Time Machine co-ordinates VICVI54453171

Today we land on the last day of May 1971, and we're in Comiskey Park, taking in the White Sox and Orioles.  Baltimore outfield Don Buford is up and gets hit- "in the behind", where Pete Rose always used to take 'em- by Sox pitcher Bart Johnson.  Buford went to the mound- bat in hand- but stopped before smacking him around.  Someone else wasn't so lucky, though- let's let Sox fielder Mike Andrews tell, "the rest of the story":

"I remember that vividly because I saw the whole thing from second base. It was a Memorial Day doubleheader and Bart threw a close one at Buford. Buford started out towards the mound with his bat. I don’t think Don intended using that bat though. It just happened that he started towards the mound and I don’t think he realized he still had the bat in his other hand. Don played football at USC. If he was going to do something, he didn’t even need a bat. Anyway nothing happened and Don went out to left field. The Sox fans in that lower deck just gave him hell. A few innings later he’s in the on deck circle watching the game when I see a fan jump over the wall and start towards him. This drunk was headed his way when a bunch of guys started yelling to Don to look out. Buford turned, saw the guy, and cold cocked him. Just dropped him with one punch. That’s when some of Don’s teammates from the Orioles headed out of the dugout and beat the guy. He was bloody from head to toe. I heard afterwards that when they took the guy into the medical room at the park to get worked on, the medics turned their back for a moment and the guy disappeared!" 

"You SURE you want some of this, son?"

Welcome to this week's Time Machine, where I have a special surprise feature, the POTMs get to help on our 6D victim, our 399th M10 song debuts...

"Yeah, you prolly messed up that count, too!"

...yeah, prolly, but I have the books in hand, so who's gonna go back through nearly four years of posts to dispute it?  Anyway, let's sit back with a box of Crackerjack and head out to the old song game!


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Because I'm all about having fun, let's start things out very unusually- with the #101 song this week!  Note:  This is NOT NOT NOT the 399th song on the M10-  but it is some fun with Hudson and Landry:






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Let's bring in that dynamic duo, the Princes of POTMs, Simon and Garfunkel!!!

(So, Horace, does that satisfy the clause?)

HB:  Considering no allegations of the defamation of Mr Simon were proved from his last 'invitation', as it were, I'd say that will do nicely.

Good, okay guys, I got a real treat in store for you...

AG:  Oh, goody!

PS:  "Goody?"  Geez, Art... Okay, so what's the treat?

Well, I'm going to give you some clues, and see if you can give me the 6D song this week!  Ready?

AG:  Sure!

PS:  Fire away...

Okay, so the 6D song this week- the one that charted highest without a Panel vote- Got these accolades when done by somebody OTHER than the original hit makers...

Buck Owens and the Buckaroos had a top 10 country hit with the song...
Aretha Franklin turned it into a #1 R&B and a top ten pop, and won a Grammy...
Johnny Cash also covered it, in a 2003 duet with Fiona Apple that got another Grammy nomination...
Linda Clifford hit the Disco charts with it in 1979...

PS:  I think I know where this is going...

In 2017, it was used for a benefit for those who lost everything in the Grenfell Tower fire, and the large celebrity list on that record included Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of the Who, Nile Rodgers of Chic, and Brian May of Queen...

AG:  Wow, impressive...

And the final clue, when the song's writer heard Elvis do it on stage, he was quoted as saying...

PS:  "...That's it, we might as well all give up now..."  It's Bridge Over Troubled Waters!

AG:  Hey, that's OUR song!

PS:  You mean it's MY song, which I stupidly let you sing...

AG:  Paulie, that's not very kind.  I know we're having some issues right now... 

PS:  ISSUES?  'PAULIE'?  I am SO tired of you ragging on how short I am!

AG:  Look, how many times do I have to apologize for that?  It's like I was telling Mike Nicholls the other day...

PS:  Don't bring that piece of human waste and that damn movie up around me!  "Oh, I'm Artie Garfunkel and I got a bit part in Catch-22 and Carnal Knowledge..."

AG:  I had a STARRING role in Carnal Knowledge, I'll have you know...

PS:  Oh, sure, if you don't mind being stuck behind Jack Nicholson...

AG:  Wasn't any worse than being stuck behind you... Of, course, I had to step AROUND Jack to be seen...

FELLOWS!  Is there some slight chance you could behave long enough to do the Panel Picks?

AG:  How many are there?

24 contestants from 65 stations...

P/A:  NOT A CHANCE!

Sigh.  Horace...

HB:  Gentlemen, I believe we can resolve this to everybody's satisfaction.  If you could both step over this way... a bit more to your left... there's the lads.  Alright, Mr Nardole?

N:  Of course...

VVVVWWHOOOOOOSH!
clunk

Thanks, guys, Simon and Garfunkel, everybody!  Now let me steamroll through our one hit wonders...

King Floyd got a vote for a song that peaked #19 earlier in the month, Baby Let Me Kiss You.
In South Africa, Allan Garrity got a vote for his cover of Put Your Hand In The Hand, a song charting here by the group Ocean.
Two stations had both an album and a song from the lp at their #1 for some reason.  One of them was Carole King's Tapestry, but the tune from it was her version (the original) of You Got A Friend, which was never released.
The band Daddy Cool from Australia had one of the biggest hits in Aussie history this week with Eagle Rock.  The song spent 10 weeks at the top, and their album was Australia's first 100,000 seller.
The Five Man Electrical Band was on a slow climb at #85 with Signs.
Ritchie Havens' take on the Beatle tune Here Comes The Sun was at #15.
Even slower than 5MEB's hit was John Denver, who had to eventually beg the record company not to give up on his eventual top seller Take Me Home Country Roads at #83.

