by John Walters

Starting Five

“It’s People! Soylent Green Is People!”

The 1973 flick Soylent Green was on the TCM this morning (as part of Edward G. Robinson month, although considering the month it is, why isn’t it Virginia Mayo month???). So you probably know that it’s about a not-too-distant-future America (from 1973’s vantage point) with a preponderance of elderly, massive economic inflation, and a food shortage.

So the government clandestinely solves the problem by ridding itself of the elderly and processing them into food. It’s 2020 and we’ve taken every step but the final one. But you know, maybe coming soon to a Smithfield’s near you… Grandma!

Quite A Gui!

He’s 11 years old, and he just landed the first 1080 (three complete revolutions) on a vert ramp in the history of skateboarding. That’s Gui Khury of Brazil doing it.

Tony Hawk never did that; Hawk accomplished a 900 in 1999.

Eight years ago, 12 year-old Tom Schaar did turn a 1080, but he did so on a megaramp, which allowed him to build up more speed.

Here’s the thing about skateboarding, as opposed to its companion activity surfing: no one ever gets bitten by a shark skateboarding.

“Thousands Of Americans Must Die For The Dow”

In today’s excellent New York Times opinion column, “Dying For The Dow,” Paul Krugman argues that the Trump White House has abandoned any pretense of managing the pandemic here in the Lower 48. It’s all about the pulse of the stock market, not of the 1,000-plus Americans who are perishing daily.

Someone at the White House did the calculus. Even if we lose 3.5 million Americans, a number that seems both huge and obscene, that’s only 1% of the population. To them that’s a very fair tax to pay in order to keep their resorts open and Net Jets flying. As Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick infamously said last month, “There are more important things than life.”

By the way, we’ll hit 100,000 domestic coronavirus deaths, at least officially, some time during Memorial Day weekend. My guess is Sunday. Fitting, no?

Why Is 13 Unlucky?

A younger colleague (as most are now) asked me this yesterday and I had no reply. So I looked it up for all you triskaidekaphobians out there. According to Wikipedia, three possible historical explanations:

— The Last Supper had 13 people at the table (notice I didn’t write “men” because I read The DaVinci Code, too). Think of Judas as the 13th Man, which is almost but not entirely unlike Texas A&M’s 12th Man.

–On October 13, 1307, King Phillip IV of France ordered the arrest of most of the Knights Templar, most of whom were killed (again, The DaVinci Code, which must have explained all this 13 stuff, but I forgot). The KT were a Catholic military order which, yes, sounds a little off-message.

–Years with 13 full moons were very hard on calendar-making monks.

Anyway, two things about 13 worth noting, numerically: 1) It is the first emirp (that’s an actual word that is sorta self-explanatory), that is the first prime number of two different digits that, when read backwards, is also a prime number (otherwise “11” would be) and 2) Though a prime number, it is a sum of two squared numbers (2 and 3; as is “5”, by the way, the first such).

Remote Patrol

Mad Monster Party

8 p.m. TCM

Remember—how long ago was it, yesterday?—when I wrote that you would be better served if I wrote about stuff that was going to be on TCM before it aired? Well, here you go. A puppet-animation classic from 1967 that’s part camp, part horror, part love story, part comedy. I happened upon this a long, long time ago as a boy and have loved it ever since. If you’ve seen, you do, too.

I’ve got to work so will miss most of it. Lucky you.

Sports Year 1895

On February 9 in Holyoke, Mass., William G. Morgan creates the sport of volleyball (then known as “mintonette”). Maybe if he’d just called it volleyball he’d be as widely known as James Naismith. Same state, four years apart, by the way.

If you’re wondering, yes, Morgan knew Naismith. He met him in 1892 while studying for a P.E. career at the very Springfield YMCA where hoops was born.

***

On September 3 in Latrobe, Pa., the first professional football game is played. Latrobe YMCA defeats the Jeannette Athletic Club, 12-0, after which Stephen A. Smith declares them “The GOAT!”

