The Daily Dose/November 2, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
ALREADY WITH THE DRY, TECHNICAL MATTER: There’s an old saying : success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. This is true in a lot of endeavors – we can offer sports officiating as a personal example – but is not entirely true in the writing racket, where anything worth reading comes from inspiration provided by the heart.
Sure, once inspiration hits the writer must buckle down and get to work, but the person who starts a project for any reason other than having been inspired to do so isn’t writing, he’s typing.
We’re Sure There’s A Point Around Here Somewhere: The inspiration for yesterday’s Sunday Bottom 5 column came after we had already written the item. We went with the fresh inspiration and three items ended up being replaced. Since we don’t really have a place for the original three items – and because we needed material for today’s Leading Off, we offer them here today:
Batter Up: TV ratings for the recent World Series were the lowest ever, with about half the viewers of your average NFL game and about three-quarters of what they used to be back when baseball was actually our national pastime…Shows that scored more ratings than the World Series this week included Nesting With Birds, Door Handles Tonight and Fluoride Fun.
More Batter Up: Has there been a more confusing sports hire in recent memory than Tony LaRussa, now 76, being hired to manage the Chicago White Sox? Offhand, it’s the most head-scratching sports hire since the Detroit Lions hired Matt Millen as president, both of which made as much sense as hiring me to change your oil. Sure, LaRussa has had a lot of success in the past, but his recent employment history shows someone completely out of touch with today’s game and the players who play it.
Bon Appetite: We were also going to include an item about Ginos, a new joint we ate at last week because someone recommended it. It was good. The burger was among the best we’ve ever had – and we’ve had our share of burgers – and probably yours, too – over the years – and the French fries were battered which you don’t see every day, but the mozzarella sticks were only average, good but nothing original. Key will be next week’s Stromboli sampling. We have a lot of street cred here, too. Stay tuned.
The Bottom Line: The most important presidential election of our lifetimes is tomorrow and we’re writing about this. Well, we’ve written about the election, of course, and we wouldn’t have had anything fresh to offer and, besides, we know you and the rest of humanity enjoyed today’s Sunday Bottom 5 insights. Have a good day and don’t forget to vote.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: At the hotel, Sparrow handles the time change with aplomb.
The big news is for the first time in two years here ol’ Sparrow remembered to set the time on the PBX phone right at 0200…It’s not particularly difficult – it’s even rather intuitive if you’ve never done it before – but the thing is you gotta remember to do it and not think it’s changed automatically like your computer because it’s not, it has to be changed manually…In what, hopefully, is a proof ol’ Sparrow isn’t losing his mind in his advancing years, he actually remembered it yesterday and put a reminder in the front desk log book for today and even highlighted it yellow.
(By the by, it’s important to change the time so people get their wake-up calls on time.)
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1959 – Charles Van Doren, who two years earlier had had a long winning streak on the TV game show Twenty-one – testifies before a Congressional committee that he had been given the questions and answers beforehand. Van Doren had been a teacher at Columbia University at the time of his appearance, and the producers had concocted the scheme in the hopes of reversing declining ratings. This was one of several quiz show scandals of the era and Van Doren would otherwise remain silent on the matter until a magazine essay in 2008.
In 1990 – The Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets establish a new NBA record for most points scored in a non-overtime game in a 162-158 Warriors’ victory. The teams broke the record of 318 points established by the Nuggets and the San Antonio Spurs in January 1984 and the record still stands, the fourth-highest scoring game in NBA history. Golden State led 87-83 at halftime, the 170 points establishing an NBA record for most points by both teams in a half, a record that would be broken five days later when the Nuggets and Spurs scored 173 points in the first half of their game.
In 1968 – James Brown is at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart – then known as the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart – for the fifth of six consecutive weeks with Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud (Part 1). It was the 47th of 110 soul hits for Brown and his seventh of 17 #1 soul songs, both marks that remain on the all-time soul chart Top 5. The song also peaked at #10 on the Hot 100, Brown’s sixth of seven Top 10 pop hits.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
For Confucius, true wisdom is to know the extent of what you don’t know quite as well as you know what you do know.
Gore Vidal
Creation
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
Woman in Love was Barbra Streisand’s only #1 song in Great Britain, spending three weeks at the top in 1980.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What is the NBA record for fewest points scored in a game by both teams? – Answer next time!