Olivia Newton-John claims this week's Lorenco Marques song with If Not For You- it was #131 here.
Daddy Dewdrop's Chik-A-Boom (Don' Yew Jes Love It) was at #5.  I always preferred the Groovy Ghoulies version, myself.

Finally, the Doors get but one vote for the #7 Love Her Madly.


The "also receiving votes" gang includes:
Both Helen Reddy and Yvonne Eliman's versions of I Don't Know How To Love Him got 2 votes.  Yvonne was at 33, Helen at 23.
The 8th Day also got 2 for She's Not Another Woman at #40.
Harold Stott, better known as 'Lally', was charting on 2 Australian stations with his song Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, which was charting here for Mack and Katie Sissons and in the UK by Middle Of The Road (who did it best IMHO).
Also getting 2 votes were the Carpenters with Rainy Days And Mondays at #19, and Lobo with Me And You And A Dog Named Boo at #8.
And a pair of songs rang up 3 votes:  The Buoys and their partially banned song involving cannibalism, Timothy, at #59 and dropping from a top 15 peak; and The Honey Cone and Want Ads at #6.

Our final was close for a long time, but not at the end.  Vote for:

3 Dog Night and Joy To The World, at the end of its 6 week run at #1;

The Stones and Brown Sugar at #3;

The Raiders and Indian Reservation at #41;

Carole King again with It's Too Late at #37;

and Donny Osmond's Sweet And Innocent at #11.


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The 399th debut I had to go looking for.  In searching former M10 acts for new stuff, I actually found something old- from her 2010 debut lp Philharmonics.  It was her debut single and it hit #2 in her Danish homeland.  Back from a nearly 2 1/2 year absence on the M10, here's Agnes Obel:





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So I got curious about who the biggest girl group of the Martin Era 2.0 was.  There's no real surprise at the top, but I thought I'd share what I found out.  I looked at their Billboard hits, gave them 10 pts for a #1, 7 for a top ten, 5 for a top 20, 3 for a top 40, one for anything else charting, and partial points if they sang back up (credited only) on someone else's hit.  I also decided in fairness that if you charted ME2.0 you were in and got credit for any hit outside the era (IOW all your career points).


Honorable mention goes to the Angels, Sister Sledge, the Emotions, and the Chantels who finished outside the top 10.

The top ten: 

10- The Ronnettes, 27 pts

9- the Dixie Cups, 29

8- the Chiffons, 31

7- the Shangri-Las, 40

6- the Crystals, 41

5- the Marvelettes, 64

4- Martha and the Vandellas, 73

3- the Shirelles, 81

2- the Pointer Sisters, 97

And at #1, with a whopping 235 points:

... recent POTMs, the Supremes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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Stat Pack time!

Carole King's It's Too Late got the big move this week, 22 spots from 59 to 37.

The powerful vocals of Joe Simon had the #71 in '71 with the country-classic-done-R&B Help Me Make It Through The Night.

In the UK, a song that was tops here back in January held the top spot- Tony Orlando and Dawn and Knock Three Times.

And what would have been my #1 at the time?  I identified three really strong candidates, but based on where they were and how long they had been there, I have to say Lobo's Me And You And A Dog Named Boo, would have tipped the Carpenters' Rainy Days and Mondays, and Nilsson's Me And My Arrow.


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The remaining M10:

Kacey and Clayton hold at #9 with The Light Of Day.

Then come the falling stars:  ELO one to #8 with Long Black Road, Skindred one to 7 with That's My Jam, Criminal Hygiene 2 to #6 with Hardly News, and Tame Impala 3 to #5 with Eventually.

Blasting up 4 to #4 is Idlewild and You Held The World In Your Arms.

Up 2 to #3 are Moon Taxi and Now's The Time.

King Leg slides up a spot to the runner-up position with Seeing You Tonight...

And that means a second week at the top for...

...The Dig and Moonlight Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And now, the POTM race...


If you took the Raiders, Carole King, or Donny O, you got 7.7 %.

If you took the obvious favorite, 3DN, sit down; you got 10.7%.


But the winner, with 21.5%...

...it's the Stones and Brown Sugar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Well, other than our guests, hopefully everyone had a good time!  I'll be next week, after I retrieve said guests from wherever we flushed them, and have a Stone or two in for 1972!

Wednesday Bible Study: M is for Manasseh

So I came to do Manasseh- the king of Judah after his father Hezekiah- thinking I was going to trace down the connection between his own repentance and the faithfulness of his grandson Josiah.   But what I did find- and a lot of it from the Legends of the Jews- tells a tale much more to God's liking.  For you whom I've already totally confused, let's do a quick synopsis.


Hezekiah was the first of the two great reformers in Judah.  According to many experts, there was a tradition of a son being co-ruler with their father for a time before their succession.  Thus, Hezekiah spent some time- perhaps from the ages 12-25- as his father Ahaz's co-ruler.  After what they believe was around 10 years of co-ruling with son Manasseh (starting when he was 12), Hezekiah died and Manasseh took over on his own.   And he couldn't have been more different.

He began not only to undo every reform Hezekiah enacted, but began a reign of terror in Judah against those who DID believe in the God of their fathers:

2Ki 21:16  Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. 

Eventually God had enough of him, and Assyria lowered the boom:

2Ch 33:11  Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. 

