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“Here Is A Country Boy, Junior Johnson, Who Learns To Drive By Running Whiskey For His Father”

March 14, 2011 in Excerpts, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

Tom Wolfe’s great 1965 Esquire piece about a moonshiner-cum-NASCAR pioneer (“The Last American Hero Is Junior Johnson. Yes!“) married New Journalism to the New South. An excerpt:

The legend of Junior Johnson! In this legend, here is a country boy, Junior Johnson, who learns to drive by running whiskey for his father, Johnson, Senior, one of the biggest copper still operators of all times, up in Ingle Hollow, near North Wilkesboro, in northwestern North Carolina, and grows up to be a famous stock-car racing driver, rich, grossing $100,000 in 1963, for example, respected, solid, idolized in his hometown and throughout the rural South, for that matter. There is all this about how good old boys would wake up in the middle of the night in the apple shacks and hear an overcharged engine roaring over Brushy Mountain and say, “Listen at him — there he goes!”, although that part is doubtful, since some nights there were so many good old boys taking off down the road in supercharged automobiles out of Wilkes County, and running loads to Charlotte, Salisbury, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point, or wherever, it would be pretty hard to pick out one. It was Junior Johnson specifically, however, who was famous for the “bootleg turn” or “about-face,” in which, if the Alcohol Tax agents had a roadblock up for you or were too close behind, you threw the car into second gear, cocked the wheel, stepped on the accelerator and made the car’s rear end skid around in a complete 180-degree arc, a complete about-face, and tore on back up the road exactly the way you came from. God! The Alcohol Tax agents used to burn over Junior Johnson. Practically every good old boy in town in Wilkesboro, the county seat, got to know the agents by sight in a very short time. They would rag them practically to their faces on the subject of Junior Johnson, so that it got to be an obsession. Finally, one night they had Junior trapped on the road up toward the bridge around Millersville, there’s no way out of there, they had the barricades up and they could hear this souped-up car roaring around the bend, and here it comes — but suddenly they can hear a siren and see a red light flashing in the grille, so they think it’s another agent, and boy, they run out like ants and pull those barrels and boards and sawhorses out of the way, and then — Ggghhzzzzzzzhhhhhggggggzzzzzzzeeeeeong! — gawdam! there he goes again, it was him, Junior Johnson!, with a gawdam agent’s si-reen and a red light in his grille!•

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Junior Johnson on a dirt track, 1964, Ascot Park, California.

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Documentary About Early ’70s Baseball

March 11, 2011 in Sports, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

One-hour look at pitcher Ferguson Jenkins during the 1972-1973 seasons.

From an article about Ferguson Jenkins in the February 19, 2011 Vancouver Sun: “Jenkins, who was born and raised in Chatham, Ont., was in Winnipeg on Friday for the local unveiling of the new 59-cent peel-and-stick stamp issued in his honour during Black History Month.

The stamp includes a present-day image of Jenkins, the only Canadian inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, with a photograph in the background from a Sports Illustrated cover showing him in his pitching heyday.

‘This is humbling,’ Jenkins, who won 284 major league games, said.”


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How Mark Cuban Got To Be A Billionaire

March 10, 2011 in Excerpts, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

"He sold trash bags door to door at age 12, and later earned $25 an hour teaching disco moves at a sorority house." (Image by James Duncan Davidson/O'Reilly Media, Inc.)

From “Dan Rather: Inside Mark Cuban’s Gilded Cage,” Jim Rendon’s excellent new Mother Jones article:

“He grew up in a middle-class Pittsburgh suburb, where he sold trash bags door to door at age 12, and later earned $25 an hour teaching disco moves at a sorority house. During college at Indiana University, he opened a bar, and upon graduating he followed his school buddies in pursuit of ‘fun, sun, money, and women’ to Dallas, where he taught himself to write code. In 1990, Cuban sold his first real business play, a computer consulting firm, for $6 million. He also launched and sold a hedge fund and relocated to Los Angeles, where, with less success, he tried his hand at acting. (Some recent cameos on HBO’s Entourage compelled the Wall Street Journal to jeer that Mark Cuban wasn’t even believable as Mark Cuban.)

