[Bar Chat returns Wednesday]
College Football / National Championships: What school won
the most titles in the 60s and 70s? This era was when both the
AP and UPI selected champions so there were a few years with
dual winners. Answer below.
Reverend Al Sharpton
How the heck did he get here?! Well, my friend David alerted
me to a piece wherein Sharpton had to give a deposition (more
on this later) and in the remarks, he describes how he gets those
snazzy suits. One thing led to another and I suddenly felt
compelled to do a little bit on the Al Sharpton story.
Born in Brooklyn in 1954, Reverend Dirtball became a minister
at age 4…that”s right, 4. By the age of 9 he was licensed to
preach.
One look at his National Action Network web site and you
quickly see that spelling wasn”t part of his early education.
Right there on the home page is “Reverand,” twice. It also goes
on to say, “He is a voice of the people. He stands up for those
who have been unjustly accused or wrongfully burtalized.”
[The password is…”burtalized.” “Ahhh..ahhhh..smash.”
“Burtalize!!” “You”re right!” The preceding was just a little
“Password” free association.]
Jumping ahead a bit, the web site also discusses Sharpton”s
primary race against Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
“His challenge…astounded the pundits, who were quieted when
Sharpton tallied more than 80% of the state-wide vote.” [That
would be astounding, especially since Moynihan remained in
Washington! What they meant to say was that he won 26% of
the state-wide black vote…but who”s counting?]
Right now, Sharpton is going through one of those periods where
the press tries to re-package him, conveniently forgetting the
awful things this man has done.
For example, Sharpton helped fuel the Crown Heights riots in
Brooklyn back in 1991, which led to the death of a Jewish
student.
And then there was the 1995 tragedy over Freddy”s Fashion Mart
in Harlem.
“Freddy”s” was a landlord-tenant dispute between the Jewish
owner of a clothing store and a black subtenant. Thanks to
Sharpton”s race-baiting, protesters screamed against
“bloodsucking Jews” and far worse, if you can imagine it.
The protesters threatened to burn the building down when one of
them, Roland Smith, took Sharpton”s words to heart and ran into
the store shouting, “It”s on!”
Smith shot and wounded 3 whites and a Pakistani (which he
probably mistook for a Jew). Then he set the building on fire,
killing 5 Hispanics and 2 blacks (including a security guard at the
store whom protesters had taunted) before fatally shooting
himself.
But the idea for this grim Bar Chat arose from Sharpton”s role in
the 1989 case of Tawana Brawley. Brawley, a 15-year-old living
in Wappinger Falls, New York, told a tale whereby she claimed
she was abducted and raped by a band of white men practicing
IRA tactics. As a grand jury later concluded, Brawley totally
fabricated the story in order to protect herself from a violent
stepfather.
Meanwhile, in one of the saddest cases in the history of the State
of New York, white prosecutor Steven Pagones was accused by
Sharpton and his vile lawyer buddies of the actual kidnapping
and raping of Brawley. Pagones life was never the same.
It was a media circus as each day Al Sharpton would say the
most awful things about a totally innocent man…and the
television media didn”t have the sense to keep it off the air. [The
print media had an obligation to write about it, in my mind.]
To regain some of his dignity, Pagones filed a defamation suit
against Sharpton et al, one which lasted for years; years of
torment for Pagones. Finally, Pagones won a $65,000
judgment against Sharpton, which the Reverend is currently
appealing. Even though the whole New York area knows that Brawley
made the entire story up, Sharpton has never apologized.
Well, as a result of his appeal of the judgment, Sharpton was
recently deposed by Pagones”s attorneys, excerpts of which made
it to the New York Times and reporter Alan Feuer. It is here that
we learn that Al owns no suits, he has just “access” to them.
Now it”s also necessary to bring up at this time that Sharpton was
indicted in 1989 for income tax evasion and stealing from
charitable donors (but he was acquitted). Then he pled guilty in
1993 to a misdemeanor charge of failing to file a tax return for
1986. CBS-AM radio later reported that Sharpton admitted in
1997 that he owed the IRS more than $100,000 in back taxes,
which Al is still contesting.
So with this as a further background, you probably ask yourself,
just as we do here in the New York area, just where does
Reverend Al (as well as the Reverend Jesse Jackson for that
matter) get his money?
After all, Sharpton is currently sending his two daughters to a
private school that costs $15,000 a year in tuition.
Well, in the deposition, Sharpton admitted to receiving a salary
of $72,000 from his National Action Network, as well as a $300
expense check twice a month for his weekly radio program. He
also earns money as a preacher, though he won”t divulge how
much, nor can he seem to remember which churches pay him.
From these assorted wages, he gives $1,000 a month to his wife.
[Sharpton also coughed up that he hasn”t filed tax returns in the
past two years.]
But lest you think this is all serious, enter the world of “Rev. Als
Productions,” his private promotional company. Yes, there is no
apostrophe. The Rev., as he likes to call himself, is proud of this.
Now Sharpton claimed in his deposition that the front door of his
Brooklyn home was for business visitors and the back door was
for family and friends.
Asked the attorney for Steven Pagones, “So I can go through the
front door to Rev. Als without going through your personal
residence?”
Sharpton: “We consider the living room and dining room part of
Rev. Als. We entertain people for speaking engagements –
hopefully the artist will sign with us. That”s all part of doing the
business.”