That mention of 'hooks' were like that which you would use to catch a fish- a pretty grisly ending- except it wasn't an ending.  Now here, the timelines match up:  Much evidence shows that during what would have been Manasseh's reign, Judah was a tributary to the Assyrian Empire of Esarhaddon.  Unlike Hezekiah in the previous king Sennacherib's archives, there is no mention found (yet) of Manasseh- but Esarhaddon was the only Assyrian king in the era who held court in Babylon.

Now, after a time in the Babylon brig, Manasseh REPENTED- and came back to Judah.  That is what we know from the Bible- except for how Manasseh's son Amon was determined to be even worse than dear old dad was at his worst.  And he succeeded so well, that 2 years into his reign he was killed by his own servants, putting the 8 year old Josiah- the second great reformer- on the throne.  So my thought HAD been that Grandpa Manasseh had been upstaged by 'co-ruler' Amon, and so he spent his time teaching young Josiah, making him into the faithful king he became.

By the numbers, the Legends of the Jews say that Manasseh was in his 22nd year of a 55-year reign when shanghaied to Babylon.  That would have made him 34.  55 years ruling would have put him at 67 when he died, and 45 when Amon was born.  Amon was killed at 24, which means he fathered Josiah at the age of 16, and Manasseh was 61.  So yeah, it is possible that Josiah learned of God from a now-neutered Manasseh.  Checking this out, as I mentioned, led me to the Sefaria library and the Legends of the Jews article which fleshed a lot of this out.  What I am about to tell you is based a lot on that, with the usual problems that come from such a story- but there is a conclusion that makes a ton of sense.

Paraphrasing in my own inimitable style:

Hezekiah had long resisted siring an heir, because of a prophesy that his sons would undo all his good works.  The prophet Isaiah had offered him his own daughter Hephzibah, but still he him-hawed; this was responsible, they say, for the disease that almost killed him in 2 Kings 20.  So finally he married the girl, and had two boys, Manasseh and Rabshakeh.  They quickly became as evil as the prophecy claimed;  and it led to this grim story:

 Once, when Hezekiah was carrying his two little ones on his shoulders to the Bet ha-Midrash, he overheard their conversation. The one said: "Our father's bald head might do for frying fish." The other rejoined: "It would do well for offering sacrifices to idols." Enraged by these words, Hezekiah let his sons slip from his shoulders. Rabshakeh was killed by the fall, but Manasseh escaped unhurt.

So Manasseh becomes the heir; and we need no legends to tell us how evil he was.  Among the things the Bible accuses him of are:

- rebuilt the pagan altars to Baal and "all the host of heaven"

-put more altars in the court of the Temple

- put a statue of Astarte in the Temple

- burned his own sons as an offering in the Valley of Himmon (thus explaining why he didn't have a much older heir than Amon)

But that wasn't all of it, according to the Legends.  He was responsible for the deaths of the prophets of the time, at least Isaiah and most probably Micah, Joel, and Habakkuk.  A trail of blood led right to his door- and eventually God sent Esarhaddon to follow it and take him.  Who it was that ruled in his place is unknown, but Amon hadn't been born yet.   The length of the Babylonian imprisonment isn't known either, but it was fearsome enough that even this hardened heart broke, and turned to God.  His prayer may have been recaptured in a Greek-language apocrypha called the Prayer of Manasseh, supposedly written down some 5 centuries later.  Whether it was his or a dramatization, it certainly carried his feelings:

 O Lord, Almighty God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed; 

  who hast made heaven and earth, with all the ornament thereof; 

 who hast bound the sea by the word of thy commandment; who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by thy terrible and glorious name; 

  whom all men fear, and tremble before thy power; 

  for the majesty of thy glory cannot be borne, and thine angry threatening toward sinners is importable: 

but thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable; 

  for thou art the most high Lord, of great compassion, longsuffering, very merciful, and repentest of the evils of men. Thou, O Lord, according to thy great goodness hast promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against thee: and of thine infinite mercies hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved. 

  Thou therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the just, hast not appointed repentance to the just, as to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, which have not sinned against thee; but thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner: 

  for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions, O Lord, are multiplied: my transgressions are multiplied, and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven for the multitude of mine iniquities. 

 I am bowed down with many iron bands, that I cannot lift up mine head, neither have any release: for I have provoked thy wrath, and done evil before thee: I did not thy will, neither kept I thy commandments: I have set up abominations, and have multiplied offences. 

 Now therefore I bow the knee of mine heart, beseeching thee of grace. 

  I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge mine iniquities: 

  wherefore, I humbly beseech thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy me not with mine iniquities. Be not angry with me for ever, by reserving evil for me; neither condemn me to the lower parts of the earth. For thou art the God, even the God of them that repent; 

  and in me thou wilt shew all thy goodness: for thou wilt save me, that am unworthy, according to thy great mercy. 

 Therefore I will praise thee for ever all the days of my life: for all the powers of the heavens do praise thee, and thine is the glory for ever and ever. Amen. 

(I took out the verse headers to make it read easier, this once.)

And now I come to the crux of our story, and it is again from the Legends.  It tells the story of how Manasseh's prayer was heard in heaven, and how it was a man so despicably evil got forgiveness from the Throne:

The angels stopped up the windows of heaven, that the prayer of Manasseh might not ascend to God, and they said: "Lord of the world! Art Thou willing to give gracious hearing to one who has paid worship to idols, and set up an idol in the Temple?" "If I did not accept the penance of this man," replied God, "I should be closing the door in the face of all repentant sinners." God made a small opening under the Throne of His Glory, and received the prayer of Manasseh through it. Suddenly a wind arose, and carried Manasseh back to Jerusalem. His return to God not only helped him in his distress, but also brought him pardon for all his sins, so that not even his share in the future world was withdrawn from him.

