by John Walters
Starting Five
Sunday, bloody Sunday
A Day That Will Live In Infamy
Today is the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, which was then a U.S. territory. Some 2,403 Americans were killed and 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed. The Japanese lost just 64 servicemen and one, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured. He begged to be allowed to commit suicide, but that request was denied. He served out the war as a P.O.W. (our first, I’d imagine) and lived to the ripe old age of 81.
Something else to remember: the attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. local time, or just before 1 p.m. on the East Coast, as NFL games were kicking off.
Larry Bird pre-existed cross-training
Also, 60 years ago today, the birth of Larry Legend, the last American-born Caucasian NBA player to win the league Most Valuable Player award.
2. There’s Gold In Them Thar’ Tweets!
Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016
President-elect Donald Trump sent this tweet out at 8:52 a.m. yesterday, 38 minutes before the stock market opened. Soon after they rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (note to self: Used legging outlet called “New York Sock Exchange.” Could make millions!!!), Boeing stock (BA) plunged more than 1%.
The right call for a bizarre year
Now, we don’t know if Donald’s math is accurate, or if he informed Boeing first before making this announcement. Taking him at face value, good for him and us if Boeing was trying to fleece Uncle Sam (like I said, I don’t know and for the purposes of this item, I don’t care). What does matter is that Boeing, a company in the Top 25 of the Fortune 500 ($96 billion market cap; look at their OOC schedule!), had its stock plunge 1% simply due to a Trump tweet. If I’m a hedge fund or investment bank, I have a team dedicated to monitoring Trump tweets going forward and cashing in on the resulting panic.
By end of day, Boeing’s stock had recovered. But if you have $10 million to invest liberally, you just made $100K on that little blip. Not a bad day’s work.
3. Live Sox, Dead Sox, White Sox, Red Sox
Sale gets far more upset when asked to change his jersey than when asked to change his Sox….
Boston went out and acquired southpaw Chris Sale, who has the lowest ERA and WHIP of ANYONE currently pitching with more than 500 innings of experience. Because they know David Price and Rick Porcello, Cy Young Awards notwithstanding, scare no one in the postseason.
And, as Frank Isola noted yesterday on ATH, the Sox don’t wear throwback jerseys, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
4. So Long, Salaam
Well, this is a tad uncomfortable heading into Heisman Trophy weekend. Rashaan Salaam, the former University of Colorado running back who won the award in 1994, was found dead in a Boulder, Colo., park on Monday night. A suicide note was found nearby.
Salaam rushed for 2,055 yards and 24 touchdowns with the Buffs in ’94 (that team had an incredible corral of talent, future NFL players such as Ted Johnson, Michael Westbrook, Christian Fauria and Kordell Stewart. Rick Neuheisel was an assistant coach. I attended a game in which they steamrolled Barry Alvarez and Wisconsin 55-17.
Anyway, this quote from former teammate Charles Johnson should be read during ESPN’s televising of Saturday night’s ceremony in New York: “[Rashaan] was so defined, I think too often by winning the Heisman Trophy and not by other things that made him a whole person, things that he loved and cared about and I think he, in fact I know he had challenges at times making that transition.”
5. 50 Reasons To Love The World
Is this the BBC’s way of tricking us into recognizing that reality trumps virtual reality. That our galaxy is superior to your Samsung Galaxy? Enjoy the gallery.
Music 101
You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
Just listen to the lyrics of this tune, which were written by Theodore “Dr. Seuss” Geisel himself. This is Jordan Smith, an alumnus of The Voice (Katie says, “Boo!”) covering the classic. The original vocalist on the Christmas special was Thurl Ravenscroft, who was also the original voice of Tony the Tiger (“They’re Grrrrreat!”).
Remote Patrol
No. 1 UConn at No. 2 Notre Dame
ESPN2 7 p.m.
UConn’s Kia Nurse is adept at the art of basketball. She’s a Nurse practitioner.
