from Bruce
Anecdotes
Music
• In 1908, Jack Norworth wrote what is probably his greatest hit: “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” He wrote the song after seeing in a subway an advertisement for a New York Giants baseball game. Surprisingly, he had never seen a baseball game before—and he didn’t see his first baseball game until 1942. According to Mr. Norworth, not seeing a baseball game wasn’t important: “So what? I’m a songwriter. That’s what I like to do. Going to baseball games doesn’t interest me a bit.” He was refreshingly candid about his abilities as a songwriter, estimating that he had written “more than 3,000 songs, seven of them good.” Two of the good ones were “Shine on, Harvest Moon” and “Meet Me in Apple Blossom Time.”
• Edward “Duke” Ellington learned how to play the piano as a result of a baseball accident. While he was playing baseball with a group of kids from the neighborhood, a player threw the bat after making a hit. The bat hit Duke in the head, and his mother decided that he would be safer inside the house, taking piano lessons, than outside, playing baseball. As an adult, Mr. Ellington became a giant in the jazz world.
Names
• Nate Archibald was six-foot-one, so as a player in the NBA, he was called “Tiny.” When coach Bob Cousy drafted Tiny to play for the Cincinnati Royals, he had never seen Tiny play, although he had heard much about his impressive basketball abilities. When Tiny met Mr. Cousy for the first time at the coach’s hotel room, Mr. Cousy was shocked by how small he was. Mr. Cousy said, “I knew he was little, but I didn’t know he was that little. Or that skinny. Or that baby-faced. I thought he was the bellhop.” When Tiny showed up by himself at the Madison Square Garden, at first the guard at the players’ gate wouldn’t let him through. Tiny told the guard that he played for the Royals, but the guard replied, “Sure, kid. And I’m the shortstop for the Yankees.” Mr. Cousy ended up telling the guard, “He’s one of my guys, but I don’t blame you for wondering about it. We haven’t even got a uniform that fits him yet. His number’s stuffed halfway down his pants.”
• Whitbread and America’s Cup sailor Dawn Riley sometimes ran into problems early in her career. She would show up on a boat, then discover the other sailors were expecting to sail with “Don” Riley. However, she was a good person to have along in an emergency. While she was sailing in an around-the-world Whitbread Race with an all-female crew, their boat developed rudder problems. Ms. Riley ended up using a hacksaw to create a temporary replacement rudder from a spinnaker pole. Despite the rudder problems, Ms. Riley and her teammates finished second in the race.
• Athletes can be honored in many different ways. Some athletes are honored by entire towns. For example, Ismay, Montana, is a small town that changed its name to Joe, Montana. In addition, Jim Thorpe was honored when the town where he is buried in Pennsylvania changed its name from Mauch Chunk to Jim Thorpe. Many players are honored when the team they played for retires their number, but Jackie Robinson was honored in 1997 (50 years after he broke the color barrier in modern major-league baseball) when EVERY major-league team retired his number: 42.
• Buck O’Neil, a third baseman in the Negro Leagues, acquired the rather strange nickname of “Nancy” from the great pitcher Satchel Paige. This is how it happened: Mr. Paige was entertaining two women in different rooms of the same hotel, and he mixed up the women’s names. Knocking on one woman’s door, he whispered, “Nancy? Nancy?” The door opened, and standing in the doorway was a woman whose name was not Nancy. She demanded, “Who is this Nancy?” Just then, Mr. O’Neil walked into the hallway. From then on, Mr. O’Neil was called Nancy.
• Jigoro Kano adapted the martial art of jujitsu into the sport of judo. In Russia, he demonstrated judo by facing a much bigger Russian fighter. He quickly threw the man, but he put his hand under the man’s head to cushion his fall and make sure the man was not hurt. For good reason, the 5-foot-4-inch-tall Mr. Kano was known as the Gentle Giant.
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
The Funniest People in Sports, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes — Buy
The Funniest People in Sports, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes — Buy the Paperback
The Funniest People in Sports, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes — Kindle
The Funniest People in Sports, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes — Apple
The Funniest People in Sports, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes — Barnes and Noble
The Funniest People in Sports, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes — Kobo
The Funniest People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes — Smashwords, Volume 2: Many Formats, Including PFD
Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "Fallin’"
Single: This song is a one-side single.
Artist: Terra Jackson and Danny B. Harvey
Artist Location: Los Angeles, California and Austin, Texas
Info:
“A couple years ago Terra Jackson, a lovely and very talented actress / singer / model from Los Angeles, hooked up Danny B. Harvey to record debut single. A second single was in the worlds but got sidelined because of Covid, hopefully it'll be back on track soon. Thank you.”
“Danny B. Harvey is best known as the lead guitarist, and founding member of Headcat, Lemmy Kilmister's ‘other band.’ However he has also played guitar with Wanda Jackson, Nancy Sinatra, Levi Dexter, Linda Gail Lewis, The Rockats, 69 Cats, Bow Wow Wow, 13 Cats & Annie Marie Lewis. He is also a noted film composer having completed the soundtrack to THE RAGE: CARRIE 2 for MGM.”
