Friday-Sunday, December 16-18, 2005

The Perfect Season...

The Miami Dolphins became the 1st post-Super Bowl age team to finish a regular season undefeated on this date in 1972 by virtue of their 16-0 whitewashing of the Baltimore Colts. They would put the cherry on top by running the table in the playoffs and then beating the Washington Redskins 14-7 in the Super Bowl...

The Indianapolis Colts have a chance to go 14-0 against San Diego on Sunday posing the question "will the Colts be the 1st team to finish a season undefeated since those 1972 Miami Dolphins ?" Well football fans, we won't know the answer to that until Sunday. We do know the Colts can tie the 14-0 mark set by the '72 Dolphins who would finish the season 17-0. Should they win the Colts have 2 more games to play in the regular season before the playoffs and Super Bowl. Back in '72 teams played 14 games as opposed to 16 today but that's not all that has changed in 33 years...

1972 vs. Today...

1972 Average price of a new home: $30,500...Today: $288,100...

1972 Price of a gallon of regular gas: 36 cents...Today: $2.20...

1972 Blockbuster movie: "The Godfather"...Today: "King Kong"...

1972 Hot new female artist: Roberta Flack...Today: Shakira...

1972 TV buzz phrase: "Stifle it Edith"...Today: "You're fired"...

1972 Don Shula's job: Coach of Miami...Today: Member of NFL Hall of Fame, owner of a steak house, hotel and golf club...

1972 Games people play: Pong, scrabble...Today: Xbox 360, Sudoku...

1972 New tech toy: Texas Instruments 2500 Datamath...Today: Blackberry 8700c...

More December 16 Memories...

1773) The Boston Tea Party takes place as American colonists board a British ship and dump more than 300 chests of tea overboard in Boston Harbor to protest tea taxes...

1809) Napoleon Bonaparte divorces Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate (Liz Taylor would have stayed married the 1st time if she had to go through that)...

1905) The 1st issue of "Variety" is published (to which we add "Boffo")...

1951) NBC-TV previews "Dragnet" on "Chesterfield Sound Off Time" (the show officially begins on January 3, 1952)...

1960) A United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collide over Staten Island, killing 134...

1964) The Supremes become the 1st group to top the charts with 3 consecutive singles when "Come See About Me" goes to #1 (they'll do it with their next 2 singles too)...

1966) Jimi Hendrix releases his 1st single, "Hey Joe"...

1967) The Lemon Pipers release "Green Tambourine"...

1971) Don McLean's 8-minute plus version of "American Pie" is released...

1972) "Hi, Hi, Hi" by Paul McCartney is released...

1972) The Miami Dolphins become the 1st NFL team to go unbeaten and untied in a 14-game regular season (feature story)...

1973) Buffalo's O.J. Simpson becomes the 1st runner in NFL history to gain over 2,000 yards in a season when he runs for 200 yards in a game against the Jets. Following the game Jet coach Weeb Ewbank announces his retirement...

1974) Mott the Hoople breaks up...

1982) Tom Seaver becomes a Met again after Cincinnati trades him to New York...

1983) Yogi Berra is named Yankee manager for the second time...

1983) The Who officially disbands...

1985) Organized crime chief Paul Castellano is gunned down outside Sparks Steakhouse on 2nd Avenue in Manhattan...

1986) The Bangles are #1 with "Walk Like An Egyptian"...

1987) George Michael tops the charts with "Faith"...

1997) Singer Nicolette Larson dies from brain swelling at 45...

2000) President-elect George W. Bush selects Colin Powell to be the 1st African-American secretary of state (Powell will be sworn in January 20, 2001)...

Happy Birthday To...

1939) Liv Ullmann...

1941) Lesley Stahl...

1943) Steven Bochco...

1946) Benny (one of the "B"'s in ABBA) Andersson...

1963) Benjamin Bratt...

Saturday, December 17, 2005...

December 17 Memories...

1791) A traffic regulation in New York City establishes the 1st "one-way" street...