Oh yeah, Rev. Als pays for some of his suits. And New York
State has no record of the company. So there you have it.
A few final thoughts, that have nothing to do with clothing. You
may have noticed this past election season how Al Gore, Hillary,
and Bill Bradley all made pilgrimages to visit with the Rev. Of
course, Gore and Hillary tried to do it in secret, Gore meeting
Sharpton at his daughter Karenna”s Manhattan apartment. And it
was Gore who kowtowed to Sharpton”s request for a debate in
Harlem, at the famous Apollo Theater, with Sharpton getting to
ask the first question in front of a national television audience.
Of course, none of the news media that evening told you that the
Apollo is right across the street from Freddy”s Fashion Mart.
Instead, we are told that Sharpton is a different person now. As
he told one reporter, “I”ve become more mature in the sense of
being better able to travel my cause.” Oh brother. I keep
thinking of poor Steven Pagones, and the trail of other innocents
left behind.
[Sources: Jack White / Time; Fred Siegel / Wall Street Journal;
Lynne Duke / Washington Post; Alan Feuer / New York Times]
Joe Gilliam, Part II
The other day I commented on the death of the former Steeler
quarterback and since that piece, more information has come to
light that I feel obligated to pass on.
Gilliam was one of the first black quarterbacks to start in the
NFL, gaining his major opportunity in 1974. During the ”74
preseason, veteran players staged a strike and Steeler coach
Chuck Noll told Gilliam that if he came into camp, he would be
given an opportunity to compete for the starting job. Gilliam
won it and the team started 4-1-1 with him at the helm.
But Gilliam was receiving hate mail and death threats. Long-time
Steeler broadcaster Myron Cope commented, “It became a race
issue and things started to get nasty.” Gilliam later said he didn”t
understand the significance of being a black quarterback at the
time.
When the Steelers were shut out at home in the 3rd game of that
”74 season (making them 1-1-1), the fans shouted “We want
Bradshaw.” After the 6th game, Bradshaw got his job back.
Noll said Gilliam had “off-the-field problems” and didn”t have
the respect of his teammates. The off-the-field issues had a lot to
do with his lack of acceptance. Gilliam later admitted that his
well-chronicled drug problems started during that season.
It also needs to be pointed out that Noll was none too pleased
when Gilliam tossed 50 passes, a then Steeler record, during the
team”s 35-35 tie with Denver in the 2nd game, ignoring their
primary weapon, Franco Harris. At the time, Steeler QBs called
their own plays.
Gilliam had recently attended the Steelers reunion, held during
the last game for Three Rivers Stadium. He seemed to finally be
happy, after all of his problems, and he commented that day, “I
let a lot of these guys down, but only in America could I come
and be with these guys again.”
Gilliam”s father, Joe Sr., was a long-time coach at Tennessee
State (where Joe Jr. played). Of his son”s death, Joe Sr., said,
“He showed that a black man was intelligent enough to play
quarterback at the highest level of football in this country.”
But Mr. Gilliam also said that when Bradshaw got his job back in
”74 (a year in which the Steelers would win their first Super
Bowl), “that (this) was not a racist move by Coach Noll. Had I
been the coach I would have done the same thing.”
Final note: In reading some of the pieces for this story, there
seems to be some confusion as to who was the first black QB to
start a professional game. Mention is made of George Taliaferro
and 1953. Taliaferro was with the Colts and evidently played
some, but he wasn”t a classic Wing T QB and his stats are horrid.
For his brief career, he was 47 of 160 (29.4%).
Another article mentions Marlin Briscoe and his starting in 1970.
Wrong. It was 1968 with Denver. James Harris of the Bills
(then Rams) was the first post-merger QB to start.
[Sources: Richard Goldstein and William Rhoden / New York
Times; ESPN.com.]
Mario Lemieux
It just needs to be acknowledged that this remarkable athlete,
after a 3 and a half year retirement, scored a goal 33 seconds
into his first shift in an NHL game since April 1997. He also
had two assists in the Penguins 5-0 victory over Toronto. A New
Year”s toast to Super Mario.
Drinking and Driving
A public service from your friends at Bar Chat…ahem.
Many states now have a blood alcohol limit of .08. But, while
many factors come into play in determining the maximum one
can drink before being over the limit, a 120-lb. woman could hit
it after drinking just two glasses of wine in a 2-hour period. A
170-lb. man may reach that with four beers in a little over an
hour.
You see, folks, what now happens is that I submit this column,
heavily edited, to the government. They then may grant me
bonus points, to be applied when I slam government officials in
my “Week in Review” columns.
Top 3 songs for the week of 12/25/65: #1 “Over And Over”
(The Dave Clark Five…yeah, babee!) #2 “Turn! Turn! Turn!”
(The Byrds) #3 “I Got You (I Feel Good)” (James Brown)
College Football Quiz Answer: Alabama won 6 titles in the 60s
and 70s. 1961, 1964, 1965 (split with Michigan State), 1973
(split with Notre Dame), 1978 (split with USC), and 1979. USC
won 5 titles during this period.
No Bar Chat, Monday. We”ll return on Wednesday. I”ll try and
lighten it up a bit.
Happy New Year! Travel safe.
