Professional Sports Team Names And How To Improve Them

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What I’ve Noticed About American Sports Team Names: They Really Don’t Reflect The City They Represent, Do They?

Okay, there are some exceptions where the team name does have something to do with the city. The origins of the names can directly correspond to the city.

I know for example: Houston Rockets – NASA is based there.  Minnesota Twins – the Twin Cities.  Cincinnati Reds – large contingency of communists and 1950’s HUAC blacklisted people in the arts are residents.  San Diego Chargers – enormous credit card debt incurred by the citizens. St. Louis Blues – high rate of depression in St. Louis. Los Angeles Kings (and the Sacramento Kings) – refers to the former monarchy that ran the government until 1961 when it was annexed by the United States. Portland Trail Blazers – High rate of arsonists partial to forest fires residing in the state.  This list could go on and on .  But most team names are just silly.

Well you think most of the good names are taken? Nah. You just have to have some creativity.

I’ve been thinking about some names- if any sport decides to come up with some new teams or change the name of a current team, so listen here NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL or MLS, please feel free to use my suggestions at no charge.

How about saying “I’ve got tickets to see…”

  1. The Miami Muggers
  2. The L.A. Traffic
  3. Cincinnati Crack Dealers
  4. Detroit Carjackers
  5. The New York Homeless
  6. Arizona Border Jumpers
  7. Cleveland Blasé
  8. Milwaukee Boozers
  9. Lexington Inbreeders
  10. Philadelphia Manhole Cover Thieves

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Babe Ruth – Lou Gehrig Film Footage – Identified

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An Iowa Family Recognizes Their Family In Recently Discovered Film Footage Of Babe Ruth And Lou Gehrig In 1927.

As this story continues unfolding, the film footage of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig that was recently found was recognized by a family member as being their family with the two Yankee greats.  The New York Times reports the family of one of the men seen in the film has identified the little boy shown in the film. He is Phil Donohue and he was 9-years-old when the film was shot. Donohue is now 92, but he remembers that day very clearly. He is also the only person in the film that is still alive.

The Donohue family also had what they thought was the original copy of the film. But R.C. Raycraft who had purchased the film containing Ruth and Gehrig’s meeting with the Donohue family is sure he has the original.

One thing is certain parts of the film footage have been seen before in two HBO documentaries in the 1990’s.  This means one thing- this new old footage, is not so new.

The Truth About Self-Publishing, Books, Authors & Publicity

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What Really Happens After Self-Publishing Your Book

This is satire, right?

No.

This two minute video will explain what the real problems are for promoting your book when you self-publish.

After you watch, maybe you’ll reconsider writing that book and self-publishing it. Based upon many a true story.

Enjoy.

Questions? Fire away.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

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The Triangle Fire – One Hundred Years Later

Anniversaries of older, tragic events are usually the only time those events play into the public consciousness. Other than that, they are rarely thought about, discussed or even remembered.

This week a vast amount of attention has been devoted by newspapers, PBS, HBO and news stations in New York that are marking the 100th anniversary of The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in which 146 people, mostly young immigrant girls, perished.

The details of the March 25th, 1911 conflagration which are summed up best by Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School web site are heartbreaking. Many of these girls Continue reading →

Babe Ruth (Again) And Lou Gehrig – Recently Discovered Film Footage

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Babe Ruth And Lou Gehrig On Film

The New York Times reports more film footage of the mighty Babe Ruth has been unearthed, this time from 1927 showing Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig up close and personal in a barnstorming tour.  The article goes on to say that in the Major League Baseball archives there is less than an hour’s worth of film footage of Ruth!  The majority of film footage that probably still exists resides in attics across the country waiting to be discovered. This film was found in a cellar in Illinois and shows Ruth and Gehrig in or around Sioux City, Iowa on October 18, 1927.

Gehrig and Ruth were good friends, had a presumed falling out (over mysterious circumstances) and eventually made up when Gehrig was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis which ended up taking his life at the age of 37.

The public perception via film of Ruth and Gehrig together is not really when they are together at all.

Hollywood accomplished that trick with The Pride of the Yankees, the 1942 movie depicting the life of Lou Gehrig ,who is played by Gary Cooper. Babe Ruth plays himself in the picture.  No mean feat as Babe was already 46 years old and was significantly heavier than in his playing days.  Ruth would not be embarrassed.  Before the movie started shooting, Babe went on a diet and dropped a significant amount of pounds so he could play the part himself.

