A Day in The Life...
The big pre-Labor Day event in sports is the U.S. Open. Always was...always will be. The Open starts today in Flushing Meadows but there was a time when Forest Hills was the venue. On this August 28th day in 1964 there was a major event at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium that had nothing to do with tennis. Andre, Roger, Andy and Rafael are the names we'll hear about starting today at the U.S. Open but the names featured 42 years ago today were John, Paul, George and Ringo...
On the night of the day the Beatles appeared on the cover of Life magazine, the Fab Four opened the first of 2 nights at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium before a sell-out crowd of 16,000. Nosebleed seats went for just $1.95 while field boxes were $7.50 for both sold-out shows. The Beatles would return for 2 more shows in New York, both at Shea Stadium in 1965 and 1966 when they were one day away from their final U.S. appearance...
***
Events in the sports world are starting to unfold quickly, quickly enough to update our Love To Hate Top 10, weekly... so...here we go with a new update:
01) Trevor Graham (--) New to the list. Graham coached 3 runners (Marion Jones, La Tasha Jenkins and Justin Gatlin) who have tested positive for banned performance enchancing drugs. Graham has been banned from Olympic training facilities...
02) Albert Belle (--) debuts after being sentenced to 3 months in jail & 5 years of supervised probation for stalking his ex-girlfriend not once but twice...
03) Terrell Owens (03) makes life interesting in Dallas already. T.O. was just fined for skipping a team meeting and rehab session. The clock is ticking. Stay tuned...
04) Alex Rodriguez (05) This is the best player in baseball ? On what planet ? Reggie Jackson is on the way to help A-Rod. Better yet, bring in Dr. Phil...
05) John Gibbons (--) is new to the list after the Blue Jays manager has added Ted Lilly to his fight card after Shea Hillenbrand who was sent packing. It may be Gibbons who'll be sent packing next...
06) Kevan Barlow (--) joins lots of first-timers. All the Jets and former 49er did was compare his ex-coach (Mike Nolan) to Adolf Hitler...Makes you wonder if he played in Dallas who he would compare Bill Parcells to...
07) Adam "Pacman" Jones (--) is another newcomer who qualifies for the top 10 for being arrested outside a bar near Nashville for disorderly conduct and public intoxication. He was released from jail on bond...
08) Bryant Gumble (--) managed to bite the hand that feeds him for sending a message to new NFL commish Roger Goodell to "have Tagliabue show you where he keeps Gene Upshaw's leash" (Upshaw is the players union head)...
09) David Frost/Mike Danton (--) Frost, a former NHL agent who was the target for a murder-for-hire plot by(Danton), one of his players who is serving a 7 1/2 year sentence. Frost was freed on $10,000 bail and proclaimed himself not guilty of charges he sexually exploited a group of teenagers (this is a Jerry Springer show)...
10) Maurice Clarett (03) slips down the list but must stay on for adding to his rap sheet with an August 9th arrest despite being maced and tasered by cops in Columbus (OH)...
Dropped: Floyd Landis, Ricky Williams, Chad Johnson, Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, Paul Hamm and anyone named Williams...
Ten Timeline Memories...
(01) [1609] Delaware Bay is discovered by Henry Hudson (so why didn't he call it Hudson Bay ?)...
(02) [1922] The 1st radio commercial aired on WEAF (which would become WNBC later on) in New York City. If you're wondering what it was, wonder no more. It was a 10-minute commercial for the Queensboro Realty Co. which had paid WEAF the princely sum of $100...
(03) [1963] 200,000 participate in a peaceful civil rights rally in Washington (DC) where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. eloquently delivered his "I have a dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial (Peter, Paul and Mary sang "Blowin' In The Wind")...
(04) [1968] Police and anti-war demonstrators clash in the streets of Chicago as the Democratic National Convention nominates Hubert H. Humphrey for president...
(05) [1972] David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars make their debut at Carnegie Hall...
(06) [1972] Mark Spitz captures the 1st of 7 gold medals at the Munich Summer Olympics. Spitz sets a world record when he completes the 200-meter butterfly in 2 minutes and 7/10ths of a second...
(07) [1984] The Jacksons' Victory Tour breaks the record for concert ticket sales, surpassing 1.1 million in 2 months...
(08) [1988] "Thirty Something" and "The Wonder Years" are the big winners at the 40th Emmy Awards (I thought the Emmy show last night was terrific. Conan was creative, doing a good job as host and that was a nice and fitting tribute to Dick Clark)...
(09) [1991] A New York City subway operator is charged with manslaughter after his train derails, kills 5 and injures 133...
(10) [1995] The biggest bank in the U.S. is created when Chase Manhattan and Chemical Bank announce a $10 billion deal...
Released on this date: 1961] "Please Mr. Postman" - Marvelettes...
Gold Standard: 1973] "Monster Mash" - Bobby "Boris" Pickett...1973] "Smoke on The Water" - Deep Purple...
"D-I-V-O-R-C-E": 1996] Prince Charles and Princess Diana end their 15-year marriage...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the dateline]...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday"...
Leann Rimes (24), Jason Priestly (37), Jack Black (37), Shania Twain (41), Scott Hamilton (48), Ron Guidry (56), David Soul (63), Lou Piniella (63), Ben Gazzara (76) and Billy Grammar (81)...
[Timeline Countdown: 8 days until Labor Day, 12 days until NFL kickoff, 37 days until MLB playoffs, 125 days left in 2006. The Mets Magic Number: 20]
...