In 1995, Cuban and his friend Todd Wagner launched Broadcast.com, which put audio and video of sports online. Four years later, at the height of dot-com mania, they sold it to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in stock—Cuban pocketed more than $1 billion. ‘I am the luckiest motherfucker in the world,’ he says. ‘It’s like I tell people, ‘When I die, I want to come back as me.'”

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Guy With Soccer Ball Climbs Pole

March 7, 2011 in Sports, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Skillz. (Thanks Live Leak.)

Basketball-Playing Robotic Seal

March 3, 2011 in Sports, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Demand has not yet matched supply. (Thanks IEEE Spectrum.)

Skateboard Far Bigger Than It Need Be

March 3, 2011 in Sports, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Big enough to break your ass but good. (Thanks Crunchy.TV.)

Old Print Article: “Seekers After Fine Complexions Find Running A Valuable Exercise,” Brooklyn Daile Eagle (1902)

March 2, 2011 in Old Print Articles, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

"When you first take up this sport, after two laps, say, you are blowing like porpoises."

Running didn’t take hold as a popular exercise in America until the 1960s, but it had its moments in earlier decades, as evidenced by a brave group of New York women who took the then-rare activity out of doors in 1902. An execerpt from a Brooklyn Daily Eagle article from June 29th of that year:

“Arabella Knickerbocker has a new fad for improving her complexion. It is running, or ‘sprinting,’ as she calls it. ‘Nothing gives me a better color or makes better lungs than running, some one tells me,’ explains Arabella to a group of lovely maidens, ‘so I am training, and determined to learn to run, if not like an antelope, at least some way, somehow.’

‘How perfectly lovely,’ exclaims one who was valedictorian at her class in college, and knows a thing or two. ‘We used to sprint now and then, too. Some one who lectured at the college on ‘Girls,’ and what he didn’t know about them, remarked incidentally, with more point than gallantry. ‘There are no girls today who can run.’ We didn’t exactly run that man off the college grounds, but we then and there formed a club, with a president and rules and bylaws and a prize at the end of a mile.’

‘Well, there are eight of us at the gym,’ continued Arabella, ‘and after practising running in all its branches within doors, we finally boldy ventured forth into the street.’

If girls would turn their athletic attention to running they would find the novel pastime the most exhilarating in the world, as well as one of the most healthful. Excessive running  is as injurious as any other excess, but frequent and easy running is one of the best exercises, and both men and women should run. Of course when you first take up this sport, after two laps, say, you are blowing like porpoises; you haven’t any wind. For one reason, you probably come down with a thud on your heels; you should know that you cannot run unless you get the spring from your toes.

After learning the rudiments of running in a gymnasium, practice should be continued out of doors, for fresh air is one of the factors in the sport. It is the fresh air that is going to give Diana that bewitching color in her cheeks and purify every drop of blood in her body.”

‘

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Old Print Article: Bicycle Troubles, Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1890s)

February 28, 2011 in Old Print Articles, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

"A man frequents the park who is in the habit of cutting them about the ankles with a whip."

Bicycling became a huge craze in America during the 1890s. It was a healthy fad that was good for hearts, lungs and mayhem–lots of mayhem. A few brief stories of bike-related turmoil from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle follow.

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“Recent Events” (September 29, 1894): “Chicago women who ride bicycles in bloomers in Washington park have complained to the police that a man frequents the park who is in the habit of cutting them about the ankles with a whip when they pass him.”

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“Don’t Ride in Long Island City” (August 25, 1892): “The hardships a bicycle rider is likely to encounter in Long Island City beside bad roads was fully ventillated in the police court of that city yesterday. George A. Phail is superintendent of the Danier dynamo works, at Steinway. He lives at Winfield and, until two weeks ago, enjoyed great pleasure and exercise in riding across the country roads, a distance of about three miles, to and from his work. On August 8, Phail on his way home through Newtown avenue on his bicycle, encountered Cerl Springer and Gustav Zeigler on the roadway. Springer didn’t fancy the style Phail was putting on and Zeigler does not like bicycles anyway. Zeigler refused to get out of the way to let Phail pass and the latter, in attempting to turn out of Zeigler’s way, was precipitated down an embankment, bicycle and all. Phail gathered himself up the best he could under such circumstances and the irate Germans both told him it served him right, as he had no business riding there. Smarting under his injuries Phail talked back to the Germans and in an instant Springer and Phail were clinching. Zeigler went to his companion’s assistance and soon the prostrate form of the bicycle rider lay in the roadway and was being made a foot ball by the German.

