Roger Maris - 50 Years Ago

Fifty years ago, today, Roger Maris did the unthinkable. He broke the most famous single season baseball record of all time. He did it at the same ballpark in front of many of the same fans. Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in 1927 had stood for 34 years. In 1961, Long-time Yankee Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were chasing Ruth's record. The newspapers would compare the running totals of Mantle, Maris & Ruth, game by game, as the season progressed. Most of the fans were rooting for Mantle or for Ruth - rooting for Ruth would mean not wanting a new record. Maris was a recent addition to the Yankees and he was booed. This is true. I was ten years old and I watched most of the games on TV. Things were different, then. The games were broadcast in black and white on WPIX, Channel 11 in New York. There were two main sponsors, Ballentine Beer, and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (Winston, Camel & Salem cigarettes.) There were three announcers for radio and TV - Mel Allen, Red Barber and Phil Rizzuto.

As I was saying, Mantle had the strongest following. A late season injury took him out of the lineup long enough to kill his hopes of breaking the record. You would have thought that Yankee Stadium would be packed with a sellout crowd on October 1, 1961. It was not. Fewer than half the seats were filled. I have a link to a short YouTube clip of Maris hitting his 61st home run of the season. Phil Rizzuto has the call - Click Here.

There are other YouTube videos with Red Barber calling the action. As I remember it, Rizzuto was on TV when this happened. Red Barber may have been on radio.

The sad fact is that Maris did an amazing thing in 1961 and his team's fans were not giving him the support or respect that he deserved. Maris did this despite a four to five pack a day cigarette habit. He never lived to see his record broken by players who either admitted or are suspected of using performance enhancing drugs.

To this day, I have never seen any sporting event to compare with the magic of a humble Roger Maris and his 61 in 1961.   ...50 years ago, today.

Friday Foto - Elizabeth Gutiérrez

Time for the Friday Foto. Elizabeth Gutiérrez is a Mexican - American actress and model. We may remember her best as a model on "The Price Is Right." She's also done some TV in Mexico. She comes from a good sized family with 6 sisters and one brothers.

As usual, click the image to get the full effect and have a great weekend!

Rooney Retires

Andy Rooney

He's been working at CBS since 1948! Andy Rooney is a writer. He's also a producer, but he's best known as the guy with the brief commentary at the end of "60 Minutes."

I'm a fan of his...usually. Like I say, he's primarily a writer. When he's on TV, sometimes, during his past 1,096 essays, he comes off as a bitter old man. Not very appealing. Occasionally he hits the nail on the head, but more often his subject matter is a little less than relevant. Still, for some reason I like him. Probably because he's unique - a link to the past, you know, before things got stupid.

Andy Rooney is 92. He probably should retire. I mentioned that he sometimes appears to be bitter or unhappy. I don't think that that's the case. If he were really unhappy with his work at CBS he would have retired long ago.

His final appearance on 60 Minutes is on this Sunday, 11/2/11,  I hope he continues to write...you know, like maybe he could start a blog...

Kim Collects 10 Million Twitts

You may have noticed that it is possible to follow this blog on Twitter. The link to subscribe is on the right.

Kim Kardashian has been on Twitter for a while and is doing well. Today, Kim collected her 10 millionth follower. This puts her in fifth place.

This puzzles me. Also puzzling is that there are four other people who have more than 10 million Twitter followers.

Singer Katy Perry is in fourth place with 10.1 million.
President Barack Obama is in third place with 10.2 million.
Second place goes to Justin Bieber with 12.8 million.
The top spot, with 13.8 million followers, is Lady Gaga.

For the record, I have 13 Twitter followers.

Monday Photo - Wendy Kennedy

Welcome to Monday! About the only thing good about a Monday is the Monday Foto! Today we feature Wendy Kennedy. I know that Wendy is from Tennessee, and that's it. Well, being that this is the Internet, I suppose I could make up a few things, like Wendy is actually a brain surgeon who supplements her income by modeling? How's that? You're probably not reading this, anyway because you already know to click the image to get the "full picture!

