from Bruce
Anecdotes
Gambling
• In its early days in the United States, bowling was a gambling game called “ninepins.” Low-lives played ninepins, so a law was passed against the game. Getting around the law, however, was easy. Bowling fans simply added a 10th pin and played tenpins, which was not against the law.
Gifts
• On New Year’s Eve of 1974, a press conference was held to announce that Jim “Catfish” Hunter would start pitching as a member of the New York Yankees. Of course, as a star major-league pitcher, Catfish had signed a big contract to play for the Yankees—over the next five years, the Yankees would pay him almost $4 million. A reporter quickly figured out that Catfish would earn approximately $19,331.25 for each game he pitched. At the press conference, the Mayor of New York City gave Catfish a gift: a new fishing pole. It cost $13.21.
• Before Kristi Yamaguchi competed with her partner, Rudi (later spelled “Rudy”) Galindo, in pairs skating at the 1990 United States National Championships, a former world pairs-skating champion named Tai Babilonia presented her with a special gift—an earring in the shape of a heart. The gift was meant to give young Kristi good luck. It worked, for Kristi and Rudi won their second straight national championship.
• When Jennifer Capriati was a young tennis player, her father, Stefano, sometimes gave her gifts. For example, he would give her a gift if she lost a tennis tournament—after all, he thought, winning is its own reward.
Good Deeds
• Bill Corum wrote a human-interest story about Babe Ruth in the June 23, 1927, edition of the New York Evening Journal. A boy named Billy Kennedy had been very ill, and so his father had written to Babe, asking him to send Billy a baseball autographed, “From Babe to Bill.” Babe immediately sent the autographed baseball—and this telegram: “TELL BILLY FOR ME THAT HE MUST GET WELL AND STRONG AND COME TO BOSTON TO SEE ME PLAY.” Billy did get well, and he did go to Boston, where he hoped to see Babe hit a home run. Babe failed to hit a homer that day, but he promised Billy, “Come back tomorrow, and I’ll hit two to make up for it.” The following day, Babe kept his promise.”
• Ohio sportscaster Jimmy Crum once visited Ohio State University football coach Woody Hayes in the coach’s office, where he noticed that Woody had a toy: an erector set. Mr. Crum asked Coach Hayes, “Coach, are you going through a second childhood?” Coach Hayes, who spent a lot of time visiting ill children and was planning to give away the toy to an ill child, explained, “There’s a boy over at University Hospital who is an Ohio State fan.” Coach Hayes then grabbed the lapels of Mr. Crum’s jacket and said, “If you say one f**king word about this, I’ll kick you in the *ss.” (Mr. Crum waited until Coach Hayes had died, then he told other people about this.)
• The parents of figure skater Scott Hamilton ran out of money and were unable to support his training any further. Fortunately, a wealthy couple who owned the Denver skating rink at which famous coach Carlo Fassi worked volunteered to pay all of Mr. Hamilton’s expenses if he moved to Colorado and trained with Mr. Fassi. In return for their generosity, the couple requested that their names never be revealed. In 1984, Mr. Hamilton won an Olympic gold medal in men’s figure skating.
• Babe Ruth often came early to Fenway Park in Boston, where he would spend an hour bagging peanuts to be sold by children during the game. When he left, he would throw $10 or $20 on the table and tell peanut vendor Thomas Foley, “Take care of the kids.”
Hitters
• On October 1, 1932, Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees played the Cubs in Chicago. In the top of the fifth inning of the third game of the World Series, the Babe took a called strike, then raised one finger. Two balls were called, and Babe swung for strike two. The Chicago bench jeered at him, as they had throughout the game. But the Babe lifted two fingers and told the Chicago bench, “It takes only one to hit it.” He then hit the next pitch for a home run—his fifteenth in a World Series. The Yankees went on to win the Series.
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "Do You Know What Love Means"
Album: XOXOXO VOLUME ONE
Artist: Miss Georgia Peach
Artist Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Record Company: Rum Bar Records
Record Company Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Info: “XOXOXO VOLUME ONE is a rock 'n roll love letter to you full of hits, lost treasures, anthems, and rock 'n' roll stories written in all your favorite languages: Garage, Punk, Power Pop, Alt-Country, Hip Shakin', Rebel Rousing, and Heart-On-Your-Sleeve—- 24 smash hit tracks, signed, sealed, & delivered by some of Rum Bar Records' favorite recording artists, family members, and friends.”
Miss Georgia Peach is the vocalist for the Short Fuses.
Miss Georgia Peach also sings with Scott Morgan.