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“A Bicycler’s Arrest” (June 8, 1896): “Some of the new New York policemen are as over busy as their predecessors were neglectful. One of them notified a young woman on a bicycle that her lamp was out. The young woman dismounted and lit her lamp. Then the policeman arrested her. She was carried away in a patrol wagon, locked up in a cell, in the company of riff-raff gathered from the streets on Saturday nights, who insulted and jeered at her, and the sergeant in charge was as officious and ill mannered as his underling. Her relatives finally learned of the arrest and secured her release on bail. At the court Magistrate Simms roundly lectured the policeman and gave an honorable discharge to the young woman, as he considered that by lighting her lamp, when warned to do so, she had complied with the law.”

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“Max Miller’s Wedding Postponed” (September 11, 1893): “Max Miller, a bicycle machinist and expert bicycle rider, employed near the park entrance, was to have been married Saturday evening. Instead of a happy bridegroom he was escorted to a cell in the Flabush station house, charged by his employer with stealing some $200 worth of bicycle goods. His intended bride was allowed to visit him in his cell yesterday afternoon.”

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“Broadsword Fight Awheel” (May 10, 1897): “An unusual sight greeted many cyclists at the Lynwood track yesterday, where ‘Colonel’ Nicholas Hartmann, the broadsword fighter, was practicing his profession, mounted on the front seat of a tandem bicycle. The swordsman was incased in his fighting armor and withstanding the assaults of his trainer in clever style.”

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Bicycle trick riding, 1899:

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“The FBI Says Busloads Of White Crazies Are Coming In From All Over The Country”

February 27, 2011 in Excerpts, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

Hunter S. Thompson: great writer, tiresome fuck. (Image by MDC Archives.)

Hunter S. Thompson screwing around with a good ol’ boy at Churchill Downs as part of his 1970 Scanlan’s Monthly article, “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved“:

“I shook my head and said nothing; just stared at him for a moment, trying to look grim. ‘There’s going to be trouble,’ I said. ‘My assignment is to take pictures of the riot.’

‘What riot?’

I hesitated, twirling the ice in my drink. ‘At the track. On Derby Day. The Black Panthers.’ I stared at him again. ‘Don’t you read the newspapers?’

The grin on his face had collapsed. ‘What the hell are you talkin’ about?’

‘Well…maybe I shouldn’t be telling you…’ I shrugged. ‘But hell, everybody else seems to know. The cops and the National Guard have been getting ready for six weeks. They have 20,000 troops on alert at Fort Knox. They’ve warned us — all the press and photographers — to wear helmets and special vests like flak jackets. We were told to expect shooting…’

‘No!’ he shouted; his hands flew up and hovered momentarily between us, as if to ward off the words he was hearing. Then he whacked his fist on the bar. ‘Those sons of bitches! God Almighty! The Kentucky Derby!’ He kept shaking his head. ‘No! Jesus! That’s almost too bad to believe!’ Now he seemed to be sagging on the stool, and when he looked up his eyes were misty. “Why? Why here? Don’t they respect anything?’

I shrugged again. ‘It’s not just the Panthers. The FBI says busloads of white crazies are coming in from all over the country — to mix with the crowd and attack all at once, from every direction. They’ll be dressed like everybody else. You know — coats and ties and all that. But when the trouble starts…well, that’s why the cops are so worried.’

He sat for a moment, looking hurt and confused and not quite able to digest all this terrible news. Then he cried out: ‘Oh…Jesus! What in the name of God is happening in this country? Where can you get away from it?’

‘Not here,” I said, picking up my bag. ‘Thanks for the drink…and good luck.'”