***

Automobile races are beginning to rival, and replace, six-day races in popularity. Italy holds its first, while France holds one that takes place in 11 stages: the first rally. The Paris-to-Bordeaux race is the first in which all competitors start at the same time and the winner, Paul Kochlin, completes the course in 48 hours.

The Chicago Times-Herald sponsors an automobile race, featuring six vehicles, from Chicago to Evanston and back, 54 miles. What’s really going on here? The fledgling industry is attempting to drum up public sentiment for the horseless carriage.

In this same year, by the way, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius publishes a paper titled, “”On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air Upon The Temperature of the Ground.” That is, the first paper on the “Greenhouse Effect.”

****

Meanwhile in human-powered transport, women’s six-day racing becomes all the rage. Tillie Anderson, cycling in and around Chicago, breaks the century record, pedaling 100 miles in six hours, 52 minutes and 15 seconds.

****

Penn becomes the fourth different Ivy League institution, by our count, to be named the college football champions (after Yale, Princeton and Harvard…we’re not holding out much hope for you, Brown).

***

The first U.S. Open, in golf, is held in Newport, R.I. Horace Rawlins wins.

***

Thank you, Jacob.

by John Walters

Starting Five

Bye, George

The world’s second-loveliest Phyllis has passed away. Phyllis George, the progenitor of all that was to follow of women in sports broadcasting, passed away at the age of 70.

George, who began as a co-host on CBS’ NFL Today a few years after winning Miss America, was the first and remains the most charismatic of women in sports broadcasting. It was the mid-1970s. The networks ruled television and CBS ruled the networks: All In The Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Carol Burnett Show, M*A*S*H, 60 Minutes and The Waltons. A murderer’s row (Dallas would come couple years later).

Then on Sunday, at 12:30 p.m., Brent Musburger and Irv Cross were joined by George, who was not only stunningly beautiful (“George-ous”) but charming and savvy. A true Texan gal. She was the first, and she’s still the best.

It’s Not Nice To Fool (With) Mother Nature

Yesterday, in The New York Times, Thomas Friedman said everything I wanted to say (and plenty that I already have, I believe).

Hold The Mayo!

We caught the 1952 film She’s Working Her Way Through College on the TCM the other night, which was utterly charming and cornball. But, and we know it would be better to tell you about movies before we’d watched them so that you could see them, too, think of this as a reminder to watch it the next time it comes around. Items:

–The title is a misnomer. The “She” in the title, Angela Gardner, played by Virginia Mayo, has already worked and earned enough money, on her own, to attend college. Now she’s simply attending college.

–Mayo was 31 when this film was released. Known better as the selfish wife in The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946), Mayo is dazzling here as a dancer (it’s a musical) while playing a smart, independent woman. She reminds us of someone we know and she’s terrific.

–Near the end of the film, Ronald Reagan, as the professor who is defending Mayo’s honor, delivers a speech that helps you to understand why he would later be such a natural in the White House. It’s also a cleverly disguised speech against McCarthyism.

–The school is named Midwestern State, the football uniforms are blue and gold, and there’s a sign held aloft at a football rally that reads, “Beat Michigan.” No wonder I loved this film.

–A word here for Mayo’s co-star, Gene Nelson. Man, this dude was talented. He’s an incredible dancer but there’s also a scene that allows him to show off in a 50’s style gymnasium (and I don’t think they used a double) where he proves himself to be a top-flight gymnast, boxer and even basketball player—all while singing. I know they dubbed Mayo’s voice, but I’m not sure if they dubbed his. Either way, I don’t know why he wasn’t a more major star.

–Mayo’s nemesis, Ivy, is played by Patrice Waymore. In real life Waymore was married to Errol Flynn at the time, which was its own special brand of connubial hell. The two were wed from 1950 until Flynn’s death in 1959. At the time Flynn died, of a sudden illness while flying to Canada, he was traveling with a 17 year-old girl as his companion.

–If, like us, you grew up watching Happy Days but had not lived through the Fifties, you’ll see where Garry Marshall “borrowed” an Easter Egg or two from this film. For instance, the place where young couples go to “neck” is named Inspiration Point.

So, yeah, we liked this film plenty. And Ronald Reagan does a wonderful job. Put him in a film on a college campus and he always delivered.

