Category: Trivia

Crimes of the Century

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On the 75th anniversary of the Lindbergh kidnapping, TIME magazine decided to look back at The 25 Most Notorious Crimes of the Past Hundred Years. Using just their list, I decided to rank my top five… starting at the bottom…

5. The Black Dahlia, 1947. Ask most folks who Elizabeth Short was and few will know. Ask them about the Black Dahlia and it’s a different story. How can it be that a murder committed over 60 years ago still grabs our attention?

4. The Murder of Jonbenet Ramsey, 1996. Little Jonbenet was found murdered in her own house the day after Christmas. As the case first unfolded it appeared that her killer would be caught and evidence seemed to point to her own mother. The police botched the investigation, her parents left the state and no one was ever charged or convicted of the murder.

3. The Tate – LaBianca Murders, 1969. I was ten years old at the time of the killings and living half a continent away. Still, I remember the concern in the voices of the adults as they discussed the murders. Charlie Manson’s cult of followers brutally murdered six people and created a climate of fear that was felt across the country.

2. Columbine Massacre, 1999. There had been school shootings prior to Columbine, but none before had such a high casualty rate, nor did they receive as much media coverage. The fact that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 of their classmates, one teacher and wounded 24 others, coupled with security video of them as they moved through the school brought the reality of the murders into our homes. We realized just how much damage two lonely, isolated kids could bring down on a school. It was frightening. And even more so when we contemplated how many lonely isolated kids could be in EACH school in America.

1. The OJ Simpson Case, 1994. Consider this: Time magazine didn’t list the double-murder of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman as the notorious crime, but instead labeled their choice The OJ Simpson Case! It’s funny that the OJ case even made the list since the trial itself wasn’t a crime, [perhaps a travesty, but not a crime]. It’s even a stranger choice when you consider that OJ was found not guilty! Despite all of that, The OJ Simpson Case is my #1 most notorious crime of the last 100 years. Not only did it involve the murder of two people, but it brought down a legend [OJ], brought into question the integrity of a city’s police force [LA], created doubt about the sanctity of our judicial system, and exposed just how differently two groups of people could view the same evidence. Here we are over a decade later and people still get heated talking about the case.

 

 

Another Youtube Gem

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I’m amazed at what can be found on Youtube.
 
I’ve discovered everything from clips of old Sammy Terry shows to a news report of a fire that took out much of the downtown in my home town of Terre Haute back in the early 60’s.
 
I’ve found intros to tv shows that I haven’t seen in 40 years and fan made trailers as good as what you’d see in theaters.
 
Today I found video of a wrestling match that took place in the early 70’s pitting The Blackjacks [Mulligan and Lanza] and their manager “Pretty Boy” Bobby Heenan against Dick the Bruiser, his cousin The Crusher and midget wrestler “Little Bruiser.” What makes this match so appealing to me is that in addition to it being over 30 years old, and featuring my favorite wrestlers of the time, I actually saw this match live!
 
I’ll continue searching out Youtube for cool videos. I’d love to find intros to “T.H.E. Cat” [I can’t imagine that it was good as I remember it being] and “Garrison’s Guerillas.”  Hey, and if you find any cool videos, post the links here. I’d love to see what gems you’ve come across.
 

What I Do Know

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I’m sure that most ZONErs have, by this point, heard about the break-down that Britney Spears went through this week. She checked herself into rehab, checked herself out, went out on the town, got a new tat, and shaved her head. Rumors are rampant about the reasons for Britney’s breakdown. Some say drugs, some say she never has gotten over Justin Timberlake.
I don’t know the cause of Britney’s problems, but I do know THIS is well done.

Which Bot is Best?

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I took the photo above at MegaCon on Sunday. There was a company there that had life-size recreations of famous robots.For my money, these three are probably the MOST famous robots in the world. There’s 3CPO from Star Wars, the robot from Lost in Space, and Robbie the Robot.