While the picture is embellished for the silver screen, it still covers a fair portion of Gehrig’s baseball accomplishments while telling more Lou’s devotion to his family and the love story between Eleanor Twitchell (the future Mrs. Gehrig) and Lou.  The movie almost never got made.  Producer Samuel Goldwyn knew nothing about baseball and knew from experience that baseball movies were never “big box office.” But Goldwyn had been shown a newsreel of Gehrig’s farewell speech at Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day by Niven Busch, a Goldwyn screenwriter. Busch was confident a movie about Gehrig would be a success. By the end of the newsreel Goldwyn was crying and had made up his mind to acquire the rights to Gehrig’s story. The end result was a success, with the picture being nominated for 11 academy awards, including best picture.

Here are some photos of The Babe and Lou together. (click to enlarge)

Gehrig and Ruth in a posed publicity photo

Ruth and Gehrig 1927

Babe Ruth Scores ahead of a Lou Gehrig Home Run

Four Greats- Lou Gehrig, Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth 1928

Babe Ruth pays his respects at Lou Gehrig’s funeral June 4, 1941

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame Knows Nothing About Hard Rock Or Heavy Metal

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The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame’s 5 Biggest Hard Rock / Heavy Metal Snubs

I am not one for lists. They are subjective and open to arguments.

Having written that, I will still compile a few lists here and there on this site and possibly instigate something Palin-esque (Michael not Sarah.)  So, with that warning, this list concerns one of the most meaningless institutions ever created – the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.  Who cares about who is in and who is not? I certainly don’t. The idea that you are given an award or recognized by some all knowing group of people has never excited me.  I’m sure most bands really don’t care and it makes no difference in validating their career.

Yet to legions of dedicated fans of various bands, it does matter. They start online petitions, vent in Rolling Stone or on blogs about their band not being included in The RNRHOF. Every year when the inductees Continue reading →

North Brother Island

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A Close-up Look At Hidden New York: No People, But Lots Of Abandoned Buildings, Neglected Structures And A Safe Haven To Birds.

Having lived in New York City my whole life, there are places that I have never visited by choice and others that I have never been to because they are off-limits.  One of those off-limits places is North Brother Island, which is a small island just off the southern coast of the Bronx near the entrance to Long Island sound.

North Brother Island, if known by the general public at all, is famous for two reasons:

1-   In 1904 the excursion boat General Slocum caught fire and was beached near the island. The fire took the lives of over 1,000 people, mostly women and children going on a church outing to Long Island. Heroic rescuers who worked on North Brother brought many of the victims to the shores of the island.

2-   Mary Mallon a.k.a. Typhoid Mary who was a carrier of typhoid and spread disease and death in turn of the century New York. She was quarantined there until she died in 1938.

I am fascinated by abandoned structures. North Brother Island is chock full of history. Presented here is the link to the fabulous web site The Kingston Lounge which has done a phenomenal history and photo essay of the decaying remains on this forgotten section of New York City.

The 19.3 acre island is now controlled by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and since its human abandonment in the 1970’s has become a bird sanctuary.

Babe Ruth As You’ve (Probably) Never Seen Him Before

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Ask people to visualize Babe Ruth and some standard images of the Sultan of Swat might come to mind and look something like…

Have you ever seen Babe Ruth doing any of the following things?

The Babe practicing his bunting –

Babe Ruth practicing his right-handed hitting–

The Bambino sliding into home plate-

The Babe about to field a fly ball in the outfield-

Babe Ruth Pitching for the Yankees 1933 –

Babe Ruth smokes in the dugout-

When The Record Books Are Wrong

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The New York Yankees Actually Hold The MLB Record For The Largest Attendance In A Regular Season Game.

Records are made to be broken…that is if anyone knows about them.

If you look up the largest attendance during the regular season to see a major league baseball game, the Sporting News Baseball Record Book and many online sources claim that the paid attendance on September 12, 1954 of 84,587 at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium is the largest ever.  The Yankees were visiting the Indians that day for a doubleheader and were battling for a pennant that Cleveland would eventually go on to win. The Yankees finished in second place with 103 wins (no wild card in 1954)!

But is the 1954 Indians-Yankees game the regular season record?

Probably no one, with the possible exception of the members of SABR (the Society for American Baseball Research) really cares, but the official record books are wrong.

On September 9, 1928 The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Athletics were in a tight battle for first place, a half game separating Continue reading →