Baseball Quiz: 1) Three catchers in baseball history have
appeared in 2,000 games. Name them. [All modern era.] 2)
Tony La Russa recently became the 5th to manage in 4,000
games. Name the other four. [You need help on this one. One’s
initials are B.H.]
NBA Draft Quiz: 1) Who was the #1 overall pick in 1981,
initials M.A.? 2) Who was the #1 pick in 1976, initials J.L.? 3)
Who was the #1 pick in 1995, initials J.S.? Answers below.
Birdie Kim
I have to admit I watched more women’s golf this past weekend
than I have in the last ten years combined. But how could you
not as we had the compelling story of a 15- and 17-year-old at
the top of the pack of the U.S. Open. And then out of nowhere,
Birdie Kim (her real name), who had made all of nine cuts on
tour and never contended, holed a phenomenal bunker shot on
the 72nd hole to defeat 17-year-old Morgan Pressel (my new
favorite). 15-year-old Michelle Wie, who I don’t like, was 10-
over in the final round, a true choke job. Yup, she should be
focusing on beating up kids her own age before she attempts to
step up to the big time…I don’t care what everyone else says.
[Note to Dan D. in Honolulu. Send me more dirt on you know
who.]
Animal Chat
The last few days have been pretty brutal for us humans and,
unfortunately, the victims have been children so I’ll use proper
discretion.
For starters, we have the case of the 10-year-old boy who was
attacked and critically injured by a tiger and a lion. It seems the
boy and his father went to visit some a-hole, Chuck Mock, who
lives outside Minneapolis. Mock keeps 11 large cats and a bear.
So he opens the door of the cage and the tiger pushed his way out
and attacked the boy. While Mock was pulling the tiger off, the
lion bit the kid too. Both Mock and the boy’s father are idiots.
As is the state of Minnesota for allowing anyone to keep animals
like this.
But speaking of cats, I told you last time how I’ve been going
online to try and get second sources for stories involving Africa
and it’s virtually impossible, as I’ve found. But here’s one from
the AP, though it’s also not pretty. A 12-year-old girl in Ethiopia
“was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a
marriage,” but she was later found “being guarded by three lions
who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said.”
Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo told the AP, “They stood guard until we
found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into
the forest. If the lions had not come to her rescue, then it could
have been much worse….Everyone thinks this is some kind of
miracle, because normally the lions would attack people.”
“Stuart Williams, a wildlife expert, said the girl may have
survived because she was crying from the trauma of her attack.
‘A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing
sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they
didn’t eat her.’”
These are the great Ethiopian lions, famous for their black
manes, of which there are only about 1,000 left in the wild. I’d
say we have another candidate for “Animal(s) of the Year”.
But now we move on to shark attacks and two deaths in just the
past few days. You’ve undoubtedly heard about the girl off the
Florida Panhandle who was killed on Saturday, the victim of a
bull shark, at last word, but I happened to stumble on another.
On Wednesday, a 7-year-old girl was killed by a shark in the
waters of Vanuatu, the island-nation chain north of New Zealand.
The girl’s family, from New Zealand, witnessed the attack while
watching from the beach. Horrendous.
Alysha was swimming “in an area where local people were also
swimming at the time the attack happened,” said New Zealand’s
High Commissioner for Vanuatu.
But here’s what gets me. Vanuatu’s Port Vila Presse said the
attack was not uncommon.
“Malekula is well known for shark attacks and a number of
Vanuatu children have been taken over the years in similar
circumstances.”
How many children? It sounds like at least one a year to me and
I doubt those keeping the official records know of this. In other
words, we aren’t getting all the facts, my friends. I’m now on
the case. [Source: New Zealand Herald]
[Incidentally, regarding the Florida fatality, it was the first fatal
shark attack in American waters since last August when a fellow
was killed off Northern California. And now we know there’s a
killer bull shark on the loose. I’m staying 50 miles from the
ocean for the time being.]
THIS JUST IN….COUPLE KILLED BY BEAR!!!!
Oh, it just doesn”t get any better than this. [Apologies to the
victims” families.] From the AP:
“Two people camping along the Hulahula River in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge were killed by a grizzly bear.”