Given my pick, I’d take the Lost in Space robot. Of course, I grew up watching Lost in Space. If I was a child of the 70’s, I’d probably want 3CPO and someone a bit older than me would want Robbie.

Would a child of the 80’s want KITT?

What’s Next for Mr. Tarver

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I happened to get a few minutes to talk to Antonio Tarver tonight. Yes, the former Light-Heavyweight Champion of the World. Yes, the guy who played Mason Dixon in “Rocky Balboa.”

Mr. Tarver was at the high school, where I work, to watch his son play in the first round of the state basketball playoffs. We are the district champs and hope to move forward toward the state title. At any rate, Mr. Tarver arrived early and we chatted for a few minutes.
He said that he never did as many interviews as he did while promoting “Rocky Balboa.” He was very gracious about the praise he and the movie received. Antonio enjoyed working with Sly. Antonio’s next fight will be at the end of April and will be televised on ABC. He’s got another movie lined up which will be a comedy. As always Antonio was very cool, very approachable.
And, yes, our team won [and won big]!

"Big" John Checks In

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For all of you following “Big” John Beatty’s trip to Manila… we’ve received our first e-mail from him. He made it [despite a late connection from Japan].

He’s met Bella. John said that the camera did lie to him… but it lied in the “opposite way”… she is even prettier than her pictures! John says that he’ll write more later.
I just wonder if Bella thinks John’s prettier than his pictures?

A MAGICal Night

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This evening I attended the Orlando Magic / San Antonio Spurs game. If you’re a hoops fan, my guess is that you already heard about “THE DUNK.”

Before I tell you about the amazing ending to one of the best comebacks ever, let me tell you that it was a perfect evening. My son is a Magic fan and for Christmas I got him tickets to see them play against San Antonio. Our drive to Orlando was smooth and we arrived exactly at the planned time. I had pre-purchased a parking ticket for the lot directly across from the arena. We drove right in [despite the game and all parking lots being sold out]. Before the game we were able to go down almost courtside and watch the players warm up. It’s easy to forget just how BIG these guys are in real life. At half time, they brought out Chris Leak, the Heisman-winning quarterback for the National Champion Florida Gators [which just happens to be my son’s favorite college team].

Now back to the exciting climax… Despite being down as much as 20, and behind most of the game, the Magic tied it up with less than a minute left in regulation. Then when Tim Duncan’s attempt at a winning shot was rejected by Dwight Howard, the Magic grabbed ball and called a time out. They had 8/10’s of a second left on the clock to win the game. They didn’t even need that much time. Hedo Turkoglu lobed the ball towards the goal and Dwight Howard soared over Tim Duncan and slammed home a one-handed dunk to give the Magic the lead and the win.

It was an amazing ending to one of the most exciting basketball games I’ve ever had a chance to witness. More importantly, my son said it was the best game that he’d ever seen and he saw it in person. Talk about a Magical night…

9112 Miles to Graceland

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“Big” John Beatty boarded a plane this morning for the start of a journey that may last him the rest of his days. You see, he’s off to meet a young lady that may be the love of his life. John and Bella met nearly six months ago through the internet. They’ve been talking and e-mailing and video conferencing nearly daily since then. So they decided it was time to meet face to face!

This morning John boarded a plane that will fly him from Orlando to Detroit to Japan to Manila. Whew! That’s one heck of a trip. Big J says that he’ll e-mail when he can, and update his blog if possible.

Let’s all wish the big guy a safe trip. If he doesn’t scare off Bella when he meets her after spending all those hours on the plane, this thing may just work out!

Wanna See A REALLY Big Ring?

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Pretty cool picture, huh?

No, it’s not a still from Star Trek or Star Wars or anything like that. It’s truly a photograph of an actual floating ring that’s the size of a galaxy! No joke.
Every day you can see a new image or photograph of our fascinating universe, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer simply by clicking HERE.
Thanks to Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes for providing the link!

