Author: mikeljohnston1 (Page 73 of 267)
Another successful neighborhood gathering took place last night. We now get the day off from social gatherings in anticipation of tomorrow night’s Alter Eagles concert. It looks like there will also be a pre-party. The last time we saw the real Eagles was on my 63rd birthday in 2014 while we were living in Portland. Glenn Frye died two years later at the age of 67 and was replaced with his son Deacon, while Vince Gill also joined the band at that time. They are playing later this month in Tampa. Ticket prices range from $255 in the upper levels to $8,470 for front row VIP seats. We’ll probably see the Eagles again when Hell Freezes Over. The Alter Eagles are probably our best option – “just close your eyes and you’ll think they’re the real thing.”
Our next concert is still most likely Santana/Earth Wind Fire on my 71st birthday. I’m not seeing any other options in between, with the exception of these cover bands and concerts in the park. The Paradise Pickers played last night at our neighborhood event. They were one picker short but well worth the money, although it made conversation difficult. Even with my new Bose sound system, a.k.a. hearing aids, I had trouble working the room. My voice was definitely strained by the end of the evening, trying to scream talk. I did meet a few more people on our street.
There is a nest of Eagles just down the road from us. The massive roost of sticks is high in a tree, but you can see the bald heads of the eaglets peeking out as the two proud parents keep watch. We stopped the other day so our guests could clearly see them, rather than our typical drive-by. They are on the grounds of the local Italian-American Club, so it was after dinner one night that we discovered their existence. Depending on weather, most egg hatching takes place in January and February according to sources, so the timing of the babies makes sense. I wonder if they will all eventually move on and the nest will slowly disappear? They have become part of our local tour, just beyond Alligator Alley where an occasional gator is seen sunning. They tend to be more visible this time of year and less dangerous as predators, using the sun to warm their cold blood, enabling them to digest food. Eagles and Gators are our entertainment this time of year.
On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, killing more than 2,300 Americans. When we went to Hawaii a few years ago, we visited the site but did not pay to step on the USS Arizona Memorial. It was emotional enough to be in the vicinity of 2,403 fatalities, let alone stand on top of their watery graves. It’s in sharp contrast to the sunny beaches, palm trees, and flowers that make the island famous. Rest in peace my heroes!
It’s another Friday, although I once again lost track of the days in retirement mode. We talked about going to a movie to make up for missing “Matinee Monday,” but will wash windows instead. Tonight is the sixth “Meet The Neighbors” event at the clubhouse, as we continue to familiarize ourselves with those who live on our street. We did get together with our new next door neighbor to exchange contact information. She moved in just this week. Last night, we went to Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the Venice Theater, but left at intermission. The Fats Waller musical was entertaining and the performers excellent, but we were uncomfortable wearing a mask in a stuffy auditorium and tired from a busy week.
This weekend we’ll wrap-up the new season of Ozark, go out for a family dinner, and I’ll watch some basketball. There will also be new episodes of 1883 and Euphoria. We’re still hoping that the electrician will have time to hang our overhead lights. The cabinet craftsman will also be back next week, having recovered from Covid. We’ve got to get ready – company is coming!
1940 was the first National Championship for Indiana in basketball, following a 60-42 win over Kansas. Coach Branch McCracken led the charge and established the scoring mark that has proven to be magical in Hoosier round-ball history. No one has ever worn jersey #60 in basketball, but it just might might deserve future consideration. It’s the number the team needs to get to first to assure a win, as proven through years of game research. However, back in 1940, the championship game was the first time they ever actually got to 60-points in 20 victories that year. Sixty is not necessarily an offensive goal, but rather a defensive standard.