So did Manasseh miraculously come back to Judah?  Was his repentance enough to earn him heaven?  We have no way of knowing- other than the proof of his fruits:

2Ch 33:13  He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God. 

2Ch 33:14  Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. 

2Ch 33:15  And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. 

2Ch 33:16  He also restored the altar of the LORD and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. 

2Ch 33:17  Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God. 

But the one thing we do know is true is what God said in the story.  "If I did not accept the penance of this man," replied God, "I should be closing the door in the face of all repentant sinners."    If Jesus died for our sins, He died for ALL sins of ALL men- with the exception of those who refuse to the end to accept him.

Mat 12:31  Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 

Mat 12:32  And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. 

And that, in fact, is what sunk his son Amon:

2Ch 33:22  And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images that Manasseh his father had made, and served them. 

2Ch 33:23  And he did not humble himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred guilt more and more. 

I had always compressed the timeline too much in my mind.  I thought Amon learned from his father's evil example before repentance, while Josiah learned the better example of the humbled and restored Manasseh.  But no, Manasseh had already reformed by Amon's birth; and his sins weren't Manasseh's but his own.

The end of Hockey season 2018-19

NOTE:  Like last year, this is mainly for my own electronic record.  But I do try to write entertainingly, so feel free to read or skip as the notion strikes....

Memorial Sunday night, our hockey season ended with Scrappy's QMJHL team, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, winning the Memorial Cup 4-2 over league-mate Halifax.  A fitting memorial to my late best friend, as was this, his one and only season playing hockey with us.

If you were here last year, you remember KC, Laurie, and I have a team picked in several of the international leagues- and for 2018-19, Scrappy got a team too.  The leagues we play:

The three Canadian Junior leagues (Western, Ontario, and Quebec Major-Junior)
The NHL (2 teams each)
EIHL (United Kingdom), along with their Challenge Cup
Ligue Magnus (France), along with the French Cup
The Swiss National League
The Alps League (basically the old Italian top level Serie A combined with Austria's 2nd level)
The Austrian Erste League
DEL (Germany)
GET-Ligaen (Norway)
SHL (Sweden)
Metal Ligan (Denmark)
Liiga (Finland)
Optibet League (Lativa)
Belarus Open League
PHL (Poland)
Czech Extraliga
Slovak Extraliga
The Hungarian Erste League
KHL (Russia with other European teams)
...and the Asia League (mainly Japan and Korea).

This year, Scrappy took our overall title, the Scotty Bowman record award, setting a record with 798 wins, 689 losses and 5 ties.  I finished second for a second straight year at 779-693-2, 11 1/2 games back;  Last year's winner, Laurie, finished 3rd, beating KC by a half-game- 728-766-2, 71 1/2 back of Scrappy, to KC's 692-731-1, 72 back.

I counted in the records all league games and a lot of outside tournaments our teams were in, including the Champions League, where a Laurie team (Sweden's Frolunda ) won for the third time in four years.  Also I threw in all playoff games.  With 92 teams total, here is our final top ten for 2019:

1- Rouyn-Noranda, Scrappy, QMJHL, 79-14
2- Karpat, Laurie, Liiga, 64-21-2
3- Rouen, Ligue Magnus, Chris, 55-13-1
4- Belfast, EIHL, Laurie, 57-18
5- Grenoble, KC, Ligue Magnus, 49-11
6- Val Pusteria, Alps League, Chris, 47-10
7- Banska Bystrika, Laurie, Slovak, 51-23
8- Frolunda, Laurie, SHL, 54-26
9- Mogo, Scrappy, Latvia, 36-10
10- Bern, SNL, Scrappy, 51-25


Among the glorious moments, we combined for 10 regular season champions- Rouen, Val Pusteria, and Farjestad (SHL) for me; Karpat, Banska Bystrika, and Belfast for Laurie; and Rouyn-Noranda, Mogo, Valerenga (GET-Ligaen), and Bern for Scrappy- yes, KC got blanked here.   In addition, we had the following league playoff champions:

Chris:  Ocelari Trinec (Czech)
KC:  Grenoble (Ligue Magnus)
Laurie: Frolunda (SHL)
             Banska Bystrika
Scrappy:  Rouyn-Noranda
              Mogo
              Bern

And, as I said, we counted many of the outside the league cups that were contested, including any national tourneys.  Our winners in these:

Laurie's Frolunda- Champions League
Laurie's Augsberger (DEL)- Dolmitan Cup
Laurie's Belfast- Challenge Cup
Scrappy's Rouyn-Noranda- Memorial Cup.

We also had a pile of runners up in the tourneys- my Sonderjyske in the Danish finals; my Rouen in the French finals; my Val Pusteria in the Alps finals; KC's Nippon Ice Tigers in the Asia finals; Laurie's Karpat in the Liiga final; Lyon in the French Cup (and then in the regular league just missed relegation, go figure); Laurie's Zug squad from the SNL in both their finals and the Dolmitan Cup; her Belfast in the Continental Cup; Scrappy's Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian final;  his Molodechno in the Belarussian final; his Munchen both in the DEL finals and the Champions League final; and his MAC Budapest in the Hungarian tourney.


