Today in 1965, the Beatles sought “Help” in purchasing an album:
Birthdays start with Green Bay native Pat Macdonald of Timbuk 3, which formed in Madison and found that …
Randy DeBarge of DeBarge:
No comments on Presty the DJ for Aug. 6
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First, a non-rock anniversary: Today is the 90th anniversary of the first broadcasted baseball game, on KDKA in Pittsburgh: Harold Arlen described Pittsburgh’s 8–0 win over Philadelphia.
Today in 1966, the Beatles recorded “Yellow Submarine” …
… and “Eleanor Rigby” …
… while also releasing their “Revolver” album.
One year later, the pirate rock radio station Radio London, eight miles off the British coast in the ship MV Galaxy, broadcasted for the final time after the British Parliament passed a law making it illegal:
Today in 1974, Joan Jett formed the Runaways:
Birthdays begin with Rick Huxley, one of the Dave Clark Five:
Sammi Smith was a one-crossover-hit wonder:
Who is Rick Zehringer? You know him better as Rick Derringer …
Another one-hit wonder: Samantha Sang, who sang …
Pete Burns of Dead or Alive:
Mike Nocito of Johnny Hates Jazz:
Two deaths of note: Jeff Porcaro, drummer for Toto, in 1992 …
… and the Real Don Steele in 1997:
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The first birthday today isn’t a rock music birthday, but fans of the trumpet have to recognize Louis Armstrong:
Elsbeary Hobbs of (the Ben E. King iteration of) the Drifters:
Who is Frank Guzzo? Frankie Ford, who invited you to go on …
Paul Leyton of the Seekers:
Robbin Crosby of Ratt:
The Paul Williams with a birthday today isn’t the short ’70s songwriter who played Little Enos in the “Smokey and the Bandit” movies; he is the Paul Williams who played guitar for A Flock of Seagulls:
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Just in time for the Olympics, Bleacher Report has compiled a list of the 100 worst athletes in sports history.
My immediate thought is that this is a bogus list because I’m not on it. Anyone who saw me attempt to play softball in the late Lancaster men’s league in the late 1980s knows that I deserve to be on this list, for inability to connect bat with slowly-pitched softball, running as if I was in an NFL Films highlight (and remember NFL Films films in slow motion), treating hit balls as if they were hand grenades without the pins, and for having a throwing arm that was weak, yet inaccurate.
Nevertheless, this incomplete list includes …
100. Michael Haddix [formerly of the Packers]
The eighth pick of the ’83 draft actually did record some decent numbers at first glance. 1,635 yards on the ground and 1,310 receiving for fullback Michael Haddix…not bad.
But considering it took him eight seasons to total those numbers and he finished his career with an average of 3.0 yards per carry, Haddix remains locked in scrub territory. …
96. Dan McGwire [who played at Iowa before …]
Known more as the brother of former slugger Mark McGwire rather than as a first-round bust. Dan McGwire remains the tallest quarterback drafted into the NFL (6’8″), he finished his career with limited opportunities and lacking highlights.
Two touchdowns, six picks, 745 yards and a rating of 52.3 in five seasons. Oh, and by the way, Brett Favre was drafted in the second round of that 1991 draft. …
86. Doug Strange [formerly of the Cubs]
With a batting average of .233 and 31 homeruns in nine seasons, infielder Doug Strange cemented himself among the most obscure players in baseball history.
81. Fred Merkle
When you’re nicknamed “Bonehead” and the highlight of your career is a play referred to as “Merkle’s boner,” you may want to find another career.
While a .273 average and 82 homeruns in 19 seasons isn’t quite as horrific as some may believe, Fred Merkle’s baserunning fail as a 19-year-old will forever shadow his very ordinary career.
Missing second base, and eventually costing his Giants the pennant. …
40. Tony Mandarich
“I am not like other players, I am Tony Mandarich, and they have to understand that. If they don’t like it, that is just the way I am and they are going to learn to like it.”
From perhaps the most heralded offensive line prospect ever (chosen second overall by the Packers in ’89) to arguably the greatest bust. What a road for the Mandarich.
Mandarich was on the cover of the second issue of the late Marketplace Magazine. I noted this in the late Marketplace of Ideas blog, which got a response from Mandarich, all the way from Arizona. The story was about the marketing opportunities for the Packers’ second round pick. He played three years for the the Packers, then, after a three-year absence, played three more years for Indianapolis, which means that he did exceed the average NFL career length, about 4.5 years.
17. Jim McIlvaine [formerly of Marquette]
A second-round pick of the Bullets in 1994, center Jim McIlvaine is known more for his controversial signing with the Sonics than he is for his mediocre play.
With Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton and a solid collection of role players filling out the lineup, Seattle was left with a void at center, and decided to sign this free agent shot-blocker to a seven-year, $33.6 million contract (despite averages of 2.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game the year before).
Not only was he useless on the court, but McIlvaine’s contract angered the Seattle faithful, especially Kemp and Payton. The team crumbled the following season. …
11. Tommy Lasorda
Long before winning two championships and two Manager of the Year awards with the Dodgers, Tommy Lasorda was an undrafted hurler looking for a shot.
But in three Major League seasons, Lasorda took that opportunity and turned it into a 0-4 record with a 6.48 ERA. He had plenty of time to study the diamond from the bullpen.
Lasorda won two World Series, managed in two others, led the 2000 Olympic baseball team to a gold medal, and went off on an epic rant after a game in which the Mets’ Dave Kingman hit three home runs and drove in eight. Lasorda also tried to lobby Dodgers management to go with him instead of another left-handed pitcher, Sandy Koufax.
6. Maurice Flitcroft
Scoring a 49 over par, 121 at the 1976 Open (the worst ever in the tournament’s history) was all “chain-smoking shipyard crane-operator” Maurice Flitcroft had to do to cement his name in the record books.
A true legend.
5. Bob Uecker
Some know him as George Owens from the 1980 sitcom Mr. Belvedere, others as comically inebriated broadcaster Harry Doyle from Major League. But once upon a time, Bob Uecker was a mediocre catcher getting his feet wet in the Majors.
Even if he only hit .200, at least Uecker has a homerun off legendary southpaw Sandy Koufax to smile about. And he’s always smiling.
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When pro sports fans talk to sports media types, one of the most common questions is: What is _______ really like?
Ryan Riddle was a University of California teammate of Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers:
I remember the first time I saw Aaron Rodgers, sitting in the back of a bus loaded with college recruits and family. My first observation was that he looked like a little high school kid who had just discovered hair under his armpits. …
Coincidentally, Aaron’s first summer in Cal was spent living in an old, enormous, relatively empty frat house just off campus right across the hall from myself. There were a few of us temporarily lodged away there for the month; we paid rent by doing odd clean-up jobs around the house.
Aaron shared a room with his Butte junior college teammate, tight end Garrett Cross, while I was in a room with running back J.J Arrington. That summer month in the dirty frat house gave Aaron, Garrett and I time to get to know each other well enough to all agree to become roommates once the season and fall semester started.
During that time, I would say Aaron was a fairly reserved guy who had a distinct sense of humor, which he seemed reluctant to unleash because of its “nerdish tendencies.”
I predict that no one has ever written about Rodgers’ predecessor’s “nerdish tendencies.” California and Mississippi might as well be on different planets.
Riddle has an interesting story to tell about one of Rodgers’ low career points, a 35–21 loss to Oregon State:
Aaron started the game playing horrible football. He was extremely uncomfortable, completing just two of his first 14 passes. The speed of the game and constant pressure Oregon State applied to our offense was clearly giving Aaron more than he could handle at the time. Head coach Jeff Tedford decided to let the young quarterback play his way through the struggles.
By the time the final whistle had blown, Oregon State had won 35-21. Aaron finished the game despite the paralyzing boos of the home crowd. He completed just nine passes on 34 attempts for only 52 yards, no touchdowns, and an interception.
I was too busy playing in the game to really notice how well Aaron had publicly handled such a terrible performance in what was his first complete game in front of his family, friends, and the home crowd in general. Unfortunately, this was a bad day in Mr. Rodgers’ neighborhood.
That night, back in our dorms, Aaron had been in his room all night with the door closed. So one of our roommates Francis and I decided to check in on him to see how he was holding up. When we went in the room, Aaron was laying in bed crying, profoundly disappointed in his performance. He told us that he felt as though he let the entire team down and the entire loss was his fault.
I could remember us trying to offer up some words of encouragement, which did seem to dilute his state of utter despair. But for the most part, this was an emotional process that Aaron absolutely had to go through to become the quarterback he is today. That was the worst game Aaron had ever played in his entire football career. In the end, he emerged a stronger person, better leader, and will be forever reminded of his own humility.
Readers, though, want to know the real Rodgers.
During college, Rodgers was ridiculously enamored with Jessica Simpson; he seemed to even have it in his head that they were somehow going to get married. I believe this was around the time that she and Nick Lachey were newlyweds and had their own reality TV show. …
Funny to think of all the fantasy crushes men have in a lifetime, Aaron actually had a legitimate shot at his fantasy girl, but his desire for her fizzled out right around the time he was actually in a position to get hooked up with her. But “hooking up” with girls was never something Aaron prioritized in life.
