“But tonight, our little project, our company had a very big night– a very, very big night. But it wasn’t complete, wasn’t nearly close to being in the same vicinity as complete, because I couldn’t share it with you. I couldn’t hear your voice or laugh about it with you. I miss my… I miss my wife…… We live in a cynical world, a cynical world and we work in a business of tough competitors. I love you. You… complete me…. And I just had…”

“Shut up. Just shut up. You had me at hello.”

You think you might have grown more cynical as you’ve gotten older. You think you might not like “Jerry Maguire” as much as you did when it came out today in 1996. You would though, cuz nobody is that cynical. I mean, how can you not like this?

It was today in 2003 that Operation Red Dawn came to an end when Saddam Hussein was pulled from a spider-hole in ad-Dawr, Iraq. Hussein and his regime were responsible for the deaths of up to 200,000 civilians. And yes, the operation was named after the 1984 Patrick Swayze flick of the same name.

Today in 1545 began the Council of Trent. It was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church that convened for 25 sessions over 18 years it Italy. It was a time of reformation in the church and the council ended up specifying Catholic doctrine on salvation, the sacraments, and the biblical canon. That’s all. It’s not like they were trying to figure out a college football playoff or anything.

Tonight in 1990, “Cheers” ran it’s 207th episode, “Woody Interruptus.” The episode won director James Burrows and Emmy and introduced us to Henri, the ladies man who Woody’s girlfriend Kelly brought back from France with her. “Woooooody…. I’m going to steal your girlfriend.”

Charles Woodson became the first and only defensive player to ever win the Heisman Trophy today in 1997.

Happy Birthday to Taylor Swift. She’s got a pretty remarkable catalogue for being just 23. Her top five:

1. Love Story

2. Ours

3. You Belong With Me

4. Tim McGraw

5. Back To December

— Bill Hubbell

The Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor today in 1941. 2,400 casualties. The United States declared war on Japan following the attack. World War II was on for America.

Tonight in 1969, CBS debuted “Frosty The Snowman,” which instantly became a Christmas classic.

“Edward Scissorhands” hit screens today in 1990. On the heels of “Cry Baby,” Scissorhands cemented Johnny Depp’s spot as a movie star and began a long collaboration with Tim Burton.

Larry Legend is 56 years old today.

— Bill Hubbell

The longest running television Christmas special debuted tonight on NBC in 1964. “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” used stop motion animation by Rankin/Bass. The original airing of the special didn’t have Santa stopping at the Island of Misfit Toys to pick up the misfits, but it was added in for the second year. “Fame and Fortune” was cut from the show by CBS in 1998 due to commercial restraints.

The day after the Rolling Stones album “Let It Bleed” was released, the Stones flew to California to play a free concert. The concert at Altamont became famous because four people were killed, including an 18-year old black man named Meredith Hunter. Hunter was stabbed to death by a Hell’s Angel. The Hell’s Angels had been hired by the Stones as security for the concert, which also featured Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Santana.

The Altamont concert came a year to the day after the Stones had released their ninth studio album, “Beggars Banquet,” which many critics hailed as their return to their roots and the beginning of their best run of albums. “Sympathy For The Devil,” “Street Fighting Man,” “Jigsaw Puzzle,” “No Expectations,” and “Salt Of The Earth” are all classics from the album. Watch the link to “Sympathy” and you can tell Jagger knew that trouble was brewing at Altamont.

It was today in 1865 that the 13th Amendment took affect in the United States, banning slavery. As all of us who saw, “Lincoln” know, the Amendment was passed by the House on January 31, 1965.

The very first edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica came out today in 1768. It used to be the only way any of us got our “big reports” done in school. It’s now called “google” and it weighs a lot less.

Woody Allen made a musical? “Everyone Says I Love You” came out today in 1996 and it was pretty damn good.

— Bill Hubbell

Will: What do I wanna way outta here for? I’m gonna live here the rest of my fuckin’ life. We’ll be neighbors, have little kids, take ’em to Little League up at Foley Field.
Chuckie: Look, you’re my best friend, so don’t take this the wrong way but, in 20 years if you’re still livin’ here, comin’ over to my house, watchin’ the Patriots games, workin’ construction, I’ll fuckin’ kill ya. That’s not a threat, that’s a fact, I’ll fuckin’ kill ya.
Will: What the fuck you talkin’ about?
Chuckie: You got somethin’ none of us have…
Will: Oh, come on! What? Why is it always this? I mean, I fuckin’ owe it to myself to do this or that. What if I don’t want to?
Chuckie: No. No, no no no. Fuck you, you don’t owe it to yourself man, you owe it to me. Cuz tomorrow I’m gonna wake up and I’ll be 50, and I’ll still be doin’ this shit. And that’s all right. That’s fine. I mean, you’re sittin’ on a winnin’ lottery ticket. And you’re too much of a pussy to cash it in, and that’s bullshit. ‘Cause I’d do fuckin’ anything to have what you got. So would any of these fuckin’ guys. It’d be an insult to us if you’re still here in 20 years. Hangin’ around here is a fuckin’ waste of your time.

