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deadpresidents · 1 year

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January 22, 1973: Triumph and Tragedy

At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, a young man from Texas won a gold medal in heavyweight boxing while an old man from Texas proudly watched from the White House in Washington, D.C. As a teenager growing up in Houston's rough Fifth Ward, George Foreman was spending his days and nights fighting in the streets and committing petty crimes. Foreman had little education, few role models, no direction and found the crippling poverty that he lived in to be unbearable. Then, in 1965, he heard of the Job Corps. One of the foundations of Lyndon B. Johnson's War On Poverty, the Job Corps was created in 1964 to provide vocational training and technical education, free of charge, to students aged 16 through 24. For many young Americans, the Job Corps as an opportunity. For George Foreman, it was a path to superstardom and success. After beginning his Job Corps training in Oregon, Foreman was stationed at a center in California where a Job Corps supervisor named Doc Broadus encouraged the 6'4" Texan to consider boxing. Just three years after he signed up for the centerpiece program of LBJ's Great Society, George Foreman was representing his country in the Olympics. To this day, Foreman credits the Job Corps for saving his life. Later, he would proudly declare that "Job Corps took me from the mean streets and out of a nightmare lifestyle into a mode where the most incredible dreams came true." Following Foreman's gold medal victory at the 1968 Olympics, he was invited to the White House by President Johnson and became a proud symbol of a Great Society success story. At the White House, President Johnson asked Foreman when he thought he'd win the world championship and Foreman recalled that "I told him I hoped it would be quick, as I needed the money. He laughed about that." As LBJ headed into retirement in Texas, George Foreman embarked on a successful professional boxing career and with a 37-0 record, he prepared to fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship against the undefeated champion -- Joe Frazier. Foreman started going by the nickname "The Fighting Corpsman", paying tribute to his Job Corps roots because "it had been President Johnson's Job Corps which changed my direction in life. I thought all those Job Corps men out there would see that one among them was making it, and maybe it would help them believe they could as well." The Fighting Corpsman was a heavy underdog on January 22, 1973 as he challenged Joe Frazier for the world heavyweight championship in Kingston, Jamaica. Most boxing reporters and students of the game thought that the match wouldn't last very long and they were correct. Foreman dominated Frazier, knocking him down six times in two rounds before the referee finally stepped in and stopped the beating. As millions watched the fight on television, sportscaster Howard Cosell made one of the most famous calls in history, "Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!". At just 24 years old, George Foreman -- the Fighting Corpsman -- was the heavyweight champion of the world. The victory was George Foreman's, but no one would have taken more pride in the results of that fight than the architect of the program that turned Foreman's life around, Lyndon B. Johnson. Sadly, Johnson never saw the fight. Just hours earlier on the very day that Foreman won the title in Jamaica, Lyndon Johnson suffered a fatal heart attack at the LBJ Ranch near Johnson City, Texas. As fans were filing into the arena in Jamaica, Lyndon Johnson died en route to a hospital in Texas. For the new champion, the victory was bittersweet. "I felt robbed that night while winning it as I had hoped he would be able to read what happened in Jamaica which could never have been possible had he not had that Job Corps idea and that it would include me." In 1983, George Foreman donated the championship belt that he won on the day of LBJ's death to the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas where it is on display today -- a memento from a coincidental day 50 years ago when two Texans were united by accomplishment and cemented in history.

#History #Lyndon B. Johnson #LBJ #President Johnson #George Foreman #Boxing #Presidential History #World Heavyweight Championship #Joe Frazier #Death of Lyndon B. Johnson #LBJ's Death #Death of LBJ #LBJ Library #Great Society #Job Corps #January 22nd #War On Poverty #50th Anniversary #50th Anniversary of LBJ's Death

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singlesablog · 7 months

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The Club

“Good Times” (1979) Chic Atlantic Records (Written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers) Highest U.S. Billboard Chart Position – No. 1

“The key of the success of Studio 54 is that it's a dictatorship at the door and a democracy on the dance floor.” - Andy Warhol

On April 26th, 1977, more than 4000 people showed up on 54th street between 7th and 8th Avenues in NYC to attend the opening of a newly revamped theater turned discotheque (once an opera house in the 1920s) for the grand opening of Studio 54. Eight thousand invites had been sent from many of the bests lists in the city; the line snaked around the block that night with people clamoring to get in. Many celebrities, officially invited, were unable to get through the soon-to-be famous doors. Disco, a popular fusion of soul and dance music, was on the ascendant: hedonistic, generic, joyful, color-blind, and sexually promiscuous (many of the song themes would be about copulation). It was in that year that two newly successful bandmembers from Chic named Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers were invited by Grace Jones and unceremoniously turned away at the door. Jones was never famously reliable; there is no telling where she was, but when they didn’t get in they went home and wrote an angry song called “Fuck You”, then changed it to “Freak Out”, then to “Le Freak”, which then went on to become one of the biggest disco songs ever written, and afterward they went to Studio 54 as often as they liked, because there is no golden ticket in the world like fame.