Aaron was raised a devout Christian, and lived a life of strong religious values. He never spent his time in college drinking or partying. His discipline in life and foundation of beliefs were very admirable in an environment where he was often the odd man out. …
Aaron was rarely, if ever, a guy you would find giving fiery speeches to his teammates, nor was he a big vocal leader. Rather, he would come in every day completely prepared to succeed at his job. I often wonder how much Aaron must have learned over the years from Brett Favre in terms of leadership and earning respect from his teammates. I’m sure, however, Aaron will always prefer to lead with his actions first and foremost. …
The world may know a charismatic, somewhat-stylish guy with lots of cool and a personality made for marketing. But the Aaron we all knew in college was much different. He used to drive around campus on a small scooter with a big bike helmet and the exact same hair cut as Lloyd Christmas from the movie” Dumb and Dumber,” which ultimately became one of his nicknames. …
The biggest complaint Rodgers consistently received as a roommate from the guys at the dorm was he routinely poured himself bowls of cereal and would never wash his dishes. He was the main culprit for creating a sink full of dishes that he would never clean, no matter how long the dishes sat there, or how many times you said something to him.
I hope Rodgers employs a housekeeper.
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Today in 1963, two years and one day after the Beatles started as the house band for the Cavern Club in Liverpool, the Beatles performed there for the last time.
Three years later, the South African government banned Beatles records.
Five years later and one year removed from the Beatles, Paul McCartney formed Wings.
Today in 1974, guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter left Steely Dan for the Doobie Brothers, later to be followed by Michael McDonald.
In my first post-college job, when he went on vacation, the newspaper owner instructed us that whatever happened while he was gone — computer dying on production day, presses struck by lightning, building destroyed by a meteor, whatever — we were to get out a newspaper as scheduled, even if it was one typewritten page. So by that standard, today in 1990 Radio Kuwait failed its listeners, because it left the air due to Kuwait’s invasion by Iraq.
Birthdays start with Tony Bennett — no, not the former Packers linebacker or former UW–Green Bay basketball player:
Beverly Lee of the Shirelles:
Morris “B.B.” Dickerson played bass for War:
Jon Graham of Earth Wind & Fire:
Who is Leon Drucker? Lee Rucker, bass player for the Stray Cats:
James Hetfield of Metallica:
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Novelist Andrew Klavan on “Batman: The Dark Knight Rises”:
The movie is a bold apologia for free-market capitalism; a graphic depiction of the tyranny and violence inherent in every radical leftist movement from the French Revolution to Occupy Wall Street; and a tribute to those who find redemption in the harsh circumstances of their lives rather than allow those circumstances to mire them in resentment.
None of these themes necessarily arises out of filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s politics, of which I know nothing. Whatever his politics, he is an artist committed to creating, in Shakespeare’s words, “abstract and brief chronicles of the time.” This is where Mr. Nolan’s honesty comes in.
There are, after all, no socialist filmmakers in Hollywood. There are only capitalist filmmakers (Michael Moore, for one) who make socialist films. Likewise, none of the coiffed corporate multimillionaires who anchor the network newscasts can honestly support the Occupy movement which, taken to its logical conclusion, would result in their being hanged from lampposts.
Yet while repeatedly tainting the free-market tea party movement with a racism it doesn’t espouse and linking it to violence it doesn’t commit, many creatives and journalists lend moral support to the socialist “occupiers”—underplaying the widespread vandalism, lawlessness and grotesque anti-Semitism characteristic of their demonstrations.
“The Dark Knight Rises” is a stinging, relentless critique of that upside-down and ultimately indefensible worldview. And why not? Our chattering classes frequently tell us that art should speak truth to power and shock the bourgeoisie. It just never seems to occur to them that “the power”—and the modern Babbitts of the bourgeoisie—are themselves.Mr. Nolan’s response to them—the perfectly cast, brilliantly choreographed conclusion to his Batman trilogy—is a sophisticated vision of the way economic systems actually work and don’t work. The essence of that vision is encapsulated in two scenes that purposely echo one another.
In the first, the embittered villain Bane, mouthing revolutionary bromides, stages an assault on the stock exchange. In the midst of the uproar, we hear a police officer say of the stock market, “That’s not my money, that’s everyone’s money”—a recognition, in other words, that the 1% and the other 99% do the work of free trade together.
