of the
background music). When Rosen asked if it was two minutes,
Marvin nodded, and Rosen rushed the tape to the arena’s studio
engineer. After sportscaster Dick Stockton announced him, as
the first beats of Gaye’s track bled into his introduction, Marvin
launched into his soulful, deliberate version, laying behind the
beat in his opening phrase. ‘Say, can you se-e-e-e-euh.’”
[Dyson]
Gaye went on to give perhaps the most memorable performance
of the song at a sporting event, totally bringing the house down.
[I remember this vividly myself.] You have to understand that at
this stage in his life Marvin was a mess, yet he transformed the
“anthem into a song of personal triumph.”
Dyson believes that Feliciano’s remarks 15 years earlier, “buried
deep in his heart,” helped propel him. Sadly, Marvin Gaye was
shot to death by his father a little over a year later, April 1, 1984.
Tale of the Tape…Gaye vs. Feliciano
Top 20 Billboard tunes
Jose Feliciano [1]
#3 Light My Fire…8/68
Marvin Gaye [27]
#10 Pride And Joy…6/63
#15 You’re A Wonderful One…3/64
#19 Once Upon A Time…5/64…with Mary Wells
#17 What’s The Matter With You Baby…6/64…with Mary Wells
#15 Try It Baby…6/64
#6 How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You…12/64
#8 I’ll Be Doggone…4/65
#8 Ain’t That Peculiar…10/65
#14 It Takes Two…2/67
#1 I Heard It Through The Grapevine…11/68
#4 Too Busy Thinking About My Baby…5/69
#7 That’s The Way Love Is…9/69
#2 What’s Going On…#2
#4 Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)…7/71
#9 Inner City Blues…10/71
#7 Trouble Man…12/72
#1 Let’s Get It On…7/73
#12 You’re A Special Part Of me…10/73
#19 My Mistake…3/74…with Diana Ross
#15 I Want You…5/76
#1 Got To Give It Up…4/77
#3 Sexual Healing…11/82
Marvin & Tammi Terrell
#19 Ain’t No Mountain High Enough…6/67
#5 Your Precious Love…9/67
#10 If I Could Build My Whole World Around You…12/67
#8 Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing…4/68
#7 You’re All I Need To Get By…8/68
Stuff
–May 25, 1965…Robert Goulet, who had moved to Canada
when he was 14 and had never performed “The Star-Spangled
Banner,” did so before the heavyweight championship rematch
between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston. Goulet started out…
“Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early night…”
[Peter Iorizzo / Star-Ledger]
–AP Men’s Basketball
1. Illinois
2. North Carolina
3. Kansas
4. Duke
5. Boston College
7. Wake Forest
* This is being posted before the titanic contest between #4 Duke
and #7 Wake Forest.
–I ordered up a transcript of a recent NBC “Dateline” program
from the day we learned Johnny Carson passed away. Carson
did an interview in 1983 with Bryant Gumbel. Granted, you
have to have seen Johnny to appreciate the following little story,
but it’s probably my own personal favorite.
Gumbel: You have had so many people on your program over
the years. So many important people, so many well-known
people. Anybody you wanted to book and have been unable to?
Carson: Yeah, a few people?
Gumbel: Who?
Carson: Cary Grant. I have a running joke going with (him).
He’s a great fan of the show, as I am of him. And I keep saying
‘Cary, why don’t you do the show?’ And he says, ‘I don’t think
so. Nobody wants to see an old movie star.’ He means it. He
feels, I think, a little uncomfortable out there. So when we went
to the hour show, where we used to do 90 minutes, I had a
wonderful idea. So I called Cary Grant and I said, ‘Cary, I think
I’ve got it for you. Here’s what we do. I introduce you at the
last minute of the show. I say, “My guest is Cary Grant.” You
walk out and you sit down. And I say, “Cary, how are you?”
And you say, “It’s wonderful to be here.” And I’ll ask you a
question, and say, “I’m sorry, Cary, we’re out of time. I didn’t
realize we had the hour format, but thank you for coming.”
[Cary Grant entertained the idea for about three days and then
bailed out.]
–Did you hear about this idiotic episode on NBC’s “Fear
Factor”? [Geez, I hope nobody actually ‘watched’ it.]
According to the New York Daily News, “Couples…raced
through a web of wires attached to a 10,000-volt substation,
suffering stinging shocks while grabbing flags.”
The scene was shot at an AES Corp. / Southern California power
plant that had given permission to NBC.
Said a Con Edison spokesman in New York, “Substations are not
playgrounds. They can be potentially dangerous to untrained
individuals. Stunts of any kind around electricity and electrical
devices should not be imitated.” [Not that this should surprise
anyone.]
Now the producers of the show say they had all kinds of warning
signs…blah blah blah………just another case of the dumbing
down of America.
–I was reading a piece by Jerry Potter in USA Today and I found
some of these stats on golfer Hale Irwin’s career as a Champions
(Senior) Tour player remarkable. Irwin, who will turn 60 this
year, won his 41st Champions event last weekend. [He also won
3 U.S. Opens on the regular tour.]
But in his 230 career starts as a senior, he has finished in the top
three 100 times (44%) and top ten 170 times (74%).
–Horace Hagedorn, the co-founder of gardening products king
Miracle-Gro, passed away at the age of 89. Since I cracked on
the Gremlin automobile the other day I have to take note that
mega-millionaire Hagedorn drove one for years, while giving
away $10s of millions to children’s charities. You gotta love
that.
