[Posted Wed. a.m.]
Arizona/St. Louis/Chicago Cardinals Quiz: 1) Who are the only two to rush for 4,000 yards in their Cardinals’ careers? 2) Who are the only two to pass for 20,000 yards? 3) Who are the two leading scorers in franchise history, both kickers? Answers below.
It’s All About Odell
Monday, Odell Beckham Jr. was suspended for one game. Beckham appealed and it will be heard later today, Wednesday.
But after my harsh words of Sunday night, I think you now know where I was coming from if you missed Sunday afternoon’s Giants-Panthers game and Beckham’s atrocious behavior.
Meanwhile, Carolina cornerback Josh Norman was still fuming hours after the game, including about the helmet-to-helmet hit on a running play in the third quarter, one of three personal-foul penalties assessed on OBJ.
“The guy ran 15 yards down the field, dead-on collision, the play was all the way on the left side,” Norman said after. “He came back and was hunting. It was malicious in every way.”
Norman ripped Beckham for losing his composure, for repeated cheap shots, for not being able to handle the physical nature in which he plays and needing to move into the slot, away from Norman, to be productive.
Norman called Beckham a “ballerina” and compared him to “Michael Jackson” for the way he “dances” and “prances” on the field.
Then fellow Panthers cornerback Cortland Finnegan said of Beckham’s play: “He may have something in his blood, I don’t know. Maybe it’s female related. That’s the only thing I can think of.”
See a pattern here? Yes, Carolina deserves some heat of its own.
Giants players say a Carolina practice squad player was carrying a black baseball bat near the Giants’ sideline and motioning toward the Giants as they ran onto the field for pregame warm-ups. Some of the Panthers’ players held the bat and taunted Giants players.
So? Yeah, Carolina has a reputation for being cheap-shot artists and assholes in their own right, but this incident that the Giants wanted known is nothing, even as Carolina head coach Ron Rivera said Tuesday, no more baseball bats on the field, while denying his team was uttering homophobic slurs.
For his part, Beckham responded when asked about the play where he launched himself at Norman.
“We are out there playing football, we are competing. You are a competitor.”
So let’s go back and pick up some of the post-game commentary from local and national sportswriters, including on after the suspension was levied.
Ebenezer Samuel / New York Daily News
“There was Odell Beckham Jr., wide open in the middle of the field just four plays into the game, two steps on his helpless defender, Josh Norman, set to break loose for another monstrous touchdown.
“And there was Odell Beckham Jr., reaching up with two hands…and dropping a 52-yard touchdown.
“And this is how it began for the Giants on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium. Long before rallying for what almost became a Christmas miracle, with the Panthers needing a 43-yard Graham Gano field goal as time expired to put the Giants away, 38-35, it was Big Blue’s biggest star who spent an afternoon letting his team down when it needed him most, imploding in a matchup against the touted Norman.
“Call it the blight before Christmas.
“When the desperate Giants needed to be at their best to hang with the mighty Panthers, Beckham was at his childish worst….
“ ‘Today was a step backwards,’ (Coach Tom Coughlin) said of Beckham’s emotions. ‘But I’ve got to believe we will regain that once he settles down, we’ll be able to talk about it.’”
Steve Serby / New York Post
“On a day when the Giants needed the best of Beckham, they got the worst of Beckham. They got the young Mike Tyson instead, which is all well and good inside a boxing ring, but never on a football field with a season on the line. You half expected Beckham to bite Josh Norman’s ear off.
“Beckham’s raging competitive fires, much more often than not a blessing rather than a curse, left him out of control and out of his mind for too long in what turned into a shameful personal punkfest with nemesis Josh Norman.
“He was Ohell Beckham Jr.
“He somehow regained his composure long enough to catch the game-tying touchdown that capped a furious, improbable Giants’ comeback before Big Blah failed yet again to make a critical stand against MVP Cam Newton, but his WWE act had already helped put the Giants in a 35-7 hole.
“Ohell.
“Beckham should have been ejected for a lunging, violent helmet-to-helmet headbutt of Norman late in the third quarter, but the blind mice wearing zebra outfits didn’t see fit.
“By halftime, Beckham had more personal fouls (1) and drops (2) than catches (0).
“But at least he gave a nice Ya Gotta Believe halftime talk straight from Tug McGraw.
“He finished with three personal fouls, one body-slam, one grazing right, and Tom Coughlin should have sat him for a series before someone got hurt when all hell and Ohell broke loose against Norman, who swung and missed a roundhouse right of his own at one point….
“Coughlin should have read Beckham the riot act, and did not. Asked if he considered sitting Beckham to tame the wild beast within him, Coughlin said: ‘It was a consideration. As a matter of fact, it was a strong consideration.’
“Not strong enough.
“ ‘He’s gotta learn at some point how to deal with some things,’ Coughlin said. ‘I’m out there to win the football game.
“You can play like a crazed dog if you are Lawrence Taylor. Not if you are Odell Beckham Jr. It is a conversation Coughlin has had more than once with Beckham. And needs to have again.”
Steve Politi / NJ.com [Star-Ledger]
“For the first 25 games of (Beckham’s) career, we have witnessed the beginnings of what sure looks like a Hall of Fame career – the one-handed catches, the breakaway speed, and for the most part, the composure to handle himself with composure despite the nonstop attention.
“This was a side we haven’t seen often. This was an immature 23-year-old losing his cool in a game the Giants absolutely had to win. This was an OBJ that needs to go away….
“Make no mistake: Norman was not some innocent bystander. He was an instigator, too, and the referees probably should have ejected them both. Still: Why didn’t Coughlin at least bench Beckham for a drive to settle him down?”
