NFL Quiz: [In the spirit of giving, some easy, some not.]
1) Who is Miami’s career leader in rushing? 2) Who is New
England’s career leader in rushing? 3) Who is New England’s
career leader in TD passes? 4) Who holds the New York Jets
record for TD passes, season? 5) Who holds the Jets record for
receptions in a game with 17? 6) Who holds the Oakland
Raiders record for TD passes, season? Answers below.
President Abraham Lincoln…Thanksgiving Proclamation
Lincoln offered the following decree on October 3, 1863, which
set the precedent for today’s national holiday. Secretary of State
William Seward is said to be the actual author.
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with
the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these
bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to
forget the source from which they come, others have been added,
which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to
penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible
to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst
of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has
sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their
aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has
been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and
harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of
military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted
by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful
diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful
industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the
shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our
settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the
precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than
heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding
the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the
battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of
augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance
of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath
devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.
They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while
dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless
remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they
should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as
with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I
do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United
States, and also those who are at sea and those who are
sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last
Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise
to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I
recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly
due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do
also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and
disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have
become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the
lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and
fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal
the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be
consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of
peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused
the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
—
FDR…The Four Freedoms
On January 6, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
addressed Congress.
“I address you, the members of this new Congress, at a moment
unprecedented in the history of the union. I use the word
‘unprecedented’ because at no previous time has American
security been as seriously threatened from without as it is
today…”
FDR focused on the global situation, 16 months after the Nazis
had invaded Poland and their subsequent moves elsewhere in
Europe and North Africa, as well as the aggression of the
Japanese empire.
“Armed defense of democratic existence is now being gallantly
waged in four continents. If that defense fails, all the population
and all the resources of Europe and Asia, Africa and Australia
will be dominated by conquerors.”
It was a call to arms and national defense. “The immediate need
is a swift and driving increase in our armament production.”
And then FDR said the following…what would become known
as “The Four Freedoms.” Best exemplified in art by Norman
Rockwell’s paintings, we should remember the president’s words
each Thanksgiving.
[I left in FDR’s more political thoughts because they are
certainly worth reading when examining today’s contentious
debate on the issues of the war, deficits, taxes and sacrifice.]
“Yes, and we must prepare, all of us prepare, to make the
sacrifices that the emergency – almost as serious as war itself –
demands. Whatever stands in the way of speed and efficiency in
defense, in defense preparations at any time, must give way to
the national need.
“A free nation has the right to expect full cooperation from all
groups. A free nation has the right to look to the leaders of
business, of labor and of agriculture to take the lead in
stimulating effort, not among other groups but within their own
groups.
“The best way of dealing with the few slackers or trouble-makers
in our midst is, first, to shame them by patriotic example, and if
that fails, to use the sovereignty of government to save
government.
“As men do not live by bread alone, they do not fight by
armaments alone. Those who man our defenses and those behind
them who build our defenses must have the stamina and the
courage which come from unshakeable belief in the manner of
life which they are defending. The mighty action that we are
calling for cannot be based on a disregard of all the things worth
fighting for.
“The nation takes great satisfaction and much strength from the
things which have been done to make its people conscious of
their individual stake in the preservation of democratic life in
America. Those things have toughened the fiber of our people,
have renewed their faith and strengthened their devotion to the
institutions we make ready to protect. Certainly this is no time
for any of us to stop thinking about the social and economic
problems which are the root cause of the social revolution which
is today a supreme factor in the world. For there is nothing
mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong
democracy.
“The basic things expected by our people of their political and
economic systems are simple. They are: Equality of opportunity
for youth and for others. Jobs for those who can work. Security
for those who need it. The ending of special privilege for the
few. The preservation of civil liberties for all. The enjoyment of
the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising
standard of living. These are the simple, the basic things that
must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable
complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength
of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the
degree to which they fulfill these expectations.
