The Daily Dose/February 2, 2019
The Daily Dose/February 2, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Friends, your favorite Daily Dose features like Leading Off, On This Date, Quotebook and Trivia will return.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow sleeps late and has to rush out the door for his shift at the retailer, and he sees his cousin Brent for the first time in years. Today’s Diary.
Brent’s mom, Barbara, is married to my cousin Danny and I’ve known Brent since he was eight or so, I guess…He’s now 31 and neither one of us could remember the last time we’d seen each other…He wasn’t at his Auntie Sparrow’s funeral 3-4 years ago and he might have still been a kid.
Brent was a contributor, tho, to Sparrow for Congress last year, and he’s a good kid and it was nice catching up with him…He’s actually lived in the big city for a couple of years now, but on the theory nobody really wants to see me I never bothered to make contact with him.
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The Daily Dose/February 1, 2019
The Daily Dose/February 1, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off: Play ball…
Debating the merits of who does and who does not belong in the baseball Hall of Fame used to be fun, but longtime fans of this crap know our feeling is all the fun was taken out when Gary Carter was elected. If you were as good or better than Carter, welcome aboard. If you weren’t, tough noogies. There was nothing to argue about.
That’s changed now, though, with the selection last year of Harold Baines by a veteran’s committee. Now, Harold was a very good major league ballplayer for many years, but nobody, least of all Harold, was clamoring for his inclusion in Cooperstown and he is now our baseline: if you were as good or better than Harold Baines, get your induction speech ready. If you weren’t, well, you played major league baseball, which is farther than most baseball players get.
By this standard, everyone elected this year – Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez and Roy Halladay – deserved it. By this standard so did others who were not elected.
They are letting an awful lot of people into Cooperstown nowadays. This decade saw 40 people elected either by baseball writers or a veteran’s committee, a bit more than twelve percent of all inductees. 29 of those 40 were elected the past six years.
We don’t know about you, but when we think Hall of Fame the term that comes to mind is “all-time greats”. It’s their hall, but they are now electing some who do not immediately come to mind when you think “all-time great”.
“All-time very good”, yes, but not all-time great.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: It’s a very leisurely day around The Shire for Sparrow and The Wife, as about the only thing that gets done is The Wife throws the trash out while Sparrow pays the bill for his VA check-up.
We were all done by early evening…In the afternoon The Wife, for some reason, had run going to a movie up the flagpole but I didn’t even look up what was playing so I could veto everything out of hand: I dismissed the idea immediately…When it’s a leisurely day it’s a leisurely day and you don’t ruin it by leaving the house.
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On This Date
In 1960 – What History now refers to as the Greensboro Sit-Ins begin when four black students from North Carolina A&T University are refused service at the lunch counter a Woolworth store in Greensboro and declined to leave. This protest led to further protests at the store before spreading throughout the state and the South. In July the store manager, tired of losing money, began serving blacks.
In 1995 – John Stockton of the Utah Jazz gets his 9,992 career assist, establishing a new NBA record as the Jazz defeated the Denver Nuggets 129-88. The old record had been held by Magic Johnson and Stockton would retire in 2003 with 15,806 assists, still the all-time record, and his career average of 10.5 assists per game trails only Johnson’s 11.2 assists per game.
In 1964 – The British Invasion begins when the Beatles ascend the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 with I Want to Hold Your Hand. It was the first of three consecutive #1s for the Beatles, the first of six #1s for the year and the first of 20 #1s in their career, all Hot 100 records, the latter two of which still stand. Still one of the great lines of demarcation in chart and cultural history, I Want To Hold Your Hand would spend seven weeks at #1 and would be Billboard’s #1 song of the year.
Quotebook
Insanity triumphed because sane people were silent.
Randy Shilts (1951-94)
American journalist and author
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Illinois was the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, doing so 154 years today, the day after Congress sent the amendment to the several states for ratification.
Today’s Stumper
Who was the first British act to have a #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100? –Answer next time!
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The Daily Dose/January 31, 2019
The Daily Dose/January 31, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off: President Trump is already a lame duck.
We were thinking about our country’s government recently and the following occurred to us:
Donald Trump, whether he serves two more years or six more years, is already a lame-duck president.
