Pittsburgh Steelers Quiz (1933-2000): 1) Most receiving yards,
career? 2) Most TD, career? 3) Most interceptions, career? 4)
Most rushing yards, game? [Hint: Total is 218.second hint, it
isn”t an obvious choice.] 5) Most passing yards, game? [Hint:
409…you get this and I”ll buy you a Rock.] Answers below.
Happy 100th Birthday
Walt Disney was born in Chicago on this date back in 1901.
Raised on a farm near Marceline, MO, Disney started his
professional career as an advertising cartoonist in Kansas City in
1920. Then in 1923, with $40 to his name and some animation
ideas, he headed to Hollywood. He ended up founding the Walt
Disney Co. that year.
In 1928 he introduced Mickey Mouse in a cartoon, “Plane
Crazy,” which was followed by “Galloping Gaucho” and
“Steamboat Willie.” It was in the latter that he introduced sound
to animation. [Donald Duck got his start in 1934, by the way,
with a cameo in “Wise Little Men.”]
In 1932 Disney won the first of what would be 7 consecutive
Oscars for short subjects. [If you are a Disney aficionado, some
of the winning titles were “Flowers and Trees,” “Three Little
Pigs,” and “Ferdinand the Bull.” Overall, Walt won 29 Academy
Awards, himself, and something like 48 including his associates.]
Disney”s first feature film was “Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs” (1937); followed by “Pinocchio” (1940), “Fantasia”
(1940), “Dumbo” (1941), and “Bambi” (1942).
In July 1955 Disneyland was opened and the first day was almost
a total disaster. “Traffic jammed the Santa Ana Freeway, food
ran out, a gas leak shut down Fantasyland, and the day”s
blistering heat caused women”s high heels to sink into the freshly
laid asphalt on Main Street.” [“The Century”] Nonetheless,
Disneyland attracted 4 million visitors that first year.
Also in 1955, you had the phenomenon of “Davy Crockett,” as
the first Disney character flick was released. Forget that in real
life Crockett was a drunken scoundrel, in Disney”s world he
assumed a far more wholesome image. The Crockett character
launched an incredible mania, as America”s youth snapped up
Crockett guns, lunch boxes, and coonskin caps by the millions.
One retailer was stuck with a huge oversupply of pup tents, so he
stenciled the words “Davy Crockett” on them and they sold out
in two days.
And then there was the song “The Ballad of Davy Crockett,” a
#1 hit for Bill Hayes and #5 for “Tennessee” Ernie Ford, both in
the same year. [Ford”s version was the film one, while Hayes”s
was for the television series. I think I have this right.]. The tune
sold 4 million copies:
Born on a mountain top in Tennessee,
Greenest state in the Land of the Free,
Raised in the woods so”s he knew ev”ry tree,
Kilt him a b”ar when he only was three.
Davy, Davy Crockett
King of the wild frontier!
Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966.
Ty Tryon
Just two weeks ago I mentioned this 17-year-old golf
phenomenon, and now he deserves further space for his sterling
performance at the PGA Tour”s qualifying tournament (Q-
school), a grueling 6 round, 108-hole event which determines
whether you get your tour card for the following campaign.
Only the Top 125 on the money list are exempt each year and the
rest are either at the mercy of the individual tournament
sponsors or they can go through Q-school and gun for the final
35 slots. After three rounds of regional qualifying, some 160
make it to the final stage, including many past tour winners.
So there was Tryon, still a high school junior, tied for 50th
entering the final round and facing unreal pressure. No sweat;
he carded a six-under 66, which included an eagle and no
bogeys.
Ty doesn”t turn 18 until next June and, as we discussed the other
day, the PGA Tour won”t allow him to become a full-fledged
member until then, but he is still eligible to play in up to 12
events before his birthday, depending on any number of factors.
Contrast Tryon with Tiger Woods, who didn”t earn his card until
he was 20 (though to be fair Woods chose to spend a few years at
Stanford), while Sergio Garcia got his when he was 19.
Q-school always has a tragedy or two, a player or players who
miss by a shot or two when it was all but wrapped up with a hole
to go. This year Roland Thatcher needed just a par on the 108th
to get his card and instead he had a triple bogey. And then there
is the case of once rising star, Robert Gamez, who shot a horrible
74 to lose out by a single stroke.
