NFL Quiz: Pick the top three college conferences in terms of representation on this year’s NFL Pro Bowl teams (84 members).
Answer below.
In these parts, the only question revolves around just how badly the Jets will choke on Sunday, seeing as they still have one fleeting shot at the playoffs. Beat Miami and then have either New England lose at Buffalo or Baltimore lose at home to Jacksonville.
As for the Giants, I didn’t mean to give their super win over Carolina short shrift last time, but the game ended late and, frankly, I went to bed right after rather than write a Pulitzer Prize-winning column on the effort. I’m just psyched the Giants get two home games, assuming they advance, so we can watch some good winter weather football, know what I’m sayin’?
The Sunday night game between Denver and San Diego promises to be another good contest, I imagine, with the winner taking the AFC West.
But back to the Jets, the knives are out for coach Eric Mangini, a.k.a., Mangenius.
Steve Serby / New York Post
“It comes Sunday with none other than the exiled Chad Pennington in the house. Mangini won’t like what he hears out of the stands. If he can’t make a stand and beat Pennington in a game that is very much his personal Super Bowl and very much Pennington’s as well, he has to go. If his Jets show up the way Tom Coughlin’s Giants did against the Panthers, he can stay, whether he makes the playoffs or not.
“Giant ownership was rewarded for sticking with Coughlin at a time when fans and media around here would have paid whatever the cost for a stretch limo to take him as far away as possible from East Rutherford at the end of the 2006 season. Of course, disgusted Jet fans will argue that Met ownership was not rewarded for sticking with Willie Randolph after seven games up with 17 to play.
“The damning evidence against Favre: At the end, the critical end, Matt Cassel is a better quarterback than he is.
“The damning evidence against Mangini: Bill Belichick helped make Cassel better week by week, built his confidence with carefully scripted game plans week by week, and rallied his team around Cassel. Sometimes Mangini and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer were on the same page with their quarterback, and sometimes they weren’t. But as Favre got worse, the team around him got worse.
“So Mangini stands guilty in the court of public opinion…for crimes against Jet Nation.
“The prosecutor’s case against Eric Mangini: Orchestrating a cruel tease that had Jet Nation dreaming of a Subway Super Bowl.
“Presiding over the kind of shameful collapse that makes long-suffering Jet fans almost wish they were Cub fans….
“Mindless deployment of personnel – Leon Washington, the one weapon who terrifies defensive coordinators, gets one carry against the Bills and scores on a 47-yard touchdown run….
“Mangini hardly helped himself with a trifecta of in-game decisions in Seattle that reeked of timidity or cluelessness, or both.”
Flip Bondy / New York Daily News
“All season long, Eric Mangini has flatly drummed home his message about consistency and closing. Those are two of his big words, and they soon may be used to condemn the coach whose job is very much hanging in the balance on Sunday.
“Mangini will be coaching for his own future at Giants Stadium, because he did a lousy job of coaching last Sunday in Seattle. He needs to beat a tough Miami team, because he didn’t beat the dead-end clubs like the 49ers and Seahawks….
“Now we get to see if (the Jet players) have enough gumption and desire to rescue their coach, or whether they’ll quit on Mangini against the Dolphins.
“ ‘That isn’t a focal point of mine at all,’ Mangini said Monday, about his own job status. ‘I’m looking to give the players a good plan to beat Miami.’
“Again, you just want to shake the coach, find some passion in there somewhere that might be transferred to his players under pressure. Mangini is big on bringing in motivational speakers and showing inspirational films. It’s time he found some ardor within himself, along with an offensive game plan that gets more than one touchdown pass and six interceptions in the last four games from Favre.
“If nothing else, Jet fans can comfort themselves these days with the thought they were right all along. The football gods really do hate them. They are not imagining any of it.
–We note the passing of the great defensive lineman for the then-Los Angeles Rams, the Chargers, Bengals and Redskins, Coy Bacon, who died at the age of 66. The 6’4”, 270-pound Bacon was a monster.
Bacon played at Jackson State University but left before graduation and was never drafted in the NFL, starting his professional career with Charleston of the Continental Football League. The Cowboys signed him as a free agent, but Rams coach George Allen liked him in a rookie scrimmage so much he gave up a fifth round draft pick to obtain him in 1968.