Around these parts, Mike Francesa is the dean of sports radio. He’s often full of merde, and he is a master of co-opting others’ lines as his own, but on the bigger issues, such as OBJ’s behavior, most of us curious what his take was. He nailed the Beckham issue in an epic opening rant on his show Monday afternoon (a few hours before the suspension was announced).
“How could anybody in their right mine condone this garbage?” he said in part. “If the Giants aren’t embarrassed for what this kid has done, let me tell you, they should be….
“He embarrassed that franchise. He embarrassed everyone on that team. He embarrassed every coach, he embarrassed everybody who was a Giant anywhere yesterday,” he fumed. “You’re gonna tell me John Mara sat upstairs and was proud of that? If he was he needs his head examined.”
“Enough already,” he continued. “You’re part of a team, and you’re not even part of a good team.”
Francesa railed on the entire organization, and, after all, it certainly looks like this will be the fourth year without making the playoffs. He ripped Eli Manning for not “pulling (Beckham) aside and saying, ‘Listen, this has gotta stop.’”
“If that’s the star player you want – he’s all yours,” Francesa said. “That’s not a star player to me. That’s not a class player, that’s not a good player, that’s a player that, for all of his abilities, he has become a complete clown. …When it doesn’t go his way, he acts like a three-year-old. …He’s lucky he didn’t get hurt (and) he’s lucky he didn’t hurt somebody else. He completely damaged the legacy of the head coach and the image of that franchise.
“It made me sick watching that yesterday,” Francesa wrapped up.
So Beckham was then handed his one-game suspension, with NFL Vice President of Football Operations Merton Hanks writing: “At numerous times during yesterday’s game against the Carolina Panthers, your actions placed a fellow player at unnecessary risk…and clearly did not represent the high standards of sportsmanship expected.”
Steve Serby / New York Post
“For his sake, for the sake of Eli Manning and the Giants, let the NFL’s one-game suspension serve as a wake-up call for Odell Beckham Jr. A wake-up call to grow up.
“He has mortally wounded his team’s flickering playoff hopes, pending appeal, because he placed his mano-a-mano brawl Sunday with Panthers cornerback Josh Norman ahead of his team….
“The Education of Odell Beckham Jr. is taking too long. Too many reminders from Coughlin have fallen on deaf ears. Beckham needs to take a long look in the mirror and remind himself he has become a role model to so many young boys, that he needs to comport himself with class and restraint in the face of provocation and do things the right way. No one is perfect, there will be the inevitable confrontations in the heat of battle, even his buddy LeBron James gets into scrapes every now and then…but what kind of example do you set by behaving like one flew over the cuckoo’s nest?
“It doesn’t matter if Norman was swinging a black bat in warm-ups, or waving a shoulder-fired rocket launcher at Beckham. There is no excuse for running like a rabid dog at Norman and launching a helmet-to-helmet assault on him….
“All that said, this isn’t a Greg Hardy we are talking about here. Beckham is a good kid, from a good family, popular with his teammates. And coaches….
“The problem has been getting through to Beckham, even during the course of this riotous game, that with celebrity comes a bull’s-eye painted by baiting defenders on his No. 13 jersey.”
Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times
“Odell Beckham Jr. got off easy.
“The NFL suspended the New York Giants star receiver for one game Monday, a day after he blatantly and repeatedly tried to injure Carolina cornerback Josh Norman….
“It was an embarrassing display for a league trying to repair its image in terms of player safety. Beckham paid two hefty fines as a rookie last season: $10,000 for kicking St. Louis linebacker Alec Ogletree and $11,025 for throwing his helmet to the turf in anger while protesting a late tackle out of bounds. Earlier this season, he threw a punch at Buffalo safety Duke Williams and it cost him $8,681.
“There’s no question Beckham is one of the most exciting players in the game… But Sunday’s spectacle will take some time to live down.”
Mark Maske / Washington Post
“The images of Beckham being out of control Sunday will endure along with the images of his wondrous, one-handed catch last season against the Cowboys and of his other highlight-reel plays. It all becomes part of the package of who he is. Damage has been done to an until-now unblemished NFL reputation. That can be partially undone if Beckham acknowledges his mistakes.
“The next move is his, and it should include more than doing all he can to get back on the field by this weekend.”
William C. Rhoden / New York Times
“Beckham’s behavior on Sunday, when a personal feud with Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman became a brawl, was outrageous even by NFL standards, and the only question was what took the league so long to act….
“The NFL has mounted a high-profile initiative against concussions, so after the commissioner, Roger Goodell, watched a young star launch himself at the head of a defenseless opponent in a high-profile game involving an undefeated team, that young star had to go.
“But for only one game. If you’re doing the right thing, Beckham should have been suspended for the rest of the season. But that would have doomed the big-market Giants, one of the pillars of the NFL – to no postseason hope.
“Not a good look for the shield….
“What we saw on Sunday went far beyond wearing emotions on one’s sleeve. [Ed. One of Tom Coughlin’s excuses for Beckham’s behavior.] It showed the malevolent side of a player we thought we knew. Beckham seems nice enough, but his eruption reinforced the reality that beyond the clubhouse and the locker room, we really don’t know the people we cover.”
Bingo, Mr. Rhoden! I can’t begin to relate all the stories I’ve seen from apologists.
“I don’t believe Beckham has learned anything. This is his fourth misconduct incident.
“ ‘I hope he learns exactly what should be learned: that there is no place in this game for these personal battles,’ Coughlin said. ‘That it is team first, team last, team always, and nothing stands above that. And that he is responsible to his team and to his franchise, to his ownership, just as we all are.’