Olive and Mabel

“913 squirrels chased, none caught…” That’s Scottish sports broadcaster Andrew Cotter, who has touched a nerve (or a funny bone) with these videos starring his two pooches, one who is a “very good dog” and the other who displays a “lack of focus.”

Animals are the best. We’re lucky we have them to save us from one another.

Sports Year 1894

On July 22nd the world’s first competitive motor race is staged in France, from Paris to Rouen. The winner of the 78-mile race, driving a Peugeot, is Albert LeMaitre.

***

Injuries, due mainly to the flying wedge formation, lead to four players being crippled during the annual Harvard-Yale game (now known as the Hampden Park Blood Bath). The Big game will be suspended until 1897 and the Army-Navy game will be suspended until 1898 for similar reasons.

****

The Baltimore Orioles win the first of three National League championships. A postseason championship series, the Temple Cup, is introduced, pitting the N.L.’s top two clubs against one another. Seems fine, right?

No. After four years and with the regular season runner-up winning three times, it is disbanded. Fans think of it as unfair that the regular season champ is not rewarded appropriately. What a novel concept.

***

by John Walters

We’ll be taking a few days off next week. Not going on vacation. Not sick. Just that we’ve got a big project due and we’ll be putting aside all scribbling projects except for that until it’s completed. Adjust your schedule accordingly.

Starting Five

How To Overcome A Financial Crisis In One Bold Stroke

Anyone notice whom the president appears to be directing most of his hostility towards this week, besides female correspondents? That’s right, it’s GYNA!

“Why don’t you ask GYNA?” to a reporter on Monday and then more tweets later in the week. Yesterday on Fox Business News he told his old gal pal in the media Maria Bartiromo, after blaming the entire crisis on China, “There are many things we could do…we could cut off the whole relationship [with China]. Now if you did, what would happen? You’d save $500 billion.”

Not exactly sure on Trump’s math, but that’s not really the point. He needs to serve up red meat to his base (and they may not be seeing red meat in the coming days) and so why not pick on China? Certainly, the Chinese are clandestine, not rules-abiding and duplicitous (all the traits Trump usually admires in a person or institution), but not when he’s on the other end of their game.

Yesterday I was texting back and forth with some (smarter) friends. One who has made GONZO amounts of money in the stock market. I asked him how all of these bad financial numbers stop. And he wrote, “World War II rescued us from the Great Depression… just sayin’.”

Will We Meat Again?

This campaign may not have worked, but our bovine buddies are about to be in the clear, at least for the time being, thanks to Covid-19. Hear me now and listen to me later: there’s about to be a massive shortage in beef and pork. Massive.

If you like red meat, suggest you buy some today at your local market. Or go on to kansascitysteaks.com. I’d be more concerned about ginning up a run on beef if this site had more readers. But since it does not, I don’t think this warning, here, will incite mass hysteria. But I’m telling you, trust me on this one, beef and pork is about to become scarce as meat processing plants close down. For the time being, at least, chicken will remain plentiful.

It may finally be time for crickets to become the meat of choice, no?

Last night, and this is independent of MH’s info, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appeared on Rachel Maddow and tackled this because New York state has a meat processing plant or two that’s experiencing mass infections. Cuomo said, and I’m paraphrasing, “It’s not a meat issue. It has nothing to do with the meat itself. It’s a density issue. It’s how closely people are working together. One person infected in one of those plants becomes a ‘super spreader,‘ which is another term I never knew and that I wish I didn’t know.”

Here’s another reason we love Cuomo: Maddow asked him if and when there’s a second wave of the virus, if he thinks the federal government will respond differently. Cuomo flatly said No. “They’ve established their gameplan,” he said (again, paraphrasing).

Cuomo didn’t offer false hope, at least in terms of a federal response. Remember in the early days of this (back when I was on Twitter) when you’d be chided for not being hopeful, for not being optimistic, as if that would have any effect on the virus? What dopes. All any elected official owes any of us now (or any time) is the truth. What’s so difficult about that?

