The Daily Dose/January 12, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off: The End of an Era
One of the duller conversations you can eavesdrop on – or have, for that matter – concerns sports records that will never be broken. We have our own list and we are very careful about the records we’ve included because never is a pretty all-encompassing term and our theory is if something can be done once it can probably be done again, especially since us humans keep getting bigger, stronger and faster.
There are three records on our list: Wilt Chamberlain’s 55 rebounds in an NBA game, Johnny Vander Meer’s consecutive major league no-hitters and the 70-68 fifth set by John Isner and Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon a few years ago. Others will be very difficult to break, but these are the only three we feel are unbreakable, bearing in mind other records will never be broken simply because games are played differently than they were in the 1800s.
The last one, Isner/Mahut’s 70-68 fifth set, is becoming more and more difficult to break because tennis tournaments that allowed unlimited fifth set games are disappearing. The latest is the Australian Open, which begins Monday, which recently announced they will go to a fifth set tiebreaker. The US Open did this in the 1970s and Wimbledon will go to it this year. This leaves the French Open as the only tournament with all-you-can-play final sets.
Parts of us are sighing, lamenting the passing of an era, but you can understand this. One, fans don’t really want to see eleven hours of tennis, either in person or on TV. We know we don’t. Two, it completely throws off the tournament, as both singles and doubles, and perhaps mixed doubles, draws are held up. It also means the participants are more or less useless for their following matches.
So good riddance, we suppose. That 70-68 happened once is almost beyond comprehension so, perhaps, the history buffs in the audience can be content that History favored us with it once.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow points out further deficiencies in the sprouted bread The Wife is making him eat, and it is very busy at the retailer.
Something else I like to whine about concerning that sprouted bread crap The Wife has been foisting on me recently is it doesn’t hold as much stuff as real bread…Not only is it smaller, but the surface area is even more limited because her most recent loaf is pinched in in the middle…I don’t understand this at all…This is prime sandwich area for Pete’s sake and there the middle is pinched in like it is wearing a girdle…
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On This Date
In 1932 – Hattie Carraway of Arkansas becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate, winning a special election to finish the term of her husband, who had died. Carraway had been appointed to fill the seat in December, making her the second woman to serve in the United States Senate and in November became the first woman to win election to a full term.
In 1969 – The New York Jets defeat the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III in Miami, the first time an American Football League (AFL) team had beaten a National Football League (NFL) team in the Super Bowl. The game really wasn’t that close. The Jets led 16-0 after three quarters and intercepted four Colt passes and recovered one of their fumbles. The game was broadcast by NBC, though it was blacked out in Miami, despite being sold out. The national anthem was performed by trumpeter Lloyd Geisler and the halftime show featured the Florida A&M marching band.
In 1959 – The Chipmunk Song by the Chipmunks with David Seville is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the fourth and final week. It was Seville’s second and final #1 song, following Witch Doctor which had gone to #1 the previous May. Seville’s real name was Ross Bagdasarian and he took the stage name Seville after having served in Seville, Spain, while in the Army. The Chipmunk Song would win three Grammy Awards – Best Comedy Performance, Best Children’s Recording, Best Engineered Record (non-classical) – and remains the only Christmas song to hit #1 on the Hot 100, though other Christmas songs had reached #1 on earlier Billboard charts.
Quotebook
Ars longa, vita brevis- art is long and time is fleeting. This is the tragedy of every great soul.
Will Durant
Regards Francis Bacon
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder each have had 20 #1 songs on Billboard’s soul chart, the most of any act.
Today’s Stumper
Who was the first woman to serve in the United States Senate? –Answer next time!
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