I”ll have far more on this next chat. This also has big time
implications for the battle over drilling in ANWR…at least
I”ll prove it to be so.
“The War of the Worlds”
With the remake of the flick based on the H.G. Wells classic
being released this week, I thought I’d take you back to October
30, 1938. You have to picture that these were tense times, with
Europe consumed by thoughts of what the Nazis would do next
and Asia worried about Japan, while debate in the U.S. was over
just how involved our nation should get.
So at 8:00 pm on a Sunday evening, many in America tuned their
radios to the “Mercury Theatre on the Air.” The rest is radio
history.
[Mercury Theatre Musical Theme]
Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, the director of the Mercury
Theatre and star of these broadcasts, Orson Welles.
Orson Welles: We know now that in the early years of the
twentieth century this world was being watched closely by
intelligences greater than man’s, and yet as mortal as his own.
We know now that as human beings busied themselves about
their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps
almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize
the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of
water.
With infinite complacence people went to and fro over the earth
about their little affairs, serene in the assurance of their dominion
over this small, spinning fragment of solar driftwood which, by
chance or design, man has inherited out of the dark mystery of
Time and Space.
Yet across an immense ethereal gulf, minds that are to our minds
as ours are to the beasts in the jungle, intellects vast, cool and
unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly
and surely drew their plans against us.
[Editor: I’m scared s—less already.]
In the thirty-ninth year of the twentieth century came the great
disillusionment. It was near the end of October. Business was
better. The war scare was over. More men were back at work.
Sales were picking up. On this particular evening, October 30th,
the Crosley service estimated that thirty-two million people were
listening in on radios.
Announcer: [Fade In]…for the next twenty-four hours not much
change in temperature. A slight atmospheric disturbance of
undetermined origin is reported over Nova Scotia, causing a low
pressure area to move down rather rapidly over the northeastern
states, bringing a forecast of rain, accompanied by winds of light
gale force. Maximum temperature 66; minimum 48.
This weather report comes to you from the Government Weather
Bureau.
We take you now to the Meridian Room in the Hotel Park Plaza
in downtown New York, where you’ll be entertained by the
music of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra.
[Music: Spanish theme song “No More,” a tango…fades]
Announcer Three: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. From
the Meridian Room in the Park Plaza Hotel in New York City,
we bring you the music of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra.
With a touch of the Spanish, Ramon Raquello leads off with “La
Cumparsita.”
[“La Cumparsita” starts playing, then quickly fades out…]
Announcer Two: Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our
program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the
Intercontinental Radio News.
At twenty minutes before eight, central time, Professor Farrell of
the Mount Jennings Observatory, Chicago, Illinois, reports
observing several explosions of incandescent gas, occurring at
regular intervals on the planet Mars. The spectroscope indicates
the gas to be hydrogen and moving towards the earth with
enormous velocity.
Professor Pierson of the Observatory at Princeton confirms
Farrell’s observation, and describes the phenomenon as, quote,
“like a jet of blue flame shot from a gun,” unquote.
We now return you to the music of Ramon Raquello, playing for
you in the Meridian Room of the Park Plaza Hotel, situated in
downtown New York.
[Music plays for a few moments until piece ends…sound of
applause]
Announcer Three: And now a tune that never loses favor, the
ever-popular “Stardust.” Ramon Raquello and his orchestra…
[Music: “Stardust”]
Announcer Two: Ladies and gentlemen, following on the news
given in our bulletin a moment ago, the Government
Meteorological Bureau has requested the large observatories of
the country to keep an astronomical watch on any further
disturbances occurring on the planet Mars.
[Ed. The story escalates from there, as you well know….]
Announcer Two: Ladies and gentlemen, here is the latest
bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News. Toronto, Canada:
Professor Morse of McMillan University reports observing a
total of three explosions on the planet Mars, between the hours of
7:45 P.M. and 9:20 P.M., eastern standard time. This confirms
earlier reports received from American observatories.
Now, nearer home, comes a special bulletin from Trenton, New
Jersey. It is reported that at 8:50 P.M. a huge, flaming object,
believed to be a meteorite, fell on a farm in the neighborhood of
Grovers Mill, New Jersey, twenty-two miles from Trenton.
