“Ah come on, Adrian, it’s true. I was nobody. But that don’t matter either, you know? ‘Cause I was thinkin’, it really don’t matter if I lose this fight. It really don’t matter if this guy opens my head, either. ‘Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody’s ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I’m still standin’, I’m gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren’t just another bum from the neighborhood.”

That’s all any of us can really ask for isn’t it? “Rocky” hit the big screen today in 1976.

Shot in just 28 days in Philadelphia, the story in the movie became the story of the movie in the real world. Written by and starring no-name Sylvester Stallone and made for just $1.1 million, the movie not only was the box office champion for the year, raking in $225 million, but it won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director (John Avildsen). Stallone was nominated for Best Actor, Talia Shire for Best Supporting Actress and both Burgess Meredith and Burt Young for Best Supporting Actor. The movie set up Stallone for life.

Text messaging turns 20 years old today. A test engineer for Sema Group used a personal computer to send the world’s first text message today via Vodafone network. He didn’t write LOL or OMG, no word on whether or not the reply he got was WTF?

11 people were crushed tonight at a Who concert in Cincinnati, Ohio. There were no reserved seats for the show at Riverfront Coliseum and there was a mad dash for prime seats when the crowd was let in. People fell and were trampled in the concourse.

“Rubber Soul” was released by the Beatles today in 1965. “Norwegian Wood,” “Nowhere Man,” “Michelle,” “I’m Looking Through You,” “Run For Your Life,” “In My Life,” and “Girl” would be a career of hits for most bands. Just another album for the lads from Liverpool.

— Bill Hubbell