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And they’re off!:

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“Another Believes In Education…One Day We’ll Be President”

February 22, 2011 in Sports, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

During his suspension from boxing for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War, Muhammad Ali appeared on a 1968 episode of William F. Buckley’s Firing Line program to discuss a myriad of issues. In the same year, Pete Hamill wrote an article about Ali’s embattled status for Life. An excerpt:

“Even before he exhausted all legal means of defense on his conviction as a draft evader, his title and livelihood were taken away. And yet Ali does not seem bitter. ‘I’m happy,’ he had said on his way to the theater, ’cause I’m free. I’ve made the stand all black people will have to make sooner or later: whether or not they can stand up to the master.'”

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A Description Of The “Quarter-Back” From 1891

February 22, 2011 in Excerpts, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

"He must be....of a hopeful or sanguine disposition."

Player, coach and writer Walter Camp describes the “Quarter-Back” position in his 1891 book, American Football:

“The quarter is, under the captain, the director of the game. With the exception of one or two uncommon and rare plays, there is not one of any kind, his side having the ball, in which it does not pass through his hands. The importance of his work it is therefore impossible to overrate. He must be, above all the qualifications of brains and agility usually attributed to that position, of a hopeful or sanguine disposition. He must have confidence in the centre himself, and, most of all, in the man to whom he passes the ball. He should always believe that the play will be a success. The coach can choose no more helpful course during the first few days, as far as the quarter is concerned, than that of persuading him repose confidence in his men. Many promising half-backs are ruined by the quarter. There is nothing that makes halves fumble so badly, get into such awkward positions, start so slowly, and withal play so halfheartedly, as the feeling that the quarter does not think much of them, does not trust them, or believe in their abilities. When he lacks confidence in his man, his passing is unsteady and erratic as well as slow.”

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Grossest Pool Table Ever

February 21, 2011 in Sports, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Willie Mosconi wouldn’t go anywhere near it. (Thanks Reddit.)

Listeria: Baseball Terminology From 1892

February 20, 2011 in Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

"Dirty Ball: A mean trick by a player in illegally interfering with an opposing player." (Image by Bain News Service.)

Taken from the 1892 Brooklyn Daily Eagle “Base Ball Glossary.”

  • The Box: The pitcher’s position.
  • Chase the Leather, or the Sphere: To run after the ball when batted to the field.
  • Corker: A fast, hard hit ball sent to the field by the batsmen.
  • Daisy Cutter: A ball knocked by a batsman that goes at a rapid rate through the grass.
  • Died on Base: When a base runner is on a base and the third man on his side is put out.
  • Dirty Ball: A mean trick by a player in illegally interfering with an opposing player.
  • Fan: An enthusiast who talks base ball incessantly.
  • Fumble: When a player fails to a catch a ground ball, but fumbles it after stopping it.
  • Garden: The entire field.
  • Hot One: When the ball, on being hit hard, travels very fast.
  • Rap Out: To bat out the ball.
  • Stick Work: Batting.
  • Twirler: Pitcher.
  • Yellow Ball: Poor playing.

“His Motto For Summing Up His Favorite Pursuits: ‘Younger Women, Faster Airplanes And Bigger Crocodiles'”

February 7, 2011 in Excerpts, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

Arthur Jones' workout regimen included Nautilus pullovers and chain smoking.

Bill Bowerman, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the recently deceased Jack LaLanne all helped spark fitness crazes in America, but half-crazy Arkansan Arthur Jones may have had a bigger influence on the modern health club than anyone else. Jones created Nautilus machines, which resembled the exterior of a shellfish, selling his first unit in 1970. This equipment shifted the focus of exercise from barbell lifting to high-intensity machine training.

In 1985, Time profiled Jones and his growing empire. If he just pioneered exercise equipment, Jones would have been interesting in a small way. But he was also a cantankerous world traveler and adventurer who was married six times to much younger women and had the kind of massive ego and appetites particular to the self-made American male.