Muhammad Ali: Still the Greatest

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Today is Muhammad Ali’s 65th birthday. It’s hard to believe that the champ is 65. It’s harder still to believe that Parkinson’s disease has been able to rob Ali of much of his health for many of these years.

I was five years old when Ali beat Liston for the title. Here was this brash young kid bragging that he’d beat this monster of a man. Then he did it. And then he did it again in a rematch. Ali was “the man.” He talked a lot of smack, but he backed it up. Plus it was obvious that he was having fun, so much of what he said seemed to be playful kidding around [until you stepped into the ring with him]. Ali was as cool as The Beatles or Elvis. In fact, Ali was the greatest.

 

I can remember the controversy that sprung up when Muhammad refused to enter the draft. Although I was against the war in Viet Nam, I felt that it was wrong to not support your country. Still, I admired Ali for standing by his convictions no matter the cost. And cost him it did. He was stripped of the title and not allowed to fight during three of what could have been his most productive years.

 

When Ali was once again allowed to fight, I can remember staying up late to watch it with my dad. Ali was fighting a tough guy named Jerry Quarry. Ali won by TKO in the 3rd. I had just turned 12 and Ali was still the greatest.

 

Less than a year later Ali fought Joe Frazier in what was to be the first of three legendary fights. Although Muhammad lost the fight, the battle become the thing of legends. Ali continued to fight and win.

 

Two years later, Ali fought and lost a split decision to Ken Norton. I was surprised about the loss, but even more so when I learned that Ali fought most [if not all] of the fight with a broken jaw. Six months later Ali beat Norton in the rematch. I was 14 and Ali was still the greatest.

 

Ali fought again the following month for an easy win. and then two months after that beat Joe Frazier in their first rematch. Their battle was another classic that went the entire 15 rounds, but this time Ali came out on top. Nine months later Ali entered the ring to fight Big George Foreman. Foreman was undefeated and had knocked out Frasier early. Heck, Foreman knocked almost everyone out early. Ali wasn’t given much of a chance. Of course we all know that Ali KO’d George in the 15th. I stayed up late listening to the results over the radio. I had just turned 16 and Ali was still the greatest.

 

In March of 75, Ali fought Chuck Wepner. No one gave Wepner ANY chance of winning. Still “The Bayonne Bleeder” went the distance in a losing effort and actually knocked Ali off of his feet at one point in the fight [although many say that it was more of a trip]. This fight, of course, is what inspired Sylvester Stallone to come up with “Rocky.” Ali followed with wins against Ron Lyle [talk about a huge, tough, ex-con] and Joe Bugner. In October of 75, Ali and Frazier met for the 3rd and final time. Ali won. I was 16 and Ali was still the greatest.

 

Ali fought regularly defending his title, winning against name fighters like Jimmy Young, Ken Norton [again] and Ernie Shavers. The Shavers fight was especially exciting. It was September 29, 1977. I was 18 years old and watched the fight while in Orlando for one of my first comic book conventions. After the fight, I got together with a bunch of my friends and played some poker. Of course we talked about how Ali was still the greatest!

 

Ali’s next fight was against a kid who had done well in the 76 Olympics. His name was Leon Spinks. The fight was televised on regular tv and I can remember watching it and seeing that the kid was winning. Spinks won with an upset decision. Ali later said that the loss to Spinks hurt more than any other of his career. Seven months later, at the age of 36, Ali beat Leon Spinks. I was 19 years old and Ali was still the greatest.

 

Muhammad didn’t fight again for over two years. Larry Holmes, one of Ali’s former sparring partners was champ, and Ali came back for “one last chance” to see him “dance.” I was at the pay-per-view the night that Holmes beat Ali. It wasn’t pretty. Still Muhammad gave it his all. As he did again when he came back 14 months later to fight a losing battle against Trevor Berbick. I was 23 years old and although Muhammad had lost, I felt he was still the greatest.

