1972 College Bowl Season: Growing up the bowl games were exciting. I was 14 in ’72, a big-time college football fan, and you watched every contest. There was little competition for the eyeballs, and with so few games, 11 in ’72 vs. today’s 41, the matchups were generally solid. The Big Four always had seemingly titanic ones.
So name the 11 bowl games in 1972. Answer below.
*UPDATE: 10:15 a.m., Thursday….about an hour after I originally posted this column, we learned Duke had suspended Grayson Allen indefinitely. This changes nothing about what I write of him below.
NFL
Two games to go…Playoff Picture
AFC
1. New England 12-2
2. Oakland 11-3
3. Pittsburgh 9-5
4. Houston 8-6
5. Kansas City 10-4
6. Miami 9-5
7. Baltimore 8-6…wins tie-break over Den/Tenn
8. Tennessee 8-6
9. Denver 8-6
AFC North
Pittsburgh 9-5
Baltimore 8-6…plays Pittsburgh Christmas Day
AFC South
Houston 8-6
Tennessee 8-6…plays Houston Jan. 1
AFC West
Oakland 11-3
Kansas City 10-4
NFC
1. Dallas 12-2
2. Seattle 9-4-1
3. Atlanta 9-5
4. Detroit 9-5
5. New York 10-4
6. Tampa Bay 8-6…wins tie-break with Green Bay
7. Green Bay 8-6
8. Washington 7-6-1
NFC North
Detroit 9-5…plays Dallas Dec. 26; Green Bay Jan. 1
Green Bay 8-6
NFC South
Atlanta 9-5
Tampa Bay 8-6
*Regarding the NFC East, while Dallas has a two-game lead over the Giants, if the Giants beat Philadelphia on Thursday and Dallas loses to Detroit; then because the Giants swept the series with Dallas, suddenly, the last week would be highly meaningful.
–Despite signing Brock Osweiler to a four-year, $72 million contract, the Houston Texans are starting Tom Savage at QB this weekend against the Cincinnati Bengals after Savage rallied the Texans to a 21-20 win on Sunday, coach Bill O’Brien having benched Osweiler.
This season, Osweiler has 14 touchdown passes, with 16 interceptions, and his 71.4 passer rating ranks 30th among all qualifiers.
So as I told you last time, Savage is a known quantity in these parts, having played at Rutgers and then Pitt, where he had one solid season (his freshman year at Rutgers was O.K., too). He has all the physical tools and now he has a huge opportunity to showcase his abilities for all the other GMs as well.
As for Osweiler, Bill O’Brien said, “We don’t make decisions based on anything other than what’s best for the team.”
Osweiler’s confidence has to be shattered…but he’s got a lot of money in the bank!!!
–Not that I will watch a single second of it, but the 2016 Pro Bowl teams were announced and there are 7 Oakland Raiders, including quarterback Derek Carr and three of his offensive linemen, which tells you something about the team’s success.
The Falcons placed six players, while the Cowboys, Steelers and Titans have five each.
The Giants have four…Odell Beckham Jr., Landon Collins, Janoris Jenkins and Dwayne Harris (a surprise pick for special teams).
My Jets? Zero…zippo…nada.
–My favorite NFL player, Larry Fitzgerald, one of the smartest, coolest dudes on the planet, has dismissed reports he might retire after this season, but he’s definitely thinking about it. Part of his decision will be based on where he thinks the Cardinals will be next year after this highly-disappointing campaign that has Arizona 5-8-1, when many had them Super Bowl bound…such as moi! And Sports Illustrated.
Fitzgerald leads the NFL with 98 receptions, but for only a 9.7 average.
Retire, Larry! We don’t want you getting hurt. You have a great political future.
—Kansas City rookie Tyreek Hill now has six touchdowns as a wide receiver, two on rushes and two as a returner (one punt, one kickoff). The last rookie with two or more rushing touchdowns, two or more receiving touchdowns and both a punt- and kick-return touchdown was Gale Sayers.
In 1965, Sayers averaged 5.2 per carry with 14 touchdowns rushing, 17.5 yards per on his 29 receptions with 6 TDs, and one TD each on punt- and kick-returns….22 touchdowns!
Oh, just like in the case of Mickey Mantle (or a pitcher, to throw just one name out, Jim Maloney), if Sayers had only had modern sports medicine available to him. Five big years and then it was essentially over.