His 2007 obituary in the New York Times included Jones’ famous quote: “I shot 630 elephants and 63 men, and I regret the elephants more.” An excerpt from the Time piece about Jones when he was 58:

“The gravel-voiced Jones has none of the polish of his machines. He wears horn-rimmed glasses and ill-fitting pants, gulps coffee, chain-smokes Pall Malls and often totes a Colt .45. ‘When I was broke, I was crazy; now that I am rich, I am eccentric,’ he declares. He is about 65 but refuses to confirm it. His motto for summing up his favorite pursuits: ‘Younger women, faster airplanes and bigger crocodiles.’

Jones has had five wives, all of whom he married when they were between the ages of 16 and 20. He lives with his current spouse Terri, 23, on his 600-acre Jumbo Lair spread near Ocala, Fla., which is also home to 90 elephants, three rhinos, a gorilla, 150 snakes, 300 alligators and 400 crocodiles. The animals come in handy for Jones’ research projects, which he and his staff conduct with no particular goal. ‘If I knew what I was going to discover, I wouldn’t do it,’ huffs Jones. ‘Very little in life happens according to plan.’ But with his growing fortune, Jones has plans that tend to happen.”

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Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

February 3, 2011 in Misc., Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

"Cash only." (Image by Richiek.)

Baseball Team – $750 (Flushing)

For sale: one baseball team, one highly financed stadium, one cable program and one owner’s idiot son for sale. Team is about 50 years old and in poor condition. Cash only.

“Jobless And Broke, Willie Mustered Courage, And Revived A Neglected Touch At Pool”

January 30, 2011 in Books, Misc., Sports, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Before pro sports was a multi-billion-dollar business and athletes needed to be gigantic and juiced, a pool cue and incredible hand-eye coordination was sufficient to make someone a national star, even if they possessed a paunch and appeared unable to outrun a cigarette machine. Such was the case of Willie Mosconi, a working-class Philadelphia boy who displayed prodigious facility for the game from a tender age. Considered dapper by the modest standards of the pool hall, Mosconi was, along with fellow billiards wizard Minnesota Fats, one of the most famous “athletes” in America during the ’60s and ’70s.

Winning Pocket Billiards is a handsomely covered 1965 instructional book by Mosconi. There are a generous number of photos that show how to make the trick shots that Mosconi had mastered (as if) and a foreword that explains how he came to be so great at the game even though his father, who owned a pool hall, initially dreamed his son would become a great vaudeville performer. An excerpt:

“At the age of seven, Willie was launched on a round of exhibitions leading to a widely advertised match with another billiard prodigy, ten-year-old Ruth McGinnis. He won easily with a high run of 40. With the praise of an amazed audience still ringing in his ears, Willie ‘retired.’

As he tells it now, ‘I was disenchanted and confused. Earlier my dad had tried to prevent me from learning the game, and then he pushed me into it too fast.’

At the age of seventeen, the illness of both parents necessitated his leaving high school before graduation. In the Depression year of 1929, Willie became an upholsterer’s apprentice, starting at $8 a week and dexterously progressing to a piecework job for $40 per week before he was fired. He and his boss exchanged punches in disagreement over Willie’s request for a day off to watch the Athletics start winning the World Series.

Jobless and broke, Willie mustered courage, and revived a neglected touch at pool to enter and win a local tournament with a $75 first prize. He went on to finish third in the city championship that year. That might be the year that Willie cast the pattern of his life.”

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Mosconi showing off on I’ve Got a Secret, 1962:

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“I Can Continue To Ratchet Up The Stress Levels And Be The Supergenius…Or I Can Calm Down And Be Satisfied With My Lot”

January 25, 2011 in Excerpts, Sports | Permalink

McCracken discovered that "pitchers have very little control over what happens on balls hit into the field of play." (Image by schwenkenstein01.)

Arizona baseball stats geek Robert “Vörös” McCracken had the kind of idea that can make a career, but he instead watched his life come undone. McCracken was the wunderkind sabermetrician lauded in Moneyball for figuring out a radically different and improved way of ranking pitchers. It made him the next big thing in baseball numbers circles, the heir apparent to Bill James, and landed him a job with the Boston Red Sox. But bipolar disorder and a number of other setbacks led to unemployment, poverty and depression. Jeff Passan profiles McCracken and his current between-innings life in “Sabremetrician in Exile” for The Post Game on Yahoo! Sports. An excerpt:

“He visited a doctor, was diagnosed with a mild case of bipolar disorder and received a prescription for Seroquel, a popular antipsychotic drug that would help him sleep and prevent the ruminations.

