Friday-Sunday, October 14-16, 2005

On the brink of nuclear war...

The buildup of Russian missiles in Cuba started as a decision made by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in May of 1962 to threaten the welfare of the United States from a scant 90 miles away. By late July over 60 Soviet ships were steaming their way to Cuba, many carrying military material that included nuclear warheads. This is the dateline for the Cuban Missile Crisis. It began on October 14th and ended November 20, 1962...

In late August a U-2 flight photographed a new series of SAM missile sites being constructed in Cuba but as early as September 4th, President Kennedy told Congress there was no threat to the U.S. trying to buy time and gather evidence which could be shown to the world about what was developing into an imminent and deadly threat. In a televised address on October 22nd he did just that. Photos of the installation were shown for the first time and the president and his cabinet vowed that an attack by the Soviet Union would be responded to in kind. JFK then placed a naval quarantine on Cuba preventing further Soviet shipments of military weapons...

What developed over the next 38 days was downright frightening. It was the closest we would come to nuclear war in the 20th century. U.S. troops numbering over 40,000 were poised to attack Cuba and war planes were prepared to scramble from Florida. The Soviets would back down however, removing their missiles from Cuba. The world breathed a sigh of relief that was almost audible. We would not have that nuclear war that everyone feared...

Dean Rusk, a trusted member of JFK's cabinet would capture the moment with this statement, "We went eyeball to eyeball and the other fellow just blinked"...

More October 14 Memories...

1926) A.A. Milne's book "Winnie-the-Pooh" is published...

1947) Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to break the sound barrier...

1957) Elvis Presley releases "Jailhouse Rock"...

1962) The Cuban Missile Crisis begins (feature story)...

1964) Martin Luther King, Jr. wins the Nobel Peace Prize...

1966) Grace Slick makes her 1st appearance with Jefferson Airplane...

1972) "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" by the Temptations is released...

1973) Willie Mays gets his last hit as the Mets beat the A's in Game 2 of the World Series...

1977) Bing Crosby is the victim of a fatal heart attack at 74...

1979) "Rise" by Herb Alpert is #1...

1979) Wayne Gretzky, "The Great One" scores his 1st NHL goal...

1980) Bob Marley plays his last concert...

1984) Tiger manager Sparky Anderson becomes the 1st manager to win 100 games and a World Series in both leagues...

1985) Joe Namath's #12 is retired as the Jets beat Miami 23-7 on Monday Night Football (Good thing Suzy Kolber was too young to cover the game)...

1986) Holocaust victim Elie Wiesel wins the Nobel Peace Prize...

1987) Jessica McClure, 18 months old, falls down an abandoned well in Midland, Texas. She is rescued 58 hours later...

1988) "Red Red Wine" by UB40 tops the charts...

1990) Leonard Bernstein dies at 72...

1993) Rolling Stone magazine ranks Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" video, #1 in video history...

1998) Federal authorities charge Eric Robert Randolph with the 1996 Summer Olympic bombing in Atlanta...

Happy Birthday To...

1910) Coach John Wooden...

1916) Former surgeon general C. Everett Koop...

1927) Roger Moore...

1938) John Dean...

1939) Ralph Lauren...

1946) The Moody Blues' Justin Hayward...

1978) Usher...

Saturday, October 15, 2005...

"I Love Lucy" debuts...

One of the most popular TV sitcoms in history, a series that ranked top 3 for 6 of its 10 years, made its debut on October 15, 1951. "I Love Lucy" has made people laugh for over half a century and they haven't stopped yet...

Lucille Ball insisted that real-life husband Desi Arnaz play her TV husband as well, not a popular choice considering Desi, a Cuban, spoke a pigeon-english at best (as in "'splain it to me Lucy"). Lucy got her way with TV executives and Desilu Productions was on its way to becoming a multimillion-dollar industry...

When "I Love Lucy" ended in the fall of '61, "The Lucy Show" debuted in '62 and ran for 6 seasons. That show would become "Here's Lucy" which would run until cancelled in 1974. "Life With Lucy" was a short-run 2 month series that would start and end in 1986. Lucy, 75 at the time decided she had had enough. Lucille Ball would die of congestive heart failure in 1989 at 78...

In my commentary I'll mention some of the all-time favorite "I Love Lucy" episodes...

More October 15 Memories...

1959) "The Untouchables" premieres...

1962) Bobby Richardson grabs Willie McCovey's line drive for the final out as the Yankees win their 20th World Series over the Giants in 7 games...

1964) Nikita Krushchev is removed as Soviet Premier and replaced by Alexei N. Kosygin...

1968) Led Zeppelin make their debut performance in England...

1969) The Madison Square Garden (MSG) TV Network begins with an NHL game between the Rangers and North Stars...

1970) Brooks Robinson is the offensive and defensive star of the 67th World Series as Baltimore beats the Reds in 5 games...