Back to Hill, he was a fifth-round pick by the Chiefs, having been an emerging star at Oklahoma State when he pleaded guilty in August 2015 to domestic abuse in an ugly 2014 incident (details of which I’m not getting into). Hill, now 22, was placed on three years’ probation, finishing his career at West Alabama, and the Chiefs, with the permission of owner Clark Hunt, took a chance on him.
The pick was highly unpopular with K.C. fans, but Hill has done and said all the right things since, including saying, “Those fans have every right to be mad at me, because I did something wrong….But guess what? I’m [going] to come back and be a better man, be a better citizen, and everything will take care of itself, and let God do the rest.”
–The NFL fined the Giants $150,000, and fined coach Ben McAdoo $50,000, plus moved the team’s fourth-round pick in next year’s draft to the end of the round for using a walkie-talkie for about five plays during the Giants’ 10-7 win over Dallas on Dec. 11.
“It was a clear violation of the rules, and we accept full responsibility and the penalty.”
–The Jacksonville Jaguars, having just fired coach Gus Bradley, are definitely considering bringing Tom Coughlin, 70, back to the place where he led the team to the playoffs four times and advanced to the AFC Championship Game twice. But Coughlin was fired after a 6-10 season in 2002, after which he went to the Giants and won two Super Bowls.
Coughlin was 68-60 at Jacksonville, with his .531 winning percentage the best in franchise history.
What the heck. Bring him back. He has a ton of energy left. Hope for three good years where he brings the franchise back to respectability and then move him to the front office.
College Football
–I forgot to note last time how it sucks that LSU running back Leonard Fournette and Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey have decided not to play in their team’s bowl games in order to stay healthy for the NFL draft.
Yeah, both have had nagging injuries and both don’t want to jeopardize the shot at a big paycheck in the NFL, but it still kind of blows.
The flip side, though, is former Notre Dame player Jaylon Smith, who tore his ACL and lateral collateral ligament in the Fighting Irish’s Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State last year, his draft status plummeted after being the top linebacker in the country, and he hasn’t played for Dallas, who selected him in the second round, all season.
But as Ken P. notes, where do you draw the line? If Stanford was playing in the Rose Bowl, McCaffrey’s sitting out would have created quite a stir. And Ken asks, “What about a final regular season game for a team that’s out of it? And the logic applies to every player who thinks he’s going to be drafted and is playing in a non-playoff bowl. What about the NIT? Talk about meaningless. Is it OK for a star to quit after his team falls off the bubble? I know one thing – the Sun Bowl (North Carolina vs. Stanford) just tipped from being one of the better bowls to no interest for me.”
Home version of “Bar Chat: The Game” headed your way, Ken. [Once we get around to making it.]
—Rutgers’ troubles continue. Tuesday, the NCAA alleged a series of rules violations by the school, including failure to monitor dozens of mostly female students who hosted football recruits during visits to campus.
As reported by Adam Clark of NJ.com:
“In May 2015, two student football ambassadors met two recruits at an off-campus restaurant and inside a campus dorm room, according to the NCAA. Football ambassadors also accompanied prospective players on recruiting trips to New York City, the NCAA said.”
Now to be fair, virtually every football program has a program of this kind. The students help recruits when they visit campus, such as in finding their seats and introducing them to players and coaches along the way.
But of course, as former Rutgers recruits described the ambassadors, they are “genuine, pretty girls” who were over-the-top friendly and always smiling. Cough cough.
I’m not sure what penalties, if any, Rutgers faces but the point is, recruiting hostesses are not to contact recruits outside of their visits to campus, and Rutgers’ ambassadors would also text and call the recruits afterwards.
But I focus on the fact the girls (and a few guys, “hosts”) were paid between $8 and $10 per hour, yet another sign of stagnating wages in the eight years of Obama, he typed mischievously.