1903) Orville and Wilbur Wright make the 1st successful flight in history at 10:35am at Kitty Hawk, NC (the biplane stayed aloft 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight. Jet Blue announces a regular air schedule from Kitty Hawk the following day)...

1955) Carl Perkins writes "Blue Suede Shoes" and less than 48 hours later, records it in Memphis...

1959) "On The Beach" premieres in New York City and becomes the 1st movie to debut simultaneously in major cities around the world (18 cities in all, including Moscow)...

1964) 6 weeks after CBS-TV buys controlling interest in the Yankees, the "Voice of the Yankees", Mel Allen is fired (Allen had called Yankee games since 1940)...

1965) Judy Garland and the Supremes (I hope they didn't sing together) perform at the opening of Houston's Astrodome...

1969) TV history is made when Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki (Budinger) are married on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" (an estimated 50 million viewers reach for the Kleenex)...

1969) The U.S. Air Force closes its Project "Blue Book" by concluding there's no evidence of UFO's (yeah, un-huh, okay)...

1975) Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme is sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford...

1976) WTCG-TV Atlanta becomes WTBS, uplinks via satellite becoming the 1st commercial TV station to cover the entire U.S...

1977) Elvis Costell and the Attractions appear on "Saturday Night Live" in place of the Sex Pistols who could not get visas to enter the U.S...

1982) The Who play the last concert of their "farewell tour" at Toronto's Maple Leaf Garden...

1984) Miami's Dan Marino finishes the regular season with 4 touchdown passes in a Dolphin win over Dallas and finishes with a record 48 touchdowns and 5,084 yards (both are NFL records)...

1986) Wayne Newton wins a $19.2 million suit against NBC News after the network claimed a link between the "Danke Schoen" singer and mob figures which proved to be false...

1994) Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora and Heather Locklear walk down the aisle (obviously to Bon Jovi music)...

2004) President George W. Bush signs into law the largest overhaul of intelligence gathering in 50 years...

Happy Birthday To...

1929) Newspaper columnist William Safire...

1930) Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione...

1945) Ernie Hudson...

1946) Eugene Levy...

1953) Barry Livingston ("Ernie" of "My Three Sons")...

1974) Giovanni Ribisi...

Sunday, December 18, 2005...

December 18 Memories...

1865) Slavery is abolished by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution...

1892) Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite" publicly premieres in St. Petersburg, Russia...

1956) "To Tell The Truth" debuts on CBS-TV...

1956) Phil Rizzuto is hired as a Yankee radio and television announcer...

1964) Funeral services are held in Los Angeles for Sam Cooke...

1965) Army Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler records "The Ballad of the Green Berets"...

1966) Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" airs for the 1st time on CBS-TV...

1969) Britain's Parliament abolishes the death penalty...

1970) Divorce becomes legal in Italy...

1971) Jerry Lee Lewis and his cousin Myra Brown are divorced (not in Italy). They married when Myra was 13 (but an "old" 13)...

1975) Rod Stewart and Faces divorce as Stewart goes solo...

1983) Bucking this divorce trend, Keith Richards and model Patti Hansen are married...

1984) Likewise, Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest...

1984) Madonna tops the charts for the 1st time with "Like a Virgin"...

1987) Ivan F. Boesky is sentenced to 3 years in prison for insider trading...

1997) Comedian Chris Farley becomes the latest SNL tragedy. Farley is found dead in his Chicago apartment at 33...

2003) In Santa Maria, California, Michael Jackson is charged with 7 counts of molesting a child under 14 and 2 counts of supplying the child with "an intoxicating agent" ("Jesus juice" to you and I)...

Happy Birthday To...

1927) Ramsey Clark (we know where he'll be celebrating)...

1932) Roger Smith...

1943) Keith Richards...

1947) Steven Spielberg...

1963) Brad Pitt (act surprised when you get that vial of blood necklace Brad)...

1978) Katie Holmes (don't be surprised when Tom jumps up and down on the couch when he gives you your present)...

1980) Christina Aguilera...