“Many subjects connected with our social economy call for
immediate improvement. As examples: We should bring more
citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and
unemployment insurance. We should widen the opportunities for
adequate medical care. We should plan a better system by which
persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it.
I have called for personal sacrifice, and I am assured of the
willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call. A
part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes.
In my budget message I will recommend that a greater portion of
this great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are
paying for today. No person should try, or be allowed to get rich
out of the program, and the principle of tax payments in
accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our
eyes to guide our legislation.
“If the Congress maintains these principles the voters, putting
patriotism ahead of pocketbooks, will give you their applause. In
the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward
to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
“The first is freedom of speech and expression – everywhere in
the world.
“The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his
own way – everywhere in the world.
“The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world
terms, means economic understandings which will secure to
every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants –
everywhere in the world.
“The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world
terms, means a worldwide reduction of armaments to such a
point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a
position to commit an act of physical aggression against any
neighbor – anywhere in the world. That is no vision of a distant
millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in
our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very
antithesis of the so-called ‘new order’ of tyranny which the
dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
“To that new order we oppose the greater conception – the moral
order. A good society is able to face schemes of world
domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear. Since the
beginning of our American history we have been engaged in
change, in a perpetual, peaceful revolution, a revolution which
goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions
without the concentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch.
The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free
countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.
“This nation has placed its destiny in the hands, heads and hearts
of its millions of free men and women, and its faith in freedom
under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of
human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who
struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our
unity of purpose.
“To that high concept there can be no end save victory.”
—
The Rolling Stones, Part II
We continue with tidbits from the book “The Rolling Stones: An
Oral History.” It’s 1964 and the group records at the legendary
Chess Studios in Chicago.
Bill Wyman: Chuck Berry came by, and Muddy Waters helped
us in with the gear! He met us outside. He was our idol, and
because they’d told him we were coming, he came along. And
we were like, “My God…he’s carrying our gear!” We couldn’t
believe it! We were nearly passing out. What a gentleman.
Buddy Guy was also there and he helped us in with the gear. He
just came along the street as we were carrying all the amplifiers
in out of the van and he helped carry some.
Marshall Chess: The English kids were way ahead of Americans
in terms of taking an interest in black music, particularly the
blues. The Rolling Stones took their name from a Muddy Waters
song. When they came here, they said they wanted their records
to sound just like the ones we were making with Muddy and
Howlin’ Wolf and all those guys, but it ended up sounding
different. It was the blues through the perspective of the white
English kids. But it put a lot of the older blues guys on the map.
July 24, 1964. The Stones play the Empress Ballroom in
Blackpool.
Roy Carr (British journalist, writer): You see, the whole thing is
that the worst thing the promoters at Blackpool could have done
was to put the Rolling Stones in at “Scotch weekend.” What
used to happen was that Glasgow or Edinburgh would close
down for a week, and everybody would move south to
Blackpool, it being like Britain’s equivalent of Coney Island.
They were supposed to have something like six thousand people
but there was more like ten thousand.
In those days the Rolling Stones were looked on as androgynous,
a little bit effete. The Scottish fans at this time liked very macho
bands. They were very much into soul music, American soul
music like Otis Redding. It was the guys that dug the music, and
the girls just kept quiet and looked pretty. The last thing they
wanted was their girlfriends getting overexcited at the Rolling
Stones, which they looked upon as being a bit “faggy,”
especially Brian Jones. Those were the days when Brian Jones
was very much the center of attention.
My band, the Executives, had been on just before them. We
were shrewd. We knew how to go down well with a Scottish
audience. You found out what the popular record in Scotland
was and it was something like “In the Midnight Hour” by Wilson
Pickett. They’d just come down to drink and fight, so when you
went up there, the first number you’d open up with was [sings
opening of “Midnight Hour”] and then you were one of the lads.
You’d go down a storm, and you’d also always end with that
number. It sounds corny, really, but you were protecting your
life.