[Ed. About five minutes later in the broadcast….]
Voices: She’s off! The top’s loose! Look out there! Stand
back!
Carl Phillips: Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying
thing I have ever witnessed….Wait a minute! Someone’s
crawling out of the hollow top. Someone or…something. I can
see peering out of that black hole two luminous disks…are they
eyes? It might be a face. It might be…
Good heavens, something’s wriggling out of the shadow like a
gray snake. Now it’s another one, and another one, and another
one! They look like tentacles to me….
—
OK, it’s me, your editor. Hope you didn’t get too scared right
then. This really was just theatre, but on 10/30/38, many across
America thought it was the real thing, that the world was under
attack. There were stories in the newspapers the next day of how
whole communities panicked and left their homes, especially in
the area of Grovers Mill, New Jersey.
Of course what happened is that many folks simply missed the
introduction of the show, or, as Orson Welles devilishly planned,
cut to Mercury Theatre during commercial breaks in other shows
and missed the cues that this was just a play. I imagine it really
did sound real for those times.
And that’s the way it was….October 30, 1938. This is Walter
Flonkite signing off.
Memorable Quotes
So the American Film Institute came up with a list of the 100
most memorable quotes and, frankly, I’m thinking ‘what’s this
all about?’ Let’s start with the top ten.
1. “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” [Gone With the
Wind]
2. “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” [The
Godfather]
3. “You don’t understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a
contender. I could’ve been somebody, instead of a bum, which
is what I am.” [On the Waterfront]
4. “Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” [The
Wizard of Oz]
5. “Here’s looking at you, kid.” [Casablanca]
6. “Go ahead, make my day.” [Sudden Impact]
7. “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” [Sunset
Blvd.]
8. “May the force be with you.” [Star Wars]
9. “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.” [All
About Eve]
10. “You talking to me?” [Taxi Driver]
Yeah, I guess most of these qualify. But the line from ‘The
Wizard of Oz’? C’mon. These are supposed to be lines you
think of all the time, and preferably use on occasion. I have a
real problem with ‘Star Wars’ as well. My favorite in the top
ten, though, is ‘You talking to me?’
Actually, #11 is my real all-time favorite.
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” [Cool Hand
Luke….one of the top ten flicks of all time as well.]
Now I have to give Arnold credit because “I’ll be back” [The
Terminator…#37] and “Hasta la vista, baby” [Terminator 2…
#76] are more in line with the spirit of what I think this list is
supposed to represent. I mean at #47 is “Shane. Shane. Come
back!” [Shane] Hey, I like the movie, but how is this line
memorable. You could just as easily be yelling “Bob. Bob.
Come back!”
Here’s a great line. “You’ve got to ask yourself one question:
‘Do I feel lucky?’” [Dirty Harry…#51] Or this one from
‘Casablanca’: “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the
world, she walks into mine.” [#67] Now that’s a line, sports fans.
I mean the jerks at the American Film Institute (now there’s a
pretentious bunch I want to party with…NOT!) thought “Toga!
Toga!” from ‘Animal House’ was #82. That’s not a line. I could
come up with 50 better ones from that movie. Anyway, I’ve
exhausted this topic.
Stuff
–I had no idea UNC’s Marvin Williams, soon to be selected #1
or #2 in the NBA draft after leaving early following his freshman
year, was such a good person. But in a piece by Chris Ballard of
Sports Illustrated, we get the following on the unselfish Tar Heel.
“(Last fall), when Tar Heels coach Roy Williams told (Marvin)
he would be playing behind senior Jawad Williams, Marvin
didn’t gripe. ‘We discussed it for two minutes,’ says Roy. ‘He
said, “Coach, I only want to win. You tell me what to do and I’ll
do it.”’ Roy Williams takes a deep breath. ‘I spoke to 10 of the
top 14 teams (in the draft), and at least three of them questioned
whether he had the desire you need, implying he should have
demanded to start.’ His voice rises. ‘That infuriates me. Would
they think more of him if he were a jerk? They’re asking, Does
he want it badly enough? I’m thinking, You guys are fricking
crazy. All of basketball would be better off if every kid wanted
to win the way he did.’”