College Basketball
AP Top Ten (Dec. 19)
1. Villanova 11-0 (56)
2. UCLA 12-0 (3)
3. Kansas 10-1
4. Baylor 11-0 (6)
5. Duke 10-1
6. Kentucky 10-1
7. Gonzaga 11-0
8. North Carolina 10-2
9. Creighton 11-0
10. Louisville 10-1
–Wednesday, Louisville improved to 11-1 with a big 73-70 win over Kentucky in the 50th battle for Bluegrass bragging rights, in Louisville. Quentin Snider scored a career-high 22 points, while for the Wildcats, Malik Monk, who had scored a freshman-record 47 points against North Carolina last weekend, was held to 16 on 6 of 17 shooting from the field, including 1 of 9 from downtown.
For the Cardinals and Rick Pitino, the win snapped a four-game losing streak in the series.
—Duke’s Grayson Allen did it again. He tripped another player, this time Elon’s Steven Santa Ana, with replays showing Allen kicked his right leg up, catching the back of Santa Ana’s left knee.
Allen was called for the technical foul and immediately was pulled by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, whereupon Allen suffered a true meltdown on the bench before being calmed down by the coaching staff. He didn’t start the second half and finished with three points on 1-for-8 shooting.
After the game, Coach K set up a meeting among Allen, Santa Ana and Elon coach Mike Matheny to apologize.
“What happened was unacceptable,” Krzyzewski said. “[Allen] knows it, and the right thing to do was apologize in person.”
Twice last season Allen tripped opponents in games against Louisville and Florida State, but he has yet to face any discipline from Duke or the ACC. Krzyzewski said he handles things correctly. “I don’t need to satisfy what other people think I should do.”
But there are many experts out there calling for Allen to be suspended. Three tripping incidents is outrageous.
A tearful Allen told reporters afterwards: “I’m sorry to Santa Ana, sorry to the officials who have to call that, sorry to the team because it’s selfish and taking away from them. I’m not proud of it at all.”
Santa Ana was gracious, saying Allen “came up to me and apologized to me and was very sincere about it, and I accepted his apology.”
What we do know is that Grayson Allen is receiving some yearend hardware from his friends at Bar Chat. Maybe multiple awards, because tripping is a malicious act, not just that of a jerk. “Dirtball,” in other words, is totally appropriate, I think you’d agree.
Meanwhile, as Shu pointed out, Elon was a 23-point underdog and only lost by 11, 72-61, and at the end of the day….
–In other games of note the past few days, out of nowhere, Syracuse suffered its worst loss in the history of the Carrier Dome, 36 years, 93-60 to a St. John’s team that has already lost this season to Delaware State and LIU-Brooklyn. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim blamed himself for not having his team (7-5) prepared, while St. John’s coach Chris Mullin was at a loss to explain his team’s dominating performance. The Red Storm shot 53% from the field and scored 32 points off 19 Orange turnovers in improving to 6-7.
Syracuse obviously doesn’t have one of its better teams, but, nonetheless a very important win for Mullin and the boys.
–After Tuesday’s Iowa win over North Dakota, 84-73, Hawkeyes coach Fran McCaffery refused to shake hands with the North Dakota players and staff because of a totally bush-league play by North Dakota at the end.
As described by C.L. Brown of ESPN.com:
“The tipping point was the game’s final sequence with Iowa leading by the final margin. UND senior guard Corey Baldwin turned the ball over attempting a pass with 5 seconds remaining. Iowa’s Nicholas Baer held the ball and appeared content to stand and run the rest of the clock out, as players from both teams headed toward their respective benches. Baldwin stripped the ball from Baer with 3 seconds left and passed to Drick Bernstine for a layup. The basket didn’t count, but the damage was done as McCaffery turned and headed to the locker room, waving his players along as he walked away.
“ ‘I wasn’t pleased with how the game ended and the things that happened,’ McCaffery told reporters after the game.
North Dakota head coach Brian Jones was an assistant at Iowa from 2001-06, and his assistant, Jeff Horner, played for Iowa from 2002-06 and is still the program leader in assists. Jones said he would address Baldwin’s play.
NBA
–Last time I couldn’t note Tim Duncan Night in San Antonio, when they retired his No. 21, because I posted the column before the ceremony took place. So….
Tim Bontemps / Washington Post
“Tim Duncan spent his entire 19-year career with the San Antonio Spurs doing anything and everything he could – often with great success – to help his team win games. He also always did so while doing anything and everything he could to avoid any attention for it.
“That’s why it was fitting that Sunday night’s ceremony…went up against a Sunday Night Football game featuring the Dallas Cowboys.