So the Stones come on, and they were just totally self-absorbed
in those days. And there’s Jagger wiggling his butt at the
audience, and in fact Brian is doing most of the dancing. The
stage comes up to about chin level, and so all the booing starts,
and the cans of beer are going and girls are throwing their panties
at the same time. Jones is really egging the girls on, and he’s
being very, very “camp.” Jagger’s just dancing away, Keith is
staggering around, and there must be a gang down the front there
and they decide to start gobbing, spitting – they talk about punks
doing it – they start spitting at Brian Jones. And instead of Brian
going back and getting out of the line of fire, he’s walking down
the front there in a shower of spittle and it hits him on the face
and hair. It’s coming right from their guts, and these guys have
been drinking whiskey all day so they have a good supply of the
stuff. So Keith comes down to the front, and Keith’s always
been a bit of a hard nut, he goes down and says, “Stop it.” Of
course they don’t – they just keep on until someone spits at
Keith. So Keith walks down there and this guy’s hands are on
the lip of the stage, and his chin’s right there, and Keith goes…
Boom!!!…he stamps on the guy’s hands and then steps back, and
it’s just like starting a football match – kicking the ball – he has
his “Beatles boots” on and…Whack!!!…kicks him right in the
nose and the teeth. It’s a wonder the guy’s head doesn’t leave
his shoulders.
So all of a sudden it goes dead silent. Then… “SCOTLAND!!!
…SCOTLAND!!!…” like a tribal war chant and they come onto
the stage, and by this time the Stones have crapped themselves.
Well, Brian has anyway. They go flying out the back door into a
car and off, leaving all the equipment there. At which time the
grand piano disappears. It’s turned into matchwood. The
amplification goes, the drapes, which are about sixty feet high,
disappear. Everything just disappears. They start fighting
among themselves, like pro-Stones fans against anti-Stones fans.
How nobody’s actually killed I don’t know, because there are
people just laid around.
The funniest thing was the next day the place was absolutely
littered with girls’ underwear. We went there to salvage our
stuff, and there must have been at least thirty of forty bras on the
stage and about two hundred pairs of panties.
October 25, 1964. The Stones perform on Ed Sullivan.
Bill Wyman: I’ve got a very nice touch here, an article written
the next day. [Reading from his personal diary] It says in
headlines: “Stones – Sullivan TV” by Nat Hentoff. “The Stones
played to more prolonged screams than any British group had
received. They did not impress this reviewer. Mick Jagger
lacked fire, depth, and was otherwise unconvincing. They
looked very unkempt. Sullivan was pleased with their
performance and mentioned future bookings.” There was
negative New York press reaction, particularly on Jagger’s
appearance. TV columnist Jack O’Brian headlined his journal
American Review “The Slobs” and described us as “musical riff-
raff.” Finally we left the studio and fought our way out through
the fans and back to the hotel.
October 28 and 29, 1964. The Stones play the TAMI show in
Santa Monica, California.
Bill Wyman: We didn’t really want to be top of [the TAMI bill],
we still hadn’t had a real hit record. “Time Is On My Side” was
just released then and we hadn’t had more than like a top 30
record in America, but we had the adulation. The fans were
going nuts on that tour in America, but we still didn’t have a hit.
Suddenly they wanted us to be top of the bill to people like the
Miracles and Marvin Gaye and the Supremes and James Brown
and Chuck Berry and the Beach Boys, Gerry and the
Pacemakers, and so on….We thought, “We can’t be top of the
bill! This is crazy – let James Brown be top of the bill.” And
James Brown said, “I wanna be top of the bill,” and we said,
“Good, you be top of the bill.” It’s what you say to a four-
hundred-pound gorilla.
But they insisted that we be top of the bill, and James Brown was
quoted as saying, “I’m going to make the Rolling Stones wish
that they’d never come to America.” And he went out there and
did the most amazing show as we all know he does, and I love it,
and then we had to go on. I think it was the only time in our
career that the band as a unit had been nervous….