Last year, we had but six regular season champs (Karpat repeating), and 6 playoff champs (Karpat and Banska Bystrika repeating).  We also bagged 4 outside tourneys last time, with Belfast a repeat Challenge Cup winner,

Now we had a lot of team turnover.  The Hungarian teams for me (MAC Budapest) and KC (last year's record champ DVTK) both moved into the Slovak league.  KC dumped his 2018 Slovak team (Poprad) to keep DVTK, and took on Gyergoi in the Hungarian League.  I gave MAC Buda to Scrappy, and reclaimed Debrecen- who had dropped a level in 2018- as my Hungarian team (now competing as DEAC.  In Belarus, a complicated misunderstanding between sites ended up with KC keeping his Belarussian team in Brest- but Brest moving down a level in the league.  And in eternally cash-strapped Poland, KC's Bytom team- who had played without pay or insurance most of the year- skipped the last game of the season in protest and were folded.  Later, during relegation, Laurie's Opole team- who had shipped their best players to my Gdansk mid-season- collapsed as well.  They combined for a 17-73 record between them.

Which reminds me I really should also share this year's "Hall of Shame", the worst records between us.

91 (tie)- Kootenay, Scrappy, WHL, 13-55
91 (tie)- St John, Laurie, QMJHL, 13-55 (I should point out this team WON the QMJHL in 2017-8)
90- Shawanigan, KC, QMJHL, 16-58
89- Fassa, KC, Alps, 5-35
88- Odense, Scrappy, Metal Ligan, 6-34
87- Bytom, 7-35
86- Opole, 10-38
85- Assat, Scrappy, Liiga, 16-44
84- Pardubice, Laurie, Czech, 22-48
83- Manglerud, Laurie, GET-Ligaen, 14-39


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That brings us to our individual awards.

The Wayne Gretzky North American goal champ.  The winner this year, with 62 goals, is Justin Brazeau of North Bay, KC's OHL team.  He was almost caught at the end by Rouyn-Noranda's Jeff Teasdale, who had 61- though 19 were before his trade TO R-N, and his Memorial Cup run gave him 20 more games.  I'll post the whole top ten in a bit.  This breaks our record of 55.


The Mario Lemieux NA Points champ.  I only counted regular season here, and the winner was also Brazeau, beating R-N's Paul Abbandonato 113-111.

The Ulf Nilsson Euro goal champion.  Tobais Lindstrom of Scrappy's Valerenga notched 53, easily topping Alex Aleardi of Rouen, who was born right here in Fort Wayne!  This broke the old record of 38.

A side note here:  Several of the Hungarian League's teams, due to the "open" nature of the Eastern European leagues, also competed in the Romanian league, which we did NOT follow.  Had we done so, Jereme Tendler of Scrappy's Brasov would have been the goal champ.  He scored 38 times in 50 Hungarian games, and 32 in 29 Romanian games, which would have given him a total of 70.

The Igor Larianov Euro Points title goes to Hugo Turcotte of my DEAC team in Hungary, with 86 points.  This breaks last year's mark of 72.

Last year, we had one award for all goalies, but this time I will split it like the scoring champs.  The Frankie Brimsek NA champ is Samuel Harvey of Rouyn-Noranda with a 2.08 GAA.  The Henrik Lundqvist Euro goalie winner goes to Colin Furlong of Val Pusteria at 1.36, breaking last year's mark of 1.70.

That promised top ten goal scorers list:

1- Justin Brazeau, North Bay (OHL), KC, 62
2- Jeff Teasdale, R-N, 61
3- Raphael Harvey-Pinard, R-N, 54
4(tie)- Tobias Lindstrom, 53
4 (tie)- Keeghan Howdeshell, Sault-Ste Marie (OHL), Scrappy, 53
6- Arthur Kaliyev, Hamilton (OHL), Laurie, 52
7- Alex Beaucage, R-N, 46
8- Brandon Hagel, Red Deer (WHL), KC, 45
9 (tie)- Stelio Mattheos, Brandon (WHL), Chris; Patrick Kane, Chicago (NHL), Chris; Alex Aleardi, Rouen, Chris, and Morgan Frost, Sault-Ste Marie (OHL), Scrappy, all with 44.

Next up, the day before R-N's win at the Memorial Cup, Finland beat Canada 2-1 in the IIHF World Championships.  Like last year, we kept track of our "boys" playing in this in order to see which of us
scored the most goals.  KC tallied 37, Scrappy 36, and Laurie and I combined for a distant 36.

Finally, last time we looked up the NHL Scouting combine's countdown for the top draft picks, as the Euro leagues and the Canadian juniors are all eligible for the NHL draft.  This year's tally:

Out of 537 players on the NHL combined list:

Chris 19
KC 11
Laurie 10
Scrappy 8.

See ya next season!

"Ya don't see that every day..."

One Memorial Day walk, several "things you don't often see"...

Finches gathering "new home" material...

Little tiny mouse in the road...

Bunnies, of course...

Daisies?

LOTS of daisies...

Now that, son, is a chuckhole...

Possibly the worst idea for a porta pot...

...but it IS a construction zone...

More bunnies...

How about this one?  A preschool playground in this lovely alley....

Meanwhile, at the Swamp...

No sun equals no turtles....

Thankfully, a few Jacks left...

Big Guy in the gloamin'

Sunday message- grief

This Sunday, we take a week off from the Lord's prayer to look at grieving, and the two aspects thereof.  As you know, I have been going through that process, and thankfully far from alone, between the grace of God and those who knew and loved my Boofus with me.  But it has been an ordeal- some self-inflicted, some not.  And there are two sections in the Bible that have come to my awareness as a result.