You hate to say that. Regular readers of this crap know we are not fans of his presidency – his only desire, and only real talent, is drawing attention to himself – but we take no glee in saying he’s a lame duck because this means absolutely nothing is going to get done, either for the rest of his first term or for a second term, should he earn one.
Consider this: the Democrats will ensure nothing is done before the 2020 elections. They have no reason to, really. The fantasy of bi-partisan cooperation still exists, of course, but President Trump has no interest in it, so why should the Democrats?
If President Trump should win reelection – no more outlandish a prospect than his original election – he’ll still be a lame duck because he’s ineligible for a third term. If, after the 2020 election the Democrats have control of at least one house of Congress more nothing will get done. If the GOP has control of the both the White House and Congress well, they established their dysfunction the previous two years when they had such control and were utterly incapable of governing. Our country will remain hamstrung as long as Trump is president. Our president has neither the vision nor the political skills to get anything done.
Blame us – you and me, we the people – for this. As we say every hour on the hour we elected this mess and we are stuck with it. We keep electing substandard government, so we should not be surprised when that is all we get. We will start receiving better government when we start demanding it at the ballot box.
We better do it soon, friends, because America cannot sustain substandard government with impunity. Eventually, perpetual war and fiscal insanity will destroy our country perhaps, probably, before this half-century is out. The Great American Experiment will be over, tossed aside the scrap heap of History along with, among others, the Roman Empire and the Soviet Union.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow sells out at the hotel, a couple shows up eleven hours early for their reservation and Sparrow goes to the Mexican joint in the next county. Today’s Diary.
Dude, either book a room for the previous night or take a later flight…Now, I alerted Housekeeping and we will do our darndest to have a room ready for you as soon as we can…But there are no guarantees…We could have a room ready for by 1100 – the earliest you can reasonably expect to check-in, or it might be the regular check-in time of 1500…Until, then you are welcome to sit on our lobby and play with your navel.
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On This Date
In 1865 – The United States House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment outlaws slavery and the previous April had been passed by the United States Senate. The following day President Abraham Lincoln signed the joint resolution, writing “Approved” on it, despite the fact the president has no role in the amendment process and his signature as about as necessary as approval from one of the White House stable boys. The amendment became part of the Constitution in December, when Georgia became the 27th state to ratify it.
In 1920 – Joe Malone of the Quebec Bulldogs establishes a new NHL record for Most Goals in a Game, scoring seven times in a 10-6 win over the Toronto St. Patricks, now the Maple Leafs. Malone broke the old record of six that had been established by Newsy Lalonde of the Montreal Canadiens three weeks earlier. The record still stands.
In 1976 – Earth Wind and Fire is at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart – then known as the Hot Soul Singles chart – for the second of two non-consecutive weeks with Sing a Song. The song was the groups second of eight #1s on the soul chart and it also peaked at #5 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Earth Wind and Fire had a total of 19 Top 10 singles on the soul chart between 1974 and 1988
Quotebook
Fortune had betrayed him for the moment, and the world had turned against him. Victory was slipping from his grasp even as he stretched out his hand to seize it. But his arm was long.
J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Angela Merkel is the current chancellor of Germany
Today’s Stumper
Which was the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment? –Answer next time!
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The Daily Dose/January 30, 2019
The Daily Dose/January 30, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Leading Off will return.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Choco-Tacos are back at the hotel’s sundry stand and Sparrow raves about the new soap The Wife bought last week.
Regular readers of this crap may – or they may not – recall the fancy-pants soap The Wife got me last week…It’s all organic and stuff and it actually seems to be pretty good…Right off the bat I reported how it rinsed off easily…Lately, too, I’ve been washing my hair with it and now I am noticing my hair doesn’t seem to curl after I’ve used it…
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On This Date
In 1933 – Adolf Hitler is appointed chancellor of Germany, rather reluctantly by President of the German Reich Paul von Hindenburg. This after recent parliamentary elections had failed to elect a majority government. Hitler would have von Hindenburg out of office by the following summer and would rule Germany until his suicide in April 1945 at the end of World War II.
In 1994 – The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills 30-13 in Super Bowl XXVIII at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. With the win, the Cowboys tied the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers with their fourth Supr Bowl win, while the Bills remain the only team to lose four consecutive Super Bowls. Natalie Cole sang the national anthem and the halftime show featured The Judds, Clint Black, Travis Tritt and Tanya Tucker. Dick Enberg and Bob Trumpy announced the game for NBC.