On this same show, by the way, Maddow showed charts that demonstrated that New York’s curve has a serious downslope (that’s good) the past two weeks and that today New York is opening up ONLY if certain distinct regions have met each of seven conditions that are all fact- or data-based. And New York is not opening up as a whole but each of 10 distinct regions must meet EACH of those criteria.

Meanwhile, Maddow also showed how other states, Trump states, are simply opening up as if it’s Black Friday but how each of their coronavirus curves (e.g. Texas and Mississippi and South Dakota and Arizona) are in the midst of a massive climb.

Keep praying to your devout Christian God while actually worshipping the Almighty Dollar and Donald Trump, folks. It’s only the lives of your fellow citizens that you’re squandering. How many deaths in your state is it going to take, I wonder?

Covid M*A*S*H-up

You may have already seen this, but the producers of M*A*S*H had this entire coronavirus deal explained nearly 50 years ago.

Mexicoronavirus

We check worldometers.info daily and find it to be the easiest source for checking up on basic coronavirus statistics (cases, deaths, and both by country). And what we’ve noticed in the past week is that one country whose numbers are really jumping is Mexico (Brazil, too, by the way).

Mexico reported 257 dead yesterday—the most of any nation by a factor of nearly two.

Miercoles: 294 deaths.

Martes: 108 deaths.

Lunes: 112 deaths

Dia de la Madre: 193 deaths.

There are some other Iberian-influenced nations in the New World dealing with similar spikes. On Mother’s Day, Brazil reported 467 deaths and Eduador reported 422 deaths. Not sure if that was a bookkeeping issue catching up with past cases being re-categorized.

Another stat to note is that this truly is a pandemic. Madagascar, an island off the east coast of Africa, has cases and deaths. Andorra, the tiniest little country located in the Pyrenees pinched between Spain and France, has cases. Montenegro has cases. Nepal. San Marino, which is not a gated community in Orange County but rather a minuscule and mountainous principality within Italy, San Marino has cases.

It’s everywhere. And no one has more cases than the good ol’ USA. No one else comes close.

Sports Year 1893

On April 8, the first college basketball game is played in Beaver Falls, Pa., between Geneva College and New Brighton YMCA. Seven minutes in Dickie V. yells, “Better get a T.O., baby!” Geneva wins.

***

Alabama and Auburn, on February 22, play football for the first time. They meet at Lakeview Baseball Park in Birmingham. The Tide lose 40-16, thus finishing their second season with an 0-4 record. Soon after the Alabama athletic department puts out a press release declaring the school national champions.

***

In baseball, the distance from pitcher’s mound to home plate increases from 55 feet to 60 feet, 6 inches. The rubber is also implanted. With only one league now, the National League, the annual champion is simply the team with the best record at season’s end. The Boston Beaneaters are champs. I’m not sure why Susie B. thinks “Beaneaters” is any better a name than “Infants,” but we may never find out since she never reads this far down.

***

Jack McAuliffe, who fought out of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, retires as Lightweight champion of the world undefeated. The “Napoleon of the Ring” was born in Cork, Ireland and stood 5’6″. He exited the ring 29-0-10 and married two stage actresses, setting a trend in boxing that has never ended. The pug and the dame.

****

Lottie Dod wins her fourth and final Wimbledon singles championship. She is 21.

***

The Preakness, which was held in the Bronx in 1890, is not run for the third consecutive year, making it quite impossible to win the Triple Crown (which no one has yet done). It will be staged in New York, in Coney Island, between 1894-1908 before returning to Pimlico.

***

Also in baseball, Piggy Ward of the Baltimore Orioles reaches base safely 17 consecutive times, a mark that will stand until Earl Averill of the Angels ties it in 1962.. Bill Hawke, also of the Orioles, pitches the first no-hitter from the modern mound distance.

***

Using the revolutionary “safety bicycle” (both wheels the same size), Albert Schock rides 1,600 miles in one week and blows the doors off all entrants in a six-day race. The modern bicycle is finally here.

by John Walters

Groundhog Day

Yesterday I phoned an old friend, a mom who has four school-aged children. It was school hours, so I asked, “What class are you teaching right now?”