At the time the Los Angeles front four was Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, Roger Brown and Lamar Lundy*, but by 1969 Bacon became a starter after Brown broke his hand and then took over for Lundy when he retired after the ’69 season. Bacon made the first of his three Pro Bowls as a member of the Rams.
Two years later, though, he was traded to San Diego for running back Bob Thomas and quarterback John Hadl. Then in 1976, he was traded to Cincinnati for receiver Charlie Joiner. Bacon was a Pro Bowler his two years with the Bengals.
In 1978, Bacon was traded to the Redskins and had 15 sacks in 1979 and 11 the following year but was on the downside of his career. He was waived at the start of the 1981 season. He played in 1983 with the Washington Federals of the USFL.
Bacon had some problems with the law after his playing days were over, but after getting shot in the abdomen, he recognized the “wake-up call” and turned his life around, becoming a top youth counselor.
*By the way, if you are wondering why I didn’t call the above line the “Fearsome Foursome,” it’s because that was really when Rosey Grier was on the line. He was replaced by Roger Brown.
6. Wake Forest
OK, I’ve been saying Wake was overrated, even when it was No. 15. So I was shocked to see us all the way up to No. 6 when we haven’t played anyone, though we did win a tourney (3 games) in California. Well, I’m following the Wake/East Carolina game on Monday night, Wake up 41-37 at half, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh well, it’s an away game, just get the ‘W’,’ when we come up sort of hot in the second half….like try a 54-12 run before winning 95-54. True, it was ECU, but that’s nonetheless kind of impressive. Maybe we are a legitimate top ten after all. Before we play UNC on Jan. 11, another road test for the Deacs at BYU on Jan. 3. If we win that one, we’ll probably still be No. 6 before facing the NBA-bound Tar Heels in Winston-Salem.
3. Texas A&M
[Wake Forest women are actually receiving votes in this poll for the first time in my memory, which, granted, due to intake of domestic isn’t as good as it once was.]
–I was all set to post the following, having written it Tuesday morning:
“As the New York Times’ Michael Schmidt points out, uber agent Scott Boras has seen only one of his 20 clients who filed for free agency actually sign a contract thus far, that being journeyman second baseman Felipe Lopez, who signed a one-year, $3.5 million deal to play with Arizona.
“Boras’ stable of eligible free agents includes Mark Teixeira, Manny Ramirez, Derek Lowe and Oliver Perez. But while Boras is known for his patience, he’s forgetting this is a different environment and whereas the Yankees were willing to open up their wallet for C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, there are limits, after all.”
That was Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon we learned the Yankees signed Teixeira for 8 years and $180 million, thus bringing the tally on their free agent pickups to $423 million. Teixeira is a very nice player, an All-Star, and supposedly a good guy, but for crying out loud, he’s not Lou Gehrig!
“Add Mark Teixeira to the payroll at $180 million over eight years and sing, tra la la la la, the Red Sox didn’t get him.
“Stand him next to C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett in the Yankees’ roundup of 2008 deluxe free agents – roughly $420 million invested a year after they spent in the neighborhood of $400 million on Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera – and what can you say if you’re a Yankees fan except, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and how many days until pitchers and catchers?”
But of course the Yankees haven’t won a playoff series since 2004, or a World Series since 2000.
“And while they certainly deserve praise for addressing their personnel needs, delivering the goods, it is difficult to comment on the Yankees with the baseball blinders on, without acknowledging that in the world of economic pain that has set upon the country, their audacity and gluttony tend to make the stomach feel queasy.
“If there is a deep recession with budget austerity, it is news to the Yankees. While they spend like an OPEC nation when oil was trading at $140 a barrel, they continue to hit the city for sweetheart treatment, most recently for another $259 million in tax-exempt bonds on top of the $940 million they were already given….
“It is all about power for the Yankees, like a big batting practice show with fireworks after every drive into the upper deck. They get what they want, with their money or the taxpayers’. The figures defy recession, or reason.
“The Yankees just received a bill from Major League Baseball for $26.9 million (for a grand total of $148.5 million in the six years since the luxury tax was created to exert some control over big-market spending, or 90 percent of the total tax). They shrugged it off and handed Teixeira $180 million.