In 1961 – The Shirelles are at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of two weeks with Will You Love Me Tomorrow, the first song by a black all-girl group to reach #1 on the Hot 100. The Shirelles would hit the Top 40 twelve times between 1960 and 1963 and would return to #1 with Soldier Boy the following year.
Quotebook
…every man is an irritatingly complex contradiction, unique except when part of a crowd.
Will Durant
The Story of Civilization: The Reformation
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
The Miami area has hosted ten Super Bowls. It will host its record eleventh next year.
Today’s Stumper
Who is the current chancellor of Germany? –Answer next time!
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The Daily Dose/January 29, 2019
The Daily Dose/January 29, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off: Where Were You When…
One of the more interesting memories life offers is remembering where you were when you heard that something momentous had happened.
We can still remember in high school being driven home from school by Mr Ludtke when the radio reported the US hockey team had defeated the evil Soviet Union in ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, a result about as unexpected as planetary alignment. Like many others, we can remember where we were when John Lennon was murdered, because we were watching Monday Night Football, too. However, we had the sound down and were listening to Jack Buck and Hank Stram announce the game for CBS Radio on KNX-AM in Los Angeles…The broadcast was interrupted with five tones and I can remember Dad and I looking at each other wondering what had happened because it would have to be something really important to interrupt a football game.
Monday marked the 33rd anniversary of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and the deaths of all seven of her astronauts. The explosion was caused by some faulty O-rings in a rocket booster and occurred 73 seconds after liftoff. We remember where we were for this, too. We at sea off the southern California coast on the USS Blueback (SS-581) and I was in the control room standing watch, probably as the helmsman, though it might have been as quartermaster of the watch.
Anyway, a radioman named Scott Brown comes into the control room and announces, with some amazement in his voice, that he didn’t catch the entire broadcast, only the very end, and the last words he’d heard were “they are still searching the Atlantic for survivors”.
Some wrote it off because Brown was a goofball who might have let his imagination get the best of him, but most wondered what the tragedy was. It wasn’t until later that the executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Will Bundy, got on the PA and announced the tragic news.
We can’t remember where we were when we heard that Elvis or Princess Diana died, though.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has a routine night at the hotel, gets the trash to the curb a day early while at the retailer, he steals a Frito from Supervisor Maria’s bag and then graciously offers her some when she catches him.
Then Maria came by the service desk and – and this was almost moderately funny – I held out the bag and offered her some of her own Fritos, an act which made Maria laff but went completely over Deya’s head.
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On This Date
In 1980 – The Rubik’s Cube makes its worldwide debut in London. It was invented by a Hungarian named Erno Rubik, who had tested it in his native country in 1977. is 3.47 seconds, by China’s Du Yusheng at a competition last year. People a lot smarter than us have figured out there are approximately 43 quintillion possible combinations for a standard 3×3 rowed Rubik’s Cube.
In 1995 – The San Francisco 49ers defeat the San Diego Chargers 49-26 in Super Bowl XXIX in Miami, becoming the first team to win five Super Bowls. 49ers quarterback Steve Young throws six touchdown passes, establishing a Super Bowl record that still stands. Kathie Lee Gifford sang The Star-Spangled Banner, the halftime show featured Tony Bennett, Patti LaBelle, Arturo Sandoval and the Miami Sound Machine. Al Michaels, Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf were the TV announcers and Jack Buck and Hank Stram called the game for CBS Radio. It remains the only Super Bowl played between teams that play their home games in the same state.
In 1977 – Rose Royce is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with Car Wash, the song’s only week at the top. It was from the soundtrack of the movie of the same name and was the group’s first of three Top 40 hits and remains their only #1 song. The song also went to #1 in Canada and earlier had spent two weeks at the top of Billboard’s soul chart.
Quotebook
It is natural for man to indulge in the illusion of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth…
Patrick Henry
“Give me liberty or give me death” speech to Virginia legislature
3/23/1775
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Four future members of the College Football Hall of Fame were members of the 1903 University of Chicago football team: head coach Amos Alonzo-Stagg and players Walter Eckersall, Bob Maxwell and Hugo Bezdek, who was elected for his work as a coach later in his career.
Today’s Stumper
How many Super Bowls have been played in Miami? –Answer next time!
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