“The most understated legend in the history of sports – let alone basketball – got his proper sendoff, the kind of hero’s farewell that he deserved. And, predictably, Duncan looked miserable throughout.
“ ‘I won a lot of bets tonight,’ Duncan would eventually say, as part of a four-minute speech that was far longer than anyone would have predicted. ‘I didn’t wear jeans. I wore a sport coat. I didn’t wear a tie.
“ ‘And I spoke for more than 30 seconds.’
“This was the night, more than any other during this incredible unbroken run of success, which summed up everything that has defined the San Antonio Spurs – and, by extension, Duncan – these past two decades. An organization built on selflessness, built on an unwavering commitment to each other, could only become what it has become because of Duncan’s equally unwavering commitment to upholding those ideals every single day in the league.
“Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili got up and spoke eloquently about Duncan, the man they’d both spent well over a decade playing alongside. But other than brief mentions of his ridiculous abilities on the court, the stories they told had nothing to do with any of Duncan’s litany of achievements.
“Instead, they were about unseen moments. Parker talked about Duncan, at 40 years old, shooing away an intern to spend 20 minutes playing only defense against Boban Marjanovic, trying to help him adjust to the NBA game. Ginobili talked about one night when, after making a key turnover that cost his team a playoff game against the Sacramento Kings in 2006, he wanted to hide from the world. Only Duncan wouldn’t let him, and eventually dragged him out for a dinner in which they discussed everything but basketball, and got his mind right again.
“In other words, he wasn’t just a teammate; he was a friend….
“The Spurs are famous for taking care of their own, for treating anyone who has been part of that team as family even after they’ve moved on.
“No one summed up that sentiment getter than (Gregg) Popovich, whose intensely close relationship with his star has been the axis around which this Spurs dynasty has been built. And Popovich understands better than anyone their success wouldn’t have ever been possible had Duncan not allowed himself to be treated no differently than the dozens of teammates he had throughout his career.
“ ‘If your superstar can take a hit every now and then,’ Popovich said, ‘everyone else can shut the hell up and fall in line.’
“Duncan would take every hit, and absorb them all with that unblinking stare. It’s why the only player he can truly be compared with is Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell, a man who was defined by the same characteristics – selflessness, the utmost dedication to the team, an indefatigable teammate – in becoming the bedrock of the greatest dynasty this sport has ever seen.”
Duncan, in addition to his five NBA championships and two MVP awards, led the Spurs to a 1,072-438 regular season record, the best in NBA history over 19 seasons.
He’s the only player in NBA history to start and win an NBA championship in three separate decades.
He finished his career with 15 All-NBA Team (tied for thid all-time) and 15 All-Defensive Team (most all-time) honors.
—Oft-injured star forward Blake Griffin of the Clippers is out for 3-6 weeks due to “routine” arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. They were 20-8 when he went down, and won their first contest against Denver without him.
Griffin missed 47 games last year with a quadriceps injury, then broke his hand when he punched a Clippers assistant equipment manager at a Toronto restaurant in January. He then returned from this and re-aggravated his quad tendon in the Clippers’ first-round series against Portland. Without Griffin and injured point guard Chris Paul, the Clippers were eliminated in six games.
—Former Sacramento Kings coach George Karl blistered Carmelo Anthony in a new book titled “Furious George.” Writing of their time together in Denver, when Karl was coaching the Nuggets, he says:
“Carmelo was a true conundrum for me in the six years I had him. He was the best offensive player I ever coached. He was also a user of people, addicted to the spotlight and very unhappy when he had to share it.
“He really lit my fuse with his low demand of himself on defense. He had no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy.”
Stuff
–What an awful situation with two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova (2011, 2014). In what appears to have been a random crime, Kvitova was injured in a home-invasion knife attack on Tuesday. She has been treated for a left-hand injury – her playing hand – following the incident in the eastern Czech town of Prostejov.
“I am shaken,” said Kvitova, adding: “The injury is severe and I will need to see specialists.”
It appears it was an intended burglary.
Late word has Kvitova’s recovery taking six months, so hopefully she can make a dramatic return at Wimbledon, though she’d hardly be in tournament shape.
–OK, Formula One fans. Just want you to know I’m paying attention. I know that Valtteri Bottas, a Finn, is replacing Nico Rosberg at Mercedes to team with Lewis Hamilton.