Have a good week!


 

Google + Instead?

I am a Facebook member...have been for a few years!  I've seen changes come and go, and you know, I never really figured out how to correctly do what an average 11 year old can routinely master on Facebook. Most importantly, on Facebook, I don't seem to be hearing from some of my FB friends. Even if they unfriended me, and if I did not unfriend them, shouldn't I be able to hear their words of wisdom?

Google+ is similar to Facebook, but has a better (for me) structure of categories for friends....close friends, acquaintances and people or things that we are following.

I like Google+. It cleaner, faster and SMARTER than Facebook. They will be #1 very soon as Facebook moves into the same cyber neighborhood with Myspace.

Oh.....and you can "play games" on Google+, too!

NFL Picks - Week 3, 2011

Not to jinks myself or anything, but I think I've gotten off to a pretty good start for the season. After two weeks, I've picked 21 games correctly out of 32, with a 12 & 4 record for week 2.

Here are my picks for week 3:

NEW ENGLAND at buffalo
jacksonville at CAROLINA
SAN FRANCISCO at cincinnati
miami at CLEVELAND
detroit at MINNESOTA
houston at NEW ORLEANS
GIANTS at philadelphia
denver at TENNESSEE



JETS at oakland
kansas city at SAN DIEGO
BALTIMORE at st. louis
GREEN BAY at chicago
ARIZONA at seattle
atlanta at TAMPA BAY

PITTSBURGH at indianapolis

washington at DALLAS

Charity

I received this in my e-mail, today from a reliable friend.  The names and figures may be out of date, but I think you'll get the general idea.

This is meant to make you think before you donate:

· The American Red Cross President and CEO Marsha J. Evans' salary for the year was $651,957 plus expenses.

· The United Way President Brian Gallagher receives a $375,000 base salary along with numerous expense benefits.

· UNICEF CEO Caryl M. Stern receives $1,200,000 per year (100k per month) plus all expenses including a ROLLS ROYCE. Less than 5 cents of your donated dollar goes to the cause.

· The Salvation Army's Commissioner Todd Bassett receives a salary of only $13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar organization. 96 percent of donated dollars go to the cause.

· The American Legion National Commander receives a $0.00 salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

· The Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander receives a $0.00 salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

· The Disabled American Veterans National Commander receives a $0.00 salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

· The Military Order of Purple Hearts National Commander receives a $0.00 salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

· The Vietnam Veterans Association National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

2 1/2 Men Season Debut

The season premier of Two and a Half men aired a few hours ago. This is the one where Ashton Kutcher replaces Charlie Sheen.

I saw the show and guess what I saw?

  NOTHING SPECIAL!

Kutcher is a handsome guy, but in the show he looked like a reject from that Caveman show... you know the Geico Insurance commercial spin off that became a sitcom and lasted for two or three episodes. Who is it, in Hollywood, who decides to take a good looking kid and tells him to grow an ugly beard and to not get a haircut for two months?  Kutcher looked creepy...or maybe I'm getting old...but I think I know "creepy" when I see it...

The show had a few funny lines.  Trying to get laughs at a funeral service is a bit odd, I thought.  The remaining crew members did well, but something was missing.  Call it a spark of some kind. We knew that without Charlie Sheen, that the show would be different.  Judging from tonight, I'd say that it didn't get better.   I think they "Jumped The Shark" on this one.

The picture, below was taken backstage at the Emmys, on Sunday. To my knowledge, this is an actual picture which has not been Photoshopped. What do you think the conversation sounded like?

Rivera ~ The Best That Ever Was!

New Your Yankee closer Mariano Rivera set a record, today. His 602 career saves is a career record. This means that each time he earns a "save," he will have broken his own career record!

This is even more amazing when you consider that he has basically one pitch - the "cut" fast ball.

It is nice to see a humble, or at least non-flamboyant person reach this milestone.  Watching him in action, his demeanor is more like that of an undertaker than that of a "money pitcher."