“We’ll see. Beckham has served notice to every defender in the NFL that he is combustible and thin-skinned and does not respond well to adversity.”
Bottom line in terms of the playoffs…the Giants must win their two remaining games against the Vikings and Eagles, plus they need Washington to lose both of theirs, against the Eagles, Saturday night, and Dallas. So by end of Saturday, it could all be moot.
NFL, part deux….
–Tennessee rookie QB Marcus Mariota’s season is over after suffering an MCL sprain to his right knee in Sunday’s loss to the Patriots. At least that’s what sources told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.
–With two more touchdown receptions on Sunday, Seattle’s Doug Baldwin now has 10 in the last four games. Only one other player has done that…Jerry Rice.
–To say Arizona rookie running back David Johnson was impressive Sunday in the Cardinals’ 40-17 win over the Eagles would be an understatement. Johnson had 187 yards rushing and three touchdowns, plus another 42 yards receiving.
But I love this blurb by Sam Farmer of the L.A. Times.
“(Johnson) wasn’t a big-ego guy at Northern Iowa. He worked as a dorm handyman in college, and had a summer job as an asbestos-removal worker.”
–Sam Farmer also notes that Jacksonville’s Jason Myers has missed seven extra-point kicks this season. There were eight in the entire NFL last season before the league moved the line of scrimmage on PATs back to the 15-yard line.
I said at the time I didn’t like the rule change. I still don’t. It’s absurd a playoff game could be lost on an extra-point kick.
–George Willis of the New York Post reported: “Rex Ryan has gone from the hot seat to the frying pan and it remains to be seen whether he’ll be back to coach a second season in Buffalo. The vultures are starting to circle after a 35-25 loss to Washington on Sunday eliminated the Bills from playoff contention. They have lost four of their past five games to drop to 6-8.”
Afterward, “Ryan warned changes were inevitable though he wasn’t specific about what those changes might be.
“ ‘If we don’t get better, the reality of it is this,’ he said. ‘this is the National Football League and unless we get a heck of a lot better, there’s going to be changes.’”
Ryan inherited a team that went 9-7 last season under Doug Marrone, who unexpectedly resigned. “Hiring Ryan after he was fired by the Jets figures to at least ensure the Bills would have a strong defense. But Buffalo came into Sunday’s game ranked 20th in the league on defense and they were porous in allowing the Redskins to take (a) 28-3 lead.”
College Basketball
AP Poll (Dec. 21)
1. Michigan State 12-0 (64 first-place votes)
2. Kansas 9-1 (1)
3. Oklahoma 8-0
4. Maryland 10-1
5. Virginia 9-1
6. Xavier 11-0
7. North Carolina 9-2
8. Arizona 11-1
9. Butler 9-1
10. Providence 11-1
11. Iowa State 9-1…being penalized for Mitrou-Long injury
12. Kentucky 9-2
13. Miami 9-1
14. Purdue 11-1
15. Duke 9-2…being penalized for Jefferson’s injury
18. SMU 9-0…ineligible for postseason play, but will be interesting to see how high they can get
20. George Washington 10-1
25. South Carolina 10-0…haven’t played anyone
–Incredibly, this is the first time Providence has been in the AP Top Ten since 1978! They celebrated by blasting UMass Monday night, 90-66.
There was some significant action Tuesday night. [The above records are only thru Sunday’s play.]
–I was blacked out of watching Xavier at Wake Forest, much to my chagrin, and the Deacs (8-3) raced off to a 43-28 halftime lead. But in the second, it was all Musketeers, 50-27, as Xavier secured a 78-70 victory to remain undefeated. Nonetheless, Wake is improving, no doubt. I still say 8-10 in the ACC is in the cards, which I’d take.
–Being blacked out of the Wake contest, I ended up watching Michigan State and Oakland and it was a most entertaining affair, the No. 1 Spartans, playing without star Denzel Valentine, who is out 2-3 weeks with a knee injury, prevailing 99-93 in overtime.
If you haven’t seen Oakland’s 5-9 point guard Kay Felder, check him out. He came into the game averaging 25.9 ppg, with a nation-leading 8.9 assists, and he proceeded to have 37 and 9 against MSU. Oakland is well-coached. Tom Izzo, on the other hand, while a super coach, really does look like a jerk during the games.
Anyway, MSU was bailed out by Bryn Forbes, who had a career-high 32 on 7-9 from downtown.
—Iowa State had a big win at No. 22 Cincinnati, 81-79, behind Georges Niang’s 24 points, 10 rebounds. The Cyclones played just seven players. You have to pull for these guys.
—Virginia survived a major scare, defeating California (9-3) in Charlottesville, 63-62 in OT.
–So, remember how I railed last week that George Washington was overrated when they entered the Top 25? The Colonials were blasted by 6-6 DePaul 82-61 on Tuesday.
—South Carolina remained undefeated with a 75-61 win over struggling St. John’s (7-6).
–And out in San Diego, Kansas beat my “Pick to Click” (cough cough…ack ack…) San Diego State Aztecs 70-57. At least SDSU (7-6) wasn’t run out of their own building and had actually cut it to 53-49 before the Jayhawks pulled away. Another awful shooting performance for my boys, 37% from the field.
NBA
–Reminder…the “progress” of the Philadelphia 76ers:
2013-14…19-63
2014-15…18-64
2015-16…1-29 (thru Tuesday)
Sixers management once again appears to be tanking for high lottery draft picks but with a roster filled with players who just aren’t ready to compete, NBA commissioner Adam Silver is watching carefully and he’s not impressed.
“Am I a fan of that strategy? Put it this way, no,” Silver during an appearance on FiveThirtyEight.
