NHL Quiz: 1) Name the following players to score 70 goals in a season. You get the initials. [W.G., B.H., M.L., A.M., P.E., T.S., J.K., B.N.] 2) Who holds the single game mark with 10 points, initials D.S.? Answers below.
Note: I\’m in Davidson to attend a basketball game Wed. evening. Why? I had to see Stephen Curry play at home. But since I\’m having a few beers both before and after the game with an old friend of mine, well, you understand. I needed to post something now. I did have a real disappointment this afternoon when I learned the North Carolina Auto Racing Museum was closed on Wednesdays. Drat!
Philippe Petit
Last week, CBS\’ "Sunday Morning" program had a segment on the tightrope walker/dancer and the film documentary on his life, "Man on Wire," that later won an Oscar. It brought back fond memories.
It was the summer between my sophomore and junior years in high school and the morning of Aug. 7, 1974, when shortly after 7:00 a.m., we were alerted on the radio that a man was walking between the Twin Towers, which were mostly finished at the time. Needless to say I’m going to have to get the documentary when it’s available.
For now, I spent $4 to pull up the New York Times story of August 8, 1974, for your reading pleasure.
Stuntman, Eluding Guards, Walks a Tightrope Between Trade Center Towers
Combining the cunning of a second-story man with the nerve of an Evel Knievel, a French high-wire artist sneaked past guards at the World Trade Center, ran a cable between the tops of its twin towers and tightrope-walked across it yesterday morning.
Hundreds of spectators created a traffic jam shortly after 7:15 a.m. in the streets 1,350 feet below as they watched the black-clad figure outlined against the gray morning sky tiptoeing back and forth across the meticulously rigged 131-foot cable.
Finally, after perhaps 45 minutes of knee bends and other stunts, Philippe Petit, balancing pole in hand, turned himself over to waiting policemen.
“If I see three oranges, I have to juggle. And if I see two towers, I have to walk,” the professional stuntman explained afterward in heavily accented English, punctuating his sentences with a Gallic “bon!”
Mr. Petit was arrested by policemen of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and booked for disorderly conduct and criminal trespass.
But his performing days in New York apparently are not over. Late yesterday afternoon, the slight, blond man, wearing black ballet shoes, was released from custody at the direction of Richard H. Kuh, the Manhattan District Attorney.
Mr. Kuh, with the consultation of Parks Commissioner Edwin Weisl Jr., made a deal with Mr. Petit to drop the charges in exchange for a free aerial performance in a city park “for the children of the city.” No date or place has been announced yet.
The day was an extraordinary climax to three months of scheming by Mr. Petit, a native of Nemours, France, who will be 25 years old next Tuesday, and three accomplices.
In talking with reporters, the tightrope walker repeatedly insisted that his feat was done not for money or publicity, but simply because the 110-story towers were there.
“When I see two towers, I just want to put my wire across, bon!” he said, adding that he had pulled off similar stunts between the towers of the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia in 1973 and the spires of Notre Dame in Paris in 1971.
However, two men who said they were friends of Mr. Petit’s did make the rounds of news offices shortly after the event offering to sell exclusive photos taken from the tower roof.
Mr. Petit, a street artist who lives off contributions from spectators at his frequent pantomime and acrobatic acts, said he had made more than 200 trips to the Trade Center buildings over the last three months to plot the feat.
Three days ago, he and four others, masquerading as construction workers wearing hard hats, began taking their cable, rope, guy lines and other equipment to the uppermost floors of the still-unfinished North Tower.
According to one friend, they loaded their material unimpeded on a freight elevator, stored it just shy of the roof and moved unchallenged through the buildings. Two accomplices then stationed themselves on the roof of the South Tower.
Late Tuesday night, according to Mr. Petit, they set up shop on the north tower roof. With a five foot crossbow, they shot an arrow carrying a hemp cord across to the South Tower. They passed heavier lines until they were able to lay a galvanized steel cable across the gap.
Once the main cable was strung, the men laid guy lines from the cable to the roof to minimize swaying. At one end of the cable was wound a steel stanchion on the roof. At the other, a winch was set up to regulate the tension.
Mr. Petit said he had hesitated about taking the initial steps because there was a stiff breeze. But as soon as he was on his way, he added, “I couldn’t help laughing – it was so beautiful.”
Not long past dawn, Mr. Petit was ready to walk. And walk he did, to the amazement and cheers of office workers, construction men and police officers alike.
“After the first crossing I look at the people and that was fantastic,” Mr. Petit said. “New York wake up and what they discover? There was a high walker on the twin towers. I was not scared because it was a precise thing. I was dying of happiness.”
He was finally brought in by a policeman who shouted, “Get off there or I’ll come out and we’ll both go down.”
As he was led away, street-level spectators booed the police while construction workers tried to shake Mr. Petit’s handcuffed hand. He was taken first to Beekman Downtown Hospital, where he was examined and given breakfast.
Later, he was booked at the Ericsson Place station house and kept in the Men’s House of Detention for several hours before arraignment.
At a news conference in the Criminal Court Building, Mr. Kuh announced the impending dismissal of charges and suggested the security by the Port Authority, which runs the World Trade Center, was not as “keen” as it should be.
Mr. Petit happily signed an autograph for a policeman, inscribing his name alongside a drawing of the two towers.
Mr. Petit insisted, “I have no ambitions.” But, when asked if he had any dreams, he undoubtedly thought about a French high-wire artist of the last century, Blondin, who had crossed from New York State to Canada in a most unorthodox way.
