Kansas City Chiefs Quiz: 1) Rushing, career? 2) Receptions,
career? 3) Interceptions, career? 4) Touchdowns, career? 5)
Who is the only rusher with a 200-yard game? [Hint: Exactly
200.] Answers below.
October 4, 1957
“Leave It To Beaver” premiered the evening of 10/4/57 on CBS,
but it kind of got lost in the shuffle, as one of the century’s big
events was announced to the world…the Soviets had launched
the first man-made satellite, “Sputnik.”
It’s hard for many these days to understand just how big a deal
this was, particularly if you were born after 1950 or so, but this
little beach ball sized sphere, weighing all of 184 pounds,
changed the world.
It took 96 minutes for Sputnik to orbit the Earth, and from
October 4 through October 26, the chirp, or beep-beep, that could
be heard around the globe through radio transmissions had an
unbelievable impact on the psyche of most Americans, in
particular.
Sputnik transformed debate in this country. After some initial
euphoria that man was able to accomplish such a seemingly
impossible task, fear took hold. The U.S. was supposed to have
a huge technological advantage over the Soviet Union and the
launch of this satellite caused many to doubt whether this was
truly the case. It didn’t help matters that three days later on
October 7, the Soviets also tested a hydrogen bomb. Suddenly,
this disciplined nation seemed to be able to compete on all levels,
a most disconcerting thought.
I recently finished reading an excellent book titled “Sputnik: The
Shock of the Century” by Paul Dickson, which spends a great
deal of time going into the America of 1957, so I thought I’d
pass some of it along. [As you read it, you’ll also recognize a
few parallels to our post-9/11 world.]
Sputnik was launched on a Friday, and the following Monday
CBS radio commentator Eric Sevareid – for those too young to
ever hear this man, you missed something; that doom and gloom
editor of “Week in Review” couldn’t hold a candle to this guy –
began his broadcast:
“Here in the capital, responsible men think and talk of little but
the metal spheroid that now looms larger in the eye of the mind
than the planet it circles around.”
A reporter for the Washington Post, Chalmers Roberts, wrote of
the three things that were most on the minds of official
Washington (as author Dickson relates): “That Sputnik would
have an extreme impact on the leaders of the underdeveloped
world, who see it as a victory for socialism; that its surprising
size and weight proved the Soviet Union had the power to launch
and deliver an ‘intercontinental ballistic missile with a multi-
megaton hydrogen bomb warhead of several thousand pounds’ to
any point on the face of the Earth; and that a big argument was
about to break out in Washington as to what must be done and
who was responsible.”
But what was the America of 1957 really like? Well, for starters,
around the time of Sputnik, President Eisenhower had a real
problem on his hands with the battle over desegregation down in
Little Rock at Central High. More broadly, we were a nation of
170 million, the minimum wage was a $1 (more than your editor
makes today), and a gallon of gas was 23 cents.
But the crime rate was soaring, to its highest level ever, and there
were some high-profile criminals in these days, including George
Metesky, who was arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut after
confessing to be the “Mad Bomber,” as he planted 32 devices
that injured 16 people in the New York area. Bomb hoaxes
spread all over the country, until he was caught.
There was also the case of Ed Gein, a 51-year-old handyman and
sometime baby-sitter, who was involved in a series of brutal
murders and grave-robberies. The details of Gein’s crimes were
so gruesome that most newspapers left out the details. Is the
name slightly familiar? Well, that would be because Ed Gein
was the inspiration for Buffalo Bill in “Silence of the Lambs,” as
well as Norman Bates in “Psycho.”
But back to Sputnik, Ross Perot said “My life changed right
there and then,” while over at Harvard Law, Ralph Nader
recalled, “It hit the campus like a thunderbolt.”
Author James Michener was on a military transport the evening
of October 4 that was forced to ditch in the Pacific. He was
rescued, after floating for hours in a raft, but all his rescuers
could talk about was Sputnik.
The second Sunday after the launch, Dickson writes that the
“pulpits of America rang with every sort of commentary, a few
going so far as to assert that it foretold the Second Coming of
Christ.” And there is the famous story that rocker Little Richard
saw Sputnik in the sky (as small as it was, it was still viewable
with the naked eye at certain points in the day) while performing
in Sydney, Australia. He saw it as a sign and walked off stage,
renouncing rock ‘n’ roll for a spell, while he became an
evangelist.