Philly has just three players with more than two years of NBA experience, one with more than three seasons. The team has been hoping that rookie center Jahlil Okafor would team with 7-footer Joel Embiid to form a formidable twin towers, but Embiid, the third overall pick in the 2014 draft, has yet to play a single NBA game due to a career-threatening foot injury.
In Tuesday’s night’s 104-90 loss to the Grizzlies, Philadelphia set an NBA record for futility. It is the worst 30-game start in league history…six teams having gotten off to 2-28 starts.
But get this, toss in a 10-game skid to close out last season and they are 1-39!
–The Knicks (14-15) lost to Orlando (16-12) at the Garden on Monday night, 107-99, a game I only mention because the Knicks’ Lance Thomas was 9 of 9 from the field off the bench, including 3 for 3 from downtown and 3 for 3 from the foul line; a rather nice performance.
–I have to admit, Kobe Bryant has been shooting much better lately and he scored 31 on Tuesday on 10 of 22 from the field to lead the Lakers to a 111-107 win over the Nuggets; moving L.A. to a still putrid 5-23.
Bryant’s field goal percentage on the year is now up to .345! .246 from three.
–An investment group led by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has bought the remainder of the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center arena.
This surprised me. I thought Prokhorov would sell. He is the most disinterested owner you’ve ever seen.
But then upon further review, with Russia’s economy in the crapper, U.S. assets, even this sorry ass franchise, are a better investment than any he has over there.
The deal values the Nets at $875 million and the Barclays Center at $825m.
MLB
–St. Louis signed pitcher Mike Leake to a five-year, $80 million contract, with an option for 2021. The 28-year-old right-hander is 64-52 with a 3.88 ERA in six big league seasons. He was 11-10 with a 3.70 ERA for Cincinnati and San Francisco last season.
Yup, he is a solid 3 or 4 in a good rotation but even though we are jaded by now with some of these salary numbers, $16 million a year for this?
—Mets fans are blasting ownership for not spending any $dollars this offseason but I have zero problem with the moves the team is making, including the apparent signing of outfielder Alejandro De Aza to a one-year deal to platoon in center field.
Let’s face it, fellow fans. We aren’t re-signing Yoenis Cespedes or inking Justin Upton. We do need a right-handed bat for OF-1B, and we’ll pick one up. We’ll be fine, as long as Travis d’Arnaud and David Wright stay healthy.
–I’m a little surprised by this…Fox Sports has decided to ditch the three-man baseball booth and go with John Smoltz to accompany Joe Buck on its telecasts. Harold Reynolds and Tom Verducci will take other roles on the air. I kind of liked those two. But Smoltz is good.
Premier League Standings (17 of 38 played)
1. Leicester 11 (W) 5 (D) 1 (L)…38 points
2. Arsenal 11-3-3…36
3. Manchester City 10-2-5…32
4. Tottenham 7-8-2…29*
5. Manchester United 8-5-4…29
6. Crystal Palace 9-2-6…29
7. Watford 8-4-5…28
8. West Ham 6-7-4…25
9. Liverpool 6-6-5…24
14. Bournemouth 5-4-8…19
15. Chelsea 5-3-9…18
20. Aston Villa 1-4-12…7
*Ties broken by goal differential and Tottenham is a whopping six goals ahead of Man U, 7 ahead of Crystal Palace in the battle for the final Champions League slot.
Monday, Arsenal had a big win over Man City, 2-1. The Gunners haven’t won the league title since 2004, but despite Leicester being in front of them, they are deemed to be the favorites from here.
Interestingly, when you look at the above table, despite this not even being the midway point, no team has lost more than five games before Christmas and still won the title since Everton in 1986-87.
–Football’s governing body has banned Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, and Michel Platini, president of Uefa, from all “football-related activities” for eight years. The ban, which takes effect immediately, was imposed by Fifa’s ethics committee in relation to a nearly $2m payment transferred from Fifa in Feb. 2011, to Mr. Platini. The ethics committee said Blatter, as president of Fifa, “authorized the payment to Mr. Platini which had no legal basis.”
Stuff
–I am so disinterested in the college football bowl games, until next week’s play, that I forgot to watch even a minute of one I had said I might catch, 24 Temple vs. Toledo on Tuesday. Toledo won 32-17 in the Little Bighorn / Custer’s Last Stand Bowl.
–We all know the story by now, but for the archives I have to get down the Miss Universe debacle. Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, was announced the winner of the 2015 pageant in Las Vegas on Sunday night, but then host Steve Harvey, minutes later, said he made a mistake.
“Okay, folks,” said Harvey. “I have to apologize. The first runner-up is Colombia.” The winner was really Miss Philippines, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.
“I will take responsibility for this,” Harvey said. “It was my mistake. It was on the card. Horrible mistake, but the right thing – I can show it to you right here. The first word is ‘Colombia.’ It is my mistake.”
Yes, it was awkward, embarrassing, you name it. Further, Harvey initially tweeted out:
“I want to apologize emphatically to Miss Philippians and Miss Columbia…”
Ah, just a few typos there, Steverino. He later deleted it.
Donald Trump had owned the pageant until he was forced to sell it (the Miss Universe Organization) after offending Hispanics back in June. Asked about the fiasco Monday, Trump had only good things to say about the new owners and Mr. Harvey. He also said there should be co-winners.
–Sunday night, before I posted the last chat, I was aware of a bear attack in my state but wanted to hold off until I had the facts. Initially it was very confusing.
What we do know now is that on Sunday afternoon, at a park in Morris County called Splitrock Reservoir, a Boy Scout leader was leading three scouts through the woods. The four entered a cave off one of the trails and a bear attacked the Scout leader, inflicting a number of non-life threatening injuries before he was able to get away.