The first came in a reading of Exodus 12- the instructions for the Passover:


Exo 12:3  Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. 
Exo 12:4  And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 
Exo 12:5  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 
Exo 12:6  and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 
Exo 12:7  "Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 
Exo 12:8  They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 
Exo 12:9  Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 
Exo 12:10  And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 
Exo 12:11  In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. 

I boldened the pertinent parts to this story- let me point them out.

The Lamb without blemish is symbolic of Jesus.  In the Brenton translation, verse 10 is expanded to read, " and a bone of it ye shall not break;" further testimony to this.

The Blood on the doorposts and lintel is His blood, making the wrath of God pass over us.

Skip ahead to verse 11.  This is our life on earth- ready to travel at a moment's notice for the Promised Land.  Our life here was never meant to be a comfortable one.

Verse 8- here's what life on earth is supposed to be- EATING BITTER HERBS.  Pain is part of the package, bitter loss the meal- but not the GOAL.

Okay, so that's one side of the loss.  Here's the other.  For those of you that know nothing of Jonah's story other than his ride in the whale, Jonah saved the day through God- but wasn't happy about it.  But God saw him moping, and taught an object lesson:

Jon 4:1  But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 

Jon 4:2  And he prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 

Jon 4:3  Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." 

Jon 4:4  And the LORD said, "Do you do well to be angry?" 

Jon 4:5  Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 

Jon 4:6  Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 

Jon 4:7  But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 

Jon 4:8  When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, "It is better for me to die than to live." 

Jon 4:9  But God said to Jonah, "Do you do well to be angry for the plant?" And he said, "Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die." 

Jon 4:10  And the LORD said, "You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 

Jon 4:11  And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?" 

Okay, let me take this apart for you, and put me in it.  I'm playing the part of Jonah- Scrappy plays the part of the plant.

God Understands our grief.

God gives us these non-permanent gifts, like pets, "to save us from our discomfort".

God gives us a bit of time to be angry with the loss, but doesn't want us sitting there bitter about it either.

God has a big picture He's looking at (played today by Nineveh), and we should be more concerned with it than our small chunk of it.

Oh, and one more thing- note His concern with the ANIMALS therein?

The Book of Jonah ends there, leaving us to make our own choices.  For me, I'm trying not to sit there until the 'scorching east wind' starts.  But I've got a withered plant in my heart, and a worm I step on day after day.  And like everyone else, the taste of bitter herbs in my mouth.

Time machine co-ordinates VICV54352470

Today, Mat, 24th, 1970,we arrive on the Kola peninsula in Russia to watch the beginning of the Kola Superdeep Borehole,  a Soviet attempt to see how deep they could drill into the earth's crust.  It took them till 1989 to reach over 7.6 miles- but 3 years later they stopped drilling because the ground temperature at that depth, which they expected to be around 212 degrees F, actually had reached over 350 degrees.

And after lunch, Mom made them fill it right back in...

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Welcome to Time Machine, where we feature the return of the Beatles to the Panel Picks- and they brought up a great idea which I had to work hard to put together- the top songs that were, at least originally, B-sides!  And a big debate by me on which song would have been my favorite back then!  Let's dig in!

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On a week with NO M10 debuts, let's kick right off by bringing in the Fab Four!

Hello, gentlemen, so good to have you back!

J: Yes, yes, glad to be here, etc, etc...

Even though we had a BIG Panel this week- 29 contestants and 66 stations- I had thoughts of doing a special feature involving you guys, but then I got the idea about...

R:  Wait, what good ideas?

Well, I had thought about doing your biggest hits that didn't hit number one...

P: Hold a moment... I thought they ALL hit number one...

J: Nah, that's just what we told the Apple people to bump up the royalties...

G:  Say, my royalties didn't get bumped up...

R:  Nor mine...

J:  Well, it was all tied into the songwriting credits...

G:  You mean that rubbish about all the songs being composed by 'Lennon-McCartney'?

P:  That's 'McCartney- Lennon'...

R:  Not according to the labels on the discs...

Gentlemen, the point is that I actually cut them down for the list I made of the biggest B-sides of all time!  Now, I had to weed out 'double-A-sides' which only charted together...

P:  Oy, wait, what about the thing about our songs that didn't hit #1?

Twist And Shout was the biggest one; and then I thought about just figuring your B-sides...

R:  Well, then, let's hear that..

Most of 'em are on the big list anyway...

J:  Then let's have at this 'big list'!

No, you guys are here for the Panel.  However, I am going to do the first set of the list of 27 B-sides that made the top ten before you get started.




All ties that couldn't be broken otherwise are broken by points on MusicVF, as usual- and are exclusively Martin Era 2.0 (1955-1977).

28- Beatles, PS I Love You, #10, flip of Love Me Do at #1.
27- Everly Brothers, Devoted To You, #10, flip of Bird Dog at #2.
26- Aretha Franklin, I Say A Little Prayer, #10, flip of The House That Jack Built at #6.
25- Ricky Nelson, Hello Mary Lou, #9, flip of Travelling Man at #1.
24- Beatles, Strawberry Fields Forever, #8, flip of Penny Lane at #1.
23- KISS, Beth, #7, flip of the uncharting but fan favorite Detroit Rock City.
And 22- Gene Vincent, Be Bop A Lula, #7, flip of the did-not-chart Woman Love.

P:  My, that was great sport, let us have a hand!

No, you guys have to start the one vote wonders from the Panel...

J:  No, I like the other thing.  Especially with us being on it twice already.

You want me to sic Bellbottom on you already?