—Chelsea is up six points in the Premier League through 17 games and since the league went to a 20-team format before the 1995-96 season, in the 21 seasons leading up to the current one, the leader after 17 games won the league 10 times. But Chelsea seems awful solid and I’d say it’s far better than 50/50 they will go on to take the title.
–So I’m reading this fish story by Ryan Sabalow of the Sacramento Bee about Cody Meyer and a recent special catch and, well, it is possible Meyer, a highly-experienced fishermen, hooked a world record fish last Friday.
Meyer is a guy, 33, who grew up watching bass-fishing shows on television and he soon became hooked. He won his first fishing tournament at 15. Won $500!
But how successful has he been since? Try $900,000 in earnings at professional fishing tournaments across the country. Meyer has gear and tackle sponsors to help with all the costs, and when he’s in the South, he gets stopped for pictures…that many people know who he is.
However, he had never caught a record fish until now. A 10 pound, 6 ounce spotted bass at Yuba County’s New Bullards Bar reservoir. There have been bigger catches in this place, supposedly, but none were registered for the record books. I mean this is a huge bass, sports fans.
Anyway, there is a major league procedure for determining world records, including a certified scale by the International Game Fish Association, and a representative drove three hours with said instrument to weigh Meyer’s fish. The process was videotaped and it could take several months before it becomes a certified record.
I have to admit. Last time I fished was with my brother, eons ago, and I caught zippo. In fact, in my lifetime, I have caught nothing but Spanish mackerel and crappie. And then when my buddies and I caught all the Spanish mackerel off New Orleans, after we dropped it off to be fileted and fried a few hours later for us, we crashed back at our hotel, way overslept, and missed the dinner, because we had had about [ten zillion] beers out in the water over eight hours. [Looking back, though, it does seem as if the captain and his son were most interested in these big garbage bags loaded with ‘stuff’ they kept hauling in along the way…and it wasn’t to keep the Gulf clean, if you catch my drift.]
–Brad K. passed along a story from Anderson, S.C. and CNNwire.
“People working out at the Gold’s Gym in Anderson on Thursday got a surprise visit from an enthusiastic workout buddy.
“A deer crashed through the window and scurried into the gym around 12:41 p.m. Thursday, giving some gym members quite the fright.
“The animal took a few laps around and then jumped back out the window.
“The deer then disappeared into the nearby woods before workers could check on it….
“No people were hurt in the incident.”
Not sure if the deer was turned into a meal, but Bambi should have known that with these cheap intro memberships that places like Gold’s offer, you can use the front door.
Top 3 songs for the week 12/25/65: #1 “Over And Over” (The Dave Clark Five…the one and only) #2 “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season)” (The Byrds) #3 “I Got You (I Feel Good)” (James Brown)…and…#4 “Let’s Hang On!” (The 4 Seasons) #5 “The Sounds Of Silence” (Simon & Garfunkel) #6 “Make The World Go Away” (Eddy Arnold) #7 “Fever” (The McCoys) #8 “England Swings” (Roger Miller) #9 “Ebb Tide” (The Righteous Brothers) #10 “I Can Never Go Home Anymore” (The Shangri-Las…nice Christmas sweaters…awesome week, except this last one being top ten is a bit dubious…actually got to #6…that said, I was a big Mary Weiss fan…)
1972 College Bowl Season Answer: Cotton (Texas-Alabama), Orange (Nebraska-Notre Dame), Rose (USC-Ohio State), Sugar (Oklahoma-Penn State), Bluebonnet (Houston…Tennessee-LSU), Gator (Jacksonville…Auburn-Colorado), Sun (North Carolina-Texas Tech), Peach (North Carolina State-West Virginia), Tangerine (Orlando…Tampa-Kent State), Fiesta (Arizona State-Missouri), Liberty (Georgia Tech-Iowa State).
The Fiesta Bowl debuted in 1971. There were actually 12 bowl games that year, the 12th being the Pasadena Bowl, which ran from 1967-71.
Back in these times, the Gator Bowl was the fifth-rated game.
Next Bar Chat, Monday.
—
And now our annual Christmas special…best read with the children Christmas Eve. I added one tidbit.
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.
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.”