That’s the short story. Christopher P., 50, was airlifted to Morristown Memorial Hospital and the three boys were uninjured. The troop leader wanted to show the boys a cave he had been visiting since the early 1980s and he had never seen a bear there before.
According to Liz Robbins and Liam Stack of the New York Times: “The troop leader was sliding into a crevasse that forms the mouth of the cave when a black bear grabbed his foot and dragged him deeper inside, biting his leg and shoulders. He fought back by striking it twice in the head with a rock hammer.
“Mr. P. curled into the fetal position with a sweatshirt over his head while the boys remained outside the cave, according to (Bob Considine of the state Department of Environmental Protection). Mr. P. told them to get help, but when they called 911 they could not tell the operator their location. Mr. Considine said that Mr. P. was in the cave with the bear for ‘a substantial amount of time’ and could hear it ‘huffing’ behind him.
“Mr. P. eventually told the boys to lure the bear away by putting the food in their packs at the mouth of the cave. The bear left the cave and was scared off by a dog that the hikers had brought with them.
“Once the bear was gone, Mr. P. left the cave and called 911.” It took almost 1 ½ hours for emergency responders to arrive.
The first story Sunday, and the reason I held off, had Mr. P. provoking the bear, but clearly this wasn’t the case.
Ironically, the day before the state had ended its bear hunt, which harvested 510 black bears throughout the northern part of the state.
Because of the historically warm weather in these parts, the bears are very confused and most of them haven’t begun their hibernation.
“Hey, Yogi. Is it spring? I’m so freakin’ tired.”
Meanwhile, Brad K., who lives fairly close to where the incident occurred, passed along a note that the state announced the bear wouldn’t be euthanized since it wasn’t deemed to be aggressive. Brad is tightening security at his compound.
–From the Irish Independent:
“One of 11 Venezuelan men whose boat capsized near Aruba has died after being attacked by a shark while being rescued.
“Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard spokesman Roderick Gouverneur said the man was clinging to a buoy and was attacked as a rescuer suspended from a helicopter tried to grab him.
“He died on his way to hospital.
“Two other men died when the boat sank. The men were travelling from Bonaire to Aruba to sell whiskey.”
–For the record, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” took in a record $238 million in North America last weekend, the largest opening in history. Reviews are 95 percent positive, according to the Rotten Tomatoes website, which aggregates critical response.
–Leonardo DeCaprio’s movie “The Revenant” is getting strong reviews. This is my kind of flick. When I saw the first trailer I immediately thought of my all-time winter favorite, “Jeremiah Johnson.”
Kyle Smith of the New York Post starts out:
“A film I admired, but didn’t especially like….
“So why do I want to see ‘The Revenant’ again? It’s an experience, a moonshine blast of pure cinema….
“ ‘The Revenant’ succeeds in its quest, which is to overwhelm the senses, to transport us to a world as far removed from our experience as outer space in ‘Gravity.’ It’s intoxicating, even as long stretches separate plot developments.”
Brian Truitt in USA TODAY writes:
“ ‘The Revenant’ is the most intense thing you’ll enjoy over the holidays this side of family dinners.
“Brutal and beautiful, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s wilderness thriller showcases man’s savagery and humanity in simpler times. And Leonardo DiCaprio…gives a ferocious effort as a real-life frontiersman seeking to survive and avenge.”
–From the St. Cloud (Minn.) News and USA TODAY: “A St. Cloud woman was arrested after biting her husband’s ear off during an argument over beer….
“According to the complaint, officers were called Friday evening to a domestic assault incident. Upon arrival, officers met with (Jamie) Elrod and her husband.
“Officers noted that the husband was missing part of his right ear….
“The victim told officers that he and Elrod had gotten into an argument over a beer.”
No word on what exactly the argument was about, though “tastes great,” “less filling” comes to mind.
Top 3 songs for the week 12/21/63: #1 “Dominique” (The Singing Nun…yup, just a few more weeks until the British Invasion…thankfully…) #2 “Louie Louie” (The Kingsmen) #3 “You Don’t Have To Be A Baby To Cry” (The Caravelles)… and…#4 “There! I’ve Said It Again” (Bobby Vinton) #5 “Since I Fell For You” (Lenny Welch…awesome tune…) #6 “Be True To Your School” (The Beach Boys) #7 “Drip Drop” (Dion Di Muci) #8 “I’m Leaving It Up To You” (Dale & Grace) #9 “Everybody” (Tommy Roe) #10 “Popsicles and Icicles” (The Murmaids)
Arizona/St. Louis/Chicago Cardinals Quiz Answers: 1) 4,000 yards rushing: Ottis Anderson (1979-86) 7,999; Stump Mitchell (1981-89) 4,649…Jim Otis (1973-78) had 3,863 and Johnny Roland (1966-72) 3,608 [loved his football card]. 2) 20,000 yards passing: Jim Hart (1966-83) 34,639; Neil Lomax (1981-88) 22,771. 3) Top two scorers: Jim Bakken (1963-78) 1,380; Neil Rackers (2003-09) 699.
Ergo, save for Jim Hart, Anderson and Bakken, not a lot of history in terms of NFL greats. The best is on the field today, Larry Fitzgerald.
Next Bar Chat, Monday.
—
And now our annual Christmas special…best read with the children Christmas Eve. I added one tidbit.
Apollo 8
Growing up, one of the more dramatic memories as a kid was staying up Christmas Eve 1968 to follow the remarkable voyage of Apollo 8.