 

As the years have passed, Muhammad Ali’s legend has grown. He earned the nickname, “The People’s Champ” thanks to his popularity with folks of all races, soci-economic backgrounds and religions. Ali’s fans weren’t limited by borders. During his career he fought in 12 different countries; and was considered a true citizen of the world. Ali is probably more popular now than he was when he was in his fighting prime.

 

Today Muhammad Ali is 65 and he’s still the greatest.

Timberlake and Diaz Split

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Bad news for for Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz…
Everyone knows by now that they have split up.
Almost everyone is speculating as to the reason
That after three years maybe someone came between them…
There is speculation that it was someone else but…
You would think that there would at least be some clues as to his identity!

If It Weren’t For Bad Luck…

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I always try to keep my ZONE pieces positive and I don’t want that to change. Generally things go really well for me… You can hear the “but” coming can’t you?

For the last couple of weeks my luck has been terrible. [Before I go on, let me make it clear that the problems that I’m going to mention are minor compared to what some folks go through daily. I’m not looking for pity, only to explain why my posts have been scarce.]
It all started a few days before Christmas. My computer died. I know for some of us, that’s worse than the death of a seldom-seen relative. Luckily I had backed up most things. Of course I lost a bunch of e-mails and the like, but not enough to wish harm to dear ole Uncle Sticky. The timing wasn’t the best [“Rocky Balboa” had just opened and I had another week to go on the official movie blog], but I knew that I’d be able to work things out.
We’d been planning a family trip for the day after Christmas and I was looking forward to Christmas Eve with my wife and kids, my mom, my brother’s family, my two sister’s and their families, my cousin… well, you get the picture. Christmas Eve was great, unfortunately before the night was out my youngest son was throwing up and had come down with a major stomach bug. We postponed opening Christmas presents since he was so sick. [You KNOW a kid is sick when he doesn’t feel liking opening gifts.]
We decided to put off our trip for a day to make sure that Chris felt well enough to travel. The next day I came down with it. I spent the day reliving Chris’ losing battle to avoid the bathroom. I was throwing up and facing other aspects of the bug. Obviously we’d have to put off the trip again.
The next day I was still feeling woozey and my oldest son came down with the bug as well. Thank God we have two bathrooms. At that point we knew we weren’t destined to go out of state and cancelled the trip.
After a few days of the entire family feeling healthy we decided that a short trip to St. Augustine [about 60 miles away] was in order. We all loaded up the car and headed off. We made it about two miles from the house when my car died! I pulled it over to the side of the road and contacted Triple A. One and a half hours later a tow truck arrived [my family had long since left with another family member] and it was off to the shop where I learned it was a problem with the fuel pump.
And my computer was still dead.
Still, there is usually a silver lining… the fuel pump was under warranty. We’ve all returned to good health. I’m writing this post from my NEW computer and Uncle Sticky is probably still alive and kicking.

Man of the Year Material

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My buddy, “Big” John Beatty, although best known for his comic book art [The Punisher, Captain America, Batman, etc.] does, from time to time, write a pretty funny blog.

Big John has started updating again. His most recent post looks at People Magazine’s two time Sexiest Man of the Year award winners George Clooney and Johnny Depp. Seems that since Big John has so many things in common with them, he feels that his time as Sexiest Man of the Year must be coming. Read John’s post and then come on back for my comments.

Oh, back so soon?

I did some research and contacted a friend in the know. He called me back and the conversation went like this:

Mr. X: “John Beatty is on the list to be People’s Sexiest Man of the Year. The trouble is there are a few people ahead of him. Folks like: Andy Dick, Abe Vigoda, Don Rickles, Rex Reed and Jackie Gleason.”

Me: “Jackie Gleason! Jackie Gleason has been dead for years.”

Mr. X: “Yeah, but even now he’s still sexier than Beatty.”

Me: “Wow. That’s rough.”

Mr. X: “Yeah, but Craig, there’s one thing you need to know.”

Me: “What’s that?”

Mr. X: “Beatty‘s ranked ahead of you on the list.”

Ouch.