NBA Quiz: (1) Who is the career leader in free-throw
percentage (entering the ”99-”00 season)? (2) Career leader in
field-goal percentage? [Hint: Think left-handed shooting
center]. Answers below.
Munich, 1972
Last Wednesday, I wrote briefly about Frank Shorter and the
Olympic marathon from the Munich Games. There was, of
course, a darker side to Munich.
12,000 athletes and staff were housed in Munich”s Olympic
Village. Every precaution was taken to protect them. However,
in the early morning hours of September 5th eight armed
terrorists managed to infiltrate the village.
The terrorists, who were to identify themselves as Black
September, stormed into two apartments, housing some of the
Israeli team members. 13 Israeli”s were affected but in the chaos
that followed, two team members successfully escaped while two
others were shot and killed as they tried to run. The remaining 9
became hostages.
Black September made their demands: the lives of their hostages
in exchange for the freedom of 236 Arab prisoners held in Israel,
plus air transportation to fly them and their captives to an
unspecified location. If their conditions were not met by 9 a.m.,
they would begin killing the hostages.
Images of the hooded terrorists standing on the balcony were
flashed across the world. A standoff ensued.
The terrorists were eventually presented two alternative offers in
exchange for the release of their hostages: they could be paid a
large ransom and given safe passage out of Germany, or West
German officials would take the place of the Israeli athletes as
hostages.
Black September rejected these offers. They demanded a plane
to Cairo, saying that by the time they landed, the Arab prisoners
were to have been released.
The Olympic task force gave in to their request for
transportation. At 10 p.m. the commandos and the Israeli
captives were transported to two helicopters and flown to a
military airfield where they would presumably make their
escape. Upon their arrival at the airstrip, German police
launched a surprise attack.
For about 90 minutes the police marksmen and the terrorists
waged a continuous gun battle. It ended in tragedy when one
terrorist threw a live grenade into one of the helicopters, killing
all five hostages inside, while the other terrorists shot and killed
the remaining hostages. The final death toll was one German
police officer, five terrorists and eleven Israeli athletes (including
the two killed in the village). The other three terrorists were
captured.
In another tragedy, many in the world were led to believe that the
Israelis had been released. Israel had celebrated the false reports
at the time and settled in for the night.
The International Olympic Committee, under heavy criticism,
decided to resume the Games on September 7th, after a memorial
service on the 6th.
[Source: “We Interrupt This Broadcast,” Joe Garner]
U.S. Patent 157,124
On November 24, 1874, Joseph F. Glidden received a patent for
an invention that some have said was just as important as
railroads and the Colt .45 in shaping the West: barbed wire. The
importance of this tetanus-causing contraption was spelled out in
a recent edition of American Heritage magazine.
“As the frontier advanced, stockmen and farmers existed side by
side, which meant the farmers had to protect their crops from
roving animals. Since trees were extremely scarce on the Great
Plains, wood fences were too expensive. Plain wire fencing was
cheaper, but it could easily be knocked over by a hungry beast.
Barbed wire eliminated this problem with sharp attachments that
animals learned to avoid.”
Actually, everyone and their mother was involved in coming up
with new ways of making barbed wire. The industry became the
equivalent of today”s Internet gold rush. Over 400 inventors
received patents for their variations of Glidden”s model, the one
still prevalent today. Glidden actually had to beat back a patent
challenge all the way to the Supreme Court in 1892.
Finally, in cattle country barbed wire wasn”t uniformly hailed as
a great thing. Before the invention, cattlemen had grazed and
watered their herds on public lands. Even small operators could
take advantage of the open range. But when barbed wire came
along, rich men started buying up large tracts and enclosing
them. Some illegally enclosed land they did not own.
Of course, the real modern success story of “Barbed Wire” is the
Pamela Anderson movie which was rushed straight to video, it
was just that good.
NBA Tidbits
–The lowest free throw percentage for a playoff game is .333 by
Orlando in May,1996, 8-24. Of course Shaq was on the team
then.
–The highest scoring regular season game in history was Detroit
vs. Denver, 186-184 (3 OTs), Detroit prevailing. Isiah Thomas
had 47 points, John Long 41, Kelly Tripucka 35 for Detroit. Kiki
Vandeweghe led Denver with 51 (on 21-29 shooting from the
field) and Alex English added 47. No one on Denver had more
than 8 assists. Isiah had 17.
Top 3 songs for the week of 11/9/74: #1 “You Ain”t Seen
Nothing Yet” (Bachman-Turner Overdrive…and probably just
about the best cruising song of all-time) #2 “Jazzman” (Carole
King) #3 “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night” (John Lennon
with The Plastic Ono Band).
Quiz Answers: (1) Mark Price, .904. Rick Barry is 2nd at .900.
(2) Artis Gilmore, .599. Mark West is 2nd at .581.
Next Bar Chat, Monday. We”re going back to the Middle Ages.