If ever a nation needed a pick me up, it was America in ’68, after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, with the ongoing war in Vietnam and the dramatic Tet Offensive, and after LBJ’s sudden withdrawal from the presidential race, the turbulent Democratic Convention, and the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Yes, we were ready for a little space adventure.
Apollo 8 would be the first manned mission to orbit the moon. Commanded by Frank Borman, with James Lovell, Jr. and William Anders, it was launched on December 21 and on Christmas Eve the three began their orbit. What made it all even more dramatic was the first go round to the dark side of the moon, when all communication was lost until they reemerged at the other side. It was the middle of the night for us viewers, at least in the Eastern time zone, and I remember that Apollo was sending back spectacular photos of Earth.
Borman described the moon as “a vast, lonely and forbidding sight,” and Lovell called Earth, “a grand oasis in the big vastness of space.” The crew members then took turns reading from the Book of Genesis / Creation:
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light;” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
James Lovell would later say, “Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus.” And Borman concluded with, “Merry Christmas. God bless all of you, all of you on the Good Earth.”
—
Michael Gartland / New York Post
“NORAD’s tradition of tracking Santa’s sleigh began with a wrong number.
“Right before Christmas in 1955, Sears ran an ad offering millions of toy-hungry girls and boys the chance to talk to the big man himself. In Colorado Springs, the retailer published the local phone number to the North Pole as ME2-6681.
“There was only one problem: The number was one digit off.
“And that wrong number rang on the desk of a high-ranking officer in a bunker at the Continental Air Defense Command – the predecessor of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which has the less-than-festive mission of detecting and defending the continent against nuclear attack.”
Col. Harry Shoup took the first call on the command’s red phone. In an interview with the Post, Shoup’s daughter, Terri Van Keuren, recalled:
“ ‘The phone rang, and he picked up. ‘This is Colonel Shoup, commander of this combat station. Who is this?’”
Silence on the other end. Shoup repeated himself, then “a meek little boy’s voice came over the line.
“ ‘Is this Santa Claus?’ he murmured.
“Worried there had been some kind of security breach, Shoup again demanded the caller’s name. He heard crying, and another query came through the tears.
“ ‘Is this one of Santa’s elves?’
“Shoup recognized he was in a moment that could destroy the little boy’s faith in Santa.
“ ‘Yes, I am,’ he said. ‘Have you been a good boy?’
After the two talked a while, Shoup asked to speak with the boy’s mother.
“ ‘He asked her: ‘Do you have any idea who you’ve called?’’ Van Keuren said. ‘She told him to take a look at that day’s newspaper.’”
So the calls flooded in and Shoup directed his men to answer as Santa.
Weeks later, Shoup, on vacation, dropped in on his men and spotted a sleigh on the huge plexiglass map of North America in the room. A subordinate was afraid he had just lost his job.
Instead, Shoup said, “There’s something good we could do with this.”
And so Col. Shoup called a local radio station with the news the command center was tracking Santa’s sleigh. Ever since then, NORAD has been tracking Santa.
—
The story of Phil Spector’s “A Christmas Gift for You,” as told by Ronnie Spector in her book “Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness…or…My Life as a Fabulous Ronette”.
“One record that did feature all three Ronettes – and just about everyone else who worked for Phil – was Phil’s Christmas album,A Christmas Gift for You. Phil is Jewish, but for some reason he always loved Christmas. Every year he would spend weeks designing his own special Christmas card, which he would send to everyone in the business. In 1963 he took that idea one step further and recorded an entire album of Christmas music, with contributions from all the acts on his Philles label. All of the groups got to do three or four songs each. The Ronettes did ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,’ ‘Sleigh Ride,’ and ‘Frosty the Snowman.’
“We worked on that one forever. Phil started recording it in the summer, and he didn’t leave the studio for about two months. We’d start recording early in the evening, and we’d work until late into the night, sometimes even into the next morning. And everybody sang on everyone else’s songs, so all of Phil’s acts really were like one big, happy family for that one album.
“While he was recording it, Phil told everyone that this Christmas album was going to be the masterpiece of his career. And he meant it. We all knew how important this project was to Phil when he walked into the studio on the last day of recording and announced that he was going to add a vocal himself. The final song on the record is a spoken message from Phil, where he thanks all the kids for buying his records and then wishes everyone a Merry Christmas, while we all sing a chorus of ‘Silent Night’ in the background. A lot of people thought the song was corny. But if you knew Phil like I did, it was very touching.
“But then I always did have a soft spot for Phil’s voice. There was something about his phrasing and diction that drove me crazy. It was so cool, so calm, so serene. Phil wasn’t a singer, but when he spoke he put me in a romantic mood like no singer could. He was the only guy I ever met who could talk me into an orgasm.
“Of course, he wasn’t doing that back then. Not yet, anyway. Phil and I were still just sweethearts in those days. We spent lots of time together, and we were very romantic, but we still hadn’t slept together. Maybe that’s why we were so romantic.
“A Christmas Gift for You finally came out in November of 1963. But in spite of all the work we put into it, the album was one of Phil’s biggest flops. It was reissued as The Phil Spector Christmas Album in the early seventies, and nowadays people talk about it like it’s one of the greatest albums in rock and roll history. But nobody bought it when it first came out.
“President Kennedy had been shot a few days before it was released, and after that people were too depressed to even look at a rock and roll record. And they stayed that way until well into the New Year of 1964, when – thank God – four long-haired English guys finally got them to go back into the record stores.”
—–
The Gospel According to Luke
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
—–
Political commentator Pat Buchanan (The Atlantic, December 2015). The question was: “What is the greatest comeback of all time?”