Later, after Bane’s revolution has destroyed the investment class with mob violence and show trials and thus plunged Gotham City into chaos, Catwoman and her fellow thief enter a ransacked house. “This used to be someone’s home,” mourns Catwoman, her conscience awakening. “Now it’s everyone’s home!” exults her unrepentant colleague, gloating over the ruin. …
But the heart of the film is not money. It’s people and what they choose to make of the injustices of their lives. Catwoman is the linchpin of that theme. She is the link between those like the heroic capitalist Wayne, who allow hardship to temper their souls, and those like Bane, who cling to their hurts and demand to be repaid in societal destruction. Catwoman begins as a thief making revolutionary proclamations: “There’s a storm coming.” She ends up confronting the true nature of that storm and a choice between that and freedom’s better way.
Free markets lift us all. People’s “revolutions” inevitably result in tyranny. Forgiveness and self-betterment redeem society while embittered extortions in the name of “social justice” poison it. None of these simple truths is hidden in the film. That is why left-leaning critics on both coasts have reacted to the movie with the same willful blindness with which they view history.
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Emory University Prof. Paul H. Rubin nicely summarizes the Obama administration’s war on business, that thing business people didn’t do:
… But business is certainly not getting “a climate that helps us grow” from the current administration. That administration has instead created a hostile climate through its regulatory policies.
The news media report almost daily about new regulatory burdens. More generally, according to an analysis in March by the Heritage Foundation, “Red Tape Rising,” the Obama administration in its first three years adopted 106 major regulations (those with costs over $100 million), compared with 28 such regulations in the George W. Bush administration. Heritage notes that there are 144 more such major regulations in the pipeline.
Consider a major example of government investment—roads and bridges. A transportation system needs roads, but it also needs gasoline. This administration’s policies—its refusal to allow a private company to build the Keystone XL pipeline, its reduction in permits for offshore drilling and increased EPA regulation of pollutants—retard the production of gasoline. If transportation is an important input from government to creating a favorable climate for business, shouldn’t we be encouraging, not discouraging, gasoline production?
Other inputs needed by business are capital and labor. The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed by Mr. Obama and enforced by his appointees, makes raising capital and investing more difficult. Since many regulations needed to implement this law have not even been written, business cannot know how to adapt to them. This increases uncertainty and so reduces incentives for investment.
The increased minimum wage, passed and signed in the early days of the administration, discourages hiring of entry-level workers. ObamaCare has increased uncertainty regarding future labor costs and so hindered business in hiring and expanding. The pro-union decisions by Obama appointees at the National Labor Relations Board do not create a climate to help the economy grow. …
If we accept the plain meaning of Mr. Obama’s speech, it indicates that he does not believe in the importance of entrepreneurs in creating businesses. But if we accept the reinterpretation of his speech in light of his administration’s deeds, it indicates a belief that a hostile regulatory climate poses no danger to economic growth. Either interpretation means that this administration is not good for business.
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Today in 1961, the Beatles made their debut as the house band of the Cavern Club in Liverpool, before they had recorded music of their own creation.
Birthdays start with Edward Pattern, one of Gladys Knight’s Pips …
… born one year before Doris Kenner of the Shirelles:
Garth Hudson played keyboards for The Band:
Andrew Gold was Linda Ronstadt’s guitarist before his solo career:
Today in 1972, Brian Cole, singer of The Association, died of an overdose at 29:
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You think the writers of ObamaCare (whose supporters fill my work inbox with how great ObamaCare supposedly is) had this in mind?
An Indiana-based medical equipment manufacturer says it’s scrapping plans to open five new plants in the coming years because of a looming tax tied to President Obama’s health care overhaul law.
Cook Medical claims the tax on medical devices, set to take effect next year, will cost the company roughly $20 million a year, cutting into money that would otherwise go toward expanding into new facilities over the next five years.
“This is the equivalent of about a plant a year that we’re not going to be able to build,” a company spokesman told FoxNews.com.
He said the original plan was to build factories in “hard-pressed” Midwestern communities, each employing up to 300 people. But those factories cost roughly the same amount as the projected cost of the new tax. …
The Affordable Care Act imposed a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices beginning in 2013. It is projected to raise nearly $30 billion over the next decade.
But the Cook Medical spokesman said the impact is greater than just a 2.3 percent uptick in taxes. He said the impact on actual earnings is another 15 percent, and he projected the company’s total tax burden next year will rise to over 50 percent.
In the real world (as opposed to Barack Obama’s mind, where government creates all business), businesses make decisions based on what taxes and regulations will cost them. And ObamaCare cost up to 1,500 jobs in an era of unemployment over 8 percent. Great job, Barack.
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 