In recently talking with Jeff Oliphant, a member of the 1987 National Champions, he indicated that Coach Knight would often write the number 63 on the strategy board as a defensive goal, much as Coach Woodson in his first year quickly enforced lap-running penalties for turnovers over 12 in his first year of coaching. This was talked about frequently by the game announcers early in the season. I wondered if “The General” was as conscious of the importance of 60, as I was as a fan, and was his number of 63 an adjustment after the shot clock and 3-point shot came into play? Even without those new rules that favored more offense, Jeff and I watched the Maryland victory together, as the 2022 team held the Terps to 55 points while committing only 10 turnovers. At the midpoint of the season, it was easily their best performance so far and my 60-point level still commanded a timeless place in securing victory.
Woodson has added a welcome spark to a program that has badly suffered since the Knight era. Mike Davis capitalized on Knight recruits to get to the final game in 2002. Then came Kelvin Sampson and recruiting violations, Tom Crean who missed the tourney five times in nine years, and Archie Miller who couldn’t beat Purdue or even make the NCAA field of 68. Strong defense has once again become a I.U. priority, but they allowed Syracuse to get to 60 first and lost in double overtime. They then got stuck on 59 for the last three minutes of the game against Wisconsin and they cruised by us for the 64-59 victory. This is an excellent example of how important that magical 60-mark is in closing out a game.
IU did not get to 60 in the 61-58 loss to Penn State, while Iowa held them at the 57-threshold for nearly two minutes and eventually passed them up for victory 83-74. The Hoosiers hit 57 against rival Purdue at the 10:28 mark of the second half with an 8-point lead and finally got to 61 at 7:34 on a Race Thompson dunk, then held on for victory, snapping a 9-game Boiler winning streak. Even in the early stages of the Woodson campaign, the “rule of 60” has already played a significant role. Quite simply, if the Hoosiers get to that pivotal point first, they win.
2021-22 defensive averages are some of the best in team history, dating back to the fifties. So far, IUD has limited opponents to 63-points per game. Only the Mike Davis finalist team of 2001-02 at 62.6, Tom Crean’s 2012-13 average of 62,1, Kelvin Sampson’s 2006-07 61.8. and Bob Knight’s 1980-81 championship team at 58.5 have been better on opponent points per game. All of those teams had at least first round tourney success. Averages then predictably swelled into the 70.0 range with the addition of the 3-pointer in 1986-87. Steve Alford used it to perfection in winning our 5th National Crown that year, but it has appeared to be our nemesis ever since.
Data provided by Gracenote, A Nielsen Company. Copyright © 2000-2022 Sports Reference LLC. All rights reserved.
For more information See Post #2249
World War I continued in 1939, as Nazi Germany attacked Poland on September 1, while France, Australia and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. “Gone with the Wind” premiered in Atlanta. “Frankly My Dear I Don’t Give A Damn.” “The Luckiest Man in the World,” Lou Gehrig, retired from Major League Baseball after being diagnosed with ALS. The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland premieres. “Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!”
A bobcat, sand cranes, alligators, and two eagles were some of our latest guest’s nature sightings over this past weekend. No lions, tigers, or bears were spotted except at the Ringling Museum. Our next group arrives next weekend, if anyone gives a damn. Dinner tonight is with my wife’s sorority sister and her husband in Sarasota. We were going to take my grandson to Dave & Buster’s for his birthday, but his other grandmother is instead flying him to Fort Wayne, Indiana to see snow for the first time in his fifteen years. We now have a semi-free weekend that includes a Sunday night concert by the Alter Eagles, a cover band playing at our resort center.
I’m watching Curse of Oak Island, as is my Wednesday morning tradition. Maybe they will find another scrap of wood on this week’s episode that has so far been a disappointment this season. Big plans are of course in the works to find the 200-year old Money Pit treasure, but so far after nine seasons of costly digging there have been only bits and pieces to show for their extensive efforts, including a single British copper coin that was just discovered. I love a good treasure hunt!
I was up early these last two morning for both an airport run and granddaughter sitting. It meant two straight days of running only the minimum mile and foregoing the swim. Temperatures are starting to warm up after the great Florida Freeze of 2022. Thank you for any concerns about my well being during this difficult cold spell- it will be back in the eighties soon and my routine should return to normal.