1971) Rick Nelson is booed when he performs new material at an oldies show at Madison Square Garden (hmmm, could be a reason to write a hit record)...

1973) "The Tomorrow Show" hosted by Tom Snyder debuts on NBC-TV...

1976) The 1st VP debate features Walter Mondale vs. Bob Dole...

1977) "Rumours", the Fleetwood Mac LP is released (I think it's still on the charts)...

1977) "Slip Slidin' Away" by Paul Simon is released (those are the Oak Ridge Boys you hear doing backup vocals)...

1977) Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" goes to #1 and stays there for 10 weeks (read my comment on "Rumours")...

1979) The Knicks retire Walt "Clyde" Frazier's #10...

1986) The Mets beat the Astros 7-6 in the longest postseason game in history to-date (16 innings) to win the NL pennant...

1988) With 2 out in the bottom of the 9th inning, an injured Kirk Gibson hits a dramatic 2-run home run ("I don't believe what I just saw") to give the Dodgers a 5-4 win in Game 1 of their World Series with the A's...

1989) Wayne Gretzky of the LA Kings picks up his 1,850th point to pass Gordie Howe to set a new NHL record for points scored...

1991) The Senate narrowly confirms the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, 52-48...

2002) ImClone's Sam Waksal pleads quilty to insider trading (uh, oh, Martha)...

Happy Birthday To...

1908) John Kenneth Galbraith...

1917) Arthur Schlesinger Jr...

1924) Lee Iacocca...

1942) Penny Marshall...

1946) Richard Carpenter...

1959) Sarah (Fergie) Ferguson...

Commentary...

It's hard to rank my favorite "I Love Lucy" episodes so I won't. I will give you my 5 favorite episodes in no particular order because they're all so good. 1) "Vitameatavegamin", 2) Lucy stuffing her mouth with chocolates flying by on a conveyor belt, 3) Lucy stomping on grapes in Italy to make wine, 4) Lucy pinned to her kitchen wall while baking bread and 5) Lucy (along with Ethel) trying to steal John Wayne's footprints from Grauman's Chinese Theatre...

I hope my list conjures up some good memories and laughs as you visualize your favorite "I Love Lucy" episodes...

Sunday, October 16, 2005...

Truly Amazin'...

October 16, 1969 is a day that will live in infamy (if I might borrow that FDR line). 57,397 was the actual attendance at Shea Stadium that day although I'm sure it's grown to at least 5,739,700 by now. Countless millions more were glued to their TV sets as the New York Mets would wait no longer for a World Championship trophy. When the flyball hit by future Met manager Davey Johnson landed in leftfielder Cleon Jones glove, the New York Mets had defeated the heavily-favored Baltimore Orioles in 5 games to win their first World Championship...

The road to the Mets championship was clearly in site when they won the National League pennant with a 3-game sweep of the Braves 10 days earlier. 22 days earlier they beat the hated Cubs to win the East...

A Wall Street parade down "the canyon of heroes" awaited these Amazin' Mets as New York City and a world of underdog fans celebrated...More in my commentary...

More October 16 Memories...

1923) The Disney Company is founded...

1943) Welcome to the new world Chicago. The Windy City opens a new subway system...

1956) The Elvis Presley film "Love Me Tender" premieres...

1957) "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke is released...

1963) The last issue of 'The New York Daily Mirror' hits the newsstands...

1969) The Mets win their 1st World Series (feature story)...

1971) "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes is released...

1978) Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla is elected pope. He takes the name John Paul II...

1987) Rescuers free Jessica McClure from the Midland, Texas well...

1995) Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan leads the "Million Man March" in Washington, D.C...

2000) Chevron announces that it's buying Texaco for $35 billion...

2002) President Bush signs a congressional resolution authorizing war against Iraq...

Happy Birthday To...

1925) Angela Lansbury...

1941) Tim McCarver...

1946) Suzanne Somers...

1958) Tim Robbins...

1977) John Mayer...

Commentary...

When the Mets won the World Series in 1969 they were only 8 years old, having entered the National League in 1962. They went from the lovable losers of Casey Stengel to the best team in baseball under the direction of manager and Brooklyn Dodger hero Gil Hodges...

The tickertape blizzard that greeted the Mets on lower Broadway was a fitting tribute to a team that was the laughing stock of baseball and shouts of "We're No. 1" cascaded down the 'canyon of heroes'. Wall Street shut down. Instead of making money they were making confetti. The world was a better place now that the Mets were champions...

And what did the players think ? Ron Swoboda put it this way, "We did it!". "This is the summit" was the quote by 3rd baseman Ed Charles. "The Glider" also offered this, "we're no. 1 in the world and you just can't get any bigger than this." But outfielder Cleon Jones put the cherry on top when he said "some people still might not believe in us, but then some people still think the world is flat"...