44-year old Evander Holyfield won a meaningless fight over the weekend against a fighter by the name of Fres Oquendo in 12 rounds - part of Holyfield's master plan of retiring as the heavyweight champion of the world next year. Now this is providing he gets a shot at the title successfully defended by Sergei Wladimir Klitschko over the weekend. This is a noble attempt at becoming the 1st heavyweight to hold the title 5 times but it must be abandoned before Holyfield winds up in worse shape than Muhammad Ali...
Last week the New York Post said "this time the 44-year old with clear signs of neurological damage will fight a more legit opponent, 33-year old Oquendo." The article went on to add: "FSN (the network that carried the fight) should have no trouble presenting tape of Holyfield being interviewed, say, 12-15 years ago, and being interviewed today - as a kind of judge-for-yourself comparison test."
When Holyfield was a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars" he suffered no damage other than embarrassingly showing off his two left feet. If he keeps fighting he'll go hum-anah-hum-anah-hum-anah when he brushes whatever teeth he has left. He might come out looking and sounding like this interview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWPr6wEWHYg
On this date 7 years ago (Nov. 13, 1999) Lenox Lewis became the 1st British heavyweight champion of the world by winning a unanimous decision over none other than...Evander Holyfield...
Ten Timeline Memories...
- [1789] Benjamin Franklin writes in a letter to a friend: "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes"...
- [1805] Johann George Lehner, a Viennese butcher, invents a recipe and calls it the "frankfurter" (Lehner is immediately labeled a "hotdog" for showing off his new invention)...
- [1927] After 7 years of construction, work is completed on the Holland Tunnel, connecting New York and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River. The first driver attempting to use the tunnel is turned around for not having Easy Pass...
- [1942] The minimum draft age is lowered from 21 to 18...
- [1956] Thanks to Rosa Parks, the Supreme Court strikes down laws calling for segregation on public buses...
- [1979] Former California Governor Ronald Reagan announces his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination while in New York...
- [1979] 76er Darryl Dawkins a.k.a. "Chocolate Thunder" shatters a fiberglas backboard doing a monster dunk in Kansas City and starts a new fad that provides ESPN an endless string of video highlights forever...
- [1993] Top-ranked Florida State and #2 ranked Notre Dame (both 9-0) stage a showdown in South Bend (IN) with the Fighting Irish prevailing 31-24. The Irish go to #1 but lose the following weekend to Boston College and Florida State will win the national championship with a victory over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl...
- [1995] Braves future Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux becomes the 1st major league pitcher to win 4 consecutive Cy Young awards (Roger Clemens has 7 but never won 4 in a row)...
- [1998] President Bill Clinton agrees to pay Paula Jones $850,000 ending the 4-year legal battle over her sexual harassment lawsuit against him. Clinton does not admit guilt or apologize...
"Happy Trails": 1974] Karen Silkwood, 28, a technician and union activist from Oklahoma who inspired a movie of her life, is killed in a suspicious car crash...
Released on this date: 1961] "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - Tokens...1965] "Fever" - McCoys...1971] "Old Fashioned love Song" - Three Dog Night...2000] "One Night Only" LP - Elton John (recorded at Madison Square Garden 3 weeks earlier)...
Premiered on this date: 1968] "Yellow Submarine" (the movie) - Beatles...1997] "The Lion King" musical opened at the New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway...
Debuted on this date: 1977] The comic strip "Li'l Abner" appeared in newspapers for the 1st time (I had the pleasure of meeting Al Capp, a mysteriously brilliant guy who supplied the first WRKO morning show with comedy material)...
Wedding Bells: 1960] Sammy Davis Jr. marries Swedish actress May Britt (the marriage lasts 8 years, Babe)...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...
Commentary...
My thanks to Dick Summer for his mention in his latest blog (which we have linked). If there's a better story teller, I can't imagine who it might be. Nice job Richard...
Norm N. Nite sends along his choice for a "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly" choice. Seattle Seahawks running back Marquis Weeks with a picture of his 100-yard kickoff return for a TD (in his senior year at Virginia U.). The caption contains the Weeks quote: "That was just instinct, kind of like running from the cops". Weeks thus becomes the 1st "Bad" emeritus...
And thanks to Harry Weinstein for the funny yet disgustingly revealing picture of a nursing home conga line which will never be shown here. It did make me laugh Harry...and some "Happy Trails" to announce, starting with 87-year old tough-guy actor Jack Palance who made us all laugh at the 1992 Academy Awards with his one-hand pushups. To Buddy Killen (I'm late with this one) who was a partner of Jack Stapp (my GM at WKDA Nashville) who founded Tree International. Buddy was 73 and had pancreatic cancer. This was a nice man. R&B singer Gerald Levert left us at 40 (I knew his Dad Eddie of the O'Jays when Philadelphia International was distributed by Epic)...and finally former All-Star shortstop Buddy Kerr who was 84 and was a star with the Braves, starting in Boston and in recent years worked for the Mets...Enough already, let's celebrate birthdays...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Jimmy Kimmel (39), Chris Noth (50), Whoopi Goldberg (57), Joe Mantegna (59) and Garry Marshall (72)...
Timeline Countdown: 11 days until Thanksgiving, 32 days until Chanukah, 42 days until Christmas, 48 days until 2007, 55 days until the NFL playoffs and 83 days until Super Bowl XLI in Miami...
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