The Good...The Bad...The Ugly of the Month...
The Good
Previous winners during the month: Mike Ditka (2/7) for his work on the NFL veterans pension benefits campaign, Jon Lester (2/15) of the Red Sox who beat cancer, the judge that ruled against O.J. Simpson (2/21), which hopefully will result in more blood money for the Goldman's and a new contender: Boomer Esiason who is the guest of honor at the New York Athletic Club's All Sports dinner tonight for his work in raising money for cystic fibrosis. And the winner is...Jon Lester, 23-year old Red Sox pitcher who not only has the potential for a good career but more importantly - a good life ahead of him...
The Bad
Previous winners: Reid Brothers (2/7), those bad-seed sons of Andy Reid for gun and drug possession and their arrests, Tim Hardaway (2/15) for his insensitive remarks about out of the closet former NBA player John Amaechi, a return performance (2/21) by the Reid boys and two new contenders: athletes and celebrities involved as customers of an illicit steroid-sales network where 4 company officials were arrested yesterday in Orlando. Athletes mentioned: Evander Holyfield, Jose Canseco and Gary Matthews Jr. This is a developing story and bears watching, the NHL brawl between Ottawa and Buffalo last week that resulted in a melee and a bad injury to Sabres co-captain Chris Drury and Jim Lampley who was sentenced to 3 years of probation for allegedly attacking a woman on New Year's Eve (Happy New Year Jim). And the winner is: The Reid Brothers...
The Ugly
Previous winners: former boxing champ Ricardo Mayorga (2/7) who was convicted on a rape charge and then failed to pay $56,000 for 4 cars he drove off with, the Detroit Lions coach, Joe Cullen (2/15) who dresses like the emperor with no clothes, Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy (2/21) who attacked a teammate at practice and Pacman Jones who was present at a shooting in a late night club and getting in trouble with the law 8 times since being drafted by the Tennessee Titans in April 2005. How can you get in trouble that many times in less than 2 years? Pacman is about to be reduced to a computer game as the Titans and NFL have just about had enough of this criminal. The winner (do you have to ask?) is Adam "Pacman" Jones...
Today's video links are contained in our "Happy Trails" and "#1 on this date" timelines...
Timeline Memories...
"Happy Trails": 1968] Frankie Lymon, lead singer of the Teenagers dies of a heroin overdose at 25. There's no telling how legendary Frankie would have been today had he lived. We have an appearance (black & white) of Frankie singing "Goody, Goody" from a 1957 Ted Steele Show on channel 5 in New York: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch-ubs_46c8 1974] Bobby Bloom ("Montego Bay") dies from a self-inflicted gun shot wound at 28...
(S) M*A*S*H ing ratings: 1983] The final episode of "M*A*S*H" draws a household rating of 60.2%. Seen in over 50 million homes it's the highest rated show of all-time (still is to this day). The series started in September, 1972...
Grand Old Party Time: 1854] The Republican Party is organized in Ripon (WI) when 50 opponents of slavery start the new political party...
Jumping it up: 1940] The 1st televised basketball game is aired on experimental TV station W2XBS in New York when Pittsburgh beats Fordham at Madison Square Garden. Only several hundred homes in New York watched the game that featured a 20-minute blackout caused by technical problems...
Going to helix: 1953] Scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick discover the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains human genes in a Cambridge University laboratory...
Winter Gold: 1960] The U.S. wins its 1st Olympic gold medal in hockey with a 9-4 win over Czechoslovakia at the Squaw Valley Games (CA)...
Grammy Gold: 1984] Michael Jackson wins a record 8 Grammy's for the LP "Thriller"...
Musical call letters: 1962] WMGM in New York City changes call letters to WHN...
#1 on this date: 1967] The Rolling Stones are #1 with "Ruby Tuesday", the "B" side of "Let's Spend The Night Together", banned by many stations but not by WRKO in our 2nd year of operation...1974] "Seasons in the Sun" - Terry Jacks (video link#2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkSJxJL4ldE )...
Waco goes Wacko: 1993] U.S. Federal agents raid the compound of the Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh in Waco (TX). The 51-day standoff will result in the killing of 4 agents and 6 Davidians including Koresh...
Baseball gets Busted: 1986] 21 major league players are fined or suspended including Keith Hernandez and Dave Parker in the largest drug scandal in baseball history (just the tip of the iceberg folks)...
The Brady bill is law: 1994] The Brady Law, imposing a waiting period for hand-gun purchases goes into effect...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in each timeline]...
Commentary
Jay Clark, former head of programming for Sirius e-mailed some kind words on our take on the Sirius/XM proposed merger. Mel Karmazin kicks off the campaign to sell the merger as he testifies before the newly created House Antitrust Task force hearings in Washington today. Look for lots of pros and cons in the days ahead before a final determination is made by the Justice Dept. and FCC. Jay, now retired and enjoying Florida life is always welcome here to offer his take on the merger. Consider that an open invitation Jay...Results of the Veterans Committee, which were zilch, zippo, nada - no baseball vets added to the Hall of Fame. The two closest to getting in were: Ron Santo and Jim Kaat. Here's the problem with this committee: baseball writers who see all teams and players in the game are not allowed to vote. The vast majority of the 82-member committee consists of Hall of Famers who, for the most part don't see enough players to pass judgement on prospective Hall of Famers. They only see teammates or teams they played against but not the whole spectrum of players seen by writers in the cities where teams play. This has to change or we won't have any new veterans in the Hall...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Robert Sean Leonard (Dr. Wilson on 'House') (38), Gilbert Gottfried (52), Bernadette Peters (59), Joe South (67), Mario Andretti (67), Tommy Tune (68), Hall of Fame basketball coach Dean Smith (76), Gavin MacLeod (76) and Charles Durning (84)...
Timeline Countdown: 21 days until spring and 32 days until Opening Day...
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