Fans of “The Wire” will recognize today’s title. The words uttered by drug dealer Marlo Stansfield when he was being ridiculed in the street. He realized that in the cutthroat world he lived in, his reputation was one of the few things he had going for him. I remembered that yesterday after hearing the news of the death of Dick Allen. In the 50’s and early 60’s the names of professional athletes were often Anglicized to soften them for parts of the country that were still having problems with the integration that was happening. Roberto Clemente was known as “Bob” for years, on both his baseball cards and press coverage. There were those writers that heavily resisted calling Muhammed Ali anything But Cassius Clay. Into the racial upheaval came Dick Allen who was called “Richie” when he appeared in Philadelphia for his rookie season in 1963. Philly was one of the most racist cities in the north and the Phillies were the last National League team to integrate, years after other teams had realized that they would be left behind if they didn’t. Allen wasn’t a player that was going to suffer the slings and arrows of racism for very long. Despite being one of the best players through the 60’s and early 70’s, he was castigated by the press and booed by fans. He was known as a malcontent….as someone who “didn’t know his place”. “Uppity” was racial code used by the bigots of the day. The racial abuse rained down from the stands despite the numbers he put up that equaled or surpassed guys like Aaron, Mays, Robinson and Yaz. Long before social media became a thing, Allen was responding to the abuse by writing notes in the infield dirt near first base…including a resounding NO when told to stop it by the commissioners office. Allen was an enigma and yet there are many members of the Baseball Hall Of Fame that behaved much worse without putting up the numbers he did. That he didn’t get the call while he was still alive is just another snub to endure. He wouldn’t play their game and I believe came to find peace in his decisions. I think I only saw Allen play a couple of times, later in his career, but seeing pictures of him, you could sense the dread that the pitchers of the day felt when he strode to the plate. I saw him described in a few places yesterday as a “Bad-ass”. He certainly was.
One of the iconic Sports Illustrated covers of all-time. Allen, during his MVP season in 1972…sporting those beautiful White Sox red pinstripes…with the red Adidas spikes. I got a pair of those spikes for my high school baseball years.
“RIP Dick Allen. One day people will understand that standing up for yourself and your dignity makes you a man and not a malcontent”-Mitchell Nathanson
Another baseball death with a “changed” name from yesterday. Pitcher Rogelio Moret died. He was known as Roger when he pitched for the Red Sox in the 70’s.
We lost actor David Lander…best known of course as Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman from Laverne & Shirley
This from Henry Schulman
David had a great love of baseball and was a frequent visitor to the press box at Dodger Stadium. He actually did some legitimate scouting and of course was the radio voice of the Rockford Peaches in “A League of Their Own,” made by former L&S co-star Penny Marshall. #rip
This from Ryan Wood….
The Badger mens hockey team’s games with Michigan State tonight and tomorrow are postponed due to Covid19.
The Badger mens basketball team will play Rhode Island tomorrow afternoon instead of Louisville. Covid problems in the Louisville program.
The Wausau West at Wausau East girls basketball game tonight has been postponed until January 5th. I will have the Wausau East at Wausau West boys game live on AM1390 & FM 93.9 at 7:15.
This is a lost bit of entertainment history…you learn something new every day!
Covers Of The Day (Had the LP “Don’t Cry Now”-Linda Ronstadt from 1973 on the turntable last night. Here are a couple of tasty covers from that LP)
Linda covers Randy Newman
Linda covers the Flying Burrito Brothers (also done by Manassas)
Quotes Of The Day
“It is a crime to exploit patriotism in the service of hatred.” — Emile Zola
Anybody on board with this. Is there any question that Ron Desantis is the worst governor in America?
“Ron DeSantis sent armed state police to threaten Rebekah Jones, a scientist keeping Floridians up-to-date with accurate COVID-19 statistics. This is radical and authoritarian behavior straight out of Nazi Germany. Please help shine a light on this by sharing it far and wide.”-
We’re being tested, and we’re failing. The next attempt to steal an election may involve a closer election and smarter lawsuits. Imagine the same playbook executed with better decorum, a president exerting pressure that is less crass and issuing tweets that are more polite.”
“it used to be that during a coup, one o the first things coup plotters would do is take over the radio or TV station so they could control the national narrative, spread their views. Between Fox, OAN, Breitbart and the complicity of the networks, that’s no longer necessary.”-David Rothkopf
“Perdue’s handlers won’t let him debate because he could incriminate himself on the Cardlytics emails, the submarine stock trades, or the Regions Bank deal — that alone is disqualifying.”-Jon Ossoff
“Every encouragement given by the president* and his people to governors and state legislators to overturn the results of the elected — EVERY DAMN ONE OF THEM — is an actual crime.”-Charles P. Pierce
“Democrats were worried trump would destroy the social safety net, ignore a pandemic and crush democratic norms. Trump did all those things. Republicans are worried that Biden is going to what? Make people wear masks? Give people healthcare? Not cut taxes for billionaires?”-Molly Jong-Fast
Georgia election official Gabe Sterling on NBC: “The president’s statements are false. They’re disinformation. They are stoking anger and fear among his supporters. And hell, I voted for him.”
“Can you imagine the coverage if Hillary Clinton had called up the governor of Pennsylvania to demand he overturn the 2016 election results? It’s time the media starting holding Republicans accountable for what they’re doing: trying to steal an election.”-Matt McDermott
“That deranged Georgia rally and super spreader event with the sick, seditious Trump wouldn’t happen without Mitch McConnell and his Senate Republicans refusing to say it’s over and shut him down. More will die because of their abject failure.”-Steven Beschloss
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