Even the understated Senate legend, Mike Mansfield,
proclaimed, “What is at stake is nothing less than our survival.”
As for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, some, such as author
Stephen Ambrose (“Eisenhower: Soldier and President”) call it
Ike’s finest hour, because the President, knowing far more about
America’s own satellite / ballistic missile research than he let on,
refused to panic. Ike was shocked, however, at the “intensity of
the public concern.”
The main thing Eisenhower did was resist the call to throw
$billions into the military industrial complex, though his own
vice president, Richard Nixon, was for such a program.
We’ll pick up the story of 1957 on Thursday.
—
College Football
Following is the New York Times’ computer poll, which is part
of the Bowl Championship Series calculation.
#1 Notre Dame
#2 Georgia
#3 Virginia Tech
#4 Ohio State
#5 Florida State
#6 Miami
#7 Oklahoma
#8 Iowa State
#9 North Carolina State
#10 Air Force
Yes, it’s quite different from the AP poll, for example, which has
the following.
#1 Miami
#2 Oklahoma
#3 Texas
#4 Virginia Tech
#5 Ohio State
Back to the Times poll, Texas is #20 in it, if you can believe that.
Louisville, which beat Florida St., is #66. Sorry, Syracuse fans,
who are suffering through a brutal 1-4 start, you are #76.
Rutgers is #99, Buffalo #116, Army #117 and the New York Jets
are #118.
Of course the big game this weekend is Texas-Oklahoma.
Miami-Florida State sounds big, but Miami will crush FSU.
And how good is Bowling Green? After all, they are 4-0, having
beaten Missouri, which in turn lost last weekend to Oklahoma by
only 31-24.
–Sports Illustrated notes in the current issue that the best
tailgating in America is at Ole Miss, specifically, the Grove, “10
acres of lawn shaded by stately oaks in the heart of campus.”
Starting at 4 AM folks begin assembling, many in formal attire,
as the grills are fired up and the bourbon is downed in copious
quantities. Of course last weekend must have been one of the
greatest weekends ever at Ole Miss, as the Rebels upset #6
Florida in Oxford.
NASCAR
Exciting finish to the Winston Cup, as with just six races to go
the point standings are as close as they’ve ever been.
[Revised]
#1 Tony Stewart…3958
#2 Mark Martin…3886
#3 Jimmie Johnson…3874
#4 Ryan Newman…3821
#5 Rusty Wallace…3811
Donnie Moore
The last time the Anaheim Angels were in the playoffs was 1986,
when with the Angels leading the Red Sox 3 games to 1, and 5-4
in the ninth inning of Game Five, the Angels star relief pitcher,
Donnie Moore, gave up a home run to Dave Henderson with two
outs and a runner on first. California (this was before the name
change to Anaheim) tied the game in the bottom of the 9th, only
to then lose in the 11th. The teams went on to Boston for Games
6 and 7, where the Red Sox crushed the Angels 10-4 and 8-1 to
advance to the World Series.
For his part, Donnie Moore was vilified in California. He had
two injury plagued seasons in ’87 and ’88 and by the middle of
1989, Moore was trying to hang on in the minors, hoping for one
last chance to get back to the big leagues.
Then on July 18, Moore and his wife had an argument. Donnie
went to his bedroom, pulled out a handgun, shot Tonya three
times and then killed himself. Tonya, though, survived, despite
being hit in the neck, lung and liver. Donnie, a duck hunter, had
used rounds normally used for that purpose, so, instead of
exploding on impact, the bullets went through her body. Moore
didn’t understand this would be the case.
So why is this a story today? Well, because of the Angels-
Yankees series, the Star-Ledger’s Brad Park did a follow-up on
the incident, and the conclusion is that despite legend, Donnie
Moore did not kill himself because he had given up that home
run in the ’86 League Championship Series.
It turns out that immediately after Moore’s death, his agent, Dave
Pinter, told the world that the home run had deeply affected
Donnie, and that this was the cause of his actions. But Pinter
hadn’t spoken to Moore in over a year, though the baseball world
took his story as gospel and it stuck all this time.