–I watched the TCU-Boise State game and I have to say, I wasn’t really that impressed with either. Boise State was undefeated and ranked No. 9, TCU, whose only two losses were to Oklahoma and Utah, was No. 11. But I kept thinking, gee, Wake Forest (probably about No. 40) could have beaten either, at least on Tuesday.
–Say it ain’t so, Plax! From the New York Post:
“Police yesterday (Tues.) seized a small cache of weapons and ammo from the Totowa, N.J., home of troubled Giants star Plaxico Burress, possibly setting up the suspended grid star for more legal trouble, law-enforcement sources said.”
If the guns are unlicensed, Plax could be facing real time in Sing Sing. “Seized in the raid were one 9mm handgun, a rifle and ammo for three additional guns – a .380, a.45 and a .40, which is the caliber of gun with which he accidentally shot himself in the leg.”
But get this…recall this is weeks after the Nov. 29 incident that made national news.
“Cops also took black, bloodied jeans from his bedroom….which will be tested by Manhattan authorities as potential evidence in the nightclub shooting case, sources said.”
“Bloodied jeans”? Plax didn’t clean up his room yet?! His wife didn’t have the sense to throw them in the trash, or bury them in the yard?! Goodness gracious…we are truly a nation of idiots and yet another reason why man doesn’t have a shot at even a top twenty rating on the next All-Species List.
–The Boston Celtics won their 19th straight game, are now 27-2 overall, and have their sites set on the 1971-72 Lakers’ record 33-game winning streak as the two teams square off on Christmas Day.
–Huge story: “A wolf has been spotted near a popular tourist spot along the Great Wall of China, with officials rushing to catch it before it attacks anyone, state media said Tuesday.
“The wolf was spotted last week near the Badaling section of the wall, a destination for hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, the Beijing News reported.”
My only comment is; one mustn’t assume it’s a lone wolf. 1.3 billion people in China obviously have more to worry about this holiday season than the economy, that’s for sure.
–Lance Armstrong is expecting a baby with girlfriend Anna Hansen. Said Lance:
“Anna and I are thrilled to confirm that we are expecting in June…We are very much looking forward to what 2009 brings on many fronts. We appreciate respecting our privacy, as we are both eager to celebrate the holidays as a family.”
Like any of us, aside from four a-hole photographers, really cares. The kid is going to be tested for steroids, by the way, next December.
–Update on Jeremy Piven and his departure from the Broadway show “Speed-the-Plow.” The New York Post reported that the box-office take fell 33% the first week after Piven left, claiming mercury poisoning.
–Actress Joan Severance turned 50 on Tuesday. Ooh baby. [This is one’s reaction when you’re a male and 50 yourself, folks.]
–From the AP: “A man jumped into the Berlin zoo enclosure of famed polar bear Knut on Monday, but officials were able to keep the animal away from the intruder by distracting him with a leg of beef, police said.
“The 37-year-old man jumped over a fence into a water-filled ditch at the edge of the bear’s enclosure.”
Knut was cooperative in refusing to kill the guy, and “Police said that, before being let go, the man told them that he felt lonely and the bear appeared lonely, too.”
As Johnny Mac observed, “Isn’t this why we have brot—- and pros——-?!”
[Sorry, there are impressionable youth reading this site from time to time and it forces me to block some of the comments I receive from the field. It’s also “Web Sweeps Week” and I’m afraid of losing my International Web Site Association license.]
1950…The Tennessee Waltz (Patti Page)
1951…Cry (Johnnie Ray & The Four Lads)
1952…I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (Jimmy Boyd)
1953…Rags To Riches (Tony Bennett)
1954…Mr. Sandman (The Chordettes)
1955…Sixteen Tons (Tennessee Ernie Ford)
1956…Singing The Blues (Guy Mitchell)
1957…April Love (Pat Boone)
1958…The Chipmunk Song (The Chipmunks)
1959…Why (Frankie Avalon)
NFL Quiz Answer: Top three conferences in terms of representation on the 2008 Pro Bowl teams.