Price: Name Your price (Includes FREE) for 24-track album by various artists
Genre: R&B. Various.
Links:
XOXOXO VOLUME ONE
RUM BAR RECORDS
The Short Fuses on Bandcamp
Justin Staggs (of the Short Fuses) 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
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
Needed disposable gloves, so visited my favorite mom & pop dollar store.
They have so much interesting stuff crammed in there - kinda reminds me of an old 5 & Dime, but shinier.
Slams 'Racial Panic Goblins'
John Oliver
On Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Sunday, Oliver joined the growing chorus of voices condemning some in right-wing media for discouraging the acceptance of Afghan refugees in the U.S. Oliver specifically called out Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, both of whom spent last week disparaging the very notion.
“We’re in the midst of a massive humanitarian crisis,” Oliver said, “and we have a clear obligation to take in Afghans who are now vulnerable, and not just those that worked with U.S. troops, but those, like Fatima and her children, whose lives are now at grave risk. Although, some conservative commentators are already trying to get way out ahead of that.”
While Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who came to the U.S as a Somali refugee when she was a child, responded last week by saying she was not surprised by the anti-refugee sentiment among some conservatives, Oliver had a much more colorful response.
Oliver played a clip of Carlson comparing Afghan refugees coming to the U.S. to an invasion, and a clip of Ingraham saying, “The lesson of this 20-year war cannot be that every time we turn a country upside down or make huge mistakes, our immigration laws, our refugee laws no longer apply.”
Straight out of the clips, Oliver said, “Okay, first, f**k off, you tag team racial panic goblins. Second, the notion of ‘every time we turn a country upside down’ is an incredible thing to just blow past. Maybe that's the lesson here, Laura. Maybe don't keep turning countries upside down in the first place.”
John Oliver
'Jeopardy!' Fill In Host
Mayim Bialik
Mayim Bialik will host the weekday, syndicated version of Jeopardy! after all — at least temporarily.
After being named the host of the game show's primetime specials and spinoffs, Bialik will now fill in at the podium for Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards. On Friday, Richards stepped down just days into the job following the resurfacing of offensive comments he made in the past and workplace discrimination lawsuits he faced at The Price is Right while he was a co-executive producer there.
"Sony Pictures Television confirms that Mayim Bialik will fill in as host of the Jeopardy! syndicated program this week," Sony said in a statement to Yahoo Entertainment. "She is currently scheduled to tape three weeks of episodes (15 episodes) when production resumes this week."
(The show has traditionally taped five episodes in a single day.)
Meanwhile, sources told the Hollywood Reporter that Bialik was the "top choice" to host the main version of the show anyway, but she's constrained by the schedule for the upcoming season of her sitcom, Call Me Kat. She was already committed to it when Jeopardy! was ready to discuss terms. Yet the Big Bang Theory alum remains interested, especially if her show is canceled or her schedule for a future season can be adjusted.
Mayim Bialik
UK Court Rules
Sex Pistols
A British judge ruled Monday that songs by punk trailblazers the Sex Pistols can be used in a forthcoming TV series despite the opposition of former frontman John Lydon.
Ex-Pistols guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook sued the singer, once known as Johnny Rotten, after he tried to block the music’s use in “Pistol,” a Disney-backed series based on a memoir by Jones.
Lydon said the songs could not be licensed without his consent, but Cook and Jones claimed that an agreement dating from 1998 allowed a majority decision.
Judge Anthony Mann agreed the pair were entitled to invoke “majority voting rules” as outlined in the band agreement. He said Lydon’s claim that he was not aware of the details or implications of the agreement that he had signed was “a convenient contrivance.”
Sex Pistols
Looking To Sell Radford Lot
ViacomCBS
A week after completing the sale of Black Rock, the longtime New York City headquarters of CBS, ViacomCBS is now looking to part with its CBS Studios campus in Studio City.
CBS CEO George Cheeks confirmed in a memo to employees that the company has hired commercial real estate firm JLL to investigate all options for the space. He said the move “aligns with our strategy to divest non-core assets like real estate and direct that value to priorities such as creating more of our best-in-class content.”
While Cheeks acknowledged that employees will likely have questions related to the decision, he assured them the company would have adequate capacity for broadcast and studio production.
Since CBS and Viacom reunited in December 2019, many duplicated assets have been shed or marked for divestiture. The Black Rock sale to Harbor Group, which was finalized last week, netted $760 million. The company runs another LA production facility, the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood.