JLo For Fiat

At first I was wondering if Jennifer Lopez would remotely consider driving a Fiat, but then I'm killing the mood. Fiat is a wonderful car. Click here for their wonderful commercial!

Seriously - this commercial is destined to do its job as Fiat returns to the U.S. market.

Wendy's

After 42 years, Wendy's is tweaking their hamburger. In some respects, this is a bold move...except for the fact that business isn't so "hot" at Wendy's. As a matter of fact, business at the 6,600 restaurant chain has fallen off from a 14% share of the hamburger fast food business in 2002 to a  current level of 12.8%. Burger King fell from 17% to 13.3 % during the same period. McDonalds went from 41.6% to 49.5%.

Wendy's thinks that the answer is more cheese and a thicker beef patty with a buttered bun, red onions and crinkle cut pickles. They call it "Dave's Hot 'N Juicy" hamburger. I should point out that Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas passed on in 2002 and had sold his business years earlier. He continued to promote the chain after he was "retired."

My suggestion, use the best ingredients (better is better than more!), charge competitive prices, offer a healthy menu, hire literate people and, most important to me, keep the restrooms clean!

Monday Foto - Elizabeth Marxs

This week for the Monday Foto we take it up a notch and feature Elizabeth Marxs. You may know her as Katlynn or Wendy or Shelby Carter. (This could be confusing at tax time!) She's 19 or 22, like she has different ages for different names... but who really cares?

She's from Texas and says she likes to sing, model, act and cook.

As usual, click the image to get the full effect and have a great week!

Tragedy In Reno

AP Photo/Garret Woodson

This event was covered by the media to the point where I was not going to include it, here. That was until I came across a picture that I thought I should share. The plane is a P-51 Mustang and is seen as it is about to crash into a crowd at a Reno, Nevada air show. 

Nine people were killed.

Oktoberfest!

The annual Oktoberfest is officially underway in Munich. More than 6 million visitors will sample what I personally consider to be the best beer in the world!

Last year 7.1 million liter mugs of suds were sold during the 17 day festival. In keeping with "progress" the price of a beer, this year has risen to euro9.20 ($12.66).

Security is tightened with no credible threats.

NFL Picks Week 2, 2011

Last week, I picked 9 games correctly out of 16. This sounds much better the fact that I went 9 and 7.

No matter, the season is young and things may or may not get easier.

Here are my picks (Picks in BOLD) for Week 2:

oakland at BUFFALO
GREEN BAY at carolina
kansas city at DETROIT
CLEVELAND at indianapolis
tampa bay at MINNESOTA
chicago at NEW ORLEANS
jacksonville at JETS
seattle at PITTSBURGH
BALTIMORE at tennessee
arizona at WASHINGTON

dallas at SAN FRANCISCO
cincinnati at DENVER
HOUSTON at miami
san diego at NEW ENGLAND

PHILADELPHIA at atlanta

saint louis at GIANTS

Satellite Shower

Artist's rendition of YARS.  Photo courtesy of NASA

You will probably be hearing a little more about this as time goes on. UARS is falling. UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite) was launched in 1991. The 6 1/2 ton craft was designed to study the ozone level and to make other measurements. It's mission ended in 2005. It is expected to fall to Earth on September 23rd...give or take a day. This means that we can expect a "shower" on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

NASA says probably 26 pieces of UARS will survive the heat of re-entry through the atmosphere and will fall over a 500 mile area.

NASA sets the odds of a person being hit by a piece of UARS debris at 1 in 3,200...about the same odds as the Colts reaching the Super Bowl.

Friday Foto - Zuzana Drabinova

I have a special treat for you with this week's Friday Foto. Her name is Zuzana Drabinova or Raylene Richards or a combination of either or both of the above.

Zuzana (or Zuzy, as she likes me to call her) has been a page 3 girl in the UK and has appeared on the cover of many publications. Occasionally, Zuzana forgets to put on all of her clothing when pictures are taken of her. You can easily search for whatever it is I am talking about.

