Daily Dose/June 30, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
2…4…6…8…WHO DO WE APPRECIATE: The more we think about it – and we’ve thought about this more than we probably should have – the more we believe American sports should shut it down until we get a handle on the coronavirus. And based on the initially delayed and continued incompetent response by our government, that could be a while.
Dry, Technical Matter: COVID-19 cases are surging everywhere, and sports players and team employees have not been exempt. If they do persist on playing, more than one competitor (not to mention referees and umpires) will get sick and don’t bet the mortgage against one or more dying.
Oh Yeah: The competition will be less than what we’re used to because some players are deciding not to play and, besides, they’ve had long layoffs. Plus everyone will miss the energy provided by having fans in the stands.
And what would be getting anyway? Games played, sometimes under different rules, in empty stadiums and arenas. These will be foisted off on us as official league and playoff games but let’s be honest, they’re being staged not out of any competitive necessity, but to make owners, players and TV networks some money.
Hut, Hut, Hike: Now, like you, we realize the utter catastrophe that would attend there not being a football season, especially in the South, where not having SEC football will cause the biggest panic since emancipation.
The Hard Question: And how will we all get along without The Bottom Ten? The Bottom Ten pollsters don’t have any idea either.
The Bottom Line: The coronavirus is still wreaking its havoc and barring a miracle on par with planetary alignment, it will for a while. It is selfish of leagues and conferences to forge ahead with plans to resume playing their games. There is simply too much risk right now. In our opinion, they should stay away until fans can be allowed to pay their way in, even it is wearing masks in reduced numbers.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: At the hotel, Sparrow gets the scratch paper assembly line moving again. Today’s Diary.
It was a great morning for scratch paper, with over 20 new sheets made…There was the half of the departure report that didn’t have guest info on it, plus several sheets of arrival’s registration cards that an extra blank sheet, plus a couple of other wayward sheets I commandeered…The stack, of course, is still being built up, but it’s getting there and it’s foolish to think this might factor in when they resume handing out the Employee of the Month Award.
Backstairs at the Monte Carlo: The rapper 50 Cent and his posse visit the Monte Carlo.
Hell, we’re all going to die. D-Dawg, Twerp and I are going down in a blaze of gunfire while drawing our flashlights.
Click on the button to enjoy these two (2) American classics forever for only $2.99. Act now because this offer ends soon.
On This Date
History’s long march to today.
In 1937 – The world’s first emergency telephone number – 999 – is activated in the London area, with the first arrest thanks to a 999 call came a week later, for burglary. The dedicated emergency line came about after a citizen was put on hold while trying to call in a fire that ended up killing five women. The first 999 number in North America was in Winnipeg in 1959, though North America now uses 911 for its emergency number. The first US emergency call was made in 1968.
In 1984 – The Los Angeles Express and the Michigan Panthers establish a new professional football record for the longest game in a 27-21 Express win in the first round of the USFL playoffs at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The game was tied 21-21 at the end of regulation and didn’t end until Mel Gray’s 24-yard touchdown run with 3:33 gone in the third overtime, 93 minutes and 33 seconds of playing time. The game broke the mark of 82 minutes, 40 seconds established by the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins in the 1971 NFL Playoffs, a game won by Miami 27-27.
In 1984 – The Reflex by Duran Duran is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the second and final week. The song spent 15 weeks in the Top 40 and eight weeks in the Top 10 and was the fourth of ten Top 10 hits for the group and their first of two #1 songs (A View to a Kill, two weeks, 1985). The song also went to #1 in The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and their native Great Britain.
Quotebook
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
I never worked a day in my life. Every day was fun. – Thomas Edison
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The longest game in major league history without an error by either team is 22 innings, when the Washington Senators defeated the Chicago White Sox 6-5 on June 12, 1967.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
How many US patents did Thomas Edison earn? – Answer next time!
