SZ727

BY JIM DAWSON AUGUST 31, 2020 A DIFFERENT DISEASE Back in March, the COVID-19 disease caused MLB, the NBA and the NHL to shut down until precautions could be put in place to protect players and staff from that disease. Last week, the NBA, NHL and MLB shut down because of a different disease – racism. After Jacob Blake, Jr. was shot in the back multiple times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, players raised their voices and called for an end to brutality unleashed by police against Black individuals. They and their teammates joined together in solidarity and games were canceled. I believe in our police forces in the United States. I also believe that there are racist cops on some of those police forces, and they need to be weeded out and fired. Those fired for racist beliefs and actions should not be allowed to go to another city or state and join a different police force. Black Lives Matter protesters have taken to the streets. Most of those protests have been peaceful, but some have turned violent with the burning of buildings, looting and shooting. This cannot be condoned under any circumstances. There are those who would use the protests for their own designs. These are the people who want to stoke the fires of rage. Social media is being used to call for these individuals to show up at the protests and their aim is to foment violence. A 17 year old from Illinois crossed over into Kenosha, Wisconsin with an AR-15 and killed two people and severely wounded a third. He was not arrested by police that were present. This country’s police cannot allow such vigilante behavior. They cannot take sides if there is to be equal justice for all. Those policemen that have killed or maimed Black people should be held accountable for their actions and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. A police person’s oath of office is to protect and serve. They should de-escalate situations that could turn violent, not contribute to them turning deadly. I stand for Black Lives Matter. I stand for those police who do protect and serve. SPORTS IN THE BUBBLE For sports fans, there has been resumption of baseball, basketball and hockey. As sports fans, we enter into the bubble of the sports world which affords us an escape from whatever ails us. What passes for sports now is strange. NBA players have been in the bubble of the Walt Disney Complex in Orlando. According to Doris Burke and NBC, those basketball players will now be able to have their wives and kids join them in that bubble. The NHL is using 2 Canadian cities – Toronto and Edmonton to serve as their bubble with players and staff confined to their hotels when not at the rink practicing or playing. MLB does not have a bubble. There have been multiple cancellations of games as players and/or staff have tested positive for COVID-19. Some teams will play an unequal number of games. Pretty strange, especially when some team doesn’t make the ‘playoffs’ because of that difference. However Rob Manfred and his minions don’t care about that. They still believe that they will have those ‘playoffs’ no matter how strange. What happens to that ‘playoff’ time schedule when participating teams have players test positive? How about if it’s during the ‘World Series’? There’s a better chance of winter setting in before baseball decides to quit this idiocy. FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH The Bruins play Tampa Bay tonight down 3-1 in games. The chances of Boston winning 3 games in a row against this Lightning team seem pretty slim. The Bruins back when the season was halted due to the pandemic had the best record in hockey. Doesn’t matter. The Celtics looked good in their first game against the defending NBA champion Raptors. Basketball, so far, has been as close to ‘normal’ with no fans. The less said about the Red Sox the better. Pitching auditions continue. Alex Verdugo seems like the real deal. He leads AL outfielders in assists with 7. He can hit and has some power. Chaim Bloom just traded Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree for two pitchers, one of whom, Nick Pivetta, is in Pawtucket and may be brought up. The other, Connor Seabold, hasn’t played higher than AA. Yesterday Bloom moved Mitch Moreland for two young kids, 21 y/o Hudson Potts a 3B and 20 y/o Jeisson Rosario an OF. Potts was the Padres #16 prospect and Rosario their #19 per one evaluating service. (Source – Ian Browne/MLB.com – 8/30). BULLETS • R.I.P. John Thompson who coached Georgetown for 27 years (596-239), and led them to the NCAA championship in 1984 vs. the University of Houston. He was the 1st Black coach to win an NCAA championship. 