‘At some point, if you’re not mentally well, nothing else matters,’ McCracken says. ‘Nothing good happens. You’re forced to make decisions. And because you’re forced, there’s no guarantee they’re the right ones. But they’re decisions you’ve got to make. I can either spend the rest of my life in an institution, or I can change the way I think about what I’m doing with the rest of my life. I can continue to ratchet up the stress levels and be the supergenius who makes millions of dollars, or I can calm down and be satisfied with my lot.’

Satisfaction is an ongoing battle. McCracken gave up baseball for a few years before he starting blogging about it again. The frequency of the posts petered out as his attention moved to soccer, and the demand for employment there exceeded any bites he got in baseball.

McCracken tried. He spoke with Cleveland and San Diego. Nothing materialized. Last year, he was hoping to get a job with the Diamondbacks, whose stadium is less than 30 miles from his home in Surprise, Ariz. Then GM Josh Byrnes was fired, and McCracken never heard from the organization again. He tries to understand why, whether his time with Boston hurt him or his mental illness scares teams off or his appearance — McCracken is significantly overweight – hinders his reputation.

All cop-outs, McCracken says.”

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Why The Packers Are A Nonprofit Organization

January 25, 2011 in Excerpts, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

1931 poster advertising Green Bay Packers vs. Providence Steam Rollers.

The Green Bay Packers, headed to the Super Bowl, are the only non-profit, publicly owned major-league American sports team. In a post for the New Yorker‘s News Desk blog, Dave Zirin explains how this unique arrangement came to be. An excerpt:

“In 1923, the Packers were just another hardscrabble team on the brink of bankruptcy. Rather than fold they decided to sell shares to the community, with fans each throwing down a couple of dollars to keep the team afloat. That humble frozen seed has since blossomed into a situation wherein more than a hundred thousand stockholders own more than four million shares of a perennial playoff contender. Those holding Packers stock are limited to no more than two hundred thousand shares, keeping any individual from gaining control over the club. Shareholders receive no dividend check and no free tickets to Lambeau Field. They don’t even get a foam cheesehead. All they get is a piece of paper that says they are part-owners of the Green Bay Packers. They don’t even get a green and gold frame for display purposes.”

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“His Sole Contribution To Society Is Tossing A Ball Through A Hole”

January 24, 2011 in Excerpts, Politics, Sports | Permalink

The Buffalo Beast has put the 2010 version of its annual “50 Most Loathsome Americans” online. As always, it’s an entertaining read. Three excerpts follow.

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"Cleveland, with no reason left to exist, has slid into Lake Erie." (Image by Dave Hogg.)

LeBron James
Aside from indirectly employing hundreds of Chinese kids in sweatshops, his sole contribution to society is tossing a ball through a hole. A genetic-lottery-winning monstrosity, he demonstrates the sort of unbridled ego deserving of the NBA’s first all-star midget. (Now that little dude can talk all the smack he wants.) Last year, ‘King’ James actually had Nike goons confiscate video of Jordan Crawford dunking on him during his clinic. This year, he imbued his free agency announcement with the import normally reserved for declarations of war. For a full half hour of his torturous hour-long ESPN special The Decision, he waxed smugly on topics unrelated, as the sad city of Cleveland nervously awaited the ultimately crushing news that he was going to South Beach. Cleveland, left with no reason to exist, has since slid into Lake Erie. Totally true.

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"Owes his emotional instability to legendary Merlot consumption and his radioactive Naugahyde complexion to innumerable special interest golf junkets." (Image by Keith Allison.)