I am sure I don’t have to tell you what Studio 54 was: it was one of the most glamourous, glitziest, expensive spaces in New York. It was a party where everyone, anyone, had a good chance to get in. It held 2,500 and often had more; it had back rooms, was famous for the famous, and sex, and drugs. It had an incredible light show and sound system, and the best DJs. But most of all it was entirely and profoundly mixed: rich, working class, old, young, black, white, gay, straight, gender fluid, normcore. The two owners, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, had two rules: they wanted it full, and they wanted a mix, always a mix. Only the uber famous (Halston, Warhol, Jagger, Minnelli, Jackson) were guaranteed entrée; otherwise, it was the mix that mattered. The mix, the show (copious amounts of money on props and effects), and the music.

“A rumor has it that it's getting late Time marches on, just can't wait…” - Lyrics from “Good Times”

The club was the answer to a very gritty and tumultuous decade for the US and New York City in particular; it may be no accident that the theater once housed the old CBS studios known as Studio 52. In the 1950s and 1960s they filmed witty game shows here, which showcased intelligent repartee (To Tell The Truth, What’s My Line, Password, The 64,000 Question), shows that were representative of an urbane and prosperous city, and of high American culture. Rubell and Schrager kept a lot of the old leftover camera equipment from that era (whether as props or as a through-line it is hard to ascertain); in reopening its doors they presented a very new idea of glamor in New York, an antidote to the recent near-bankruptcy, inflation, gas shortages, and in 1978, a full-blown newspaper strike. Public housing in The Bronx was a disgrace (literally on fire in 1977 and broadcast live at a Yankees game by Howard Cosell), and fear and paranoia were rampant as Son of Sam ran around viciously killing young women. Out of all this chaos, Studio 54 and disco. Clearly people needed fantasy, and release, and from this scene arose Bernard Edwards (bass) and Nile Rodgers (guitar) of Chic, two highly accomplished black musicians.

The idea of the band was one of sophistication; the three male leads (which included drummer Tony Thompson) were accompanied by two female singers, and everyone dressed beautifully, almost in a retro vision of glamor; the songs were straight-to-the-dancefloor extended disco tracks, or lush ballads with strings. The songwriting was of exceptional high quality, and the playing incredibly expert (their first hits in 1977 were “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” and “Everybody Dance”), and no one, no one, sounded even remotely like them: the guitar and bass lines were ingenious and infectious. In fact, if you want to time travel and exactly conjure the feeling of the late 70s, a Greatest Hits collection will take you right there. After “Le Freak” peaked in 1978 (it would be Atlantic’s, and parent company Warner Brothers, biggest seller of all time until Madonna’s “Vogue” in 1990) it seemed as if Chic, disco, and the nightlife of the Studio 54 crowd would go on forever. Except. Except. Was there something about the sound of Chic, a warped, dragging, rather sad tone, to their hits? The more they succeeded, the sadder around the edges the records became.

I never loved “Le Freak”, as good as it was. In 1979, I must have liked “Good Times”, because I bought it; it was the gray Atlantic label and a plain white sleeve, I remember quite clearly. I think I bought it because of the round piano swirl that opens the record— I was obsessed with how the song was constructed; it was perfect. But I also believe I wanted to understand how it worked, to get to the center of it, so I would drop it into the player and stare at it going around and around for clues that never came. Something about it made me sad. It would be decades before I went back to Chic and discovered the joy in that sadness; this was mature music for sophisticated people, and it captured those years so well, and with such elegance, and if it was sad, it was because there are always sad things seeping in, and possibly because their heyday, and all that high style, would be relatively short-lived considering the perfection of the records they were creating.

The Disco Sucks movement started on July 12th, 1979, in Chicago, Illinois. A radio shock jock held a record-burning stunt at a baseball game in Comisky park and 50,000 people showed up, and after the dj blew up piles of disco records, they swarmed the field and started a riot. Record companies began to re-label their sleeves as Dance Records, not Disco, and the white-wash officially began. The record burning has been likened to a Neo-Nazi event, largely inspired by disgruntled white rock fans, and inherently racially motivated, and I would say I fully believe that. It not without irony that the rather sad quality pushing against the melody of “Good Times” was realistic. It was to be their last No. 1 record under their band name, even if they would go on to produce 1980’s Diana (Diana Ross, but a full-blown Chic record, soup-to-nuts) which would sell 10 million copies, and both Edwards and Rogers would go on to have enormous careers as producers, especially Rodgers, with Bowie’s Let’s Dance right around the corner, not to mention Madonna’s Like a Virgin, produced by Rodgers (and on which all three Chic musicians play) as well as so many more. Nevertheless, I am ahead of myself. It is still 1979, and Studio 54 is still thriving.

