“Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
Yo”
There’s crossing over and then there’s whatever Eminem did on this day ten years ago when “Lose Yourself” dropped on the world. He’d already grabbed an audience that went far beyond rap and hip-hop fans and when “Lose Yourself” hit the radio and television commercials for “8Mile,” he grabbed everybody else. I’d link to it, but it’s already on your I-pod. It’s hard to argue with anyone who says it’s a top 10 song of the ’00’s.
There’s college kids doing dumb things and then there’s McGill University student J. Gordon Whitehead, who sucker punched Harry Houdini several times in the stomach on this day in 1926. Whitehead had gone backstage at a theatre in Montreal after a show and asked if it was true that Houdini could stand any punch to the stomach. Houdini said yes and before he could ready himself Whitehead began pummeling away at Houdini’s stomach as Houdini was laying on a couch. Floyd Mayweather Jr. might think there’s nothing wrong with that, but everybody else does. Houdini would die nine days later of a ruptured appendix at just 52 years old.
Speaking of “pretty boy,” the original, Charles Arthur, “Pretty Boy” Floyd, was shot and killed by the FBI today in 1934. Floyd was 30.
While on the subject of punching and shooting and whatnot, it’s worth mentioning that today in 2000, Roger Clemens had one of the more famous public displays of ‘roid rage ever. In the Subway World Series, Clemens fielded a part of Mike Piazza’s broken bat and threw it at Piazza who was four or five steps on his way to first base. Clemens had hit Piazza in the head with a pitch when the teams played in July.
If you’re ever in an argument where you’re forced to compare and contrast the differences between Kanye West and Jean-Paul Sarte, you can note that today in 1964, Sarte was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and turned it down. Sarte didn’t believe in awards and said, “a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution.” I’m going to side with Kanye here.
“We weren’t in love oh no far from it
We weren’t searching for some pie in the sky summit
We were just young and restless and bored
Living by the sword
And we’d steal away every chance we could
To the backroom, the alley, the trusty woods
I used her she used me
But neither one cared
We were getting our share”
Your write a song like that and you’re bound for the big time. “Night Moves“ was Bob Seger’s ninth album, but his first with the Silver Bullet Band and it launched him to superstardom. The song went to #4 on the charts and the album climbed to #8. “Mainstreet” and “Rock and Roll Never Forgets” also charted as singles.
Bob Seger is good music to drink to and a good movie to drink to is “Sideways,” which came out today in 2004. It was nominated for five Oscars, won for best adapted screenplay and made visiting the wine country a lot more fun than anybody thought.
It was today in 1974 that the “next Willie Mays” was traded for “the next Mickey Mantle”. Both were great players, neither one of them came close to the comparison. You just don’t see trades like that anymore.
Today in 1975 the Cincinnati Reds finished off the Boston Red Sox in game seven of the World Series. The Red Sox rode the momentum of Carlton Fisk’s game winning homer in game six to jump to a 3-0, but couldn’t hold on. Tony Perez pounded a “Spaceball” (an Eephus pich) from Bill Lee over the Green Monster for a 2-run homer in the 6th and the Reds would add runs in the 7th and 9th innings to win one of the best World Series’ ever played.
Happy birthdays to both Ichiro and Robbie Cano, I wonder what they’ll wish for?
— Bill Hubbell