Betrayed, scourged, crucified on a cross between two thieves, Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead and sent his apostles to preach his doctrines to the world, out of which came Christianity and Western civilization. Then he ascended into heaven. His name is known to more people than that of any other man who walked the Earth, and the empire that crucified him is gone.
—–
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
A famous letter from Virginia O’Hanlon to the editorial board of the New York Sun, first printed in 1897:
We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
Dear Editor –
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
—
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
—–
A Visit from St. Nicholas
By Clement C. Moore [Well, he really stole it, but that’s a story for another day. This is the original version.]
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap;
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof –
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes – how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
—
World War I – Christmas Truce
By December 1914, the war had been picking up in intensity for five months. Ironically, the feeling during the initial phases was that everyone would be home by Christmas, though little did they know it would be Christmas 1918.
On Christmas Eve 1914, along the British and German lines, particularly in the Flanders area, the soldiers got into conversation with each other and it was clear to the British that the Germans wanted some sort of Christmas Armistice. Sir Edward Hulse wrote in his diary, “A scout named F. Murker went out and met a German Patrol and was given a glass of whisky and some cigars, and a message was sent back saying that if we didn’t fire at them they would not fire at us.” That night, where five days earlier there had been savage fighting, the guns fell silent.
The following morning German soldiers walked towards the British wire and the Brits went out to meet them. They exchanged caps and souvenirs and food. Then arrangements were made for the British to pick up bodies left on the German side during a recent failed raid.
Christmas Day, fraternization took place along many of the lines, including a few of the French and Belgian ones. Some joined in chasing hares, others, most famously, kicked around a soccer ball. British soldier Bruce Bairnsfather would write, “It all felt most curious: here were these sausage-eating wretches, who had elected to start this infernal European fracas, and in so doing had brought us all into the same muddy pickle as themselves. But there was not an atom of hate on either side that day; and yet, on our side, not for a moment was the will to war and the will to beat them relaxed.”
In the air the war continued and the French Foreign Legionnaires in Alsace were ordered to fight Christmas Day as well. Plus, most of the commanders on both sides were none too pleased. Nothing like the Christmas truce of 1914 would occur in succeeding years (outside of a pocket or two) and by December 26, 1914, the guns were blazing anew.
[Source: “The First World War,” by Martin Gilbert]
“May You Always”
From 1959-2002, Harry Harrison was a fixture on New York radio, the last 20+ years at the great oldies station WCBS-FM. Unfortunately, he was forced to retire, which ticked off many of us to no end, but he will forever be remembered for a brilliant greeting titled “May You Always.” Enjoy.
As the holiday bells ring out the old year, and sweethearts kiss,
And cold hands touch and warm each other against the year ahead,
May I wish you not the biggest and best of life,
But the small pleasures that make living worthwhile.
Sometime during the new year, to keep your heart in practice,
May you do someone a secret good deed and not get caught at it.
May you find a little island of time to read that book and write that letter,
And to visit that lonely friend on the other side of town.
May your next do-it-yourself project not look like you did it yourself.
May the poor relatives you helped support remember you when they win the lottery.
May your best card tricks win admiring gasps and your worst puns, admiring groans.
May all those who told you so, refrain from saying “I told you so.”
May all the predictions you’ve made for your firstborn’s future come true.
May just half of those optimistic predictions that your high school annual made for you come true.
In a time of sink or swim, may you find you can walk to shore before you call the lifeguard.
May you keep at least one ideal you can pass along to your kids.
For a change, some rainy day, when you’re a few minutes late,
May your train or bus be waiting for you.
May you accidentally overhear someone saying something nice about you.
If you run into an old school chum,
May you both remember each other’s names for introductions.
If you order your steak medium rare, may it be so.
And, if you’re on a diet, may someone tell you, “You’ve lost a little weight,” without knowing you’re on a diet.
May that long and lonely night be brightened by the telephone call that you’ve been waiting for.
When you reach into the coin slot, may you find the coin that you lost on your last wrong number.
When you trip and fall, may there be no one watching to laugh at you or feel sorry for you.
And sometime soon, may you be waved to by a celebrity, wagged at by a puppy, run to by a happy child, and counted on by someone you love.
More than this, no one can wish you.
—
Ross Cameron / Sydney Morning Herald…I first read this in December 2009.
[Excerpts]
“Jesus is easily the most influential person in history, and the most universally loved….
“Of his early life, the record is almost blank; we are left with a few fragments….
“He was deeply literate in Jewish scriptures but silent on writings outside that tradition. We may assume he lived his entire life within 160 km of his birthplace – he never describes a foreign custom or place. After a major spiritual moment under the influence of John, he launched into local prominence as an itinerant preacher at age 30. Tradition holds that Jesus was a public figure for three years but modern scholars strongly believe a single year is more likely….
“Riding a wave of fame and popularity, Jesus moved the road show to the heavily garrisoned provincial and religious capital of Jerusalem, entering the city in the lead-up to the most holy day of the Jewish year. The Roman authorities are not known for their tolerance of burgeoning mass movements. Jesus fairly quickly found his way to the agony and humiliation of public torture and execution by order of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate – famous for casual brutality. It was a routine event in a typical day in a Roman occupied city.
“History’s great riddle followed. His supporters immediately claimed Jesus rose from the dead. The four biographies of Jesus often contradict each other on minor details but nowhere so much as in the resurrection narratives. The difficulty with dismissing the claim altogether, however, is how otherwise to explain the instant, unprecedented explosion of the Jesus movement across the Mediterranean. The willingness of so many sane first-century beings – many of them witnesses – to suffer death rather than deny the central tenet of their faith, is also cause for reflection….