The production facility, which has 18 soundstages, has been a staple of the LA entertainment business for decades. Silent film producer and director Mack Sennett opened it in 1928. Soon, it became best-known for television, hosting productions like Gunsmoke, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and, in more recent times, Big Brother and Entertainment Tonight.
ViacomCBS
Police Chased Nonexistent ‘Antifa Bus’
Redding, California
On 1 June 2020, a law enforcement official in the small northern California city of Redding sent screenshots of two social media posts to her staff, asking them to investigate.
One was an Instagram story. “BE AWARE … I have heard, from a reliable source, that ANTIFA buses with close to 200 people (domestic terrorists) are planning to infiltrate Redding and possibly cause distraction and destruction,” it read. The second, a Facebook post, warned that buses of protesters planning to “riot” had stopped in Klamath Falls in southern Oregon, “but there was no rioting or burning as they decided to move on”. The post included a grainy image of a small van with “Black Lives Matter” written on the back.
Elizabeth Barkley, then chief of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) northern division, which covers rural parts of the state just south of Oregon, asked her colleagues to look into the claims and “notify our allied agencies in town”. Ninety minutes later, another CHP official forwarded the message to officers saying, “The thought is these buses are roaming – looking for events to attend (and possibly cause problems).”
Fifteen minutes after that, a CHP sergeant told a listserv of commanders that “possible ANTIFA buses [are] heading to Redding”, adding that the agency’s tactical alert center had been notified. The official said that CHP aircraft operations were now actively trying to locate a vehicle on the freeway. The sheriff of nearby Humboldt county, William Honsal, shared the information with his entire staff, saying, “BOL [be on the lookout] for ANTIFA buses from Oregon.”
The actions of officials in Shasta and Humboldt counties last summer were outlined in internal documents obtained through a public records request by Property of the People, a not-for-profit transparency group, and shared with the Guardian.
Redding
Committee Seeks Phone Records
Jan. 6
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack is preparing to send requests to telecommunications companies, asking they preserve the phone records of several members of Congress, people familiar with the matter told CNN.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the committee, confirmed with CNN on Monday that letters will be sent to the "major networks" as well as "social media platforms, those kinds of things. I can tell you that we'll look at everything that will give us information on what happened on Jan. 6. We will look at all records at some point."
Thompson would not reveal the names of anyone the committee plans to contact, only saying it's "quite an exhaustive list of people." House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have both said they spoke to former President Donald Trump by phone on Jan. 6, and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), while wearing body armor, delivered a speech to Trump supporters hours before the Capitol was breached.
Jordan told CNN he has "nothing to hide," but added that if the committee asks him to preserve his records, there could be political retribution. Thompson has said he would like to start issuing subpoenas by the end of August.
Jan. 6
Irate Candidate
Wisconsin
A staffer at a southwestern Wisconsin library says a Republican congressional candidate threatened her over a gay pride display.
Kerrigan Trautsch, a page at the Prairie du Chien Memorial Library, told the La Crosse Tribune that Derrick Van Orden came into the library on June 17 and complained loudly about a display of fiction and nonfiction books about homosexuality in the children’s section. The display was part of the library’s efforts to recognize Pride Month.
Trautsch, who was 17 at the time, describes herself as an advocate for the LGBTQ community. She said Van Orden was angry, and that he said the books offended him and that taxpayers shouldn’t have to see them.
He was especially upset about the 2018 book, “A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo.” The 40-page book put out by John Oliver’s weekly HBO news show, “Last Week Tonight,” tells the fictional story of how Marlon Bundo, former Vice President Mike Pence’s real-life rabbit, marries another rabbit of the same sex.
“I was terrified that he would be outside, that there were be a collection of people outside waiting for me, waiting for anyone else,” she said. “We were terrified.”
Wisconsin
Guns To Auction
Al Capone
Guns once owned by Al Capone, one of the most notorious gangsters in United States history, are to go under the hammer at a California auction.
The mobster's favored .45 automatic pistol is among the haul, which also includes vintage photos, a letter to his son written from Alcatraz, and the bed he shared with his wife at their luxury Florida mansion.
The 174 items on sale in October are a collection entitled "A Century of Notoriety: the Estate of Al Capone," in what auctioneers say "will no doubt go down as one of the most important celebrity auctions in history."
Auctioneers at the October 8 sale in Sacramento estimate the .45 Colt automatic could fetch up to $150,000, while another pistol owned by the gangster might raise as much as $60,000.
The haul, which also includes a platinum and diamond Patek Philippe pocket watch, is from a collection passed down to Al and Mae Capone's only son, Sonny.
Al Capone
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