Let’s face it. It also helps that Roy Williams is a great coach and
perfect for the college game. Players have always respected him.
–Remember how last time I discussed Formula One and the
huge screw-up at Indy? Here’s another. Bernie Ecclestone is the
man who runs the show for the pampered rich boys that comprise
F1, and recently he called Danica Patrick to congratulate her on
her run at the Indy 500 (different car series, for those who aren’t
big fans of racing). But Ecclestone is such a jerk he repeated
earlier comments made in an interview. “Women should be all
dressed in white like all other domestic appliances.” He actually
said that to Danica over the phone. So Bernie Ecclestone thus
becomes a 2005 candidate for “Jerk of the Year.”
–Here I just mentioned last week how there are no blacks
playing baseball anymore (again) and in Saturday’s New York
Times Pat Borzi has a piece on this very topic, though this
perspective is from the College World Series. Of the four teams
that made the semis, there were only four blacks total…two on
Florida and two on Baylor (the other teams were Texas and
Arizona State…the latter the alma mater of Reggie Jackson and
Barry Bonds).
Some experts say that there really are a fair number of blacks
playing the sport, but obviously the Major League Draft has a
way of keeping so many out of college. But what really hurts is
the fact the NCAA limits college baseball scholarships to 11.7
per school (a victim of Title IX). Thus many parents, when
planning their child’s future, as way too many do these days, are
steering them to basketball and football where there is a better
percentage shot at a full scholarship. At least that’s a theory.
Mine is too many kids are wrapped up in the freakin’ rap culture
which basketball, in particular, plays to.
[Texas, by the way, won its 6th College World Series, defeating
Florida. USC holds the record with 12 titles.]
–I haven’t been looking at Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the
Crowd” the last few years but I glanced at them this week and
couldn’t help but notice a kid with a great name…Josh Smoker
of Calhoun, GA. Smoker, only a sophomore in high school, was
12-0 with 137 strikeouts in 75 innings this year in compiling a
0.09 ERA. Hope he makes it to the big time….as a Met.
–ESPN’s Chris Berman really is a jerk, as many have pointed
out following his coverage for the network during the first two
days of the men’s U.S. Open golf tournament. Here’s what SI’s
Jim Gorant wrote:
“The ESPN big can get away with the overwrought clown act in
football and baseball, but golf’s not ready for ‘Choi to the world’
and ‘Ground control to David Toms.’”
Heh heh…..oops, sorry. I just cracked up and realized I’m not
supposed to.
–Charles Saikley, the Godfather of Beach Volleyball, passed
away. What a national hero he was (even if most of us didn’t
know it), because if it wasn’t for Mr. Saikley, us males never
would have had the pleasure of seeing beach volleyball as an
Olympic sport….if you know what I mean.
–I was super critical of the way my alma mater, Wake Forest,
played at the end of the college basketball season, that’s for sure.
I’ve also told you how I’ve advertised for six years in the
school’s athletic publication and I know some of my comments
have been read by the athletes. So it’s only fair that I then make
note of the last issue I just received where there’s a picture of
seniors Vytas Danelius, Jamaal Levy and Taron Downey getting
their diplomas (and in four years). Fans such as myself can bitch
and moan (and often for good reason, after all), but at the end of
the day I’m at least proud to call myself a Wake grad when I see
guys like this graduating too. It counts for something, I guess.
At least we’re better than Cincinnati in this category.
[Ironically, my ad was placed right below their picture.]
–Speaking of Wake grads, it was truly amazing how the press
built up Game 7 of the NBA Finals to be a defining moment in
the career of Tim Duncan. The guy is still just 29 and had
already won two NBA titles (and two NBA Finals MVP
Awards), but if he didn’t come through in this one, we were told,
his legacy would be suspect. Gimme a freakin’ break.
Regardless of what happened last Thursday, Duncan’s legacy
was already secure, but more importantly, he is virtually
guaranteed many more shots to further enhance it. Well, the
point is now moot. Sure, he didn’t perform spectacularly, but he
came through when his team needed him to. I’d like to think the
press will leave him alone the next time he’s in that position…
but of course they won’t.