“We are left to ponder how one year in the life of a seeming nobody could transform the Roman Empire and the entire planet. The reason for the triumph of this nobody is to be found in his first recorded words. ‘Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.’ Jesus is specially kind to the weak and the outcast – to women, the poor, children, a madman in chains and a hated tax collector.
“In the pre-Jesus record, in virtually every human society, vast faceless classes of people were less valued than domestic animals. The world’s second-greatest philosopher, Aristotle, while writing the 101 course of every academic discipline, fervently endorsed the keeping of slaves as natural and desirable to good order. Slavery continued for centuries after Jesus but the impulse to end it was Christian. Beyond the Jewish scriptures, to which Jesus gave a megaphone, no one cared about those on the margins. Jesus establishes the sublime idea that everyone matters.
“Today that single thought has transformed our sense of what it means to be human. Major political parties of the earth, whether left, centrist or right wing (with the possible exception of the Greens) agree the welfare of the whole human race is our common goal. ‘Blessed are the meek’ evolved into ‘All men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’
“From whatever perspective we come, thinking people ought to be able to agree, the birth of Jesus was a good day for mankind. I suspect I may never quite shake the childlike hunch that there is some uniquely divine imprint on the central individual of the human story. Happy Birthday, Jesus.”
—
[From Army Times]
Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army was in a dire situation during the frigid winter of 1776. His army had been defeated and chased from New York, and forced to set up winter camp for his remaining 5,000 troops at Valley Forge, Pa., only miles from the capital city of Philadelphia. With morale at its lowest point of the war and enlistments coming to an end, Washington desperately needed a victory to secure reenlistments and draw in some new recruits. The outcome of the revolution was at stake.
On Christmas night, Washington’s troops began to gather on the banks of the Delaware River at McKonkey’s Ferry. His plan was to cross the partially frozen river by midnight, march to Trenton and surround the garrison of Hessian troops (Germans fighting for the British) in the city in a predawn attack.
Before the Army had even launched a boat across the river, it began to rain, then hail, then snow. Washington was behind schedule. Remarkably, the force crossed the river without a single casualty. At 4 a.m., Dec. 26, the ill-equipped army began to march toward Trenton, some with rags wrapped around their feet instead of shoes.
Washington had achieved complete surprise with the dangerous crossing. The battle began when the Army encountered a group of unprepared Hessian sentries at about 8 a.m., and by 9:30 the garrison had surrendered. The Army had killed 22, injured 83 and taken 896 prisoners.
By noon, Washington had left Trenton, having lost two men in the battle, and returned to camp at Valley Forge. He had won a major victory, inspiring the needed reenlistments. News of the battle drew new recruits into the beleaguered Continental Army. The revolution would live to fight another day.
—
A number of years ago, Rich Lowry wrote an op-ed in the New York Post on the genius of “White Christmas”:
“America’s classic Christmas song was written by a Jewish immigrant.
“Born in Russia with the name Israel Baline, he was the genius songwriter we know as Irving Berlin. He wrote ‘White Christmas’ for the 1942 Hollywood musical ‘Holiday Inn,’starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.
“On set, the movie’s hit number was presumed to be another Berlin composition, the Valentine’s Day song ‘Be Careful, It’s My Heart.’ At first, it was. Then ‘White Christmas’ captured the public’s imagination and hasn’t quite loosed its grip since….
“Some estimates point to sales of all versions of ‘White Christmas’ topping 100 million….
“It is a song built on yearning. In lines at the beginning of the original version that aren’t usually performed, Berlin writes of being out in sunny California during the holiday: ‘There’s never been such a day/in Beverly Hills, L.A./But it’s December the twenty-fourth,/And I’m longing to be up North’.
“(Colleague Mark) Steyn thinks that if America had entered World War II a few years earlier, the song might never have taken off. But 1942 was the year that American men were first shipped overseas, and it was released into a wave of homesickness. (Berlin’s daughter) Mary Ellin Barrett says it first caught on with GIs in Great Britain. During the course of the war, it became the most requested song with Armed Forces Radio.
“The irony of the son of a cantor writing the characteristic American Christmas song is obvious. Yet, Berlin’s daughter says, ‘He believed in the great American Christmas.’ As a child on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, he loved to look at the little Christmas tree of his Catholic neighbors. He and his Christian wife Ellin (theirs was a scandalous mixed marriage), put on elaborate, joyous Christmases for their daughters. Not until later would they reveal that the day was a painful one for them because they had lost an infant child on Christmas.
“Berlin knew he had something special with ‘White Christmas’ as soon as he wrote it. He supposedly enthused to his secretary, ‘I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written – heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody’s ever written!’ The song evokes the warmth of the hearth and the comforts of our Christmas traditions in a way that hasn’t stopped pulling at heartstrings yet.”
—
Some tidbits related to “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” At first, Charles Schulz and his associates didn’t think they’d be able to pull the project off for CBS. Production was crammed into five months and CBS executives were none too pleased with the results. Schulz insisted on the biblical passage, animator Bill Melendez and producer Lee Mendelson weren’t so sure.
The rush to production led to a few mistakes, like Schroeder’s fingers coming off the keyboard while music is playing, and Pig Pen mysteriously disappearing for a second. Plus the barren Christmas tree lost, and then regained, a couple of branches. They just didn’t have time to change it.
Melendez, by the way, wrote the lyrics to “Christmas Time Is Here” in 15 minutes on an envelope, after Vince Guaraldi had come up with the music.
Separately, Mendelson recalled speaking to Schulz shortly before he died. “He said, ‘Good grief. That little kid’s never going to kick the football.’”
Linus [From “A Charlie Brown Christmas”]
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them. And they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, goodwill toward men.”
That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.
—
Merry Christmas, gang!
The Editor
