25 Years Since the Last Philly Pro Sports Crown

Today marks 25 years since the last championship for a Philadelphia pro team in a major sport (baseball, football, basketball, ice hockey).

On May 31, 1983, it was the basketball team, the 76ers, that turned the trick. That night the Sixers beat the host Los Angeles Lakers, 115–108, to complete a four-game sweep of the final round of the NBA playoffs. I was a big Sixers fan and it had been 16 years since their previous championship, so the night is a real pleasant memory. In fact, I saw the first two games of the series live in the Spectrum.

This ten-minute YouTube video features the last two and a half minutes of the game, which corresponds exactly, I believe, with the portion of the game I have on a VHS tape somewhere.

Graduation in the Dark

Wellll, I happened to remember this milestone so I figured I might as well post about it. Truthfully, if not for the interesting circumstances, I probably wouldn’t bother.

Anyway, 30 years ago today — May 22, 1978 — I graduated from college. A bachelor’s degree was conferred — I think that’s the word — upon me.

Although this picture was taken on campus, I don’t know for sure whether it was taken on graduation day. If not on graduation day, it was plus or minus no more than a year.

Unappetizing Irony — Layoff Edition

The phrase “delicious irony”, while not a cliché, is overused in this medium. So I won’t use it … again. I will, however, riff off it: What follows is a rather unappetizing piece of irony.

As I sat here earlier today in my quiet corner of the office minding my own business “to a fare-thee-well” as the late hockey announcer Gene Hart was fond of saying, word reached me that 28 of my colleagues were laid off today — on top of the 20 laid off last fall. One of those laid off today has worked here for 12 years and lives in my neighborhood. His work will be outsourced to India. We’re not friends, but our politics are similar, and we have chatted about that subject from time to time. Nice guy. I didn’t have much occasion to work directly with him, but from all accounts he was a dedicated employee. I feel bad for him.

Here’s the ironic part: The last time we talked he told me how he went to the Hillary Clinton campaign event in West Chester, PA, April 19, and by luck got a chance to talk to the candidate for a half-minute or so.

He asked Clinton what she intends to do about …

… the outsourcing of US jobs overseas.

See … I told you it was unappetizing.

Let’s Get It On

Mrs. QC took to the keyboard for this guest post. Readers, please make her feel welcome.
– Quiet Clown

The late singer Marvin Gaye performed an impressive range of songs. These varied from romantic, to soulful, to commentary on the times, to more “inspirational” (see title of post). Or sometimes, a bit of all of the above.

A recent “American Masters” documentary on PBS featured Marvin, but 60 minutes could barely capture the essence of the talented and troubled man or his music. It did, however briefly, convey some of the effervescent chemistry onstage between Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, singing several hit duets, such as “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing,” “Your Precious Love,” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

In the early ’70s, Marvin’s hits included social commentary on poverty and racial unrest, such as “What’s Going On,” “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler),” and “Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology).” (This style was a radical change for Barry Gordy’s Motown label, but turned out to be a huge success, despite Gordy’s fears.) Marvin, who was married to the much-older Anna Gordy, met a much-younger (16) girl, Janis Hunter, fell in love, and as the story went, switched his mood from “What’s Going On” to “Let’s Get It On.”

Not as Much as a Toenail on the Limb

As a member of a professional organization for technical writers, I dutifully cast my ballot online in the local chapter’s executive board election. I know only one of the candidates personally — the next president (who will do well if the job requires a lot of pontificating) — but I did scan their campaign statements.

Here’s the ballot I cast:

As you can see I really went out on a limb: I voted for the three candidates running unopposed, but I abstained from choosing between the two candidates for secretary. Is that not the epitome of indecisiveness?

Actually I did more than scan the statements of the secretarial candidates. I read them. Yet I still couldn’t choose between the two. I think I got hung up on gender. The candidates are of opposite sexes. I didn’t want to discriminate on that basis. Oh, I should add that as I cast my ballot I was enjoying a lunch of milquetoast at the QC Diner.

RSS feed for comments on this post

Roadside Littering and Litterers

I was driving on US 30 a couple weeks ago and I noticed bagged trash left by the roadside by members of whatever organization volunteered to accept that responsibility for that stretch of road. It got me to thinking …

In Chester County, Pennsylvania, where I live, there seems to be a lot of roadside litter. I don’t litter, and I don’t recall being a driver or passenger in a vehicle when someone littered — at least not since my high school days. Yet given the amount of roadside litter, there must be more than a few folks who do it.

What I want to know is: what possesses someone to throw trash from their vehicle? Only someone who doesn’t give a shit about the environment, wildlife, and other people could do such a thing. But what is their motivation? What do they get out of it?

Undercover MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Last night comedian Richard Lewis made a guest appearance on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Watch on the Countdown show site or at YouTube as Lewis — one edgy dude — and Olbermann reflect in highly entertaining fashion on the sad occasion of Thursday’s 5th anniversary of White House resident Bush’s infamous MISSION ACCOMPLISHED stunt and other outrages of the maladministration. Gotta have some laughter to go with the tears, ya know.

The title of this post refers to what was, for me (and Mrs. QC), the funniest part — 5:24 into the clip on YouTube.

RSS feed for comments on this post