Oakland Raiders Quiz: (1960-99)
1) What two Raiders are tied with the most career interceptions at
39? 2) Most rushing yards, season? 3) Most pass receptions,
career? 4) Most passing yards, career? Answers below.
1900 Galveston
One hundred years ago, September 8, 1900, to be exact, the single
greatest natural disaster to strike the U.S. occurred. The following
details are from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
The great Galveston hurricane (they weren”t named back then)
roared through the prosperous island city with winds in excess of
130 miles per hour and a 15-foot storm surge. When it was finally
over, at least 3,500 homes and buildings were destroyed and more
than 8,000 people were killed.
“That hurricane left the city totally devastated,” said Bill Proenza,
director of the National Weather Service Southern Region. “The
number of people who lost their lives on that single day represents
more than the combined fatalities resulting from the 325 tropical
storms and hurricanes that have struck the United States since then.
In fact, that single event accounts for one third of all tropical storm
or hurricane-related fatalities that have occurred in this nation since
it was founded.”
The toll would have been much higher, actually, were it not for the
heroic action of Glaveston”s Weather Bureau Manager, Dr. Isaac
M. Cline. The bureau was aware of the hurricane as it passed over
Cuba on a northern track. Warnings were issued for the eastern
Gulf states, Florida and the southern Atlantic coast.
But since wireless ship-to-shore communication was not yet
available in 1900, information was extremely sketchy and there
was little if any knowledge that the hurricane was strengthening
and heading toward Texas.
As the storm neared the Texas coast, Cline became increasingly
suspicious of the weather. Convinced that a major storm was
pending, he decided to raise the hurricane warning flags atop the
Weather Bureau building on September 7th, the day before the
hurricane struck. Throughout the 7th and the morning of
September 8th, Cline continued to patrol the beach warning people
to move to higher ground. With a population of more than 35,000
people, it is likely many more Galveston residents would have died
without the warnings. In what would be the last message to reach
the outside world, Cline said, “Gulf rising rapidly; half the city now
under water.”
Back then, the highest point in Galveston was only 8.7 feet above
sea level and the hurricane easily inundated the city with a storm
surge of 15 feet. Needless to say, shortly after the disaster, the
people of Galveston erected a far more extensive system of sea
walls.
Equal Time
Last week, I had a story on the U.S. women”s gymnastics team and
their poor attitude towards their coach, Bela Karolyi. In Friday”s
New York Times, Joan Ryan presents the other side as she
observed the women”s performance.
“As I watched on television, I remembered back to Barcelona in
1992, when some of our teenaged gymnasts were so disturbingly
thin and blank-eyed that a few sports columnists called for the sport
to be banned from the Olympics. The relentless training of elite
gymnasts meant that girls could stave off puberty. Some would
starve themselves and overtrain in a race against time; they had to
reach the Olympics before their bodies passed into womanhood.
“…So elite women”s gymnastics, more than any other sport, pitted
two deeply ingrained values against each other. On the one hand,
we cherish children in our culture. We want to protect them,
nurture them, keep them from harm. On the other hand, we love to
win. Were we willing to risk losing in order to field a team of
older, rounder, healthier gymnasts?
“.The United States fielded a team of adults, not children. They
no longer looked like the pink ballerinas inside the jewelry box,
tiny and fragile, spinning until they break. They looked like strong
women athletes, and that is a victory in itself.”
Well, Ms. Ryan, not exactly, but I get your point.
Robert Porges…Dirtball
On Wednesday, prosecutors charged the nation”s largest
immigration lawyer with helping to run a smuggling ring that
illegally brought thousands of Chinese immigrants to the U.S.
Robert Porges, 61, filed fake asylum documents, helped smugglers
detain illegal immigrants until debts were paid and gave smugglers
advice on how to avoid immigration authorities. Porges, a Harvard
Law grad, thus becomes a leading candidate for “Dirtball of the
Year.”
This guy is alleged to have collected as much as $13 million in fees
for helping to transport as many as 7,000 illegals from mainland
China to the U.S.
U.S. attorney Mary Jo White said, “The Porges firm greedily and
cruelly exploited a cherished American value – asylum for the
world”s oppressed – and corrupted the system through which it is
granted.”
As the Washington Post”s Hanna Rosin and Christine Haughney
reported, “In a typical case, a smuggler in China, called a
”snakehead” or ”boss” in the indictment, would coordinate with a
smuggler in the United States to transport a group of illegal
immigrants to this country. The immigrants would promise the
smugglers between $40,000 and $50,000 each, paying some of it
up front.”
Some of the immigrants evaded the INS and ended up in New
York, where smugglers would hold them in Brooklyn until they
paid off the balance. Others were detained at various entry points,
including San Diego, Phoenix and El Paso. That”s where Porges
and his employees stepped in.
Hanna and Rosin pick up the story.
“By law, illegal immigrants detained by the INS are entitled to
apply for political asylum. They are detained or released on bail if
they can prove they have relatives to live with while their cases are
pending.”
Porges and his paralegals would enter the picture and concoct
thousands of fake political asylum stories. They then filed fake
documents from the so-called relatives, usually the smugglers
themselves.
Once the immigrants were released on bail, Porges”s firm would
purchase airline tickets to fly them to locations chosen by the
“snakeheads,” where they were then held until the debt was paid.
The government is seeking forfeiture of some $13.5 million in
assets including homes the Porges”s owned in Stamford, CT and
Hollywood, FL.
Marie-Jose Perec
Geez, I feature the French double gold winner from the 1996
Olympics last week in this space and what does she do? She up
and leaves Sydney before her events were run. It is a bizarre
situation but hours before her first-round heat in the 400, she
alleged that a man had been harassing her inside her Sydney hotel
room. Police and hotel officials had received no such report. Soon,
Perec was in Singapore. The Aussie tabloids labeled her
“Mademoiselle La Chicken.” Cathy Freeman, Australia”s darling,
was her primary competition and I guess Perec just couldn”t handle
the pressure.
*Comment on Patrick Ewing”s departure: I, for one, am happy to
see him go. The bottom line is, he never won the big one. Will his
departure make it easier to win this coming season? Of course not.
They”ll be more fun to watch, though.
As for the center they drafted #1 last year, Frederic Weis of France,
what a bust. Weis never made it to training camp last fall and
instead stayed in France. This week he is on the French team in the
Olympics and he went 0 for 6 from the field against China.
Needless to say, the general manager responsible for drafting Weis
is no longer with the Knicks.
Spike Lee was at the Garden when the Ewing trade was announced.
All he did was mutter, “Sad day; sad, sad day.” If the Knicks get
off to a poor start, look for Spike to bolt.
Top 3 songs for the week of 9/22/73: #1 “Let”s Get It On”
(Marvin Gaye) #2 “We”re An American Band” (Grand Funk)
#3 “Delta Dawn” (Helen Reddy)
*So I”m at a Jets game the other day when the song “Who Let The
Dogs Out” was played over the P.A. system. I had never heard it
before but I was soon chiming in, “woof…woof…woof…woof…”
The song is by the Bahamian funk group Baha Men. And I have to
admit, it”s better than “Rock And Roll, Part II.” Sports Illustrated
reports that the Cleveland Browns will be featuring Baha Men
during a December halftime show.
Raiders Quiz Answers: 1) Willie Brown and Lester Hayes each
had 39 interceptions. 2) Marcus Allen rushed for 1,759 yards in
1985. 3) Tim Brown entered the season with 770 receptions.
4) Ken Stabler is the all-time passer with 19,078 yards.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday…Live from Cooperstown.
And how ”bout them Jets!!!