—
Michael Gartland / New York Post
“NORAD’s tradition of tracking Santa’s sleigh began with a wrong number.
“Right before Christmas in 1955, Sears ran an ad offering millions of toy-hungry girls and boys the chance to talk to the big man himself. In Colorado Springs, the retailer published the local phone number to the North Pole as ME2-6681.
“There was only one problem: The number was one digit off.
“And that wrong number rang on the desk of a high-ranking officer in a bunker at the Continental Air Defense Command – the predecessor of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which has the less-than-festive mission of detecting and defending the continent against nuclear attack.”
Col. Harry Shoup took the first call on the command’s red phone. In an interview with the Post, Shoup’s daughter, Terri Van Keuren, recalled:
“ ‘The phone rang, and he picked up. ‘This is Colonel Shoup, commander of this combat station. Who is this?’”
Silence on the other end. Shoup repeated himself, then “a meek little boy’s voice came over the line.
“ ‘Is this Santa Claus?’ he murmured.
“Worried there had been some kind of security breach, Shoup again demanded the caller’s name. He heard crying, and another query came through the tears.
“ ‘Is this one of Santa’s elves?’
“Shoup recognized he was in a moment that could destroy the little boy’s faith in Santa.
“ ‘Yes, I am,’ he said. ‘Have you been a good boy?’
After the two talked a while, Shoup asked to speak with the boy’s mother.
“ ‘He asked her: ‘Do you have any idea who you’ve called?’’ Van Keuren said. ‘She told him to take a look at that day’s newspaper.’”
So the calls flooded in and Shoup directed his men to answer as Santa.
Weeks later, Shoup, on vacation, dropped in on his men and spotted a sleigh on the huge plexiglass map of North America in the room. A subordinate was afraid he had just lost his job.
Instead, Shoup said, “There’s something good we could do with this.”
And so Col. Shoup called a local radio station with the news the command center was tracking Santa’s sleigh. Ever since then, NORAD has been tracking Santa.
—
Speaking of Santa and reindeer, Edward Kosner had a piece in the Wall Street Journal (11/18/16) on the story of Rudolph, “among other things, the first real addition to American Christmas lore since the first decades of the 19th century. That’s when Washington Irving transformed churchy St. Nicholas into a clay-pipe-puffing, rotund charmer and Clement Clark Moore equipped him with eight flying reindeer and an automatically replenishing, toy-filled sleigh. Gene Autry, the singing cowpoke, made the song into a hit in 1949, and since then it’s been recorded by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald and Destiny’s Child to the Temptations and Burl Ives, not to mention Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and the Cadillacs, the doo-wop group revered for ‘Speedo.’”
So the legend of Rudolph has been deconstructed in a new book by Ronald D. Lankford Jr., who has written books about popular music. In “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: An American Hero,” Lankford digs up far more than you would think was available, “a parable of American commerce cloaked in benevolence,” as Edward Kosner put it.
“The Rudolph creation story begins in Chicago in January 1939, when Robert May, a nerdy 33-year-old adman at Montgomery Ward – with its bursting catalog and more than 600 stores, a retail colossus second only to Sears, Roebuck – was assigned by his boss to dream up a Christmas giveaway, perhaps an illustrated story like the one about Ferdinand the bashful bull….(so) May came up with an awkward young reindeer mocked by his fellows whose oddity – an incandescent nose – enables him to save the day when a befogged Santa asks him to lead the team for global toy delivery.
“According to the legend, May read his poetic text to his daughter, who loved it. The Ward hierarchy didn’t; some worried that the red nose would remind too many parents of drunks. But one exec stood up for Rudolph, and the corporation wound up giving away 2.4 million copies of a 32-page illustrated pamphlet to kids brought to Ward stores by mom and dad. Seven years later, after the end of World War II, another 3.6 million copies were handed out. With an entrepreneurial corporate boost, Rudolph was launched.
“May’s ‘Rudolph’ was a work for hire owned by Ward, but the company’s chairman gave the adman the copyright in 1947, and May made the most of it….In 1949, May’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, wrote the song that has enthralled or tormented people ever since. He paid $5 to the singer Guy Mitchell to make a demo and sent it to several crooners. At the end of a session to lay down two 45-rpm Christmas records, Gene Autry devoted 10 minutes to ‘Rudolph’ and made it the B-side of one of the discs. It eventually sold 2.5 million copies, his greatest hit.