John Boehner
Cries so often he embarrasses Glenn Beck’s family. An incorrigibly lazy corporate puppet who owes his emotional instability to legendary Merlot consumption and his radioactive Naugahyde complexion to innumerable special interest golf junkets. His first notable act in Congress was to hand out tobacco lobby checks on the House floor before a vote on anti-smoking legislation; his PAC received $30K from Abramoff-affiliated tribes; he lived in an apartment owned by lobbyist John Milne; he knew about Mark Foley’s page perversion and sat on it. More recently, he compared the financial crisis to an ant and the weak Dodd-Frank bill to a nuke—while concurrently trying to block unemployment benefits. And the most egregious aspect of his drunken weeping on 60 Minutes, about kids having the same education opportunities he did, is that he’s scored hundreds of thousands from for-profit schools and the student loan industry—even sponsoring legislation that would slash public loan funding and redirect it to his golf buddy’s company Sallie Mae. He’s the kind of amoral opportunist who would campaign for Nazi reenactor Rich Iott in secret, not because there is any chance in hell of winning, but because Iott’s stinking rich and bound to repay the favor.

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"Lambasted as the Himmler of the Southwest." (Image by Pete Souza.)

Jan Brewer
 Gila Monster eugenics gone horrible awry. Killed two people, and another ninety-six languish, unable to afford the life-saving transplants for which she slashed state funding. Cut health care for kids too. Hates health care. Horny for the NRA; signed law nixing concealed carry permits, which had no ill effects in 2010. None. Don’t worry about it. Not a problem. Seriously. It’s totally cool. Attempted to justify the draconian racial profiling law SB 1070 by repeatedly citing fictional desert decapitations. Lambasted as the Himmler of the Southwest, she protested, saying her father died fighting the Nazis. He was never in the military. He died in ‘51. From lung cancer.

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“Steve Has Built What He Believes Is The World’s Largest Regulation-Size Pool Table”

January 21, 2011 in Excerpts, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

"There aren't many things in the world that would make Steve Wienecke look small."

Knokkers, which may be the greatest sport ever, combines bowling and billiards. (Thanks Gizmodo.) An excerpt from an article by Jason Jenkins about the beer-friendly game from Rural Missouri magazine:

“There aren’t many things in the world that would make Steve Wienecke look small. Standing 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighing in at around 270 pounds, this former semi-pro football player and cage fighter casts a large shadow.

But step into his backyard south of Fredericktown and everything, including Steve, shrinks in stature.

Here, in a space large enough to encompass an in-ground swimming pool, Steve has built what he believes is the world’s largest regulation-size pool table. At nearly 30 feet long and 15 feet wide, the table and the hybrid game played on its surface–a combination of billiards and bowling that Steve calls ‘Knokkers’–are the culmination of an idea of 25 years in the making.”

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“Dictator Kim Jong-il Supposedly Sank 11 Holes-In-One During A Single Round”

January 17, 2011 in Politics, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

Kim Jong-il lives in an insane, delusional bubble.

Mentally ill despot Kim Jong-il has pretty much ruined North Korea and its people with totalitarianism, human-rights violations and asinine economic policies. But he figures one good way to raise capital is to hold an international golf tournament. It would probably be wise for players to remain on the course at all times. A report from an Australian news service:

“The proposed tournament will be held in April at a golf course west of the capital Pyongyang, where the dictator Kim Jong-il supposedly sank 11 holes-in-one during a single round.

The cash-strapped communist state is inviting foreign amateur players to take part, charging them $1,000 for the five-day tour.

The golf course has not seen a round played since South Korea suspended cross-border tours nearly two years ago, after a North Korean soldier shot dead a Seoul housewife who had strayed into a restricted zone.”

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Massive Crowd Gathers In Times Square For World Series Updates (1920)

January 17, 2011 in Photography, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

Crowd gathers in Times Square on October 12, 1920 to hear play-by-play of the World Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cleveland Indians.

I would have thought that the Black Sox scandal, in which several members of the Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to throw the 1919 World Series, would have dampened enthusiasm for the 1920 World Series. After all, it was in September of 1920 that some of the Sox admitted to a grand jury that they had participated in the fix. But based on this photo taken in Times Square during the ’20 World Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cleveland Indians, fans were still very into the National Pastime. People came together in the pre-radio age to hear play-by-play coverage of the Fall Classic outside of the New York Times building.