“Now what you hear is not a test: I’m rappin to the beat.” - Lyrics from "Rapper's Delight” *

“Good Times” topped the Billboard Pop charts in August, 1979 (B Side: “A Warm Summer Night”). In September of the same year Nile Rodgers was in a club when he heard a song that clearly used the basic elements of their record: the bass, the guitar, a bit of the strings. It was “Rapper’s Delight”, a novelty record produced by a very savvy Sylvia Robinson to exploit the street scenes of break dancing and rapping in The Bronx, which were usually only performed live with a boombox. Certain songs could easy be rapped over, and “Good Times” was one of them. However, real rappers never considered recording. Enter Robinson, some fast thinking, and four quickly auditioned amateurs to make “Rapper’s Delight” as the Sugarhill Gang, and not only did she have it out in a flash, but on her own label, Sugarhill Records (Sugar Hill is a prosperous neighborhood in Harlem).

That night in the club, Nile Rodgers was not pleased. He and Edwards threatened to sue her immediately, and the matter was resolved quickly by Robinson giving them their writing credits, and thereby their money, and re-releasing it. What he could not have foreseen was that this novelty hit (it only went to No. 38 on the charts) would actually change music forever. It is the first successful mainstream rap record (we had the 12”, the first I ever had, in our house, and my brothers and sisters all learned the lines and became living room emcees), and it went on to establish Hip-hop as a genre. It would also lead to many copycats, and many interpolations of Rodger’s guitar and Edward’s tireless bassline, notably in Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” and Blondie's “Rapture”.

Looking back on it, Niles feels very differently about one of the most famous examples of record sampling. "As innovative and important as ‘Good Times’ was,” Nile Rodgers has said, “ ‘Rapper's Delight’ was just as much, if not more so.” He is absolutely correct, of course. The success of the Sugarhill Gang led Sylvia Robinson, tireless entrepreneur, to convince a real rapper, Grandmaster Flash, to write and record a track about life as he saw it from the much grittier streets of The Bronx, and he released it as “The Message”, which was a pivotal first. Rap musicians reference this song endlessly as an inspiration, and I love it just as much for its contribution to electronic music.

Back in 1979 my 14-year-old-self stood for so long staring at my copy of “Good Times” as it revolved on the turntable. Was there a reason it felt warped and catatonic as I listened to it? I will never know. I wasn’t old enough to understand what the single portended, which was the future of pop music, years and years early. Things were beginning, and things were ending, right there, all at once, and right in front of my very eyes. It was easy enough to listen, but very difficult to fully comprehend. I needed another 40 years.

Sylvia Robinson, a veteran of the biz, not only produced Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s “The Message” but also sang on Mickey and Sylvia’s chestnut “Love is Strange” (1956) —think Dirty Dancing—as well as her own proto-disco song “Pillow Talk” (1973), predating the moans on Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby” by years, and if you don’t know it (I needed some reminding) it has to be heard to be believed. Let’s just say it is at minimum one of the most suggestive Top 40 songs ever recorded. This was obviously a woman with the ears and ambition for a making a hit record. She is now known as “The Mother of Hip Hop”. She passed away in 2011.

Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager went to prison for millions of dollars in tax evasion in January 1980, but not before throwing a big party at 54. They served reduced sentences and eventually opened the nightclub Palladium. Rubell sadly passed away from AIDS in 1989. He was 45 years old.

*(Songwriters: Richey Edwards / Sherill Rodgers)

#1979 #disco #studio54 #chic #hip hop #electronic mucic #new york city #music history

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rabbitcruiser · 6 months

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International Day of the Nacho

While tortillas have been around for thousands of years, nachos are a much more recent invention. Learn more about and celebrate the fun of this Mexican food by participating in International Day of the Nacho!

History of International Day of the Nacho

The inspired idea of slicing up corn tortillas and frying them in oil, then piling salsa, meat, cheese and other goodies on top seems to have occurred in the early 1940s.

The story goes that Ignacia “Nacho” Anaya was the chef in a restaurant along the northern border of Mexico. When some American soldiers came in late at night, the chef was low on ingredients. So he tossed some tortilla chips in with shredded cheese and pickled jalapenos, and the dish was a hit. Of course, it was named after his nickname and it wasn’t long before “nachos” became a household term.

Nachos gained popularity in the 1970s, along with a variety of other foods of the Mexican and Tex-Mex influences. Moving beyond just Mexican-style restaurants, a quick version of nachos began appearing at concession stands in places like state fairs, sports stadiums and more, topped with hot, melted cheese.

When famous sports announcer Howard Cosell talked about nachos on the air during a Dallas Cowboys game in 1978, the media bump caused nachos to go wild. Nachos expanded to movie theaters, convenience stores and even school cafeterias.