“The legend only grew. In 1964, another corporate angel, RCA, swooped in and produced a stop-motion animated ‘Rudolph’ special that was shown on TV every Christmas.”
Lankford argues that Rudolph “appeals to Americans because the story is actually an inspirational Horatio Alger tale of pluck and luck leading to unlikely success. And he ponders whether Rudolph should be thought of as true folklore or as ‘fakelore,’ like Paul Bunyan, or even ‘fakelure’ – a commercial come-on. In the end, it hardly matters.
Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee.
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
You’ll go down in history.”
Kosner: “And so he has.”
Paul Bunyan is fake?! Drat. First I learn Santa isn’t real and now this.
—
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!”
—
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.
“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.
—
Political commentator Pat Buchanan (The Atlantic, December 2015). The question was: “What is the greatest comeback of all time?”
Betrayed, scourged, crucified on a cross between two thieves, Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead and sent his apostles to preach his doctrines to the world, out of which came Christianity and Western civilization. Then he ascended into heaven. His name is known to more people than that of any other man who walked the Earth, and the empire that crucified him is gone.
—
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.
—
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,” by 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.
—
Ross Cameron / Sydney Morning Herald…I first read this in December 2009.
[Excerpts]
“Jesus is easily the most influential person in history, and the most universally loved….
“Of his early life, the record is almost blank; we are left with a few fragments….
“He was deeply literate in Jewish scriptures but silent on writings outside that tradition. We may assume he lived his entire life within 160 km of his birthplace – he never describes a foreign custom or place. After a major spiritual moment under the influence of John, he launched into local prominence as an itinerant preacher at age 30. Tradition holds that Jesus was a public figure for three years but modern scholars strongly believe a single year is more likely….
“Riding a wave of fame and popularity, Jesus moved the road show to the heavily garrisoned provincial and religious capital of Jerusalem, entering the city in the lead-up to the most holy day of the Jewish year. The Roman authorities are not known for their tolerance of burgeoning mass movements. Jesus fairly quickly found his way to the agony and humiliation of public torture and execution by order of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate – famous for casual brutality. It was a routine event in a typical day in a Roman occupied city.
“History’s great riddle followed. His supporters immediately claimed Jesus rose from the dead. The four biographies of Jesus often contradict each other on minor details but nowhere so much as in the resurrection narratives. The difficulty with dismissing the claim altogether, however, is how otherwise to explain the instant, unprecedented explosion of the Jesus movement across the Mediterranean. The willingness of so many sane first-century beings – many of them witnesses – to suffer death rather than deny the central tenet of their faith, is also cause for reflection….
“We are left to ponder how one year in the life of a seeming nobody could transform the Roman Empire and the entire planet. The reason for the triumph of this nobody is to be found in his first recorded words. ‘Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.’ Jesus is specially kind to the weak and the outcast – to women, the poor, children, a madman in chains and a hated tax collector.
“In the pre-Jesus record, in virtually every human society, vast faceless classes of people were less valued than domestic animals. The world’s second-greatest philosopher, Aristotle, while writing the 101 course of every academic discipline, fervently endorsed the keeping of slaves as natural and desirable to good order. Slavery continued for centuries after Jesus but the impulse to end it was Christian. Beyond the Jewish scriptures, to which Jesus gave a megaphone, no one cared about those on the margins. Jesus establishes the sublime idea that everyone matters.
“Today that single thought has transformed our sense of what it means to be human. Major political parties of the earth, whether left, centrist or right wing (with the possible exception of the Greens) agree the welfare of the whole human race is our common goal. ‘Blessed are the meek’ evolved into ‘All men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’
“From whatever perspective we come, thinking people ought to be able to agree, the birth of Jesus was a good day for mankind. I suspect I may never quite shake the childlike hunch that there is some uniquely divine imprint on the central individual of the human story. Happy Birthday, Jesus.”
—
[From Army Times]
Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army was in a dire situation during the frigid winter of 1776. His army had been defeated and chased from New York, and forced to set up winter camp for his remaining 5,000 troops at Valley Forge, Pa., only miles from the capital city of Philadelphia. With morale at its lowest point of the war and enlistments coming to an end, Washington desperately needed a victory to secure reenlistments and draw in some new recruits. The outcome of the revolution was at stake.
