Notes from around the Human Experience…
GREAT MOMENTS IN PRESIDENT TRUMP – PRESIDENT TRUMP!: We caught President Trump telling the truth! We are not making that up!
Yeah, we were shocked, too. The quote was really nothing more than President Trump utilizing his only real talent: drawing attention to himself. The tweet in question was merely a blatherskite’s attempt to drum up interest in an affair few cared about anymore: his efforts while in China to get three members of the UCLA basketball team released from custody after they were detained on suspicion of shoplifting.
Really, though, what stood out was that it was actually a true statement, rare from Trump who lies like you and me breathe. Here’s what he wrote:
It wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father LaVar’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence — IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair.
Dry, Technical Matter: The LaVar in question is LaVar Ball, currently one of the most annoying people on the planet. He has three sons who play basketball. Lonzo is in his first year with the Los Angeles Lakers. LiAngelo is the one who, with two UCLA teammates, was detained for shoplifting during the Bruin’s recent trip to China. The incident was serious enough that the three players did not accompany the team home. They were only released after President Trump, who happened to be in town, met with Chinese leaders.
…a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair.
Bingo: The comparison to the late boxing promoter is apt. King was always out hustling a buck or two or three million and LaVar is a hustler, too, riding his kids hard to make him a billionaire. In researching this column we held our breath and visited the website of the family’s shoe and clothing company. They have shoes endorsed by each player with prices starting at an inane $393. Click the wrong button and you’re spending $1,195.00 for a pair of sneakers. A pair of slides cost $220. Ball’s efforts to cash in with a real shoe company have, so far, failed. At one time his asking price for a deal was $3 billion (B). We are not making that up.
Oh Yeah: The three players were suspended indefinitely from the team. We heard some say legendary UCLA coach John Wooden would have had them off the team faster than you could say “three-man weave”, but our own opinion is Coach wouldn’t have recruited thieves in the first place.
Thank You For Notifying Us…You Are Gracious: While we were at their site a box popped up informing us that Justin from Los Angeles had just purchased a hoodie. There were a couple of other sales, too, in the short time we were there. None of them were for shoes.
The Bottom Line: Please, for the love of all that is sacred, do not pay any attention to any member of the Ball family. You’re just going to encourage the old man more. If you are not familiar with his antics, you’re lucky. Trust us. Ignore him. Our planet will be better off.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE!: Three months after the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution, the British finally get around to leaving New York City – then only the southern tip of Manhattan – on this date in 1783. The British had controlled New York City since defeating General Washington and the Continental Army in 1776.
The British took so long to evacuate because Loyalist refugees kept entering New York City and it took that long to get all of them out.
Playbill: Agatha Christie’s murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at The Ambassadors Theater in London on this date in 1952. It has run continuously since and is now playing at St Martin’s Theater, the longest-running play in history.
Well, Great, An International Incident: Five-year-old Cuban Elian Gonzalez is rescued floating in an inner tube in the Atlantic Ocean by some fisherman on this date in 1999. Gonzalez and his mother, and others, had started their journey fleeing Cuba earlier in the day in a boat with a faulty engine. There was bad weather and the motor died and Gonzalez’s mother is presumed to have drowned and young Elian is only one of three who survived.
Elian was eventually released to the custody of a great-uncle and while relatives of Elian in the United States petitioned for asylum, Elian was returned to Cuba to live with his father, stepmother and brothers. Now 23, Elian graduated from college last year and works as a technology specialist at a company that makes large plastic tanks.
Quotebook: He regarded what had happened as fate, another step on a path long since mapped out. – John Toland, Adolf Hitler
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The NBA record for most field goal attempts by both teams in a game is 291 by the Philadelphia Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers in three overtime game on 12/8/1961. The regulation game record is 274 by Boston and Detroit on 1/27/61 and Boston and Philadelphia on 3/5/61.
Today’s Stumper: The Trivia feature will return.
