NCAA Basketball Quiz: Name the only three players to lead
Division I in both scoring and rebounding in the same season.
[Hint: All three are modern era players] Answer below.
*This is revised. See note below.
A Human Tragedy
Between 1845 and 1849, the Irish Potato Famine took about one
million lives and drove over a million more to emigrate. It was
one of Europe”s worst natural disasters. But to a great extent it
was also preventable. So first, let”s take a look at some
legislation that helped lead to the tragedy.
In 1815 and 1828, the British Parliament passed a series of laws
known as the “Corn Laws.” These laws imposed a sliding tariff
on imported wheat (then known as “corn”). The impact is best
described by John Merriman in his book, “A History of Modern
Europe:”
“When the price of wheat produced in Britain fell below a certain
level, import duties would keep out cheaper foreign grain.
Foreign grain could be imported virtually free of import taxes
when the price of wheat stood at or above a certain level. The
laws protected landowners, but were detrimental to the interests
of businessmen who imported or sold imported grain, and, above
all, to consumers, who were forced to pay higher prices for
bread. The bad harvests of 1839-41 came when an expanding
population had created an increased demand for food, even as
parishes were cutting back on their allocations to the poor.”
In 1839, it was argued that the repeal of the Corn Laws would be
a major step toward political democracy. A man by the name of
John Bright warned the aristocracy: “Until now, this country has
been ruled by the class of great proprietors of the soil. Everyone
must have foreseen that, as trade and manufactures extended, the
balance of power would, at some time or other, be thrown into
another scale. Well, that time has come…We have been living
through a revolution without knowing it.”
[I write this preamble because it is interesting that the debates on
trade really haven”t changed over the centuries, only the product
and governments in question.]
The Corn Laws were repealed in June 1846, after the famine in
Ireland had begun. It should have helped the situation. It didn”t.
In the Middle Ages, Ireland had been a place of fabulous
agricultural fertility. In a recent article for Irish America
magazine, author Thomas Cahill describes the period.
“The early Irish monks and nuns, who tried for a time to be as
strict with themselves as the hermits of the Egyptian desert,
found that it was just about impossible to starve properly in
Ireland, because the country abounded in delicious food of all
kinds – ”leeks from the garden, poultry, game, Salmon and trout
and bees,” as a salivating monastic poet of the seventh century
put it.”
“But by the 18th century, Ireland had become a Third World
country, a colony of England, in which all the good land had
been taken from the Irish by English planters – a place where
everything from seed to salmon streams was owned by others,
and the Irish had become unwanted poachers and vagrants on the
rich soil that had once been theirs.”
The Irish nobility, understanding there was no future for them,
took flight. They left behind a dispirited population of peasants
who could do nothing but watch their world come to an end.
In the 19th century, Alexis de Tocqueville toured Ireland three
years after his American travels. He wrote to his father:
“You cannot imagine what a complexity of miseries five
centuries of oppression, civil disorder, and religious hostility
have piled on this poor people…[The poverty is] such as I did
not imagine existed in this world. It is a frightening thing, I
assure you, to see a whole population reduced to fasting like
Trappists, and not being sure of surviving to the next harvest,
which is still not expected for another ten days.”
Tocqueville wrote this in 1835, ten years before the famine
began!!
Pushed further and further away from their ancestral plots, most
of the farmers had to make due with pitifully small ones. And
in the western counties, like today”s Clare County, the soil isn”t
as hospitable. As Cahill writes:
“Dispossessed of their property because of their race, deprived of
all civil rights because of their religion (including the right to
object to anything that was being done to them), the ”mere Irish,”
as the conquerors were fond of calling us, had sunk as low as
possible.”
Former American slave Frederick Douglass visited Ireland in
1845 to rally support for the campaign to abolish slavery in
America. He wrote of his experience.
“Never did human faces tell a sadder tale…these people lacked
only a black skin and wooly hair to complete their likeness to the
plantation Negro. The open, uneducated mouth – the long gaunt
arm – the badly formed foot and ankle – the shuffling gait…all
reminded me of the plantation, and my own cruelly abused
people.”
It was in such circumstances that the miraculous potato had made
existence possible.
In the 6 decades after 1780, Ireland”s population had exploded by
300% as compared with 88% in England and Wales. But there
was little industrialization to absorb the surplus numbers. With
this background, the little potato, first brought to Cork by Walter
Raleigh, became the staple for the rural population. Rich in
vitamins and protein, it grew easily in the Irish soil, even the
stony ground of the western counties.
Friday, we continue with our story.