97% of his Georgetown players stayed all 4 years and left with a college degree (Tim Darnell/Atlanta Journal-Constitution - 8/31). • The Bruins lost Game #4 when Jaro Halak let in a cheap goal and Nick Ritchie took a horrendous 5 minute boarding penalty. The Bruins almost killed off the penalty only to have Victor Hedman’s shot hit Par Lindholm and the puck deflected over Halak into the goal. Amazingly Coach Bruce Cassidy defended Ritchie and argued the hit wasn’t bad. • The golf tournaments have been great. Yesterday, the BMW Championship went into a playoff between Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm, after Johnson hit a spectacular 45 foot birdie on the last hole to tie. Rahm then sank a 65 foot putt to win on the first playoff hole. I almost rooted against Johnson when I saw NY Jets on his collar. It was Net Jets. EMAIL Hi Jim, something sports to read for my soul! Watching our red sox are like having a toothache  that you keep sticking your tongue in! Could the answer be Berry Gordy? Miss our conversations at the PawSox. If the world listened to us it would be a better place. Garry Gillett Garry, Berry Gordy is a good guess but not correct. I too miss the PawSox at McCoy and our conversations. - Z Trivia - Quincy Jones? Peter Bortolotti Good guess but no, not Quincy Jones, Peter. - Z . Jim, Chuck Connors came up through the Dodger organization. In 1949 he got into 1 game, and had 1 at bat. In AAA that year, he hit .319 with 20 home runs and 108 RBI.  His minor league batting average was .289. Bob Kumins Bob, I did not now that Chuck Connors got into one game for the Brooklyn Dodgers. I used Wikipedia and they didn’t mention it. Should have used baseball-reference.com as you did. Then I would have found this: In 1949 Chuck Connors played 1 game for Brooklyn (he was born there). In 1951, he played 66 games for the Cubs. - Z Nice job again on the Zine…..as always…. Reading about the Celtics sweep jarred my memory.  My first NBA game was in the Big Easy…Celtics/Jazz…..Pistol Pete and Havlicek going at it….3 overtimes…..with John hitting a bank shot for the win. Think the Pistol had over 50….what a game!!! Afterwards, we went to Pat O’Riley’s and Dave Cowens was on my right in the bathroom urinal lineup….hahaha. Later, I asked him to say hi to the boys and he politely agreed. Peace bros….stay safe…. Dave ‘Cornbread’ Knudson (always liked the Maxwell dude too) Thanks David, nice story about your first time seeing the Celtics. In New Orleans. Pat O'Riley's where I had to drag out my buddy Jim Findesen so we didn't miss our flight home after the Super Bowl debacle against the Bears. Peace. - Z Subject: Milbury: what took so long? https://www.yahoo.com/sports/mike-milburys-day-of-reckoning-should-have-arrived-a-long-time-ago-175350014.html from Canada. Paul Beaudette Paul, Bill LaPlante was right. Milbury is a putz. Did you see that the Celtics and Raptors are saying they may not play because of Kenosha, Wisconsin and the Jacob Blake shooting? Doc Emrick instead of Milbury. Take that every time. - Z Hi Buffalo Steve, Hope you are well. Also hope that you saw that the Red Sox are playing the Blue Jays in Buffalo as Canada wouldn't let them play in Toronto. They are playing at the Buffalo Bisons' Sahlen Field. That's Toronto's AAA team's field. They had to change all the lights, replace the infield grass and the first 20 feet of the outfield grass. The Red Sox have not played a game in Buffalo since 1917 when they played an exhibition game there. - Z Yes, I've been following the Sox-Jays matchup at Buffalo's Sahlen Field (nee Pilot Field, Dunn Park, and a lot more!) It's a very beautiful park - right in downtown Buffalo, and it's truly major-league. Bob Rich (Bison's owner) had it built many years ago when MLB was expanding, and Buffalo was on the short list, but alas... The name Sahlen is from a Buffalo meat-packing company, famous for their Sahlen's Smokehouse hot dogs. AND, the PREMIER sliced ham at the Stop and Shop deli counter is Sahlen's Smokehouse ham. Buy some next time you go to S&S. I promise it won't taste like Buffalo! Buffalo Steve Lenz Interesting – how The Band got drugs: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/cathy-smith-dies-sundown-muse-171452707.html Ken Forestal Hi Ken, ironic that you sent this. There's a lot of info that I did not know about Cathy Smith (including supplying the Band with drugs and being Gordon Lightfoot's girl friend and having inspired his song Sundown. I just saw an AXS program called The Final 24. It's about the last 24 hours of singers, celebs who have died. There's a lot more than just that (much bio). The one I just saw was on John Belushi. She was his drug supplier and a heroin addict. Belushi was in LA. Dan Ackroyd and Belushi's wife were in NY so they couldn't save him. Smith reportedly injected