The Daily Dose/August 10, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
News from around our human experience.
AND IN OTHER NEWS…: The news was hardly a bulletin: a soccer official in Washington state had been head-butted by an adult player because the official had the nerve to eject a player for acting like a twit.
To their credit, the league took action, suspending the player forever and ever, as well as instituting a couple of other measures. Good for them.
A Warm, Personal Remembrance: You know, there was a time when an official didn’t have to worry about being assaulted on a field, but that time has passed. Now, it’s a worry for every official at every game. You simply never know anymore.
Now, officials have always gotten grief, make no mistake about that. When we first started officiating in 1991 you’d get yelled at, of course, but it was never personal. The coach would make his point and that was that. And since we were reffing JV basketball back then and not world championships, sometimes the coach would pat you on the fanny and tell you to go get the next one. Fans would get on you, too, but it was never mean. Loud, yes. Mean, no.
#@!*@^%: That’s changed. Now you make a call someone doesn’t like they act like you’ve violated their sister. Not only are we getting yelled more, a lot more, but there is a venom associated with it now that wasn’t there before. It’s not going anywhere, either, as long as Americans remain violent and unable to take no for an answer. It’s why there is such a shortage of officials nowadays because who the hell wants a workplace where you’re told you suck every five minutes? I don’t and kids today don’t either because two-thirds of new officials do not make it to year three. When you show up at your kids game and every official has gray hair, that’s why. The trade is not retaining new people.
Now Here’s An Idea: Sports officials should go on strike. For a day. Keep the date secret, which shouldn’t be too hard because no one listens to us anyway. Let games go unofficiated, and not just JV and freshman games, either. Let major division varsity games go uncovered, too.
Hut, Hut, Hike: Here’s the plan: on Friday morning, Sept. 27 every high school sports official in America will wake up and turn their games back in. Tens of thousands of football, volleyball and soccer games will have no officials, turning them from official interscholastic contests to mere scrimmages.
We’ll see how they like that.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow can’t work the postage machine. Today’s Diary.
I thought I knew how to work the postage machine in the commissioners office but I was wrong…I found the VSO postage account (which has a balance of $1,200 or so) on the machine and thought I pressed the right buttons because it zipped right thru the sorter and came out with a postmark but where the amount of postage was indicated it said $0.000, which even I know is whack…So I asked Deanna the secretary for some help and the problem turned out I didn’t press the button that automatically weighed the letter…Deanna showed me what to do but the only problem was I needed a new envelope, which Deanna provided, and I further compounded matters by sealing the envelope without noting the address I was sending it to…A shocker, I know…This obliged me to walk the 45 seconds back to my office, address the envelope, then take it back to commissioners office.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
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On This Date
In 1947 – President Harry Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947, a major reorganization of the US military establishment. With it, the US Department of War and the Department of the Navy are combined and put under the Secretary of Defense. This was not particularly workable, though, and the Defense Department would be created two years later. The act also created the US Air Force, the CIA and the National Security Council.
In 1975 – Davey Lopes of the Los Angeles Dodgers establishes a new major league record with 32nd consecutive stolen base in a 2-1 victory over the New York Mets. It came in the ninth inning, was Lopes’ 52 stolen base of the season and broke the record of 31 that had been established by Max Carey in 1922. Lopes would finish the season with 77 stolen bases, best in the National League. The record is now held by Vince Coleman of the St Louis Cardinals who stole 50 consecutive bases in the 188-89 seasons.
In 1959 – Elvis is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of two consecutive weeks with A Big Hunk of Love. The song was recorded in Nashville in June 1958 during Elvis’ only recording session while he was in the Army. The song also went to #1 in Canada and peaked at #10 on Billboard’s soul chart. It was the 12th of 18 #1 songs on the Hot 100 for Elvis and the 11th of 13 consecutive Top 10 hits.
Quotebook
Go for the top. If you aim for second you will end up there.
John F Kennedy
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
The first Davis Cup not played on grass was in 1928 when France defeated the United States 4-1 on clay in Paris.
Today’s Stumper
What major league player has the lowest percentage of successful stolen bases for a career, based on 200 atempts ? – Answer next time!
