It's been a Halluva week...
First we had the election of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, then yesterday we got the results of the Baseball Hall of Fame voting and if the Cheaters Hall of Fame holds an election, Mark McGwire gets in unanimously but judging by yesterdays results we have this advice for Big Mac: Don't hold your androstenedione breath. That was the steroid precursor that was legal when the slugger started spiking his orange juice with it. McGwire also refused to answer direct questions about his past in front of Congress to compound being tainted by taking the stuff in the first place...
Cal Ripken Jr. received 98.53% of the votes, the third highest percentage in Hall of Fame history behind Tom Seaver (98.84) and Nolan Ryan (98.79). Tony Gwynn finished 7th with 97.61%. Both were more than qualified for the Hall of Fame and as far as we know, the worst thing Ripken ever did was give Eddie Murray a hotfoot in the dugout but who deserved it more? You think Gwynn is guilty of anything besides giving opposing pitchers migraines by spraying hits with every pitch they threw him???
The 23.5% vote received by McGwire was a message delivered to those using steroids illegally or planning to do something dumb like that in the future. Unless of course you don't mind waiting your turn for induction into the Cheaters Hall of Fame. But you'll have to get in line behind Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa...
Today we link up with the video (in glorious black and white) of Jerry Lee Lewis singing his number one hit (live) from January 10, 1958: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qa-eKx9Du4&mode=related&search=
Timeline Memories...
"Happy Trails": 2004] Actor-writer Spalding Gray, 62, vanishes from his Manhattan apartment (2 months later his body is found floating in the East River, an apparent suicide)...
"Elvis is in the building": 1956] Elvis Presley does his 1st Nashville recording session for RCA. "Heartbreak Hotel", the first song published by Tree Publishing was one of the songs recorded. It was released on January 27th backed by "I Was The One" and would top the Pop, and R&B charts and reach top 5 on the Country chart...
Uncommon Common Sense: 1776] Thomas Paine publishes the pamphlet "Common Sense" (a forerunner of "The Drudge Report")...
| Down under: 1863] Britain's Prime Minister Gladstone opens the 1st section of the London Underground Railway which will run from Paddington to Farringdon Streets... Oil Money: 1870] John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil... Vinyl is final: 1949] Vinyl records are introduced by Columbia and RCA Records... Premiered on this date: 1949] "The Goldbergs", on radio since 1929, goes to TV (CBS-TV and then NBC and Dumont) and it runs until 1956...1964] The U.S. version of "That Was The Week That Was" premieres with Nancy Ames and David Frost as part of the "newsmakers" cast...1967] PBS begins as a 70-station network...1971] "Masterpiece Theatre" premieres on PBS, hosted by Alistair Cooke (the 1st drama series run was "The First Churchills")... The Final Curtain": 1969] The final Saturday Evening Post hits the newsstands after 147 years of publication...2003] Thomas D. Mottola is out at SONY after 14 years at the helm (one voluptuous singer with a 5-octave range throws a party)...2005] CBS issues a damning independent review of mistakes related to a "60 Minutes Wednesday" report of President Bush's National Guard Service. They fire 3 news executives and a producer for their "myopic zeal" in rushing it to air. One non-myopic network news anchor starts backing up the truck... #1 on this date: 1958] Cick on Jerry Lee Lewis video link above to find out... "The Catch": 1982] Joe Montana hits Dwight Clark for "The Catch" giving the 49ers a 28-27 comeback win over Dallas, putting San Francisco in the Super Bowl to face Cincinnati the following week... Cha-Ching: 1990] Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. complete a $14 billion merger making Time Warner the world's largest entertainment company. 2000] Same Jan. 10th date, Time Warner agrees to buy AOL in the largest-ever corporate merger priced at $162 billion. The FTC approves the deal on December 14th, 2000 (How'd that deal work out?)... Stud of the Year: 2000] Melissa Etheridge ends her silence, naming David Crosby as the father of her child raised by her and partner Julie Cypher... "Geronimo": 2001] American Airlines agrees to acquire most of TWA's assets (and debts) for about $500 million, ending TWA's financially troubled flight-uh-plight... [To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in each timeline]... Commentary... Some interesting e-mail including Bob Sherwood's comment on the current (but lacking) BCS system of college football playoffs: "Giving the devil his due, were it not for the BCS there's no way in hell that vaunted Oklahoma would've agreed to play undefeated Boise State and we would've been deprived of one of the great college games of this and the last century." Good point Bob. Now if we can just get them to allow a Boise State (13-0 and the only undefeated team in the country) into the title game...From Joe McCoy, commenting on the Ronettes video link: "youtube is unbelievable! Great Ronettes videos...I watched a bunch. Happy they made it in. Now if the other "legends" like: Sedaka, Chicago, Connie Francis, etc. could get in then they would finally right the wrongs of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame"...From Paul Power: "Ronnie looks great singing "Be My Baby" and you can tell she was enjoying herself. I'd like to hear Ronnie's version of "Don't Worry Baby" which was done with Brian Wilson (who actually wrote the song for her) some years ago"...If it can be found Paul, I'll use it as a link... |
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Pat Benatar (54), George Foreman (58), Steely Dan's Donald Fagen (59), Rod Stewart (62 hmmm), Willie McCovey (69) and Ronnie Hawkins (72)...
Timeline Countdown: 3 days until NFL Divisional playoffs, 11 days until Conference playoffs, 25 days until Super Bowl XLI and 36 days until 'pitchers and catchers'...
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