him with speedballs (a mix of cocaine and heroin) 3 or 4 times during the day and then night when he died. An addiction counselor showed a drawing of Belushi's body and noted all the marks where he was injected - arms, legs, multiple sites. So he concluded that it was not a one off when Belushi was injected by Smith with the speedballs. He had been doing them for some time. - Z Jim, The article on Cathy Smith did support 1 theory in film-Robertson & Hudson were not I'd as buyers of her wares-Hoyt Axton-he had his issues-"God Damn the Pusher Man " As to question of week-I can only think of Johnny Otis (DJ/SongWriter/Talent Scout)-he discovered Etta James (Joan’s favorite) & Big Mama Thornton--if I'm correct he wrote or co-wrote "Hound Dog" which Thornton sang first. Ken Forestal Ken, I knew that Hoyt Axton wrote The Pusher (first heard when Steppenwolf did it), but I didn't realize he had a drug problem. He also wrote a song called Snowblind Friend, which Steppenwolf did. I saw him in concert and he was great. Johnny Otis is a good guess but incorrect. I loved Etta James. She did a USO tour and I saw her while stationed in Turkey. Loved Tell Mama. Hound Dog was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.  - Z In 1952, while in Houston, Texas, Otis auditioned the singer Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. He produced, co-wrote, and played drums on her 1953 recording of "Hound Dog" (the first recording of the song); he and his band also provided the backup "howling" vocals. The song was co-written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Otis had a legal dispute with the songwriting duo over the credits after he learned that Leiber and Stoller had revised the contractual agreement before the singer Elvis Presley recorded a new version of the song, which quickly became a number 1 hit. Claiming Leiber and Stoller illegally had the original contract nullified and rewrote a new one stating that the two boys (who were both 17) were the only composers of the song, Otis sued. The judge decided the case in favor of the defendants, ruling that the first contract with Otis was null and void because they were minors when they signed it. (Source - Wikipedia) I knew from a PBS Doc on Big Mama Thornton-that Otis was involved with Hound Dog Ken Forestal Sportzine is also available at jimdawsonsports.com thanks to Buffalo Steve Lenz THE HOT CLUB I mentioned that a former co-worker had the infamous Farrah Fawcett swimsuit poster hanging in his cubicle. He was made to take it down. Dr. John said that when he was at Annapolis, they had that same poster in the hospital. Dr. John said that he had to defibrillate all the Admirals. Professor Peter said ‘If pro is the opposite of con, then progress is the opposite of congress.’ Per Peter, that’s one of Murphy’s Laws. So I brought up the famous quote about politics: “Politics is the last refuge for the scoundrel.” That was said by George Bernard Shaw (I looked it up). I added that some pundit changed that quote to: “Politics is the first refuge of the scoundrel.” Dr. John has been going to the Sunday outdoor concerts by Jack Moore and his band Western Stars (which I noted is also the name of a 2019 CD by Bruce Springsteen). Dr. John said one of his favorite songs that Jack’s band has done is “Don’t You Roll Those Bloodshot Eyes at Me”. Cap’t Jack said he had sampled a coffee beer made by Pabst. He said he tried to buy some at two different liquor stores but they were sold out. So I told him to tell Peter who is a Pabst fan. Then Jack mentioned a GIQ. Not everyone knew that was a Giant Imperial Quart (40 oz.) which I’m not sure they still make. We remembered Colt 45 having a GIQ. Peter looked it up and Colt 45 is owned by Pabst now. Dr. John said that there was a drink with Colt 45 and Ripple. Said they called it ‘Cripple’. ANSWER TO LAST ISSUE’S TRIVIA QUESTION Who was the singer/songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout considered a seminal artist in soul and R&B, and who is in the Rock Hall and Songwriter’s Hall? No one got it: Otis Redding, the King of Soul. His Respect reached #35 on the US Pop chart (#2 on the R&B chart), but Aretha Franklin’s version reached #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 (with changes in the music and a few changes in the lyrics). Redding’s first #1 song (on both the Pop and R&B charts) was (Sitting on) The Dock of the Bay, which was released posthumously. Reading was born in Dawson, Georgia but grew up in Macon. His Beechcraft H18 crashed 12/10/67 killing him and all but one of the Bar-Kays. THIS ISSUE’S TRIVIA QUESTION This singer/actress is the best-selling female artist of all time. She holds the record for the most Top 10 albums of any female (34). Name?