from Bruce
Anecdotes
Children
• Greg Maddux played for the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves, as well as for other teams. As a 12-year-old Little Leaguer, he was so gifted a pitcher that his coach would not allow him to pitch in a championship game, saying that allowing him to pitch would not be fair to the other team! (Greg played, but did not pitch, and his team won the championship.)
• In 1990, when tennis player Jennifer Capriati was 14 years old, she played against Martina Navratilova in the finals of the Family Circle Magazine Cup in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Ms. Navratilova won both the tournament and the Mazda Miata sports car that went to the champion, then said, “It’s just as well I won it — since Jennifer can’t drive.”
• When Canadian gymnast Elfi Schlegel was seven years old, she won her first competition. As a reward, she was given a trophy, while the second- and third-place competitors were given medals hanging from ribbons. Ms. Schlegel was so young that she was disappointed that she didn’t win a medal necklace like her friends had.
• Amy Chow, who won gold (team) and silver (uneven bars) at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, got into gymnastics by accident. When Amy was three years old, her mother wanted her to take dance lessons, but the dance studio thought she was too young for lessons, so her mother enrolled her in a gymnastics class instead.
• When Evonne Goolagong was a child in Australia, she entered what she thought was a tennis tournament for children in Narrandera. However, when she arrived at the tournament, she discovered that it was for adults. No problem. She played in the tournament anyway — and won!
• Shannon Martin was six years old when she won an age-12-and-under roping contest, for which she was written up in the Roping Sports News. Because she hadn’t learned to read yet, she kept saying to her father, “Come on, Dad. Read it again.”
Christmas
• As a youngster in an impoverished family, golfer Sam Snead suffered through some bleak Christmases. Sometimes, he found his Christmas presents under a plate — two or three nickels. Other times his Christmas present was a pair of socks. What was his best-ever Christmas present? A sled his father had made for him.
Clothing
• Track and field star Florence Griffith Joyner was known for her outrageous racing clothes and painted fingernails as well as for her wins and world records. For example, at the 1988 Olympic Trials at the Indiana University Track Stadium, she wore a one-legged, green bodysuit and a one-legged, turquoise-and-purple bodysuit. In addition, for one race, she painted her long fingernails mostly orange — at their ends she painted black and white stripes. At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, she wore a fluorescent blue-and-white outfit as well as an all-lace bodysuit that resembled a negligee. At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, she painted nine fingernails red, white, and blue, and one fingernail gold — the color of the medal she hoped to win. Actually, in 1984 she won the silver medal in the 200-meter race, but in 1988 she won the gold.
• At Michelle Kwan’s first United States Nationals ice skating championship tournament, her coach, Frank Carroll, was shocked at the condition of her unshined skating boots. Immediately, he started shouting for boot polish to shine her boots because he was afraid that the skating judges would regard the unshined boots as an insult to them. While the other coaches were laughing, Mr. Carroll shined Michelle’s boots and blew on them to make them dry. When she skated in the competition, her boots were still wet. (Ms. Kwan hadn’t meant any disrespect. At that time, she believed in the superstition that you should not shine your boots while you are performing well.)
• Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini are a sexually charged pairs skating couple. Ms. Underhill is a beautiful woman, and Mr. Martini is a hunk. During one session to work out the pair’s choreography for “When a Man Loves a Woman,” an embarrassed Mr. Martini had to stand still while Ms. Underhill and choreographer Sandra Bezic had fun figuring out — and demonstrating — the best way for Ms. Underhill to grab his butt during the performance. In the finished program, Mr. Martini wore blue jeans, and Ms. Underhill stood in front of him, reached around him, and put her hands in his rear pockets.
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
The Funniest People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes — Buy
The Funniest People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes — Buy the Paperback
The Funniest People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes — Kindle
The Funniest People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes — Apple
The Funniest People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes — Barnes and Noble
The Funniest People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes — Kobo
The Funniest People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes — Smashwords: Many Formats, Including PFD
Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. replied:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "Berkeley Pier"
Album: FENOMERAMA
Artist: Tsunamish
Info:
Tsunamish is mostly an excellent surf band, but “Berkeley Pier” is an excellent bluesy song.
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE)
Genre: Instrumental Surf. Instrumental Rock. Some Vocal Songs.
Links:
FENOMERAMA
Tsunamish on Bandcamp
Tsunamish on YouTube
Other Links:
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
Imagine a Nation
New Venture
Michael Egan
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Nice marine layer rolled in.
Largest Streaming Deal
Norman Lear
Prime Video and IMDb TV, Amazon’s premium free streaming service, have closed a licensing deal with Sony Pictures Television for a suite of classic television series from legendary producer Norman Lear. The series, including All in the Family, Good Times, Maude, One Day at a Time, 227, Diff’rent Strokes, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Sanford & Son, represent the largest collection of Lear series and the highest number of episodes ever available to stream at one time, according to the companies.
Some of the series will be available on SVOD platform Prime Video, the others on ad-supported IMDb TV. There will be no overlap as the two platforms do not share programming, with Amazon making the decision about which shows goes where.