George Harrison
Guess what? I didn”t find much of interest that you wouldn”t
have already read in the many obituaries, or in my 7/27 Bar Chat.
What I did discover was what a pompous ass Sir George Martin
(the Beatles” producer) is, which I learned in glancing through his
autobiographical “All You Need is Ears.” If you listen to Martin,
he is the sole reason the Beatles were a success. He did,
however, relate a tale from their first trip to the States in 1964,
when the band had to attend a party at the British Embassy,
where the “full quota of chinless wonders behaved abominably.
They would approach the boys with an off-hand, ”Oh, which one
are you?” and one actually got a pair of scissors and snipped off a
piece of Ringo”s hair while he was talking to someone else.”
I also didn”t recall the story of the fans of drummer Pete Best,
who, when Best was fired for Ringo Starr in ”62, stormed the
Cavern Club where the Beatles were performing and gave
George a black eye.
Finally, it needs to be noted that Harrison”s mother was
extremely supportive, unlike the other Beatles” mums, of her boy
George”s passion for the guitar and she loved when John and
Paul would come over to the house. And with that we put George
Harrison into the Ganges. Hey, you, don”t wash yourself with
that water! It could be George!
World Cup
OK, soccer fans. In case you missed it, here are the groupings
for next year”s event. The top 2 in each will advance to the
second round, with each group winner playing a second place
team from a different group. The World Cup starts on May 31
and runs through June 30.
Group A: France, Senegal, Uruguay, Denmark
Group B: Spain, Slovenia, Paraguay, South Africa
Group C: Brazil, Turkey, China, Costa Rica
Group D: South Korea, Poland, U.S., Portugal
Group E: Germany, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Cameroon
Group F: Argentina, Nigeria, England, Sweden
Group G: Italy, Ecuador, Croatia, Mexico
Group H: Japan, Belgium, Russia, Tunisia
*Aside from the U.S., here at StocksandNews we will be rooting
for Ireland, Slovenia, and Turkey. But we will be booing Saudi
Arabia in a big way. As a matter of fact, June 11 is SA vs. IRL.
Be there, Yokohama.
Top 3 songs for the week of 12/4/65: #1 “Turn! Turn! Turn!”
(The Byrds) #2 “I Hear A Symphony” (The Supremes)
#3 “1-2-3″ (Len Barry.I”ve decided this is an incredibly
underrated tune)
*I”ve also decided that the Beach Boys” “The Little Girl I Once
Knew” is underrated. [We”ve been celebrating the awesome
weather here in the New York area by having a Beach Boys
marathon in the home office.]
Pittsburgh Steelers Quiz Answers: 1) Receiving yards, career:
John Stallworth (8,723.on 537 receptions) 2) TD, career:
Franco Harris (100) 3) Interceptions, career: Mel Blount (57)
4) Rushing, game: John “Frenchy” Fuqua ran for 218 (1970.he
had a great Strat-O-Matic card that year. Frenchy rushed for
3,031 yards in his 8-year career) 5) Passing, game: Bobby Layne
threw for 409 yards in a game back in 1958, his first year with
Pittsburgh after a long stint with Detroit.
Steelers” Tidbits: Check out the first round draft picks of the
Steelers that helped lead to their success in the 70s.
1969 – Joe Greene
1970 – Terry Bradshaw
1971 – Frank Lewis (key #3 WR)
1972 – Franco Harris
1974 – Lynn Swann
Contrast that with the running backs they selected with the first
choice prior to the team”s run.
1962 – Bob Ferguson [209 yards rushing in his two-year career.]
1964 – Paul Martha [15 yards rushing.though they turned him
into a defensive back and he picked off 21 passes.had a cool
football card.]
1966 – Dick Leftridge [17 yards rushing.lasted one year.]
Of course they also selected Len Dawson with the first pick in
1957 and let him get away after three seasons and just 17 pass
attempts.because they were stupidly committed to that aging
party animal, Bobby Layne.
Next Bar Chat, Friday. Remembering Pearl Harbor.