Thin Lizzy
Well, I really didn”t intend a pun here, but Thin Lizzy happens to
be one of Ireland”s better known hard-rock groups. Formed in
1969 by two classmates from Dublin, Phil Lynott and Brian
Downey, it is probably safe to say that for all of their potential,
they had a disappointing career.
Lynott was an interesting character. The illegitimate son of a
Brazilian father and an Irish mother, he was a black musician-
poet who grew up in the working class sections of Dublin with
his grandmother. Downey was the drummer. The rest of the
members came from various bands in Ireland and England.
Thin Lizzy spent most of their early years touring in Northern
Ireland, covering Hendrix tunes. They didn”t have their first
decent album until 1975, “Fighting,” but when they were about
to go on tour, Lynott (the lead singer) contracted hepatitis. Of
course the fact that he was a heavy drug user probably didn”t
help much.
Lynott recovered and in 1976 they toured North America with
headliners Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Some critics say Thin
Lizzy “blew them away.” But the tour was cut short by Lynott
contracting hepatitis again. Geezuz, man. Get a ”hold of
yourself.
However, in July of ”76, the group struck it big with the song
“The Boys Are Back In Town” from the album “Jailbreak.”
Now you have to admit that if you know this song, there is
probably no better air guitar anthem. In fact, when I”m…oops,
almost disclosed too much here. The other big hit from this
album was “Cowboy Song.” Thin Lizzy should have really been
on its way to superstardom. But they weren”t.
Long-time guitar player Brian Robertson severed the tendons in
his hand from a brawl at London”s Speakeasy club and was
unable to play for months. The group still managed some
success in Britain, but not elsewhere. [They had a #2 album in
the U.K., “Black Rose,” that only reached #81 in the U.S. In the
U.K., “Black Rose” was beaten out for the top spot by “The Very
Best of Leo Sayer.” They should have disbanded on that news
alone.]
The group waited until 1983 before they finally split. In 1985, a
Dublin judge found Lynott guilty of a narcotics possession
charge and prophetically said, “As long as (Lynott) is only using
these drugs himself and not giving them to others, he is only
destroying himself.”
Lynott died of a drug overdose on January 4, 1986, after being in
a coma for 8 days.
Funeral Songs
According to Britain”s Funeral Services Co-op, Robbie
Williams” “Angels” is the most requested last tune. [For the life
of me, I don”t know this one.] Close behind is Frank Sinatra”s
“My Way.” Monty Python”s “Always Look on the Bright Side
of Life” is up there as well. So I”m thinking, what would mine
be? Perhaps George Jones” “I Can”t Get There From Here.”
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/12/66: #1 “The Ballad Of The
Green Beret” (Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler…who wrote the song
while recuperating from a leg wound in Vietnam). #2 “These
Boots Are Made For Walkin”” (Nancy Sinatra) #3 “Listen
People” (Herman”s Hermits…get their latest Greatest Hits CD.
They are truly underrated). *The Editor receives no
compensation for endorsing these blokes.
New York Jets Season Ticketholder
As a Jets season ticketholder for a number of years now, let me
just fill you in on what the Jets sent me yesterday. President
Steve Gutman issued a terse letter asking me for $1,000 for two
tickets ($50 a piece, lousy seats). My ticket price had gone up
and the letter”s explanation was as follows:
“$10 increase has been put into effect for the 2000 season.”
That”s it. At least BS me and tell me why! I mean, heck, we
haven”t locked up Keyshawn yet! But the travesty is that season
ticketholders are forced to buy the two home exhibition games
each year. Anyone want to see New Orleans on July
29th?…Yeah, I sent my check in anyway.
Worst College Basketball Teams of the Year
Loyola Marymount 2-26 (0-18 in conference)
Grambling 1-29 (0-18 in conference against the likes of
Arkansas-Pine Bluff)
Florida Atlantic 2-28 (0-18 in conference)
Quiz Answer: And after seeing the above, Hank Gathers of
Loyola Marymount is spinning in his grave. Gathers led the
nation in scoring (32.7) and rebounding (13.7) while playing for
Loyola back in 1989. [Gathers died the following year]. Xavier
McDaniel, Wichita State, 1985, led the nation with 27.2 ppg and
14.8 rbg. McDaniel also led in rebounding in 1983. Kurt Thomas,
TCU, 1995, 28.9 ppg and 14.6 rpg.
*Special thanks to Carl C. who picked up my embarrassing mistake
in initially forgetting about Thomas. Carl wins a free subscription
to this site…retail value…To Be Determined.
Next Bar Chat, Friday. More on the Irish Potato Famine, plus
lighter Irish fare. Well, actually not.