Reggie Jackson was a teammate of Moore’s in ’86, and he claims
that he heard Moore talk about money problems, marital issues
and life without baseball, but never the home run. Jackson notes
that Moore, despite his last 3-year, $3 million contract, was flat
broke, and he was also miffed that his wife appeared to be having
too good a time while Donnie was on the road. Other teammates
and associates agree, it wasn’t the pitch that killed Moore, it was
a combination of other factors.
Stuff
–Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson hurt his middle finger in practice
the other day, sparking this comment from Johnny Mac.
“Along with hindering his ability to shoot the jumper, it more or
less eliminates his ability to communicate.”
–The New York Knicks’ Latrell Sprewell reportedly broke his
hand after trying to hit a man during a party on his yacht.
Instead, he hit a wall. Kind of reminds you of Ross on
“Friends,” doesn’t it?
–Line of the week, aside from J Mac’s, comes from Sports
Illustrated’s Steve Rushin.
“Black pints of Guinness with priestly foam collars.”
–Augusta, an update: Now we’ve heard it all. Citigroup
chairman Sandy Weill, a member at Augusta, is supposedly the
first executive to offer “guarded” support to the National Council
of Women’s Organizations. The members take a vow not to talk
publicly about club matters, so Weill did it through a spokesman.
Martha Burk, chairwoman of NCWO, said she would back off if
Augusta or the PGA said the club is “now working on a plan for
admitting women.” Burk wants assurances Augusta has a good
faith proposal. As she told the Washington Post on Friday:
“If they said, ‘We’ll do it (admit women to the club), but by next
June,’ that wouldn’t be horrible from my point of view. On the
other hand, the possibility of protests (at the Masters in April) is
certainly there. I’m getting e-mails and letters every day saying,
‘I’m canceling my vacation and going down there to protest.’
We’re hearing from college students saying they’ll spend their
spring break in Augusta instead of Fort Lauderdale. A lot of
women are angry about this.”
Now I mean to tell ya, I find it hard to believe college girls
would cancel their spring breaks in Lauderdale or Daytona to
picket the Masters (i.e., Burk is lying), but, more importantly, I
know Augusta is an awesome place and all, but would you really
want to belong to a club whose membership included Wall
Street’s Weill, William Harrison (J.P. Morgan Chase), and
Phillip Purcell (Morgan Stanley)? Then again, Pete Coors is a
member…he’s cool.
–A train hit an elephant in Zimbabwe, hurting 22 passengers.
No word on the fate of the elephant, but this is clearly a terrorist
attack, and the start of a new phase of the animal campaign to
destroy all humans…something we’ve long predicted in this
space. It’s up to the rescue dogs to set their animal brethren
straight, before the situation gets totally out of hand.
–Great to see the following attendance for Game Four of the
Twins-A’s in Minnesota. 55,960 (capacity is 48,700).
–Nelson from “The Simpsons,” upon learning of the Yankees
defeat at the hand of the Angels: “Hah-hah.”
–A Minnesota-St. Louis Series would be appropriate this year,
with more than a few human interest stories between the two.
–Another corporate sponsor of the PGA Tour says, “See ya.”
Anheuser-Busch is backing away after 22 years of sponsoring the
Michelob Championship at Kingsmill. Meanwhile, in what
could be a significant win, ultra-talented Charles Howell III
captured his first PGA event this weekend at Kingsmill.
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/6/73: #1 “Half-Breed” (Cher)
#2 “Loves Me Like A Rock” (Paul Simon) #3 “Let’s Get It On”
(Marvin Gaye)
Kansas City Chiefs Quiz Answers: 1) Rushing, career: Christian
Okoye…4,897 yards, 1987-92. 2) Receptions, career: Henry
Marshall…416, 1976-87. 3) Interceptions, career: Emmitt
Thomas…58, 1966-78. 4) Touchdowns, season: Abner Haynes
…19, 1962. [Dallas Texans…they became K.C. the following
season.] 5) Rushing, game: Barry Word ran for 200 yards,
10/14/90.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. More on 1957 and a little college
basketball…if you keep it where it is…actually, you can turn off
your computer at some point, just remember to come back.