“I have a dream,” Mr. Petit said. “Niagara Falls, I would like to cross the falls but, who knows? For that I need permission.”
It’s amazing to think that while Petit was up on the wire, a quarter mile above the sidewalk, he sat down on it and later laid down and had a conversation with a seagull. I’m dizzy just writing that.
I looked at the Wikipedia entry and saw the report from a Sgt. Charles Daniels.
“And when he got to the building we asked him to get off the high wire but instead he turned around and ran back out into the middle…He was bouncing up and down. His feet were actually leaving the wire and then he would resettle back on the wire again…Unbelievable really…Everybody was spellbound in the watching of it.”
Actually, a few of the policemen, specifically the ones he ended up surrendering to, didn’t have a sense of humor, but cooler heads prevailed.
On the “Sunday Morning” program, when asked how he remembers the Twin Towers today, Petit said that to him they’ll never be gone. He still sees them in his dreams.
–The other day I mentioned that Lindsey Vonn set the mark for an American woman with 19 wins in World Cup ski events. I forgot to mention that on the men’s side, it’s Bode Miller with 31 and Phil Mahre with 27.
–More kudos for Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry. At the NFL Combine, Curry ran a 4.56-second 40-yard dash, broad jumped 10 feet, 4 inches and registered a vertical jump of 37 inches – all best among linebackers.
–College Basketball AP Polls
Men\’s Top Ten
1. Pitt…and then they lost to Providence!!!
2. UConn
3. Oklahoma…lost to Kansas, sans Blake Griffin
4. UNC
5. Memphis
6. Louisville
7. Duke
8. Marquette
9. Michigan State
10. Villanova
13. Wake Forest
Women\’s Top Ten
1. UConn
2. Oklahoma
3. Stanford
4. California
5. Maryland
6. Baylor
7. Auburn
8. Louisville
9. UNC
10. Duke
21. South Dakota State
–The New York Times’ Howard Beck had an interview with long-time NBA agent David Falk, who warns of labor strife with the negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement in 2011.
“The owners have the economic wherewithal to shut the thing down for two years, whatever it takes, to get a system that will work long term. The players do not have the economic wherewithal to sit out one year.”
As the economy craters, many of the teams are now losing money and league revenue is flat.
Beck writes: “Falk has strong opinions about what is ailing the league. He believes too many average players make too much money, while the stars – Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade – do not make enough. Falk would eliminate the cap for the superstars and, at the other end, abolish the midlevel exception, which allows teams to give $30 million deals to role players.
“Unlike most of his peers, and the union leadership, Falk is an advocate of the age limit, which Stern won during collective bargaining negotiations in 2005. Falk said the limit, now 19 years old, should be raised to 20 or 21.
“His reasons are purely practical. The influx of underclassmen to the NBA has eroded fan familiarity and the quality of play, Falk said. An age limit will create more polished and prepared rookies, while the NCAA provides free advertising for future NBA stars.
“ ‘The single biggest factor contributing to the success of the NBA over the last almost 30 years has been the NCAA tournament…Every guy in that era, from ’79 to about ’95, who came in the NBA, all the fans knew on a first-name basis. It got to the point, when Duke won twice in the ‘90s, people said they knew how Grant Hill wore his socks.’”
–While I was watching the Wake Forest-Duke game Sunday night, conveniently at halftime I did catch Penelope Cruz win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. I imagine we all have the same opinion….that’s a cool woman.
I then stayed up after the game…why I don\’t know since I once again hadn\’t seen any of the nominated pictures. In fact I haven\’t been to a movie in years.
But I saw that Sean Penn didn\’t attend the party thrown after the Oscars by the producers of "Milk" for which he won Best Actor. Folks in attendance were astonished. Then again, he\’s a primo a-hole. Oh, and as I watched his acceptance speech I was thinking, \’Thank your wife, you jerk.\’ Turns out that was a big deal that he didn\’t.
The New York Post\’s Page Six comments: "Which actor snorted cocaine in the bathroom during an Oscar after-party?"
On a different matter, Page Six asks, "Which morning cable TV show hostess took off a week recently to get her eyes done and her breasts enlarged?" I tell ya…I\’m stumped!
Top 3 songs for the week 2/22/86: #1 "How Will I Know" (Whitney Houston) #2 "Kyrie" (Mr. Mister) #3 "When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Goin\’" (Billy Ocean)…and…#4 "Sara" (Starship) #5 "Living In America" (James Brown) #6 "The Sweetest Taboo" (Sade) #7 "Life In A Northern Town" (The Dream Academy) #8 "Silent Running" (On Dangerous Ground)" (Mike & The Mechanics) #9 "Burning Heart" (Survivor) #10 "That\’s What Friends Are For" (Dionne & Friends)
NHL Quiz Answers: 1) 70-goal scorers – Wayne Gretzky (92*, 87, 73, 71); Brett Hull (86, 72, 70); Mario Lemieux (85, 70); Alexander Mogilny (76); Phil Esposito (76); Teemu Selanne (76); Jari Kuri (71); Bernie Nichols (70). [Mogilny and Selanne were the last to accomplish the feat, 1992-93] 2) Darryl Sittler scored 10 points in a game for Toronto, 2/7/76 [6 goals, 4 assists…in the modern era, post-1950, the only other player to have 6 goals in a game was Red Berenson, St. Louis, 11/7/68. I vividly remember that one.]
Next Bar Chat, Monday.
