The Good...The Bad...The Ugly...
The Good
This was a contest between the eventual "good guy" and former U.S. Senator George Mitchell who has no real power in the ongoing doping investigation in baseball but can threaten the real "dopes" (player and owner alike) in the sport with calling in the dogs for a congressional intervention if they don't play ball. That gives him power in itself. This is a good thing. But this week's "good guy" is 87-year old Sir Edmund Hillary who returned to Antarctica on Saturday to mark the anniversary of his drive to the South Pole in 1955 using a modified farm tractor. He was the first person to drive to the pole. The trip came two years after Hillary and Sherpa guideTenzing Norgay (one of the all-time, truly great names) became the first people to scale Mount Everest, the world's tallest peak. Congratulations Sir Hillary...
The Bad
| As always there were a few candidates for this award, among them were: Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Johnathan Joseph (the old radio rule applies here - never trust anyone with two first names) who had the distinction of becoming the 9th Bengal arrested in the last 9 months. He was charged with marijuana possession over the weekend. There was Hawks forward Josh Smith who was fined $25,000 for flipping the crowd in Charlotte with the middle finger of both hands, Mike Tyson who pleaded "not guilty" in his drug possession and DUI charge and then there was former cycling world champion Johan Museeuw (who is looking for more consonants) who admitted he resorted to doping during the last year of his career but the award goes to: Chicago Bears DT Tank Johnson who was given court approval to play in the Super Bowl despite 10 counts of possession of firearms without a state gun-owner ID card. Oh yes, Johnson was also arrested 3 times in 18 months and was present when his bodyguard was shot and killed during an early morning fight at a nightclub yet he is under no special restrictions or court supervision when he travels to Miami and plays in the Super Bowl. Life is good, right Tank??? The Ugly |
It was between the late Andre Waters, ex-NFL defensive back who committed suicide in November and the eventual winner. A ruling from a forensic pathologist who studied Waters' brain tissue is that brain damage caused on the football field ultimately led to his suicide. Bennet Omalu of the University of Pittsburgh said that "Waters' brain resembled that of an 85-year old man and there were characteristics of early stage Alzheimer's", a very sad tale but the winner is: Former Penn State defensive lineman, LaVon Chisley. The 23-year old was arrested in the killing of a student who was stabbed 93 times last spring. Chisley was arraigned on charges of 1st and 3rd degree murder in the death of Langston Carraway who was booted off the football team before the 2005 season because of poor grades. Apparently Chisley knew Carraway...And that's this week's edition of TGTBTU...
Our video link belongs to Birthday Boy Neil Diamond who turns 66 today. It's a video of the Fenway Park crowd singing along to the song that's become an 8th inning ritual at all home games : "Sweet Caroline". With the Patriots season over and Boston being a 2-season sports city over the last several years, enjoy a hint of what this summer will bring and lift your voices loud and clear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X_YplqwbLQ&mode=related&search=
Timeline Memories...
"Happy Trails": 1965] Winston Churchill passes away in London, the results of an earlier stroke. Churchill was 90...1993] Retired Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall dies of heart failure at 84...
"Krafty move": 1994] New England businessman Robert Kraft buys the Patriots for $172 million (during his ownership tenure the Pats have won 3 Super Bowls after having won less than half of their games)...
"Musical Chairs": 1980] Original Mets owner Joan Whitney Payson sells the team to Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon for a reported $21.1 million, the most ever paid for a major league franchise at the time. In 2002 Wilpon will get full control of the team, buying Doubleday's shares...
"There's gold in them thar hills": 1848] James W. Marshall discovers a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California. The discovery leads to the gold rush of '49...
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon": 1888] The typewriter ribbon is patented by Jacob L. Wortman (I hope the typewriter has been invented)...
"Step on it": 1899] Humphrey O'Sullivan patents the rubber heel (a heeluva discovery)...
"You scream, I scream, we all scream":..1922] Iowan Christian K. Nelson patents the Eskimo Pie (he decides to change corn, the original ingredient, to ice cream)...
Recorded on this date: 1957] "Teddy Bear" - Elvis Presley...
#1 on this date: 1974] "You're Sixteen" - Ringo Starr (with brief solo by Paul McCartney)...
"Take my word for it": 1962] Brian Epstein becomes the Beatles' manager (although he has the Beatles sign a contract which he does not sign). He cleans up their image, dressing them in matching suits...
Gunned Down: 1970] James "Shep" Sheppard (The Heartbeats and Shep and The Limelites) is found murdered in his car on the Long Island Expressway...
"Bye-bye, so long, farewell": 1989] Confessed serial killer Ted Bundy is put to death in Florida's electric chair for the 1978 kidnapping and killing of 12-year old Kimberly Leach...
"Marcia, Marcia, Marcia": 1995] The prosecution gives its opening statement at the O.J. Simpson murder trial...
Red Light, Green Light (and everything in between): 2003] The Department of Homeland Security begins operations under Tom Ridge...
Going to Hall: 2003] Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" and Peter, Paul and Mary's "Blowin' In The Wind" are among 21 new additions to the Grammy Hall of Fame...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in each timeline]...
Commentary...
Yesterday we gave you an update of the ongoing KDND "death by water intoxication" controversy and recently Harvey Mednick, one of the brightest and most creative promotion executive minds in the business offered his comments on the subject: "I agree with the suggestion that the station/owners be fined mightily and the proceeds given to the widower/kids of the victim. As you well know, promotions should be vetted for danger by some management entity to prevent exactly what happened with any hint, no matter how remote, of a physical challenge as the immediate disqualifier. They're supposed to be fun, as you and I both know from the years we spent creating them, with a pay-off that's really for the benefit of the listeners who do not participate---not a life threatening situation to those who do. Too sad, and stupid". No further comment necessary from me...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Mischa Barton (21), Mary Lou Retton (39), Yakov Smirnoff (56), Aaron Neville (66), Neil Diamond (66), Ray Stevens (68), Oral Roberts (79), Marvin ("Alice") Kaplan (80) and Ernest Borgnine (80)...
Timeline Countdown: 11 days until Super Bowl XLI, 22 days until 'pitchers and catchers' and 56 days until spring...
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