227 and Diff’rent Strokes will launch on Prime Video tomorrow, July 15. The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son, and Sanford will launch on the SVOD service later in 2021.
All in the Family, Good Times, Maude, and One Day at a Time will also launch July 15 but on IMDb TV. This will be the first time that episodes of Maude and all seasons of All in the Family are available to stream.
Like All in the Family, the majority of the series, including The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Diff’rent Strokes and 227, will have their entire runs available; a few series, including Maude, will offer two seasons at a time. No one would comment on the value of the deal, but Sony TV reportedly licensed Seinfeld to Netflix for $500+ million, so the Norman Lear collection probably commanded a price tag in the nine figures.
Norman Lear
Uncomfortable Question
James Talarico
Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico appeared Tuesday on Fox News Primetime where he sparred with guest host Pete Hegseth over the constitutionality of proposed voting laws in Texas, and over reality itself. Texas Democratic legislators are currently in Washington, D.C., in an effort to thwart the passage of new, more restrictive voting laws in the state.
The interview quickly went off the rails when Talarico referenced former President Trump’s constant lies about election fraud as the reason behind the new voting bill, along with many others introduced by Republican state legislatures around the country. Hegseth interrupted before repeating one of the Trump camp’s lies about Republican poll watchers not being allowed to monitor ballot-counting. One of Trump’s lawyers in the Pennsylvania lawsuit even admitted in court that this was not true, saying there was a “nonzero number of people in the room.”
“Do you remember a second ago when I talked about the big lie? This is exactly what I’m talking about,” Talarico said as Hegseth began to speak over him. Talarico continued, “And the reason that so many folks believe in that in our country, is because folks like you get on national television every night and repeat the lie over and over again.”
“You have made a lot of money personally and you’ve enriched a lot of corporations with advertising by getting on here and spewing lies and conspiracy theories to folks who trust you,” Talarico said. “So what I'm asking you to do is tell your voters right now that Donald Trump lost the election of 2020.”
“Did you catch what I just asked?” Talarico said. “Did you hear what I asked? Did Donald Trump lose the election in 2020? Can you answer the question? Did Donald Trump lose the election in 2020? Is this an uncomfortable question for you?”
James Talarico
Attends Cannes Virtually (Not Because Of Covid)
Kirill Serebrennikov
Celebrated Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov is banned from leaving his home country, so he is attending the Cannes Film Festival virtually. Serebrennikov phoned into the red-carpet premiere of his film, “Petrov’s Flu,” by FaceTime and spoke to the media on Tuesday by Zoom.
A seat was left open for the 51-year-old director when “Petrov’s Flu” premiered Monday in Cannes. It wasn’t the first time Serebrennikov was forced to miss a Cannes premiere. In 2018, he was under house arrest when his film “Leto” debuted at the festival.
Serebrennikov is no longer under house arrest in Russia, but he’s unable to travel outside the country. He was convicted of fraud in 2020 and sentenced to probation and fined for embezzlement.
The verdict was seen as a success for artistic freedom in Russia - prosecutors had sought a six-year sentence in a penal colony - and concluded a high-profile, years-long legal battle for Serebrennikov, one of Russia’s most prominent theater and film directors. The case against him was protested widely throughout the Russian artistic community and internationally.
On Tuesday, Serebrennikov joined the middle of the news conference for “Petrov’s Flu” remotely while actors and producers appearing in person flanked the monitor. He joked that during the pandemic, everyone has gotten to experience a version of his isolation.
Serebrennikov wrote “Petrov’s Flu” while under house arrest, basing it on the 2018 novel by Alexei Salnikov about a flu epidemic in Russia. The film, which is in competition for Cannes’ top honor, the Palme d’Or, received glowing reviews at the festival.
Kirill Serebrennikov
Joins ‘The Talk’
Jerry O’Connell
CBS’ daytime show The Talk announced that frequent guest host Jerry O’Connell is joining the show as a permanent co-host.
O’Connell will appear on the show for the remainder of the week before taking a break until the end of the month to fulfill a previous film commitment. He’ll join full-time for Season 12.
His hiring follows the show’s firing in March of original cohost Sharon Osbourne after her controversial comments on race and her defense of friend Piers Morgan.
O’Connell found fame at age 11 in the hit film Stand By Me, and later starred in Sliders, Jerry Maguire and Crossing Jordan, among many other credits.
The announcement fell on O’Connell’s 14th wedding anniversary with wife Rebecca Romijn. The actor, who later taste-tested the mac-and-cheese ice cream that’s become a viral hit, good-naturedly promised viewers (and his wife) that he’d work on being less fidgety on screen.
Jerry O’Connell
Show Disdain
Peddling Products
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Contagious) is leaning into the COVID-19 skepticism that’s spread through much of the Republican Party base by selling sets of canned-drink coolers on his campaign website that criticize Dr. Anthony Fauci and ridicule mask wearing.
“Don’t Fauci My Florida,” is on one set of the insulated can coolers, which are often called beer cozies or "koozies" after the brand name. The other asks “How the hell am I going to be able to drink a beer with a mask on?”
