Friday-Sunday, November 18-20, 2005

Jonestown massacre...

Try as I might to come up with a more digestible (so to speak) feature story to start my weekend blog off with, this anniversary item kept smacking me in the face. I mean I try to keep things light but it's got to be a major story and there was no bigger story in the November 18th archives than the horror that occurred in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978...

Consider this: People's Temple leader Jim Jones forced his followers to commit mass suicide by drinking a cyanide-laced fruit-flavored concoction and while a dozen or so escaped, the final death toll was 913, including 276 children. That's 913, including 276 children...

Those snapshots that we have of the horrible carnage will live with us forever in our mental archives, and hopefully not recalled more than once a year or so. That would be more than enough. Why do people follow someone like Jim Jones as they did from Indianapolis in the '50s to northern California in the 60s to the South American jungles in the 70s, to their deaths on this date in 1978 ???

If we knew perhaps we could stop the next cult leader...

More November 18 Memories...

1928) The first successful sound-synchronized animated cartoon premieres in New York City. It's Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie". Mickey Mouse is born...

1956) Fats Domino sings "Blueberry Hill" on the "Ed Sullivan Show"...

1963) Dale and Grace are #1 with "I'm Leaving It Up To You"...

1964) The Supremes and Righteous Brothers appear on "Shindig!"...

1966) U.S. Roman Catholic bishops do away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays (butchers across America rejoice)...

1966) Future Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax retires at 30 because of severe arthritis in his pitching (left) arm...

1967) 3rd ranked USC upsets #1, cross-town rivals UCLA 21-20 en route to their 1st national title since 1962 (the game featured future Heisman Trophy winners O.J. Simpson & Gary Beban)...

1969) The patriarch of the Kennedy family, Joseph P. Kennedy dies at 81 at the compound in Hyannisport...

1970) Jerry Lee Lewis and wife Myra Brown are divorced (wasn't this his cousin ?)...

1973) Ringo Starr is #1 with "Photograph" (written by Ringo and George Harrison)...

1985) Quarterback Joe Theismann, 35, who led the Redskins to the 1983 Super Bowl title suffers a career-ending compound fracture of his lower right leg when he was sacked by the Giants Lawrence Taylor in a nationally televised Monday Night Football game...

1987) Billy Idol's remake of Tommy James' "Mony, Mony" tops the charts (13 years after Tommy & the Shondells made it a hit)...

1990) Mick Jagger marries model-actress Jerry Hall in Bali (they have 2 children after a 12-year marriage that is dissolved in 1999 after allegations that Mick fathered a child by Brazilian model Luciana Morad)...

1990) Paul McCartney's birth certificate is sold for $18,000 in an auction (he doesn't have a birth certificate now ?)...

1991) Shiite Muslim kidnappers release Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite and educator Thomas Sutherland...

1994) Cab Calloway dies in a Delaware nursing home of a stroke at 86...

1995) The Rolling Stones become the first act to broadcast a concert on the internet...

1999) 12 students are killed when a bonfire under construction at Texas A&M collapses...

1999) In Jasper, Texas, Shawn Allen Berry is convicted of murder for his role in the dragging death of James Byrd Jr., but spared the death penalty...

2001) Phillips (no relation) Petroleum and Conoco announce a merger creating the third-largest U.S. oil and gas company...

2003) The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that gay couples can marry (not that there's anything wrong with that)...

2003) Police and prosecutors raid Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch on a $3 million arrest warrant for child molestation (no comment necessary)...

Happy Birthday To...

1928) Steamboat Willie a.k.a. Mickey Mouse...

1939) Brenda Vaccaro...

1942) Linda Evans...

1953) Kevin Nealon...

1968) The Yankees Gary Sheffield...

1968) Owen Wilson...

1975) Red Sox David (Big Papi) Ortiz...

Saturday, November 19, 2005...

Everyone knows this Gettysburg Address...

Okay, here's one for the history buffs. Abraham Lincoln's most famous speech was delivered today in 1863 during the American Civil War. The location of the speech was the Soldier's National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Lincoln was dedicating the cemetery that day and his speech of only 300 words or so would resonate for a lifetime...

The president invoked the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the Union but as "a new birth of freedom" for the United States and its people, in the hope that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth"...

One newspaper account of "Lincoln's few appropriate remarks" mentioned "Lincoln's high-pitched Kentucky accent". For those of you who weren't really sure, like me, the exact definition in years of "four score and seven years ago", Webster (the dictionary not Daniel) defines a "score" as "a group of 20 things". Four score and 7 years ago is 87 years from the time of Lincoln's address, the year we gained our independence in 1776...

More November 20 Memories...

1863) Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (feature story)...

1954) Two automatic toll collectors are placed on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey (ch-ching)...

1954) Sammy Davis Jr. loses an eye (he didn't wear that eye-patch on his left eye for nothing) in a serious auto accident in San Bernardino, CA...

1959) Ford announces it will end the production of their Edsel (the son or the car ?)...

1966) #1 ranked Notre Dame and second-ranked Michigan State play to a 10-10 tie when Irish coach Ara Parseghian plays it safe, playing for a tie instead of a win...