Danny B. Harvey also works with the Devil’s Daughters (Above).
Price: $1 (USD) for track
Genre: Rockabilly
Links:
“Fallin’”
Danny B. Harvey on Bandcamp
Terra Jackson on Instagram
Terra Jackson on YouTube
Danny B. Harvey 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
Nothing New
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
Have visited CostCo, Target, Best Buy, and (shudder) WalMart in the quest to replace my little camera.
Even tried their respective websites, to no avail.
After a pandemic-perfect record of avoiding all things Amazon, will probably have to give in and look there.
Not Welcome
Frank Oz
For generations of children, Muppet masters Jim Henson and Frank Oz were a comedy duo on the level of Abbott & Costello and Laurel & Hardy. Even after Henson's death in 1990, Oz continued to portray such beloved characters as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Bert and Grover. Since the early 2000s, though, the puppeteer and filmmaker has been an infrequent presence in the extended Muppet-verse — a decision that Oz himself didn't make.
In a revealing new interview with The Guardian, Oz claims that he's essentially been forced into retirement by the current powers that be that control the Muppets and Sesame Street, respectively. (Disney acquired the rights to the Muppets in 2004; Sesame Street is controlled by Sesame Workshop, which has a streaming deal with WarnerMedia.)
"I’d love to do the Muppets again but Disney doesn’t want me, and Sesame Street hasn’t asked me for 10 years," Oz says. "They don’t want me because I won’t follow orders and I won’t do the kind of Muppets they believe in." Oz goes on to say that he deliberately avoids watching anything Muppet-related now. "The soul’s not there. The soul is what makes things grow and be funny. But I miss them and love them."
Oz continues to target Disney in the interview, suggesting that tension over the studio's earlier attempt to acquire the Muppets may have contributed to the illness that claimed Henson's life. "The Disney deal is probably what killed Jim. It made him sick," he says. "[Michael] Eisner [Disney's then-Chairman and CEO] was trying to get Sesame Street, too, which Jim wouldn't allow. But Jim was not a dealer, he was an artist, and it was destroying him, it really was."
Frank Oz
Rotating Guest Hosts
‘The View’
“The View” will fill Meghan McCain’s slot with a rotating cast of guest conservative co-hosts when it returns for it 25th season next month.
First up will be former Utah Congresswoman Mia Love, who will join moderator Whoopi Goldberg and co-hosts Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines for the first week, which begins Sept. 7. This will be the first time all co-hosts will be in the studio together since March 2020.
Additional guest co-hosts include Condoleezza Rice, S.E. Cupp, Gretchen Carlson, Carly Fiorina, Eboni K. Williams, Mary Katharine Ham, Alyssa Farah and Cameran Eubanks.
Meghan McCain left the show after four seasons. Her last episode was in August.
‘The View’
Mediation
‘GMA’
The Walt Disney Co. held mediation talks with a current and former employee who alleged that a former top producer for Good Morning America sexually assaulted them.
One of the women, Kirstyn Crawford, a network producer, filed a lawsuit last week against ABC and Michael Corn, who headed GMA until his abrupt departure in April. She accused Corn of sexually assaulting her during a trip to Los Angeles in 2015, when the show was covering the Academy Awards.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the mediation talks, which were held in June but unsuccessful, and a source familiar with the situation confirmed the proceedings. Generally, mediation is held as a way to resolve legal claims outside the courts, typically with a retired judge presiding.
In her lawsuit, Crawford claims that the network learned of the alleged assault in 2017 yet “did nothing to protect Plaintiff or remove Corn from his position of power.”
Corn is now president at Nexstar’s NewsNation.
‘GMA’
SAG-AFTRA Class Action Lawsuit
Ed Asner
The day after former SAG president Ed Asner’s death, a federal judge indicated Monday that she is inclined to allow the class action lawsuit that bears his name to proceed against the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan and its trustees.
Earlier today, U.S. District Court Judge Christina A. Snyder issued a tentative decision that denied the Plan’s motion to dismiss the case. A virtual hearing was then held to allow attorneys from both sides – seven in all – to make arguments about why she should or should not uphold her tentative decision, which will allow for discovery to proceed once it’s made final.
In a statement, the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan said: “Last year, responding to continually skyrocketing healthcare costs and in the midst of the unprecedented economic realities of a global pandemic, the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan Trustees responsibly planned for the future while ensuring high-quality benefits for as many as possible. The Court’s stated intention to allow the case to proceed does not address the legality of the changes made by the Trustees, and we look forward to proving in court that the Trustees acted in the best interests of the participants in adopting these changes. We are confident that the courts will ultimately reject this meritless litigation.”