I did get to see the sunrise both mornings with these early starts, while Friday, Monday, and Today have been welcome breaks from the standard 5k distance. I have appointments with both the chiropractor and acupuncturist this week to work on my hip pain. Yesterday, was the eye doctor, another professional benefitting from my old age woes – retirement is not without hassles.
Today, the Borrego Boyz have our monthly “Leadership Meeting,” as neighbors get together for food and beer. There is also a “Meet The Neighbors” event this Friday on our busy social calendar. My wife continues with bridge, tap, and water aerobics in an attempt to satisfy her restless nature. We’ve started to watch Ozark Season Four in the evenings, while my bedtime reading is The Paris Detective by James Patterson (not very good).
My oldest granddaughter is off to school this morning, while the youngest has yet to wake. I’ll feed her some cereal before her dad gets back from work in a few hours. We’ve yet to find a slot for “Matinee Monday” in this week’s schedule, so it’s doubtful that we’ll go to a movie, as if there’s something that we’re both burning to see. There’s always next week.
In the year 1937, Amelia Mary Earhart mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during a circumnavigation flight, while the German airship Hindenburg bursts into flames while attempting to moor at Lakehurst, New Jersey, and Aviator Howard Hughes breaks his own transcontinental flight speed record when he flies from Los Angeles to Newark. Yes, things were taking off, but also crashing to the ground as men and women began to explore the skies. Thirty-two years later we would finally make it to the moon. Who knows what is next?
There will be twelve full moons in 2022 with two “Super Moons,” a “Buck Moon,” and a “Sturgeon Moon.” We just experienced a “Wolf Moon,” the first of the year. February is known as the “Snow Moon.” “Historically, many of the nicknames we use for full Moons come “from Native American, Colonial American, or other traditional North American sources passed down through generations,” according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
According to this same article, other names for January’s full moon include Center Moon, Cold Moon, Frost Exploding Moon, Freeze Up Moon, Severe Moon, and Hard Moon. March will be the “Worm Moon,” followed by the “Pink Moon” in April, May’s “Flower Moon,” June’s “Strawberry Moon,” and the previously mentioned “Buck Moon” of July and “Sturgeon Moon” of August.
September is the “Corn Moon, October the “Hunter Moon.” November “Beaver Moon,” and the year ends with December’s “Cold Moon.” The Second Moon in any given month is known as a “Blue Moon,” but there will not be one in 2022 – No Blue in Twenty-Two, but plenty of other moons to look forward to howling at.
“Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like on
A-Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby, kiss me
Fill my heart with song and let me sing forevermore
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you
Fill my heart with song
Let me sing forevermore
You are all I long for, all I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words
In other words
I love you”
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Bart Howard
Fly Me to the Moon lyrics © T.R.O. Inc.
Back in 1998, nearly 24-years ago, I started to write a book about IU basketball. I was on my way back from the Maui Invitational after a 76-63 Hoosier loss in the finals to Syracuse. It was revenge for the Orange who fell in heartbreaking fashion to the Hoosiers back in the 1987 NCAA Championship on the last second shot by Keith Smart. The Maui Championship was little compensation for that setback, but would finally get their overall crown in 2003 with Jim Boeheim still at the helm. Mike Davis had taken over as the Hoosier head coach after Bob Knight was fired in 2000, so Maui was the last matchup between these two coaching legends.
In the Maui game, Syracuse got to the sixty-point mark first, my personal measure for what it takes to beat IU. Over the next two years, I began to research this theory through several trips to the IU Sports Information offices in Bloomington. What I found is that Sixty is truly a magical number when it comes to analyzing IU victories. If they get there first, they usually win – it’s as simple as that!
After a visit from a friend these past few days, I’m suddenly revitalized in my efforts to finish this book. With this former IU basketball player’s help, I now feel that I can gain the credibility to get the “Magic of 60” published.