R:  Good God, no, that man is a crashing bore... Let me have that list.  So first comes Vanity Faire with Hitching A Ride, at #26.  Then we have Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Section...

J: Cor, that's a mouthful!

R:  ...and their song Love Land at #47.  And Clarence Carter, who has I Can't Leave Your Love Alone at #50...

P:  Here, y'sodding song-hog, let me have a go.  Joe Cocker's The Letter at #13, Robin McNamara's Lay A Little Loving On Me all the way down at #99, and... say, who's this Heintje?

G:  You know, that Dutch boy, just a wee lad, child star...

P:  Oh, yes, he got a vote in Australia for I'm Your Little Boy...and here's a countryman you here little about now, Chris Andrews, who had a South African vote for Carol OK.  George, have a try?

G:  Why certainly.  AHEM, Crosby Stills Nash and Young...

R: Shame they couldn't na found a clever name...

G: ... are at #22 with Woodstock, Credence Clearwater Revival were at ... well, they peaked on Cashbox at #48 with Run Through The Jungle three weeks ago...

At this point I should point out that all of the double-A-sides for CCR charted as one entry on Billboard, and I found it too daunting a task to pry the info from the charts on my own.  So we will be going by the Billboard decision and they will NOT be on the B-Side list.

G: Well, I for one, have totally lost my train of zen thanks to that... John, here.

J:  You are a baby, George.  Let's see... at #21 on the big lis...

No, John!  You have to do the Panel picks!

J:  Mind your manners!  Do you know to whom you are speaking?

R: Well, a few weeks ago, he said you were an "arrogant pseudo-intellectual with a Messiah complex"...

P:  No, he said that about Todd Rundgren PLAYING John...

R:  Innit the same thing, ' the cute one'?

J: Actually, I rather fancy that...all right, Panel it is. Blues Image, Ride Captain Ride, #60; Can You Feel It, Bobby Goldsboro, peaked at #98 3 weeks ago, so apparently his answer is no; Diana Ross, another lady you've had a spot of trouble with, at #14 with Reach Out, Touch Somebody's Hand; Frijid Pink was at the top in Laurenco Marques with their House Of The Rising Sun which hit #6 here in April; and that dastard Elvis and his damnable casserole with The Wonder Of You at #37.  That concludes the one-vote-wonders.  Can we do a bit of the big list now?

No, but I do need to give the next seven.

21- Gary Glitter, Rock And Roll Pt 2, #7, flip of the DNC Rock And Roll Pt 1.

P: That fellow is a bit off..

J:  No, he's a flippin' pervo...

20- Everly Brothers, Walk Right back, #7, flip of Ebony Eyes at #8.
19- Donna Summer, I Feel Love, #6, flip of the DNC Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over).
18- Beatles...

R: YAAAAAAAY!!!! Third time!

... Day Tripper, # 5, flip of the #1 We Can Work It Out.
17- Beatles...

R: YAAAY!!! Fourth time...
J:  Yes, Richard, we can all count...

... She's A Woman, #4, flip of the #1 I Feel Fine.
16- And this one is a funny story.  Seems that on every Righteous Brothers lp, each guy got to sing one solo.  Bobby and Bill each wanted this particular tune, and Bobby won the coin toss.  DJs loved the song on the back better than the A-side Hung On You, which hit #41; and despite producer Phil Spector's best efforts to stop it...

P:  Don't mention that man to me...

G: Was a bit of a control freak, yes?

... Unchained Melody hit #4.

15- Booker T and the MGs, Green Onions, #3, flip of DNC Behave Yourself.

All right, back to the countdown.

P: All righty, I get to start the also receiving votes list.  With 2 votes each, we have Melanie and Lay Down (Candles In The Rain) at #33, Chicago and Make Me Smile at #17, Tyrone Davis' Turn Back The Hands Of Time at #4, and... Hey!  Here we are at #20 with Let It Be??? Why so few votes?

Because Let It Be was on the way down at 20, and The Long And Winding Road was on the way up at #19- in fact, it was the week's big mover, 19 spots from #38.

J:  Jolly good!  Now, the three vote songs...

R:  A moment, John, I believe it's my turn..

J:  And I say, you can have when I'm done!  Rare Earth is at #12 with Get Ready, and Marmalade has Reflections Of My Life at #7... hey, there are no more!

R:  Hah hah, short straw!

J: I'll be having your short straw, you little...

Okay, that will do!  That leaves us the TIGHTEST race in some time- we have one with 6, and three each with 5 and four!  George, do you think you could...

G: Of course!  Choose from the following seven finalists:
Poppy Family, Which Way You Going, Billy, at #11...
Norman Greenbaum, Spirit In The Sky, # 5...
Ray Stevens, Everything Is Beautiful, # 8...
Credence Clearwater Revival, Up Around The Bend at #3...
Simon and Garfunkel, Cecilia, #2...
The Guess Who, American Woman, #1...
And the Ides Of March, Vehicle, at #10!

Nice work, fellows!  You all have your work cut out for you, folks, and I AIN'T gonna give no hints this time!  Ringo, you got left out a turn, how about doing the next set of the B-Sides list?

J: Say, you KNEW I wanted to have a go...

Shoulda let Ringo have his turn before!  Here ya go, mate...

R:  So there, "messiah'!  Here we go...

14- The Spinners, I'll Be Around, #3, flip of How Could I Let You Get Away, #77.

Chris's note says that one and this one were backed up by the instrumentalists of the band MFSB!  That next song at #13...