“P.E.,” she said.

Lovely. If you are a parent, particularly with multiple youngsters, you have our empathy (but no, we’re not interested in being your relief pitcher… this is the price you pay for not wanting to die alone when you’re old). But if you are single, and not dying, we want once again to implore you: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY.

The classic 1993 film Groundhog Day is a philosophical existential exercise cleverly disguised as a comedy. The question it asks: “How would you live your life if you had to repeat the exact same day over and over and over again?”

The correct answer is not, “Watching Netflix.”

Carpe diem. Because it’s all the same diem right now. And even in the future when it won’t be, it still is. That’s the lesson.

Dying To Be Free

In Wisconsin, the conservative state Supreme Court overruled the Democratic governor’s “Stay-at-home” order. Shocker!

In Texas, an armed man with “We The People” tattooed on his forearm plans to exercise his 2nd Amendment rights to protect businesses that defy stay-at-home orders and open. Because his bullets will say what the law is, sumbitch.

Meanwhile, there’s no vaccine in sight. Not in 2020. And in the last two days coronavirus-related deaths have ramped up above 1,500 each day in the U.S.A. We’re at 85,000-plus officially (probably closer to 90 to 100,000) and it’s somewhat funny, at least to us, that they’re predicting 147,000 deaths by August.

That’s only August. It’s going to come back with a vengeance in autumn (unless it “magically disappears’ as our mental giant commander-in-chief believes) and if we reopen now, without a vaccine, let’s just go to 500,000 domestic deaths between now and next May 14.

Still not enough deaths to dissuade the GOP and Wall Street.

You can empathize with the financial suffering. You can also understand that sometimes the short-term pain is worth the long-term gain. Even one million dead is less than one-third of 1% of the population. And you may be of the mind that that’s not a large enough percentage to close down the country economically. And I’m not here to tell you that you’re right or wrong. Only to remind you that arguing to reopen the nation now is likely to translate to half a million or maybe even a million deaths.

Not a very large dent in the overall population. But totally unnecessary except that it will result in more fiscal distress, particularly to the rich and powerful.

You want the country to reopen? Fine. Just don’t attempt to dismiss the scientific experts’ speculations as to the death toll. I know you’re a Republican, but you don’t get to have both your way and the truth, too. Choose one or the other.

Exclamation Point Break*

*The judges will also accept “Friend Or Foam”‘

Difficult week for surfers. In northern California a 26 year-old died over the weekend due to a shark attack (or perhaps it was a Wicked Tuna?). Then on Monday night, in the Netherlands, five surfers died in a bizarre situation that involved a wall of sea foam and rescuers unable to reach them.

What exactly happened?

The group of surfers, all experienced, some lifeguards and/or surf instructors, went out to take advantage of waves created by heavy storms. Again, this is the North Sea, off The Hague. Not Hawaii or southern California. Wetsuits, obviously.

The storms created sea foam, the surfers got into trouble, and the first-responders were unable to reach them. Five of the six surfers, aged 22 to 38, perished.

Piano Manifest

Why did the retired London piano tuner deliver a product to a remote Himalayan region situated nearly 15,000 feet above sea level? Because it was there. The independent film Piano To Zanskar pretty much sums up the odyssey in its title. A 65 year-old Londoner, Desmond O’Keeffe, hears that a school in a distant and rugged place on the planet desires a piano and so he decides to deliver the goods. On such quixotic quests are unforgettable documentaries made.

We have not seen the 2018 film, which won the grand prize at the 2019 Banff Mountain Film Festival (and that must count for something, no?), but we’re hoping to. And soon. Maybe it’s on Netflix? Wait, what were we saying earlier?

Sports Year 1892

Yale’s Pudge Heffelfinger is paid $500 by the Allegheny Athletic Association to play in a game. Not only is he considered the first professional football player, but he is immediately declared ineligible for the Belk Bowl.

***

James Corbett defeats John L. Sullivan in 21 rounds to win the heavyweight championship of the world. He will hold the title for five years.