–Manny Ramirez hit his 19th career grand slam on Sunday, tying
him for second on the all-time list with Eddie Murray and now
just four behind Lou Gehrig’s 23.
–Barry Bonds told MLB.com that he might consider playing into
2007 to pursue Hank Aaron’s home run mark. I will be having
nightmares the next two years then. This sucks. We need an
indictment! Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons!
But this just in….we have swelling in Bonds’s right knee…
repeat….we have swelling! Thanks to Jeff B. for passing this
along, just as we were both about to commit hari kari over the
thought of Barry coming back. Perhaps Billy Graham has been
praying for this and we didn’t even know it!!!
–From Reuters:
“Peruvian beauty queen Maria Julia Mantilla, crowned Miss
World last December, says she may sue a plastic surgeon after he
told the press he gave her buttock implants and trimmed her
ears.”
Miss Mantilla (wonder if she’s related to former Met Felix
Mantilla?) said that while the doctor claimed the above, he really
just played around with her bust and nose.
So I’m thinking, why didn’t anyone tell me “Miss World” was
on last December?!
–The great ventriloquist Paul Winchell died at the age of 82. As
he himself said many years ago, young people today have no
idea just what a role ventriloquists played in yesterday’s
entertainment world and I can say from watching him myself that
this man was the best. [Senor Wences, who moved his own lips
more than his dummy, was a disgrace by comparison.]
What’s sad about Winchell, though, is that his on-air
performances weren’t preserved. According to Myrna Oliver of
the Los Angeles Times:
“That void was highlighted in 1986 when (Winchell) won a
$17.8 million jury verdict in his lawsuit against Metromedia Inc.
over its destruction of the only remaining tapes of his “Winchell
Mahoney Time” children’s television series. Metromedia, which
produced the show from 1964 to 1968, erased the 288 tapes in a
dispute with Winchell over the syndication rights.
“ ‘The thing that was perhaps most painful to me was that in my
best days, back in the 50s and 60s, it was all live,’ Winchell told
The Times after the verdict. ‘All the work I had done in the past,
there was no record of it.’
“ ‘Then finally I had the opportunity to do this taped thing (from
1964 to 1968) and I felt that at last, I’ll have some remaining
record of my work that future people could see, especially
children. Suddenly I didn’t have it anymore. It was gone
forever.’”
That’s sickening. What a bunch of bastards Metromedia was.
But of course for most kids these days, Paul Winchell is best
known for something else; being the voice of Tigger in “Winnie
the Pooh” features for more than three decades.
And here’s something I didn’t know. Winchell was an inventor
with more than 30 patents, including one for an artificial heart he
built in 1963 and then donated to the University of Utah for
research. Dr. Robert Jarvik and other Utah researchers later
came up with the Jarvik-7, which has been implanted into
patients since 1982.
So we quaff an ale to a great American, Paul Winchell, who
enhanced our lives in oh so many ways. God has a special place
for people like this. [Personally, when it comes to heaven, I’m
just hoping I get to hang out in a bar that has good cable so I can
keep watching the Mets. Granted, I”m assuming Braden Looper is
no longer the closer.]
–Finally, in a strange coincidence, John Fiedler, the voice
of Piglet, died a day after Paul Winchell.
Top 3 songs for the week of 6/27/64: #1 “A World Without
Love” (Peter & Gordon) #2 “I Get Around” (The Beach Boys)
#3 “Chapel Of Love” (The Dixie Cups)…and #4, because it is
LT’s favorite, “My Boy Lollipop” (Millie Small…you have to be
from that era to understand, trust me)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Three catchers to appear in 2,000
games: Carlton Fisk (2,226), Bob Boone (2,225), Gary Carter
(2,056). 2) Four aside from Tony La Russa to manage in 4,000
games: Connie Mack (7,755), John McGraw (4,769), Bucky
Harris (4,408), Sparky Anderson (4,030)…La Russa is now over
4,030.
NBA Draft Quiz: 1) #1 overall pick, 1981: Mark Aguirre
(DePaul / Dallas). 2) #1 1976: John Lucas (Maryland /
Houston). 3) #1 1995: Joe Smith (Maryland / Golden State).
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