As we were getting ready to go on, Marvin Gaye and Chuck
Berry came over to the dressing room and Marvin Gaye said,
“You guys nervous?” I said, “I’m terrified,” and Marvin Gaye
said, “Man, it doesn’t matter. Forget it. You go out there and
you do your best. That’s what you do. They’re not interested in
you because you’re better than them, or not as good as them.
They want to see you do your thing and that’s what you gotta do.
Just go out there and forget James Brown, forget everybody.” So
we went out there and it was great, and afterwards James Brown
came over to us and said, “Great, man,” and we became friends.
We saw him quite a lot after that – he was quite nice. He kind of
swallowed his pride and was a gentleman.
June 4, 1965. Keith Richards gets an idea for a song, which will
be released as a single on August 20.
Keith Richards: It was just a riff. I didn’t think of it as anything
complete or anything special. I woke up in the middle of the
night, put it down on a cassette…It was great!…then went back to
sleep. When I woke up I listened to it and it appeared to be
useful as another album track. It was the same with Mick at the
time. It goes da, da-da-da-da…and the words I’ve got for that
riff is “I can’t get no satisfaction.” So Mick went away and
wrote the rest of the lyrics and kept the same title, because a lot
of times we don’t end up staying with it….But we kept that one
and by now everyone must know the story: I just didn’t think it
was very good. I thought it was an okay filler track for the
album. I didn’t see a single in it at all. Not even when we
finished cutting it and it had turned out better than I thought.
Everyone was raving about it and Andrew (Oldham, the
manager) wanted to rush-release it, and I’m going, “No…no…”
mainly because I wasn’t that impressed with it when I wrote it.
At that time, if you didn’t have a new single every eight to
twelve weeks, it was “bye bye, baby.” The minute you finished
one you had to write another. You just didn’t have the time to
think whether that one was great. You just wrote it, tried it out in
the studio, and if it made it through the process of recording and
writing, then you had a track….
The success of “Satisfaction” was important to Mick and myself
because the previous songs we’d written, we’d given to Andrew,
who had sold them off to somebody else to do, or maybe we used
a couple as album track filler. We never seriously considered
writing part of our job. We ended up with “The Last Time” back
in February because at the time the Beatles didn’t have another
good one ready and we’d rifled everybody else’s repertoire. So
we decided, “Okay, I guess we are getting good enough to write
for ourselves.”
[We’ll wrap this up next chat.]
—
Link Wray, RIP
My friend Dan L. is one of the bigger Link Wray fans in the
world so while I was on the road this week I received a note from
him on the passing of “the father of the power chord.”
Guitarist Wray was born in Dunn, North Carolina, May 2, 1929.
Along with his two musician brothers they became known as
“Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands.” They met with
some success in the mid-50s as the Wraymen and then in 1958,
Link produced the instrumental “Rumble,” which peaked at #16
on the pop charts. The next year he had the #23 “Rawhide.”
The Who’s Pete Townshend once wrote that if it hadn’t been for
“Rumble,” he never would have picked up a guitar. Wray also
had a big influence on the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan
and David Bowie.
Stuff
–Boy, hope some of you saw the Gonzaga – Michigan State
basketball game on Tuesday. Yes, it’s just November, but what
a contest…Gonzaga pulling it out 109-106 in three overtimes as
All-American Adam Morrison had 43. But note to Morrison.
Cut your hair! Geezuz, you really look quite the jerk. [Then
again, Mr. Morrison is about to make a grillion dollars in the
NBA so who am I to talk?!]
–And congratulations to Bucknell! After upsetting 3rd-seeded
Kansas in the NCAAs last year, Bucknell returned all five
starters and on Tuesday they defeated #17 Syracuse, 74-69. Also
on the schedule this year are DePaul (12/3), Villanova (12/6) and
Duke (1/2). The rest of the time Bucknell will beat up on the
likes of American University, Lafayette, and Colgate. But these
are the same guys that only defeated Rider 56-54 in their opening
contest. Go figure. What we do know is come NCAA tourney
time, no one will be taking them lightly this year.