***

Two months after James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball, the first public game takes place between the students and faculty of the Springfield YMCA. The kids win 5-1, with the lone faculty goal being scored by one Amos Alonzo Stagg.

****

The National League absorbs four teams from the American Association and buys out the remaining four. For one year and one year only it plays a split schedule, with first- and second-half winners meeting in a championship series. The Boston Beaneaters defeat the Cleveland Spiders, winning five games of five. Another game ends in 0-0 tie after 11 innings.

***

In Canada, Lord Stanley announces his new trophy to be given to the winner of the ice hockey championship in Canada. The Tampa Bay Lightning announce they’ll win it someday.

***

Oliver Campbell, just 21, wins his third consecutive U.S. Open.

***

Jockey Alonzo “Lonnie” Clayton, who is African-American and only 15, wins the Kentucky Derby aboard Azra. He remains the youngest jockey to win the Run for the Roses.

by John Walters

A Response To Susie B.

Wanted to begin today’s sermon by responding to Susie B.’s questions in the comments yesterday. Please turn your hymnals to yesterday’s edition, then scroll down through the dozens of comments until you reach Susie B’s. This should not take too long. ‘

But, for those of you who simply do not have the time…

1. Why should retired folks that are receiving Social Security checks get the “Stimulus payment”? 

My housemate actually resembles this remark, Susie B. She received her check yesterday. Enjoying the rent-free and lasagna-rich lifestyle I currently do, I believe it prudent to not forward this question on to her.

2. What do you think about the attempted bill in Congress that will EXCUSE, not just delay but completely wipe out, one’s Rent or Mortgage payments while COVID rages on? AND the landlords/mortgage holders are not left holding the bag, [because] apparently the “govt” (i.e. TAXPAYERS) will reimburse them?

I think the Republicans do not have a monopoly on dumb ideas. I agree with Vic from New Jersey, whose rant we featured on this site a few weeks back. His fundamental idea is that if you have a rent or mortgage, you just push it back three months and then continue paying again after that. And as for the three months in arrears, you pay that back at the end of your mortgage or when your lease is up (or sooner, if you like). So yeah, that puts the hurt on landlords in the short term. Guess what? Landlords can afford it because the biggest bill most landlords have is… their own mortgage payment. But the average landlord has far more liquidity than his/her tenants.

3. If the federal govt really wants to help, monthly stimulus checks to all LIVING & not yet retired & getting Social Security makes more sense to me. AND the eligibility cut-off should be those who made less than $140k… What’s your opinion on this type of “stimulus”?

$140 K, eh, Susie B.? Nice neighborhood, that. So, basically, the Bottom 91%.

Anyway, I agree with the spirit of your idea and I’m about to go off on a jag…

See, when the pandemic’s economic effects first became clear in mid-March, the federal government had a very important choice to make: Would they rather save Americans or would they rather save American businesses? They chose the latter. To them, and to many analysts and guests on CNBC, this isn’t even a choice. It’s like choosing between sulfur and oxygen.

But it IS a choice only the GOP and CNBC suits don’t see it as one because their lives and or welfare is not at stake. By funneling money to big business and banks, the government voted to keep the heart of Wall Street beating…while countless Americans will (again) suffer, and many die needlessly, for the second time in the past dozen years.

It’s so ingrained in them that we are not a democracy but rather a plutocracy that it didn’t even seem obscene to them, which it is, that it’s more important to save American Airlines than it is to save Americans. But that’s honestly how they feel.

Let’s try to imagine their mindset: Well, if we just dole out the money to Americans, what will they do with it? Spend it?!? Um, yeah. And guess what happens when Americans spend money? The economy is pollenated, nourished, fertilized, what have you. It’s actually economically astute to give Americans who desperately need money money. Because they’ll spend it, and that will grease all the gears.

But see, Americans, 320 million though we may be, are a much smaller lobbying group than the cruise industry or the commercial airline industry. So pols give them money in return for political favors and “trust” them to pay their employees, although they’re free to lay off and/or furlough whomever they please.

Do we give the money to banks and business or to Butch and Betty? Child, please.