In Edward Asner et al versus the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan et al, Asner and nine other SAG-AFTRA members allege that changes to the Plan’s eligibility requirements earlier this year “illegally discriminate based on age and violate the Age Discrimination and Employment Act of 1967,” and are a breach of fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
On August 12, 2020, the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan announced modifications to its benefit structure that the Plan stated were driven by its dire financial condition. The Benefit Amendments included the elimination of Senior Performer Coverage, which previously entitled participants and their dependents and surviving spouses to a lifetime of SAG-AFTRA health benefits at age 65 upon accruing 20 years of vested pension service.
Ed Asner
Cancels Shows
Kid Rock
Kid Rock on Twitter has been forced to cancel two shows in Fort Worth, Texas, because “over half the band has f****** covid”, he has said.
The controversial US singer, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, was scheduled to perform at Billy Bob’s on 27 and 28 August.
As the United States reels from a resurgence in COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant, the entertainer addressed “s*** for brains bloggers and media trolls”, saying many of the band members who have tested positive were vaccinated against Covid-19.
This comes after Kid Rock played to a “packed house” at the 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota on 8 August, which health officials are calling a “superspreader event”.
Following his performance at Sturgis, Kid Rock gloated that “there is nothing the mainstream media or internet and social media trolls can do but look at this pic and weep, knowing they will never beat us”.
Kid Rock
Off The Coast
California
Forty-four freight ships are stuck awaiting entry into California's two largest ports, the highest number recorded since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Marine Exchange of Southern California reported on Saturday.
The queue is a result of the labor shortage, COVID-19-related disruptions, and holiday-buying surges. Port of Los Angeles data indicated that the ships' average wait time had increased to 7.6 days.
"The normal number of container ships at anchor is between zero and one," Kip Louttit, the executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, told Insider in July.
California ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach account for about one-third of US imports. These ports operate as a primary source of imports from China and have experienced heavy congestion throughout the pandemic.
"Part of the problem is the ships are double or triple the size of the ships we were seeing 10 or 15 years ago," Louttit said. "They take longer to unload. You need more trucks, more trains, more warehouses to put the cargo."
California
World Is Officially Free
Leaded Gasoline
The UN Environment Program announced on Monday that the world has officially banished leaded gasoline. The end of the use of this dangerous fuel has been a long time coming, and the day is finally here: According to the UN, the world’s last reserves of leaded gasoline were used up last month at a refinery in Algeria.
While the sale of leaded gasoline—or leaded petrol, as the rest of the world calls it—has been banned in the U.S. for decades, it’s posed a big problem in some parts of the world. Less than 20 years ago, the UN said, there were still 117 countries that used leaded petrol, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and other countries with lower GDPs. Leaded gasoline poses a huge public health risk, with lots of devastating impacts: Prolonged, low-level lead exposure can have impacts on basically every system in the body, and is linked to blood pressure problems, kidney disease, heart disease, and problems with fertility. Children are particularly sensitive to the impacts of lead, with lead exposure being linked to a whole host of problems including behavioral issues and lower IQs.
In 2002, the UN formed the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles in order to work together to get leaded petrol permanently out of the world for good. The coalition included representatives from environment ministries across the world, independent experts, and industry representatives, all of whom worked for nearly two decades to solve this problem.
“This wasn’t easy,” Inger Andersen, the executive director of the UNEP, said on a press call Monday. “We had to overcome resistance from companies producing the lead additive. We sparked investments to replace lead while maintaining the same octane levels. We overcame concerns regarding the pricing of unleaded fuels, and we supported countries dealing with conflicts and stocks of [leaded fuel]. The success we note and celebrate today provides some clear lessons on dealing with environmental challenges; lessons on the need for independent science, for innovation, for free media, and for clear and objective end goals.”
Leaded gas was originally developed in the 1920s by American car companies in order to improve efficiency and eliminate noise problems in engines. From the get-go, auto and chemical manufacturers knew that the additive they were using—tetraethyl lead—was poisonous. Five workers at a refinery died from lead exposure the second year leaded gas was on the market, and the original inventor of leaded gasoline, a General Motors engineer, himself contracted lead poisoning at least once.
Leaded Gasoline
'Offset' a Day of Sitting
Exercise
We know that spending hour after hour sitting down isn't good for us, but just how much exercise is needed to counteract the negative health impact of a day at a desk? A 2020 study suggests about 30-40 minutes per day of building up a sweat should do it.
Up to 40 minutes of "moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity" every day is about the right amount to balance out 10 hours of sitting still, the research says – although any amount of exercise or even just standing up helps to some extent.
That's based on a meta-analysis across nine previous studies, involving a total of 44,370 people in four different countries who were wearing some form of fitness tracker.
The analysis found the risk of death among those with a more sedentary lifestyle went up as time spent engaging in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity went down.
In other words, putting in some reasonably intensive activities – cycling, brisk walking, gardening – can lower your risk of an earlier death right back down to what it would be if you weren't doing all that sitting around, to the extent that this link can be seen in the amassed data of many thousands of people.
Exercise
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
