Green Bay Packers Trivia: (1) Who had more career receptions
(including teams other than the Packers that they may have
played for), Boyd Dowler or Carroll Dale. (2) Entering the ”99
season, who has the higher QB rating, Brett Favre or Bart Starr?
(3) Who holds the record for most passing yards, season?
Game? Answers below.
Hanukkah
The Feast of Light commemorates the rededication of the
Jerusalem Temple in 165 B.C. and the miracle of a one-day
supply of oil lasting for eight days. The Temple is the most
significant shrine of the Jews, originally located on a hilltop
known as Temple Mount in what is now E. Jerusalem. There
have been 3 temples on the site. The first was built in the 10th
century B.C. by order of Solomon as a repository for the Ark of
the Covenant (a gold-covered chest of acacia, a kind of tree or
shrub, that contained the stone tablets on which the Ten
Commandments were inscribed).
The Ark rested in the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest could
look upon the Ark and no one could touch it. In Palestine, the
Israelites set up a resting place for the Ark in Shiloh. In the 10th
century it was moved to the Temple of Solomon.
The Temple of Solomon was then destroyed by
Nebuchandnezzar, King of Babylon, in 586 or 587 B.C. After the
destruction of the temple, there is no further record of the Ark”s
location (except in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”).
Meanwhile, a second temple was completed in 515 B.C. by
Jewish exiles who had returned from Babylon. Between 19 and
9 B.C., this was replaced by a more elaborate structure which the
Romans then destroyed in A.D. 70. Some of the ruins remain
today as the Western (or Wailing) Wall.
This is a long-winded way of saying, Happy Hanukkah.
Chris Zorich
A friend of mine, Paul C., was a little distraught at my non-stop
slamming of athletes the last few weeks (actually, since the site
has been up). He just wanted to pass along a nice story about an
ex-NFL ballplayer that he had come in contact with, Chris
Zorich. Zorich was a Notre Dame grad who played for seven
years in the NFL, all but 5 games with the Chicago Bears. Paul
relates the following tale:
“I was attending Notre Dame High of West Haven, CT and any
year that a player from the Univ. of Notre Dame was named to
the Walter Camp All-American team, my school would have a
breakfast with the ND All-Americans as the guests of honor.
That year (”90-”91) there were 3 men from ND on the squad,
Zorich, Raghib Ismail and Michael Stonebreaker.”
“The rest of the country really could care less about the Walter
Camp team but, having grown up a few blocks away from Yale
University, the whole weekend is a giant event in these parts.
The highlight of the weekend is a black-tie ($1,000/plate)
banquet at the Yale Commons and as many other charitable
outings as the foundation can fit into the weekend for the players.
“The dinner is held the first week in February and you can count
on the worst weather of the year. It always seems to snow
Walter Camp weekend in Connecticut. This particular year was
no different and the only player that was able to attend our tiny
little breakfast gathering was Zorich. The others were unable to
make it.
“The previous football season, the Irish had lost the national title
to Colorado on a phantom flag during Rocket Ismail”s apparent
game-winning punt return. When Zorich returned home after
that game he discovered his mother Zora dead in her tiny south
side of Chicago apartment. Six weeks later Zorich was at our
school.
“Our class president at the time was my best friend Dennis
Bianchi and it was his job to introduce Zorich as the speaker at
the breakfast. Dennis was the biggest University of Miami fan
and, as any good Hurricane fan would, Dennis hated ND. But,
also, Dennis” own mother had passed away just two weeks
earlier. His introduction was tremendous and everyone in the
room laughed…and cried. There was not a dry eye in the room
when Dennis spoke of both of their great losses. Both kids had
grown up in poor families in the inner city with only the mother
to raise them. Both women had extraordinary stories in their
own right and went to remarkable lengths to insure the success
and schooling of their children.
“After the speech, Zorich, still in tears, gave a tremendous talk
and stopped at one point to give Dennis a hug. After the
breakfast, Zorich asked one of the Walter Camp officials who
was traveling with him if he could arrange for Dennis to attend
the banquet as his guest at the Yale Commons the following
evening. The official did one better. Not only would he attend
the event, but Dennis accompanied the driver who was going to
the airport to pick up two players from the University of Miami.
Those players were Cortez Kennedy and Russell Maryland. The
two men, also touched by the story, allowed him to spend the
afternoon with them on their many scheduled stops. Neither man
had ever seen a snowstorm before and Dennis told me they were
like little kids, throwing each other in the snow. All three of
these athletes went on to become multi-millionaires.
“Zorich and Dennis still keep in touch through letters and email
and all three players are noted for their charitable work.”
Yes, there are some good athletes out there. But I”ll go back to
writing about the dirtballs.
Top 3 songs for the week of 12/2/67: #1 “Daydream Believer”
(The Monkees) #2 “The Rain, The Park & Other Things” (The
Cowsils) #3 “Incense & Peppermints” (Strawberry Alarm
Clock).
Quiz Answers: (1) Boyd Dowler caught 474 passes in his career,
Carroll Dale, 438. (2) Brett Favre has the higher rating, 89.0 to
80.5. Starr did lead the league in completion percentage 4 times,
all between 62 and 64%, quite an achievement in those days.
(3) Lynn Dickey holds both records. 1983 he threw for 4,458
yards (Favre has thrown for 4,413 and 4,212). In 1980 Dickey
threw for 418 yards in a game.
Next Bar Chat, Monday.It is time to announce the American
and International Babe of the Century, as selected by our panel
of one, your editor. The only hint is that both women are part of
this editor”s lifetime, i.e., I”m 41.
**Web Tips: I am adding a new link to the site with this
title. It”s easy for those of us in the business to forget that many
of you are just starting out with your web experience. It sure
takes awhile to get up to speed. So, in an effort to make the
experience more pleasurable, my good friends at CSI Multimedia
have put together some tips which should be useful. From time
to time we may also update this link. –Brian Trumbore