Of course, the funniest and most ludicrous part about all of this is that Republicans proudly wear all these Darwinist ideals on their epaulets, and capitalism is nothing more than economic Darwinism. But when it’s big business that natural selection is leaving behind in the jungle undergrowth, the government always steps in with socialist measures to save them. Funny, that.

Apparently, the government does not think we can do without a failing airline (we can, and we always have; ask Pan Am and TWA, etc.) But it does think we can do without half of America being able to afford the next two months of their lives.

Steve Mnuchin, Larry Kudlow, Trump and the rest had a choice: save big business or protect you and I. They made their choice. The fallacy is that Americans cannot do without major corporations. False. Where there’s a supply void, a smart capitalist will always step in to fill it. The companies that got saving were the companies that needed being saved. It’s funny how Republican pols have no problem discussing “culling the herd” when it comes to actual people but do have one when it comes to companies. Why is that?

McNeil Gets McReal

Watch all of this interview between New York Times science editor Don McNeil and Christiane Amanpour. Watch how intelligent and informed he is, how confident (“You can say ‘rush'”), how defiant (he notes that in the same way the CDC had a difficult time getting Trump to take them seriously, that he had a similarly difficult time getting his editors at the NYT to take him seriously about the virus), how candid (“I think [CDC director] Redfield should resign.”).

We fell hard for McNeil when we first heard him speak with Rachel Maddow on the last Friday night in February and we’ve only grown fonder of him since. We put him right up there with Dr. Anthony Fauci and Gov. Andrew Cuomo as one of the true American heroes of his disastrophe. And that all three have lived substantial portions of their lives in New York City only makes us prouder.

Later in the day the NYT released a statement saying that McNeil went “too far” in this interview in expressing his personal views. No, he went too far in being honest. People express their personal views in TV interviews every day. Most of them stay between the guardrails. Even more don’t know what they’re talking about.

McNeil is an expert on this subject. I appreciate his honesty here. We all should.

Sports Year 1891

On October 19, the first “Go As You Please” bicycle race is staged in Madison Square Garden. It’s a six-day race, and while that was nothing new, this was the first race that did not put a set limit on how many hours in a particular day the cyclists were allowed to race. It was all up to the cyclists how much or little sleep they decided to get.

At midnight Monday morning 14 riders from the U.S.A., England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany took off around the 1/10th mile track for what would be a race of 142 hours of duration (ending at 10 p.m. the following Saturday night).

“Plugger” Bill Martin, an Irish American, would win the race, pedaling a world-record (for that time span) 1,466 miles. The near equivalent of pedaling from Boston to Miami. He would take home $2,500 for the victory.

More importantly, the event kick-started the bicycle craze in the USA. Within a decade there would be about 300 bicycle manufacturers stateside. If we, as a civilization, had only stopped there, what a better world this would be.

***

James Naismith invents the game of basketball for his YMCA class in Springfield, Mass. He is Canadian (I am obliged to write that).

****

The National League-champion Boston Beaneaters decline to play the American Association champion Boston Reds in the World Series, citing travel costs. The American Association will fold after this season. Power move, Beaneaters. But it worked.

Worth noting that on the final day of the American Association season and thus, its history, rookie pitcher Ted Breitenstein of the St. Louis Browns makes his first Major League start (he had pitched in relief previously) and throws a no-hiiter. Breitenstein was one base on balls away from hurling a perfect game, but still faced the minimum 27 batters.

Breitenstein would be known, along with catcher Heinie Peitz, as the “Pretzel Battery” since both men were of German descent. I miss the days of this not being culturally insensitive but also just of people being named Heinie Peitz.

***

The inaugural French Open is held. A Brit wins. Sacre bleu!

****

Led by gargantuan guard Pudge Heffelfinger (6’4″, 178), Yale goes 7-0 and outscores its opponents 488-0. The Yalies are in the midst of a 37-game win streak under coach Walter Camp. Heffelfinger’s legacy will be as that of the first professional football player, the first known player to take money for playing (in games outside of Yale’s).

***

Kansas and Missouri play for the first time, initiating the oldest rivalry in college football that most of us don’t care about, The Border War.