This is supposedly a rebuilding year for the Huskies, but they’re deservedly the nation’s top-ranked team and they’ve won 82 in a row. So, not bad. Notre Dame sophomore I-Can’t-Spell-Her-Name-Without-Looking (a.k.a, Arike Ogunbowale) averages 17.2 points per game. Husky frosh point guard Crystal Dangerfield is gonna be a stud and has probably caused Geno to loosen his tie and discuss “respect” a time or two already.
For you troglodytes/chauvinists, Golden State visits the L.A. Clippers (their first meeting of the season) at 10:30 p.m. on the ESPN.
For you fans of musicals, NBC does Hairspray live at8 p.m. with Kristen Chenoweth and Billy Eichner.
Do you think “9/11” will still be observed 60 years from now? It doesn’t have the pithy catchphrase of “a daaaayyyy that will liiiive in INFAMY!”, so what do you think? Do school kids even study the attack on Pearl Harbor these days? I bitch & moan all the time about the woeful study of History in the public school systems & just last week saw a “quiz” on the internet that backs me up. It blared “Only 1 in 20 Americans can pass this US History quiz!” Of course I had to take it. It was pathetic! The ‘toughest’ question of the entire thing (20 questions) was to pick the city which held the Constitutional Convention. My god, middle school kids SHOULD ace such a lame quiz & that allegedly only 5% of an American test-sample did, well, it makes ya weep!
One question I WOULD have gotten wrong was if the NFL existed in 1941. Seriously, the NFL existed in 1941? I knew it was around in the late 40s (thank-yew, MNF’s Frank Gifford!) but didn’t know when it started. Wonder how much they got paid in the early days – a buck a game? When I was very young, I remember the TV & the adult men in my area talking about “the merger”. Mid-60s that was. I wasn’t really conscious of pro football before that so just assumed all these years that the NFL didn’t exist too many years before that. (hangs head)
Hey Jacob, you’re young(ish), did YOU know the NFL was around in 1941? Did YOU study 12/7/41 in school? Maybe that lame Ben Affleck movie actually “helped” your generation know of Pearl Harbor. 😉
Is a photo of Sweet Pea doing a reverse dunk in that “50 reasons to Love the World”? 🙂
Susie B.,
I was fortunate enough to have a good history teacher in high school. I went to a small school, so he taught me from 7th grade until 12th grade.
We never watched the Ben Affleck movie in school (if memory serves me right, that’s not a PG movie), but I do recall viewing “Tora! Tora! Tora!” In fact, my teacher thought we should spend national observation days in school, so we could learn about why that day is being celebrated.
WWII has always been an interest of mine. Perhaps it is just a confirmation bias, but we were educated quite nicely in school. If textbook publishers didn’t produce stale textbooks, more kids would be intrigued (in my opinion). I’m all for documentaries and books (the real stuff. Not academic material). Alas, most kids I ever encounter don’t like reading…
I’m not an NFL fan, so I’m not very literate in its history. To be honest, I just think of its inception as the year of the first Super Bowl. Let my ignorance be damned…
And what does “young (ish)” suppose to mean?! My dad turns 52 at the end of the month, and I think he is young.
OK. I had to nail that belief into my head for awhile.
When I lived back east I was a member of the New Canaan Y. I became friendly with a fellow member, Jim Benham. One year on Pearl Harbor day he told his story to those who hadn’t heard it. He was a junior officer on the USS Farragut and being the weekend he was in charge of the ship. Expecting a normally quiet Sunday morning with his biggest responsibility being getting the drunken sailors back on board after shore leave the attack started. One officer more senior was incapacitated and the full responsibility fell to Lt jg Benham. The boilers had to be fired and the ship had to get to open sea. He managed to navigate the channel and get the ship to sea. It was one of very few to get out of the harbor. The Japanese expected to totally devastate the Pacific Fleet. While their raid was a success it wasn’t the complete success they planned. After the war Jim, a Princeton grad, had a long and successful career in advertising. Often thought of him watching Mad Men. A great guy who I am pleased to remember. His obit from a few years ago. http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/End-of-an-era-Pearl-Harbor-veteran-dies-at-92-513790.php
Thank you for sharing that, Don.
Wait! Where was MH’s SportsCenter segment for Grange Award winner finalists?