–College football: BCS poll
1. USC – .9807…USC / UCLA could be a lot of fun, Dec. 3
2. Texas – .9791
3. Penn State – .8900
And this week’s single “pick to click” from your editor; designed
to get my overall record back to 10-10 so I can then lay it all on
the line in the NCAA title game.
Florida, giving 5 vs. Florida State. [Line had been 4 ½, but I
have to use the 5 points I see on Wednesday.]
And your NCAA punter update: Wake’s Ryan Plackemeir
finished his career as the best punter in NCAA history (min. 200
punts), as he averaged 45.26 for his four years…and 47.2 this
past season. [Johnny Mac has East Stroudsburg’s Jimmy
Terwilliger, I have a punter.]
–I was in Dallas for a quick visit on Monday and this afforded
me an opportunity to drink a little Shiner Bock Ale, the best beer
in America, bar none.
–Good piece in the Wall Street Journal by William M. Bulkeley
on the threat posed by wild turkeys in America these days. The
population has increased from just 30,000 in the 1930s to an
estimated 7 million today! And these birds which can reach 4-
feet in height, weigh 25 pounds, and run 20 mph are on the verge
of taking over. An exaggeration? I think not. To wit:
“Wild-turkey flocks have a pecking order. If they live around
humans, some of the dominant toms may begin to include people
in that order – at a level below themselves, says Jim Cardoza, a
turkey expert at the Massachusetts wildlife agency. Wild turkeys
‘get used to people and incorporate them into their view of
society,’ he says. Some behavior, such as putting out bird food
and slinking quietly away, can encourage these lordly males to
think that humans are a subservient life form, believes Mr.
Cardoza.
“Biologist James Earl Kennamer, senior vice president of the
National Wild Turkey Federation, an Edgefield, S.C., hunters’
group, has studied wild turkeys for 40 years. ‘When they think
you’re one of them, they’ll fight you to show who’s dominant,’
he says. ‘If you turn your back, they’ll take it to mean they’re
dominant.’”
We’re doomed, folks.
–The December issue of Smithsonian adds further credence to
the theory that jaguars have returned to the American southwest.
The question is are they just visitors from Mexico, or are they
setting up permanent shop here, a la their human brethren?
–Wake soccer update: Hey, the men are in the Sweet 16.
Maybe I was right after all. This year we could be sneaking up
on people.
–The Chicago White Sox split up $14.7 million for winning the
World Series. They handed out 42 full shares of $324,500 each,
plus six partial shares and 22 cash awards.
–There are three towns in the U.S. with the name “Turkey.” The
largest is Turkey, Texas, population about 500. The others are
Turkey, N.C. and Turkey Creek, LA.
–North Carolina is the leading turkey producing state.
Top 3 songs for the week of 11/25/67: #1 “Incense and
Peppermints” (Strawberry Alarm Clock) #2 “To Sir With Love”
(Lulu) #3 “The Rain, The Park & Other Things” (The Cowsils)
…and…#5 “Daydream Believer” (The Monkees) #7 “I Say A
Little Prayer” (Dionne Warwick) #9 “I Can See For Miles” (The
Who)
Football Quiz Answers: 1) Miami, rushing, career: Larry
Csonka, 6,737 yards (1968-74, 1979) 2) New England, rushing,
career: Sam Cunningham, 5,453 yards (1973-79, 1981-82) 3)
New England, TD passes, career: Steve Grogan, 182 (1975-90)
4) NY Jets, TD passes, season: Vinny Testaverde, 29 (1998) 5)
Jets, receptions, game: Clark Gaines, 17 (9/21/80)…any time I
get a chance to mention this Wake alum I have to do so. 6)
Oakland, TD passes, season: Daryle Lamonica, 34 (1969). Yes,
the Mad Bomber…his big string was 1967-69, when in a 14-
game schedule he threw over 400 passes each season (a big # in
those days), for 3,200+ yards with a total 89 TDs and 60 INTs
over this period.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