The Dodgers, who were often referred to as the Robins in those days and had previously been known as the Bridegrooms, were defeated by the Indians five games to two in the best-of-nine series. The team’s rabid fan base remained loyal until after the 1957 season, when the Dodgers, rather than moving to Queens as Robert Moses wished, instead decamped to Los Angeles.

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“It Is A Far Cry From The Game Originated Around 250 A.D. By A Bavarian Priest Who Set Up A Wooden Pin In The Cloister Of His Church”

January 11, 2011 in Excerpts, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

Brooklyn pin boys (circa 1912) do work that would be automated four decades later.

I came across a 1954 article in Sports Illustrated about the then-booming game of bowling, which was becoming increasingly popular thanks to new machinery that automatically placed pins and returned balls. These machines were referred to in the article as “gadgets Rube Goldberg never dreamed of.” The opening of the piece explains the origins of the beer-soaked sport. An excerpt:

“The futuristic fantasy of steel and wire shown above is the pin-spotting machine developed by the American Machine & Foundry Co., a gadget which has revolutionized the bowling industry and started the pin boy on his way out after an unbroken tenure of some 17 centuries. It is a far cry indeed from the game originated around 250 A.D. by a Bavarian priest who first set up a wooden pin in the cloister of his church. He labeled the pin Heide (heathen) and called upon each parishioner to knock it down with a rounded stone. If the Kegeler (thrower) scored a hit, he was judged to be living a devout, pure life. If he missed, his soul was presumed to require cleansing at church.”

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The Popularity Of Cricket In America In 1900

January 5, 2011 in Books, Excerpts, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

John Barton "Bart" King at bat in a Philadelphia match in 1900.

In 1900, cricket and baseball (or “base ball”) both enjoyed great popularity in America. People of that era probably couldn’t imagine a time when cricket wouldn’t be an important part of our sporting life. An excerpt from the 1901 Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac:

“Cricket continued to flourish in the United States during 1900. The annual contest with Canada again resulted in favor of the United States. Philadelphia is the stronghold of American Cricket, and in the Inter-City match with All New York maintained her superiority by winning the match in most hollow fashion. The Germantown Cricket Club won the Halifax Cup, the emblem of Quaker supremacy, for the sixth time in succession. In the metropolitan district, chief interest in the game is now centered in Brooklyn, where no less than six clubs have their headquarters. The championship of the Metropolitan District Cricket League was again captured by the Knickerbocker Athletic Club, while in the New York Cricket Association series the Paterson Cricket Club proved successful and retained the championship.”

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“The Boxer Punching Up A Storm With Underwater Lefts And Rights Is As Cocky As He Is Unconventional”

January 5, 2011 in Excerpts, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

"They say I'm the fastest heavyweight in the ring today. That comes from punching underwater." (Image courtesy of Ira Rosenberg.)

I heard years ago that the young Muhammad Ali made up a bogus story about training underwater for a boxing match in order to get his face in Life magazine. The man was always very gifted when it came to hoopla. I came across the 1960 article, “A Wet Way to Train for a Fight,” on Google Books. Even a quick look at the spread will make it clear why a photo mag was a patsy for such a visual story. Ali hadn’t yet converted to Islam and was still called Cassius Clay. An excerpt from the article:

“The boxer punching up a storm with underwater lefts and rights is as cocky as he is unconventional. ‘Not to be bragging or anything like that,’ says the 19-year-old Cassius Marcellus Clay, ‘but they say I’m the fastest heavyweight in the ring today. That comes from punching underwater.’ Taking a cue from the immortal Ty Cobb, who weighted his shoes in training so that he would feel feather-footed when the season started, Clay goes into a swimming pool and, as these underwater pictures show, does a stunt of submarine shadowboxing. ‘You try to box hard,’ he explains. ‘Then when you punch the same way out of water you get speed. Clay, an Olympic champion before turning pro and winning his first eight fights, has been criticized for talking too much about everything including about how he will win the first world heavyweight title. His answer is to keep on talking–until he gets under water and just makes bubbles.”

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