Hagedorn, though, didn’t start out in the plant and garden
business. He actually began his career selling advertising time
on radio before producing a radio drama. Then he moved on to a
small advertising agency around which time he had a
conversation with Martin Small, a legend in the industry credited
with inventing roll-on deodorant. According to Douglas Martin
of the New York Times, Small once explained to Hagedorn that
he would tell him in five words how to make a million dollars:
“Find a need, and fill it.”
“Marvin, that’s six words,” Hagedorn would later say in an
interview, “and he said, ‘So I lie a little.’”
Later, Hagedorn met a German-born nurseryman Otto Stern who
was selling plants and trees by mail when the two hit upon the
idea for a new fertilizer. The rest is history.
–The New York Knicks have lost 14 of their last 16 (through
Tuesday’s action) and just completed the worst month in
franchise history, 2-13 for January. They also have something
like the third highest payroll in the league.
–Anyone miss hockey yet?
–Congratulations to a good friend of mine, Jose Rebimbas, head
coach of the William Paterson University men’s basketball team.
Jose just wracked up his 200th career win at the school and has
taken them to the Division III Final Four twice. One of his
former players, Horace Jenkins, is on the Detroit Pistons (though
unfortunately not dressing too often). Jose is a brilliant coach
and here’s hoping he gets the chance to move up to Division I.
–Another reason why Bono is the real deal. Commenting on a
talk he had with President Bush on AIDS during which Bush had
to bang his fist on the desk to get a word in edgewise:
“Let’s face it, tolerating an Irish rock star is not a necessity of his
office.”
[Source: Newsweek]
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/2/74: #1 “The Way We Were”
(Barbra Streisand) #2 “You’re Sixteen” (Ringo Starr) #3
“Love’s Theme” (Love Unlimited Orchestra)
#1 Hits during time of Super Bowl
The first 12 games were generally played around January 15,
then the average was about Jan. 20 for a spell and now it’s closer
to Feb. 1. Taking Jan. 20 as a rough barometer, here is what we
considered the #1 Billboard tune at the time of the Big One the
first two decades.
1967. I’m A Believer…The Monkees
1968. Judy In Disguise…John Fred & His Playboy Band
1969. I Heard It Through The Grapevine…Marvin Gaye
1970. Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head…B.J. Thomas
1971. Knock Three Times…Dawn
1972. American Pie…Don McLean
1973. You’re So Vain…Carly Simon
1974. You’re Sixteen…Ringo Starr
1975. Please Mr. Postman…Carpenters
1976. Theme From Mahogany…Diana Ross
1977. I Wish…Stevie Wonder
1978. Baby Come Back…Player
1979. Le Freak…Chic
1980. Rock With You…Michael Jackson
1981. (Just Like) Starting Over…John Lennon
1982. Physical…Olivia Newton-John
1983. Down Under…Men at Work
1984. Owner Of A Lonely Heart…Yes
1985. Like A Virgin…Madonna
1986. That’s What Friends Are For…Dionne & Friends
And a few Top Ten album charts
Jan. 21 1967
1. The Monkees…same
2. S.R.O. …Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
3. Doctor Zhivago…Soundtrack
4. The Sound of Music…Soundtrack
5. Winchester Cathedral…The New Vaudeville Band
6. got Live if you want it! (sic) …The Rolling Stones
7. Born Free…Roger Williams
8. Je m’appelle Barbra…Barbra Streisand
9. The Supremes A’ Go-Go…The Supremes
10. Golden Greats…Gary Lewis & The Playboys
Jan. 22, 1972
1. American Pie…Don McLean
2. The Concert For Bangla Desh…George Harrison
3. Music…Carole King
4. Chicago At Carnegie Hall…Chicago
5. Led Zeppelin IV
6. Teaser And The Firecat…Cat Stevens (terrorist)
7. Tapestry…Carole King
8. There’s A Riot Goin’ On…Sly & The Family Stone
9. Madman Across The Water…Elton John
10. Wild Life…Wings
Jan. 22, 1977
1. Wings Over America…Wings
2. Hotel California…Eagles
3. Songs In The Key Of Life…Stevie Wonder
4. Boston…same
5. Best of the Doobies…The Doobie Brothers
6. A Star Is Born…Barbra Streisand / Soundtrack
7. Greatest Hits…Linda Ronstadt
8. Frampton Comes Alive!…Peter Frampton
9. Fly Like An Eagle…Steve Miller Band
10. A Night On The Town…Rod Stewart
[That was a strong week. At least four of those albums could
arguably be in many top 20 of all time lists.]
Jan. 23, 1982
1. 4…Foreigner
2. Escape…Journey
3. For Those About To Rock We Salute You…AC/DC
4. Hooked On Classics…The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
5. Tattoo You…The Rolling Stones
6. Bella Donna…Stevie Nicks
7. Freeze-Frame…The J. Geils Band
8. Private Eyes…Daryl Hall & John Oates
9. Ghost In The Machine…The Police
10. Memories…Barbra Streisand
[Source: “Joel Whitburn / #1 Daily Hits, 1940-1992”; “Joel
Whitburn / Top Ten Album Charts, 1963-1998]
Super Bowl MPV Quiz Answers: 1) First defensive back…
Safety Jake Scott, Miami, VII (vs. Washington). 2) First running
back…Larry Csonka, Miami, VIII (vs. Minnesota). 3) First wide
receiver…Lynn Swann, Pittsburgh, X (vs. Dallas). 4) Second
defensive end…Richard Dent, Chicago, XX (vs. New England).
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday. And on Feb. 10…750…