(Go to Post 1940 for more information)
The year 1935 had some eventful highlights. For example, Amelia Earhart flew solo across the Pacific. In addition, the first technicolor Mickey Mouse short film is released. Also, the China Clipper makes the first Pacific Airmail delivery and FDR signs the Neutrality Act into law, preventing the U.S. exportation of war related items to nations at war. The Mouse always gets my utmost attention, not necessarily these other key historical events of that year. We were just at Disney World for the 50th Anniversary of the park to visit him.
According to Wikipedia, Mickey Mouse was originally the replacement for a prior Disney character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and first appeared in the short Plane Crazy, debuting publicly in the short film Steamboat Willie (1928), one of the first sound cartoons. He then went on to appear in over 130 films, including The Band Concert (1935), Brave Little Tailor (1938), and Fantasia (1940). “Mickey appeared primarily in short films, but also occasionally in feature-length films. Ten of Mickey’s cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, one of which, Lend a Paw, won the award in 1941. In 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”
The character was a big part of my childhood, with the television show starting in 1955. I remember the Mouseketeers, especially Bobby, Tommy, Annette, and Cubby and singing:
Who’s the leader of the club
That’s made for you and me
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
Hey! there, Hi! there, Ho! there
You’re as welcome as can be
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
Mickey Mouse!
(Donald Duck)
Mickey Mouse!
(Donald Duck)
Forever let us hold our banner
High! High! High! High!
Come along and sing the song
And join the jamboree!
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
Mickey Mouse club
Mickey Mouse club
We’ll have fun
We’ll meet new faces
We’ll do things and
We’ll go places
All around the world
We’re marching
Who’s the leader of the club
That’s made for you and me
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
Hey! there, Hi! there, Ho! there
You’re as welcome as can be
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
Mickey Mouse!
(Donald Duck)
Mickey Mouse!
(Donald Duck)
Forever let us hold our banner
High! High! High! High!
Come along and sing a song
And join the jamboree!
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
(yay Mickey)
(yay Mickey)
(yay Mickey Mouse Club!)
Copyright: Lyrics © Original Writer and Publisher
I realize that most of my posts this week have not been necessarily humorous, as is my writing goal every morning. After all, I should be in a good mood after such a brilliant game (or at least first half) that I.U. played in defeating conference foe Penn State, but I’ve been troubled with serious matters like finance, death, family, and neighborhood issues. Life is not always a “Box of Chocolates,” as Forrest Gump’s Mom might remind him. I actually watched a Tom Hank’s movie, Cast Away, this week on Free Form out of boredom. It was his serious side of acting and something I hadn’t watched in a long time.
I’m actually getting an early start to this blog because we’re picking up friends at the airport this morning. It will be a shortened run on day 4,779 of The Streak. “Run, Forrest, Run.” I’m borrowing my son’s car for the weekend, so we’ll have plenty of room for luggage and guests. We have dinner reservations and games to watch, as one of our guests is a former I.U. basketball player. Blogging my not be as automatic each morning with my home routine gladly disrupted.
On Matinee Monday, we saw the movie, The King’s Daughter, because that’s how we usually start every week of retirement and since it’s still free! We had seen most everything else, and this one turned out to be a bit of a surprise, with memories of our visit to the Palace of Versailles a few years ago. It was not a historical piece as expected but instead a fantasy about mermaids and their gifts of healing immortality. The phrase, “Love is Immortal,” struck my wife as very romantic and inspired some poetry on my part. It’s not the usual sing-song, humor that I write, but rather a reflection on the word IMMORTALITY and its impact on long-standing relationships like ours:
I Love You, Sweetiepie,
More than words can Express.
Measured through years,
Of Knowing the True you.
Real beauty seen inside and out,
Trusting you always to be Mine,
And part of me Forever.
Love for us will Never end,
Immortality is Ours.
Timeless treasured Twosome,
You and I eternally One.
You never really lose someone that you LOVE!
Copyright 2022 johnstonwrites.com