Here, on the blog, we are all about good taste and safe viewership within the workplace. You will notice that I added 2 pictures of Zuzana. Click on either to get the full effect. And, as usual, have a nice weekend!

Chaz Bono Hype

Chaz Bono

This Monday, September 19th, Dancing With The Stars begins its new season on ABC-TV. The show is famous for bring hype to new heights. This year they have really outdone themselves. They signed Chaz Bono to dance. First, is Chaz a star? Probably. He's the offspring of Sonny & Cher Bono. He is an author, musician, producer, etc. The controversy is that Chaz was born, 42 years ago, as a female. Chaz is in the final stages of becoming a man. Some people don't think that a responsible network should showcase a trans gender person. There is some anger, here. Remedy is simple: Don't watch the show and don't allow your kids to watch, either.

If this is a non-issue, watch or don't watch as you will.

My thoughts? (Yawn) Please consider that I grew up watching "Father Knows Best" and "The Donna Reed Show." Dancing With The Stars is doing a masterful job of hyping their show. Really! They should get some recognition for making a potentially boring program exciting. Using a somewhat famous trans gender figure to get ratings?

Damn, TV sure has come a long way!

Gumby Bandit Turns Himself In

Thas been reported as an odd story. While I agree that it is odd, I see no humor in it.

On September 5th, a guy dressed in a Gumby costume tried to hold up a 7-Eleven store. "Gumby" said that he was armed, still, the clerk thought it was a joke andlaughed in his face!  "Gumby" left the store with no loot.

After a little more than a week, "Gumby" turned himself in to authorities. Jacob Kiss, 19, told police in San Diego that he is the person who dressed as the green animated character Gumby. He brought the full-body Gumby costume with him to police headquarters and was accompanied by an alleged cohort named Jason Giramma, 19, who apparently drove away from the store with Kiss that day.

Attempted ARMED ROBBERY is no joke. People (the clerk or bystanders) could have easily been killed. If I were the judge, I would seek expert opinion to see if Kiss is sick, or just plain stupid.

Sick? Get him help.

Stupid? Lock him up. I don't think it would take much more than ten years for this idiot to wise up.

Best "Singles Ad" - Ever!

The following ad is said to have appeared in the Atlanta Journal in the Personals Section.

SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I'm a very good girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me... Call (404) 875-6420 and ask for Annie, I'll be waiting.....










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Over 150 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society.

Leah & Holly Off "The Talk"

Here's a confession for you: I watch "The Talk" everyday!  "The Talk" is a daily talk show with 5 women who talk about "things." They also interview guests.

Like I say, I watch the show everyday, recorded from the afternoon. The show began its new season, last week, without Holly Robinson Peete or Leah Remini. I thought their absence was odd. Later I found out that they were each fired from the show! I say fired, actually their contracts were not renewed. That's show biz language for getting fired. The show averages 2 million viewers per day. Watching it for the last week, without Holly or Leah, it's been blah. You know, like eating a Big Mac without the special sauce.

If the producers of "The Talk" wanted better ratings, I could have told them what to do. It is an age old formula. Ed Sullivan, the most bland person to ever appear on TV, knew the formula.

Get the best guests available.

This means the hottest (at the moment), the most meaningful and, over time, the largest variety.

The problem with The Talk is that their guests are "B listers."

The former hosts made a good, diverse, team. They were far more interesting than, say, Ed Sullivan.

CBS, you screwed up!

Study: Smoking Pot Won't Make You Fat

The next time you light up "a fat one" and get "the munchies'" don't worry. Statistically speaking, you won't become as obese as a non-toker.

The study was done in France. Using data covering more than 50,000 U.S. adults, researchers headed by Yann Le Strat, a psychiatrist at the Louis-Mourier Hospital in Colombes, France, found that roughly 14 percent to 17 percent of the people reporting that they smoked pot at least three days per week were obese.

That compared with a 22 to 25 percent obesity rate among people who said they had not used pot in the past 12 months.