Great, great dialogue and it helped win Matt Damon and Ben Affleck Academy Awards for Best Screenplay for, “Good Will Hunting,” which came out 15 years ago today.

Raise your glass tonight….Today in 1933 Prohibition was ended in the United States. The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th, which banned the sale, manufacturing and distribution of alcohol. Prohibition never really worked and led to mobsters and gangsters everywhere taking root and moving product. Kinda sounds a lot like what’s going on today with Mary Jane.

Speaking of corruption, “Serpico” hit screens today in 1973. Al Pacino followed up his work in “The Godfather,” with the true story of NY cop Frank Serpico, who went undercover to expose all the bad cops in NYC. Pacino was nominated for Best Actor, but lost out to Jack Lemmon, who won for, “Save the Tiger.” Pacino was in very good company as the other losers were Marlon Brando, Robert Redford and Jack Nicholson. Try to find a more heavyweight group of losers than that. You can’t.

Our final Hall of Fame movie that debuted on December 5 was released in 1984. “Beverly Hills Cop” was the role that shot Eddie Murphy into the stratosphere. It raked in $234 million dollars, making it the biggest film of the year, narrowly edging another classic comedy, “Ghostbusters.” Axel Foley was the perfect, smart-ass, cool character for Murphy to play.

The Rolling Stones released their 10th album today in 1969. “Let It Bleed” received five stars from both Rolling Stone and AllMusic and placed #32 on RS top 500 albums list from 2003. “Gimme Shelter,” “Let It Bleed,” “Midnight Rambler,” “Love in Vain,” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” made for one of the Stones best albums.

We’ll go a little further down the musical food chain with our last two items. You can poke fun, but they’ve both had fantastic careers themselves. Today in 2003, Chris Martin married Gwyneth Paltrow.

Happy Birthday to Johnny Rzeznik, who turns 47 today. His top six:

1. Slide

2. Name

3. Girl Right Next To Me

4. Broadway

5. We Are The Normal

6. Black Balloon

— Bill Hubbell

If you don’t cry, you’re not a man.

That can be legitimately be said about very few things in this world: Jimmy V’s speech, and um (no, not every time Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” comes on the radio)…. well, this… the benchmark for all American men and tears:

“Brian’s Song” debuted tonight in 1971 on ABC as the Movie of the Week. It tells the story of Chicago Bears running backs Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo and their unlikely bond, from competing for the same job to becoming the first black and white teammates to room together on the road. Piccolo first helps Sayers through his devastating knee injury and in turn, Sayers is there every step of the way as Piccolo is forced to fight cancer. They say all true stories end in death. This was a true story.

Tonight in 1977 on CBS saw the last Christmas special ever for Bing Crosby. The show saw the strange pairing of Crosby and David Bowie singing a medley of “Peace on Earth” and “The Little Drummer Boy,” it what would become an iconic television/Christmas moment.

As for iconic, the most best-selling album of all time hit the shelves today in 1982. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” has sold between 65 and 100 million copies worldwide. Seven of the albums nine songs were released as singles and anyone who was alive in the ’80’s can sing along to every word of every one of them.

1. Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin

2. Baby Be Mine

3. The Girl Is Mine (w Paul McCartney)

4. Thriller

5. Beat It

6. Billie Jean

7. Human Nature

8. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)

9. The Lady In My Life

Someone named Rod Temperton wrote the two non-hits. But he also wrote Thriller. Jackson died in 2009 and Thriller ended that year as the 14th best selling album of the year. Appropo of nothing, Elisha Cuthbert was born the day Thriller came out.

November 30 birthdays are shared by many great men, leaders and storytellers, not the least of which are: Mark Twain, Dick Clark, Jonathan Swift, Winston Churchill, Ridley Scott, David Mamet, Bo Jackson, Terrence Malick, and last, but certainly not least, Billy Idol.

— Bill Hubbell