On Christmas night, Washington’s troops began to gather on the banks of the Delaware River at McKonkey’s Ferry. His plan was to cross the partially frozen river by midnight, march to Trenton and surround the garrison of Hessian troops (Germans fighting for the British) in the city in a predawn attack.
Before the Army had even launched a boat across the river, it began to rain, then hail, then snow. Washington was behind schedule. Remarkably, the force crossed the river without a single casualty. At 4 a.m., Dec. 26, the ill-equipped army began to march toward Trenton, some with rags wrapped around their feet instead of shoes.
Washington had achieved complete surprise with the dangerous crossing. The battle began when the Army encountered a group of unprepared Hessian sentries at about 8 a.m., and by 9:30 the garrison had surrendered. The Army had killed 22, injured 83 and taken 896 prisoners.
By noon, Washington had left Trenton, having lost two men in the battle, and returned to camp at Valley Forge. He had won a major victory, inspiring the needed reenlistments. News of the battle drew new recruits into the beleaguered Continental Army. The revolution would live to fight another day.
—
A number of years ago, Rich Lowry wrote an op-ed in the New York Post on the genius of “White Christmas”:
“America’s classic Christmas song was written by a Jewish immigrant.
“Born in Russia with the name Israel Baline, he was the genius songwriter we know as Irving Berlin. He wrote ‘White Christmas’ for the 1942 Hollywood musical ‘Holiday Inn,’ starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.
“On set, the movie’s hit number was presumed to be another Berlin composition, the Valentine’s Day song ‘Be Careful, It’s My Heart.’ At first, it was. Then ‘White Christmas’ captured the public’s imagination and hasn’t quite loosed its grip since….
“Some estimates point to sales of all versions of ‘White Christmas’ topping 100 million….
“It is a song built on yearning. In lines at the beginning of the original version that aren’t usually performed, Berlin writes of being out in sunny California during the holiday: ‘There’s never been such a day/in Beverly Hills, L.A./But it’s December the twenty-fourth,/And I’m longing to be up North’.
“(Colleague Mark) Steyn thinks that if America had entered World War II a few years earlier, the song might never have taken off. But 1942 was the year that American men were first shipped overseas, and it was released into a wave of homesickness. (Berlin’s daughter) Mary Ellin Barrett says it first caught on with GIs in Great Britain. During the course of the war, it became the most requested song with Armed Forces Radio.
“The irony of the son of a cantor writing the characteristic American Christmas song is obvious. Yet, Berlin’s daughter says, ‘He believed in the great American Christmas.’ As a child on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, he loved to look at the little Christmas tree of his Catholic neighbors. He and his Christian wife Ellin (theirs was a scandalous mixed marriage), put on elaborate, joyous Christmases for their daughters. Not until later would they reveal that the day was a painful one for them because they had lost an infant child on Christmas.
“Berlin knew he had something special with ‘White Christmas’ as soon as he wrote it. He supposedly enthused to his secretary, ‘I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written – heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody’s ever written!’ The song evokes the warmth of the hearth and the comforts of our Christmas traditions in a way that hasn’t stopped pulling at heartstrings yet.”
—
Some tidbits related to “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” At first, Charles Schulz and his associates didn’t think they’d be able to pull the project off for CBS. Production was crammed into five months and CBS executives were none too pleased with the results. Schulz insisted on the biblical passage, animator Bill Melendez and producer Lee Mendelson weren’t so sure.
The rush to production (they were given just five months) led to a few mistakes, like Schroeder’s fingers coming off the keyboard while music is playing, and Pig Pen mysteriously disappearing for a second. Plus the barren Christmas tree lost, and then regained, a couple of branches. They just didn’t have time to change it.
Melendez, by the way, wrote the lyrics to “Christmas Time Is Here” in 15 minutes on an envelope, after Vince Guaraldi had come up with the music. A children’s choir recorded it just four days before the show premiered.
The show was a ratings smash when it premiered Dec. 9, 1965, on CBS. Last year, 2015, it still averaged 6 million viewers.
Separately, Mendelson recalled speaking to Schulz shortly before he died. “He said, ‘Good grief. That little kid’s never going to kick the football.’”
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.
—
Merry Christmas, gang!
The Editor