1966) Brazilian soccer great Pele scores his 1,000th goal (the soccer equivalent of Babe Ruth's 714 home runs)...

1968) The Supremes perform before Britain's Queen Elizabeth...

1969) Apollo XII astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean make man's second landing on the moon...

1978) Giant quarterback Joe Pisarcik needs only to put his knee to the ground to secure a 17-12 victory for Big Blue over hated-rivals Philadelphia. With 20 seconds left in the game Pisarcik tries a handoff instead and fumbles. Current (for now anyway) Jet coach Herman Edwards picks up the fumble and in the words of the late Howard Cosell, "he...could...go...all...the...way". Edwards races 26 yards for the winning touchdown. Eagles beat the Giants...Eagles beat the Giants...Eagles beat the Giants...

1979) Houston's Nolan Ryan signs a 4-year contract worth $4.5 million becoming the highest paid player in baseball (a utility player makes that amount today)...

1985) President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev meet for the 1st time at a summit in Geneva...

1990) The pop duo Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Awards for lip-synching...

1997) Septuplets are born to Bobbi McCaughey in Carlisle, Iowa (it's only the second known case where all 7 are born alive)...

1998) The impeachment inquiry of President Clinton begins...

Happy Birthday To...

1919) Mr. Ed's "Wilbbbburrr" Alan Young...

1933) Larry King...

1936) Dick Cavett...

1938) Ted Turner...

1939) Garrick Utley...

1942) Calvin Klein...

1956) Ann Curry...

1961) Meg Ryan...

1962) Jodie Foster...

Sunday, November 20, 2005...

The Band plays on...

One of the more bizarre finishes in college football history happened on this date in 1982, when California defeated Stanford in the closing seconds of the game, 25-20 and this is how it happened...

With Stanford up 20-19 and 4 seconds remaining in the game, California returned a kickoff for the winning touchdown. Kevin Moen started and ended the spectacular 55-yard return on 5 laterals. Moen picked up the ball at the California 45, lateraled to Richard Rodgers (the player not the composer) who ran about 10 yards before flipping the ball to Dwight Garner. Garner goes 20 yards and then tosses the ball back to Rodgers who turns and laterals to Marriet Ford (interesting hotel/car name there) who tosses the ball to Moen, who weaves his way through the stunned members of the Stanford band for the winning touchdown (just the way they planned it, right ?)...

The Stanford band, convinced that their team had won, positioned themselves in the end zone for the victory march but the 5-lateral, miracle touchdown stunned saxophonists and drummers alike...Game over...California beats Stanford 25-20...

More interesting info on this most bizarre finish follows in my commentary...

More November 20 Memories...

1928) The Boston Bruins lose to Montreal 1-0 as the Boston Garden opens...

1947) Britain's future queen, Princess Elizabeth marries Philip Montbatten, Duke of Edinburgh in Westminster Abbey...

1960) Frank Gifford gets knocked into Monday when the Eagles Chuck Bednarik hits the Giant running back from the blindside in a game that clinches the Eastern Conference title for Philadelphia (the legal hit forces Gifford to miss the '61 season and effectively ends his career. Kathie Lee Gifford is the reward)...

1962) The Four Seasons release "Big Girls Don't Cry"...

1962) Mickey Mantle wins his 3rd American League MVP Award...

1969) The use of DDT is banned...

1975) Spain's General Francisco Franco dies after nearly 4 decades of absolute rule...

1977) Walter Payton runs for 275 yards in a 10-7 win over Minnesota, breaking the single-game rushing record held by O.J. Simpson (273) in 1976 (Payton's mark will be broken in 2000)...

1982) The California-Stanford game (feature story)...

1982) Drew Barrymore at 7 becomes the youngest host of Saturday Night Live...

1983) An estimated 100 million viewers watch the controversial ABC-TV movie "The Day After" which depicts a nuclear holocaust...

1984) McDonald's makes its 50 billionth hamburger (Tums and Rolaids sell their 50th billion antacid to mark the occasion)...

1994) David Crosby gets a liver transplant (who gets the old liver ?)...

1995) Princess Diana admits being unfaithful to Prince Charles on a BBC television show (the Prince retaliates by ringing up Camilla)...

1998) Afghanistan offers safe haven to Osama bin Laden...

1998) 46 states agree to a $206 billion settlement of health claims against the tabacco industry (the other 4 states abstain ???)...

Happy Birthday To...

1919) Evelyn Keyes...

1926) Kaye Ballard...

1927) Estelle Parsons...

1932) Richard Dawson (yes he's alive as his very funny website tells us)...

1939) Dick Smothers...

1946) Judy Woodruff...

1947) Eagles' Joe Walsh...

1956) Bo Derek...

Commentary...

In addition to that wild finish in the California-Stanford game on November 20, 1982:

• Notre Dame was knocked out of bowl consideration when they lost to Air Force...
• Washington was denied a 3rd consecutive trip to the Rose Bowl when they lost to rival Washington State...

You may have heard of the quarterback for Stanford in that 1982 game. His name was John Elway. Even senior John Elway couldn't help his team win that game against California...