Miami led all schools with seven players [Andre Johnson (Houston), Reggie Wayne (Indy), Clinton Portis (Washington), Ray Lewis (Baltimore), Jon Beason (Carolina), Ed Reed (Baltimore), and Jeff Feagles (Giants)]
Florida State has five [Leon Washington (Jets), Anquan Boldin (Arizona), Walter Jones (Seattle), Derrick Brooks (Tampa Bay), and Chris Hope (Tennessee)]
By the way, over the past three years, the ACC has led all conferences in terms of most players selected on the first round of the annual NFL Draft (25) and the most players drafted overall (115).
And now our annual Christmas special.
Apollo 8
Growing up, one of the more dramatic memories as a kid was staying up Christmas Eve 1968 to follow the remarkable voyage of Apollo 8. It’s remarkable to think that was now 40 years ago today.
If ever a nation needed a pick me up, it was America in ’68, after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, with the ongoing war in Vietnam and the dramatic Tet Offensive, and after LBJ’s sudden withdrawal from the presidential race, the turbulent Democratic Convention, and the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Yes, we were ready for a little space adventure.
Apollo 8 would be the first manned mission to orbit the moon. Commanded by Frank Borman, with James Lovell, Jr. and William Anders, it was launched on December 21 and on Christmas Eve the three began their orbit. What made it all even more dramatic was the first go round to the dark side of the moon, when all communication was lost until they reemerged at the other side. It was the middle of the night for us viewers, at least in the Eastern time zone, and I remember that Apollo was sending back spectacular photos of Earth.
Borman described the moon as “a vast, lonely and forbidding sight,” and Lovell called Earth, “a grand oasis in the big vastness of space.” The crew members then took turns reading from the Book of Genesis / Creation:
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light;” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
James Lovell would later say, “Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus.” And Borman concluded with, “Merry Christmas. God bless all of you, all of you on the Good Earth.”
The story of Phil Spector’s “A Christmas Gift for You,” as told by Ronnie Spector in her book “Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness…or…My Life as a Fabulous Ronette”.
“One record that did feature all three Ronettes – and just about everyone else who worked for Phil – was Phil’s Christmas album, A Christmas Gift for You. Phil is Jewish, but for some reason he always loved Christmas. Every year he would spend weeks designing his own special Christmas card, which he would send to everyone in the business. In 1963 he took that idea one step further and recorded an entire album of Christmas music, with contributions from all the acts on his Philles label. All of the groups got to do three or four songs each. The Ronettes did ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,’ ‘Sleigh Ride,’ and ‘Frosty the Snowman.’
“We worked on that one forever. Phil started recording it in the summer, and he didn’t leave the studio for about two months. We’d start recording early in the evening, and we’d work until late into the night, sometimes even into the next morning. And everybody sang on everyone else’s songs, so all of Phil’s acts really were like one big, happy family for that one album.
“While he was recording it, Phil told everyone that this Christmas album was going to be the masterpiece of his career. And he meant it. We all knew how important this project was to Phil when he walked into the studio on the last day of recording and announced that he was going to add a vocal himself. The final song on the record is a spoken message from Phil, where he thanks all the kids for buying his records and then wishes everyone a Merry Christmas, while we all sing a chorus of ‘Silent Night’ in the background. A lot of people thought the song was corny. But if you knew Phil like I did, it was very touching.
“But then I always did have a soft spot for Phil’s voice. There was something about his phrasing and diction that drove me crazy. It was so cool, so calm, so serene. Phil wasn’t a singer, but when he spoke he put me in a romantic mood like no singer could. He was the only guy I ever met who could talk me into an orgasm. [Ed. oops…how did that get in there?]
“Of course, he wasn’t doing that back then. Not yet, anyway. Phil and I were still just sweethearts in those days. We spent lots of time together, and we were very romantic, but we still hadn’t slept together. Maybe that’s why we were so romantic.
“A Christmas Gift for You finally came out in November of 1963. But in spite of all the work we put into it, the album was one of Phil’s biggest flops. It was reissued as The Phil Spector Christmas Album in the early seventies, and nowadays people talk about it like it’s one of the greatest albums in rock and roll history. But nobody bought it when it first came out.
“President Kennedy had been shot a few days before it was released, and after that people were too depressed to even look at a rock and roll record. And they stayed that way until well into the New Year of 1964, when – thank God – four long-haired English guys finally got them to go back into the record stores.”
