NOVEMBER 21 — 1620 Mayflower anchors at Provincetown; 1975 Congress investigates assassination attempts on Castro; 1989 Happy Birthday greatest NFL kicker Justin Tucker; 2016 The Button King passes away
NOVEMBER 21
1986 – Ollie North starts feeding documents into the shredder.
My goodness because if he didn’t that would have exposed the Reagan’s administration’s participation in a range of illegal activities regarding the sale of arms to Iran and the diversion of the proceeds to a rebel Nicaraguan group. It was a little bit like the Fast and Furious scandal that President Obama’s administration had to face.
In fact there were three main keys to look at here when comparing the selling of arms for American hostages, versus arming the Mexican Drug cartel. Fist, they’re both illegal, second the US Government denied both operations until the secret was out, and third, both administrations tried to protect information through legal means. The difference that I can see is, many leading news outlets have ignored Fast & Furious but bring up the Iran Contra scandal to this day. So I’m calling out our government when it acts wrongly regardless of which party is in the white house. Speaking of government scandals,
1975 – Congress brings up charges on US involvement in assassination plots. It was brought on by the Church Committee and the alleged plots were to kill Patrice Lumumba of the Congo, Fidel Castro in Cuba, Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Ngo Dinh Diem in Vietnam, and Rene Schneider in Chili. Senator Frank Church chaired the senate committee to study these plots, however , there was no actual proof that President Gerald Ford knew about this, although at the very least he should have known about it.
1989 — Happy birthday Justin Tucker; the greatest NFL kicker ever.
I was talking to a British friend of mine recently who didn’t understand why we call this game football. The rest of the world has soccer because Americans’ invented a whole new sport that’s way more fun than soccer, that’s the main reason America took the name away from soccer. Rightfully so, too I might add. My friend, who clearly never saw a game of football even though the NFL goes to England every year, couldn’t understand what part of the foot was used in football since I guess all he ever saw were passing and running plays. I don’t know. I should’ve brought up Justin Tucker.
There are dozens of games each season decided by the foot in the last couple seconds. Quite often, an accurate kick will mean a win or loss. Sam Koch, who holds the ball for Justin’s kick, said “There’s no scenario where you’re going to line up and do it.” He’s referring to the longest kick ever. There’s no way anyone can make that 74 yard kick. A hail Mary pass at least has worked in the past, if not very often. The weather would have to be 80 or warmer with wind blowing the way of the kick. If you miss, at 74 yards you most likely will, then you have to defend a long return. If there’s only a couple seconds in the game and the score is within three, you throw the Hail Mary.
However, Koch says, “I have no doubt Justin would go out there and make the kick.” Justin, who graduated from Westlake High School in Austin TX, played football as a youngster with future Eagles quarterback and Super Bowl surprise QB Nick Foles before he moved to the Texas Longhorns. He began playing for the Ravens in 2012In 2013 he kicked a 61 yarder in Detroit, at that time the record for a dome stadium. “Here’s the thing: As soon as I tell anyone I can hit from 74, 75, 80, I’m not saying it to blow smoke; I’m saying it because I can do it,” Tucker said. “I’ve hit from 79 in practice, my best guess is I can hit an 84-yarder in Denver.”
Not only that but this guy can sing and belts out the song Ave Maria like no other. Maybe if he keeps his kicking talents going, he’ll be able to clear the entire field.
You never know.
1976 – Rocky premieres.
Think you know everything about Rocky? Here are some interesting facts I found out. Before this movie rocketed Sylvester Stallone to stardom, he was an usher making $36/week. When carl Weathers auditioned for a fight scene with Stallone, Weathers accidentally landed one on Sallone’s chin. When Stallone told him to calm down, it’s just an audition, Weathers said that if he was auditioning with a real actor and not some stand it, , then he could do a lot better. Um….(_whisper) carl…dude that IS the real actor. He wrote the screenplay too. Lewis looked at Stallone thoughtfully and said, well maybe he’ll get better..
Audition over, Stallone chose Weathers right then and there. Rocky’s dog Butkus was Stallone’s dog in real life. For the ice skating rink, the set was going to hire thirty extra but didn’t have the money. When Stallone showed up at the set and noticed nobody at the ice rink, he was furious. Just did the scene as is. It turned out to be one of the best one the entire Rocky franchise. Stallone and Weathers reheated the fight scene like it was a ballet for 35 hours before shooting it. Yo Adrian is the 80th greatest movie quote according to American Film Institute. AFI also calls Rocky the 6th most inspiring movie of all time. Stallone originally wanted Harvey Keitel to play Paulie. The film was shot in 28 days but was the number one movie of the year.
1983 Michael Jackson’s 14 minute video, Thriller premiers in L.A. movie theaters. Guinness World Records later named it as the “most successful music video”, selling over 9 million units. Little late for Halloween, but oh well.
2016 – The Button King passes away.
Born in 1930 in South Carolina, Dalton Stevens was best known for his love for the button, which began one night during an insomnia induced incident of sheer boredom in 1983. While his wife slept, he passed the sleepless night by sewing buttons on a denim jacket. When I say sowing buttons on his jacket, I mean, 16,333 buttons. Not in one night of course, it took him a couple months according to his website. Not sure if that cured his insomnia or not, but then the poor old fella snapped and started sewing buttons uncontrollably on everything: his suits, his shoes, and his guitar. Even his Chevy Chevette wasn’t safe from from the Button Kings rampage.
He would be featured on Johnny Carson, and David Letterman and held the world’s record for having 439,000 buttons sewn on things. Thanks Dalton!
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