Actually, there's a bit more to this story- the song in question was the instrumental version of the A-side song, Love Is All Right, in which the leader of the band, Cliff Nobles, sang lead.  In the instrumental backside- renamed The Horse- it was just the rest of his band, with the horn section from MFSB...

R: ...which means #13 is The Horse, a #2 hit for Cliff Nobles and Co.- stress on the "and Co.".

12- The Surfaris, Wipe Out, #2, flip of the #62 Surfer Joe.
11- The Doobie Brothers, Black Water, the first of 11 number ones at the top of the list, flip of Another Park Another Sunday, which hit #32.
10- Stevie Wonder- er, Little Stevie Wonder, with Fingertips Pt 2, flip of Fingertips Pt 1.  Note says, "Marvin Gaye on drums".
9- Steam, Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye, flip of the DNC It's The Magic In You Girl.
 And my last one, 8- Why of course, it's the Beatles, with Come Together, flip of Something, one of just two discs on the list where both sides hit the top.

Okay, thanks again guys!


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Sorry to be so list heavy, but you have to do things up when the Beatles come to town!  (At least, that was part of the deal I worked out to hire Horace Bellbottom to work for me...)  Anyway, lets take a mad look at the Stat Pack before moving on!

UK top dog was the 1970 English World Cup Squad, in the first of a traditional series of such songs at WC time, with Back Home.

The #70 in '70 were the Fortunes with That Same Old Feeling.  It was not released at first in the UK; they had gotten back together after a well-received Coke jingle re-ignited their careers, and it was distributed to employees at a Coke meeting.  The band Pickettywitch recorded it then and took it to #5 in the UK.  That prompted the Fortunes to try their hand releasing it in the USA- and Pickettywitch did the same.  Cashbox ended up with the PW version making #40, and the Fortunes #59; on Billboard it was PW trailing the Fortunes 62-67.

The Beach Boys were at 101 with Cottonfields- a song that would cement their 70's trend of charting far better abroad than in America.

The notable debuts this week included the aforementioned Lay A Little Loving On Me, 3 Dog Night's Mama Told Me (Not To Come) (#63), the Jackson Five with The Love You Save at 59, and the Temptations with Ball Of Confusion at #51.

As for my favorite as it would have been back then, it would have been a toss-up between Rare Earth's Get Ready and Ray Stevens' Everything Is Beautiful.  Given that Ray got a lot more playing time, I give him the very slight nod here.

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Our quick whip through a familiar M10 this week:

Maybird hangs on for a 7th week, dropping 7 to 10 with the former top dog Don't Keep Me Around.

Kacey and Clayton nudge up one spot to 9 with The Light Of Day.

Idlewild holds at 8 with You Held The World In Your Arms.

Falling back 3 to #7 is ELO's Long Black Road.

Holding at #6 is Skindred and That's My Jam.

Shooting up 4 to #5 is Moon Taxi and Now's The Time.

Giving ground reluctantly is Criminal Hygiene's Hardly News (from a cd I got for my birthday!), falling one to #4

King Leg legs it up from 5 to 3 with Seeing You Tonight.

Tame Impala slips to #2 with Eventually, which means the new top dog is the second straight for...

... The Dig, and Moonlight Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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The final 7 of the B-Sides list:

7- Brenda Lee, I'm Sorry, flip of #6 That's All You Gotta Do.
6- Rolling Stones, Ruby Tuesday, flip of #55 Let's Spend The Night Together.
5- Drifters, Save The Last Dance For Me, flip of DNC Nobody But Me- a song that Dick Clark suggested to Doc Pomus that he flip it...
4- Bill Haley and his Comets, Rock Around The Clock, flip of a DNC song apparently about the end of the world- 13 Women (and Only One Man).
3- Rod Stewart, Maggie May, flip of #62 Reason To Believe.
2- Gloria Gaynor, I Will Survive, flip of the #107 Substitute.

And the only other double #1 on the list....

Elvis with Hound Dog, the flip of Don't Be Cruel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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And at long last, the Panel:

Picking Norman Greenbaum, Ray Stevens, or the Guess Who, got you 6.06% of the vote...

Picking the Poppy Family, CCR, or the Ides Of March netted you 7.57%...

But yer winnah, with 9.09 % of the vote...

....Simon and Garfunkel and Cecilia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Wow, what a finish!  Be here next time if God allows, for Paul and Art and 1971!

The good and the bad...

Wednesday was an incredibly lousy day, for reasons I'm trying hard to forget, so I hoped a walk would help things out...

Chris with the in-flight snap for the win!

Yeah, might be a tad soggy to mow the soccer fields.  Maybe if you'd have put in DRAINAGE TILES like I TOLD you...

"Hmm... sign says, "Field Closed..."

"Meh.  Fine, I'm leaving.  Too soggy, anyway."

Chris finds the "Orphaned golf ball" patch for the win, again!

Me 'n' Big Guy

Check this out... he's asleep!

Mid-pic is the runoff... bottom right is the trail... about an inch and a half to 3 deep...

Most of the Jacks have flowered and faded... this guy's still going strong...

Stopped at the bridge

And walked down old haunts...

This is where we walked

This is where we swam

Take a picture here

Take a souvenir...

Every time I see your face

It reminds me of the places we used to go

But all I've got is a photograph

And I realize you're not coming back anymore...

...and then down the ravine trail, and to the alumni pond, asking them, "Do you miss him?  You should.  He loved you so much... he loved the walks, the wading... making me cross the road just to make it last longer...."

Needless to say, the string of 'crying walks' has not been snapped...