DeSantis is selling the merchandise as COVID-19 cases are surging again in Florida. The Republican governor spent much of 2020 and 2021 thumbing his nose at the public health establishment over the coronavirus, and bragging that the stands against shutdowns and mask mandates paid off for Florida.
Many of the voters he wants are skeptical about the severity of the coronavirus and don’t see a need to get vaccinated. In most of Florida, counties that went strongly for former President Donald Trump (R-Lock Him Up) in 2020 have lower vaccination rates.
The weekly COVID-19 report, released Friday, showed 23,697 new cases among Florida residents, up 48% from 15,978 a week earlier. The positivity rate for testing stands at 7.8%, up from 5.2%.
Peddling Products
Epstein’s 2008 Plea Deal
Ken Starr
Ken Starr, the prosecutor who obsessively pursued former president Bill Clinton over his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, was largely responsible for securing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s secret 2008 plea deal. The revelation comes via a new book from Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald reporter who covered Epstein and his accusers for years.
“Although I go into this more in my book, Ken Starr was probably the most powerful force behind Jeffrey Epstein’s secret plea deal. Without him, it probably would not have happened the way it did, and Epstein would have ended up in prison for a very long time,” the “Perversion of Justice” author wrote on Twitter Tuesday.
In 2008, federal investigators identified dozens of underage victims, but Epstein plead guilty to only two charges: procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. As a result of the non-prosecution agreement, he only served 13 months in a county jail and enjoyed work-release privileges. The deal halted an ongoing FBI probe into whether Epstein had more victims, as well as whether there were other powerful people involved.
In a Medium post out Tuesday, Starr’s former advisor Judi Hershman recalled her time with the man best known for his 1998 investigation into Bill Clinton’s relationship with White House intern-turned-staffer Monica Lewinsky.
“There was the time in January 2010 when I saw him in California — he was then dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law — and he asked me, if on my next visit to South Florida, I could extend myself to counsel a ‘very wealthy, very smart businessman who got himself into trouble for getting involved with a couple of underage girls who lied about their ages.’ I confess I did not recognize Jeffrey Epstein’s name at the time, but I knew what statutory rape was and I couldn’t understand why Ken Starr would be involved with him,” she wrote, adding, “It did not occur to me that he might have been part of the legal team that executed a secret and egregious sweetheart deal for the convicted pedophile or that the stickler for details I knew Starr to be might be grossly undercounting the victims in question.”
Ken Starr
79 Hours
Minimum Wage
For the nation's minimum-wage workers, even working two full-time jobs sometimes isn't enough to afford rent, according to a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
The average minimum-wage worker would have to work 79 hours a week to afford a modest one-bedroom rental and 97 hours a week to afford a modest two-bedroom rental, hours that would be difficult for a single person and nearly impossible for single parents.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and hasn't increased in over a decade. Though the Fight for $15 - a nationwide campaign to raise the minimum wage - has gained momentum with some major companies and states instituting $15 minimum wages, even a $15 hourly wage isn't enough to lead a comfortable life.
According to the report, an individual would have to earn $20.40 an hour to afford the average modestly priced one-bedroom rental and $24.90 for a two-bedroom apartment, without spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
In more expensive housing markets, workers must earn even more to afford rent. In New York state, where the average housing wage is $34.03 an hour, an Amazon employee making $19.30 an hour in New York City has lived in her car since 2019 because she can't find affordable permanent housing.
Minimum Wage
1,600-Year-Old Sheep Leg
Iran
A lone sheep leg, likely discarded by hungry mine workers, lay hidden in a salt mine in Iran for over a thousand years, during which time the salinity of the surrounding environment naturally mummified the limb. Now, scientists have extracted pristine DNA from the mummified leg and dated the sample to the fifth or sixth century.
The DNA molecules were "so well preserved and not fragmented, despite their age," senior study author Kevin Daly, a research fellow at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, told Live Science. This immaculate preservation not only allowed the team to examine DNA from the sheep, but also the genetic material of salt-loving microbes that grew on the specimen, the team reported in a new study, published July 13 in the journal Biology Letters.
Archaeologists first recovered the sheep leg from an ancient salt mine located near the village of Chehrabad in northwest Iran; the same mine has also shielded a number of human bodies from decay over the millenia. Since 1993, eight salt-cured human mummies have been recovered from the mine, several with skin and hair intact; these so-called "saltmen," as they're known, range between about 1,300 and 2,500 years old, scientists estimate.
"This site is something truly remarkable," said first author Conor Rossi, a doctoral student at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics. The high-salt, low-moisture mine not only preserves skin and hair, but also helps protect DNA from destruction by saprophytic microbes — microorganisms that gorge themselves on dead and decaying organic matter, he said.
The team first got access to the rare, mummified sheep specimen through their collaborator and co-author Marjan Mashkour, an archaeozoologist with the National Museum of Natural History in France and the University of Tehran in Iran. "She had brought in this small, little plastic pouch just a little cutting of the skin of this leg — what we thought was a goat leg, actually," Daly said.
Iran
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