—–
The Gospel According to Luke
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
—–
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
A famous letter from Virginia O’Hanlon to the editorial board of the New York Sun, first printed in 1897:
We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
Dear Editor –
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
—
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
—–
A Visit from St. Nicholas
By Clement C. Moore [Well, he really stole it, but that’s a story
for another day. This is the original version.]
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap;
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof –
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes – how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
—
World War I – Christmas Truce
By December 1914, the war had been picking up in intensity for five months. Ironically, the feeling during the initial phases was that everyone would be home by Christmas, though little did they know it would be Christmas 1918.
On Christmas Eve 1914, along the British and German lines, particularly in the Flanders area, the soldiers got into conversation with each other and it was clear to the British that the Germans wanted some sort of Christmas Armistice. Sir Edward Hulse wrote in his diary, “A scout named F. Murker went out and met a German Patrol and was given a glass of whisky and some cigars, and a message was sent back saying that if we didn’t fire at them they would not fire at us.” That night, where five days earlier there had been savage fighting, the guns fell silent.
The following morning German soldiers walked towards the British wire and the Brits went out to meet them. They exchanged caps and souvenirs and food. Then arrangements were made for the British to pick up bodies left on the German side during a recent failed raid.
Christmas Day, fraternization took place along many of the lines, including a few of the French and Belgian ones. Some joined in chasing hares, others, most famously, kicked around a soccer ball. British soldier Bruce Bairnsfather would write, “It all felt most curious: here were these sausage-eating wretches, who had elected to start this infernal European fracas, and in so doing had brought us all into the same muddy pickle as themselves. But there was not an atom of hate on either side that day; and yet, on our side, not for a moment was the will to war and the will to beat them relaxed.”
In the air the war continued and the French Foreign Legionnaires in Alsace were ordered to fight Christmas Day as well. Plus, most of the commanders on both sides were none too pleased. Nothing like the Christmas truce of 1914 would occur in succeeding years (outside of a pocket or two) and by December 26, 1914, the guns were blazing anew.
[Source: “The First World War,” Martin Gilbert]
“May You Always”
From 1959-2002, Harry Harrison was a fixture on New York radio, the last 20+ years at the great oldies station WCBS-FM. Unfortunately, he was forced to retire, which ticked off many of us to no end, but he will forever be remembered for a brilliant greeting titled “May You Always.” Enjoy.
As the holiday bells ring out the old year, and sweethearts kiss,
And cold hands touch and warm each other against the year ahead,
May I wish you not the biggest and best of life,
But the small pleasures that make living worthwhile.
Sometime during the new year, to keep your heart in practice,
May you do someone a secret good deed and not get caught at it.
May you find a little island of time to read that book and write that letter,
And to visit that lonely friend on the other side of town.
May your next do-it-yourself project not look like you did it yourself.
May the poor relatives you helped support remember you when they win the lottery.
May your best card tricks win admiring gasps and your worst puns, admiring groans.
May all those who told you so, refrain from saying “I told you so.”
May all the predictions you’ve made for your firstborn’s future come true.
May just half of those optimistic predictions that your high school annual made for you come true.
In a time of sink or swim, may you find you can walk to shore before you call the lifeguard.
May you keep at least one ideal you can pass along to your kids.
For a change, some rainy day, when you’re a few minutes late,
May your train or bus be waiting for you.
May you accidentally overhear someone saying something nice about you.
If you run into an old school chum,
May you both remember each other’s names for introductions.
If you order your steak medium rare, may it be so.
And, if you’re on a diet, may someone tell you, “You’ve lost a little weight,” without knowing you’re on a diet.
May that long and lonely night be brightened by the telephone call that you’ve been waiting for.
When you reach into the coin slot, may you find the coin that you lost on your last wrong number.
When you trip and fall, may there be no one watching to laugh at you or feel sorry for you.
And sometime soon, may you be waved to by a celebrity, wagged at by a puppy, run to by a happy child, and counted on by someone you love.
More than this, no one can wish you.
—
Linus [From “A Charlie Brown Christmas”]
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them. And they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, goodwill toward men.”
That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday, Dec. 30. Our year end awards show, plus a college football bowl story or two.