International Day of the Nacho embraces and promotes everything to do with this simple and tasty food that now brings joy and delight to people all over the world!

International Day of the Nacho Timeline

7000 BC Corn tortillas are invented

During prehistoric times, corn tortillas are a staple food in what is now Mexico.

16th Century AD Salsa is invented

Prior to this time, Aztecs may have invented salsa by mixing tomatoes with chilies, but it doesn’t make history until the Spaniards conquer Mexico during this time.

1941 Nachos are invented

Nachos are credited as the brainchild of Ignacia “Nacho” Anaya, who was a restaurant owner in Mexico.

1947 Salsa makes its way to American homes

Creating a now common condiment for nachos, David and Margaret Pace begin making salsa in Texas, calling it “picante sauce” at the time.

1993 First Chipotle restaurant opens

In Denver, Colorado, Chipotle opens and begins serving their famous burritos as well as nachos, which are on their “secret menu”.

How to Celebrate International Day of the Nacho

Get on board with the fun of International Day of the Nacho with tons of different clever ideas about how to celebrate! Start with some of these ways to get inspired, and then create some that are uniquely yours:

Go Out for Nachos

Depending on the location, nachos are often an easy-to-access, readily available menu item served at loads of different restaurants. Try out a fast and fresh restaurant like Baja Fresh or Del Taco. Or choose a sit down place like Chili’s or Applebee’s for a full-on pile of nachos to share as an appetizer or enjoy as a main dish for one person.

Host a Nacho Party

Grab a few friends, family members or neighbors and get ready to host a party in honor of the International Day of the Nacho! Not only are nachos an easy to make dish that can serve a crowd, they are also a great party dish because it’s easy to ask each person to bring a different part to contribute!

Have one guest bring the tortilla chips, another one bring the jalapeno peppers and a different person can bring the beans. The bigger the guest list, the greater the options for the different recipe items to be brought to the dinner party!

Don’t forget to decorate with various Mexican and Tex-Mex themes, and guests can even be invited to wear a sombrero or serape in honor of the day. For dessert, feel free to serve a Mexican dessert such as churros, sopapillas or individual dishes of flan.

Learn Some Fun Facts About Nachos

In an effort to raise awareness for International Day of the Nacho, remember some bits of trivia about nachos that can be shared with friends or coworkers. Start out with some of these fun facts:

In Mexico, “Nacho” is actually a nickname for the male name Ignacio. The dish that Americans call nachos is actually referred to as “totopos”.

The first recorded appearance of the word “nachos” in English is dated from 1949 when it appeared in a book called The Taste of Texas by Jane Trahey.

Nachos are truly “Tex-Mex” because they were invented just right over the border from Texas in Piedras Negras, Mexico.

Create a Music Playlist for International Day of the Nacho

Take International Day of the Nacho to the next level by making a list of music that goes along with the theme of the day. It can even be played at the previously mentioned party!

Of course, considering the dish’s origins in Mexico, perhaps choose some culturally themed music – perhaps by a Mariachi band or another Latin American group. Get started with some of these popular, classic songs:

La Bamba by Ritchie Valens (1959). One of the most well-known Mexican songs in the US, this one only went to number 22 on the charts when it was originally released, but the film related cover by Los Lobos in 1989 was super popular and went number 1 for three weeks.

Historia de un Amor by Carlos Eleta Almaran (1956). Part of the soundtrack of a film of the same name, this song, “The History of Love”, was written to encourage the musician’s brother after his wife died.

La Cucaracha by many different artists. Originally recorded in 1934, this song, written as an ode to the cockroach, is a classic folk song whose true origins are actually unknown.

Oye Como Va by Tito Puente (1963). Another one of the most recognizable Latin American songs the world over, the most well-known version was recorded by Carlos Santana in 1970, which stayed at the top of the charts for six weeks.

Compete for the Largest Plate of Nachos

The record for the world’s largest plate of nachos was set by the University of Kansas in Kansas City in 2012. The dish consisted of a pile of chips that were 80 feet long, two feet wide and ten inches deep, weighing more than 4600 pounds! Toppings included 860 pounds of ground beef, 860 pounds of nacho cheese, 1200 pounds of beans, 315 pounds of jalapenos and more.

Don’t worry that this much food went to waste, though! Portions of nachos were dished out and sold to people attending a track and field event, in an attempt to raise money for charity.

Those who are interested in competing to top this massive amount of nachos might want to consider creating an event and accomplishing this goal in honor of International Day of the Nacho!

International Day of the Nacho FAQs

Are nachos Mexican?

Yes. Nachos seem to have originated in Northern Mexico, just over the border from Texas.

Do nachos have gluten?

Nachos are almost always gluten free, as long as they are made with corn tortilla chips and the spices used in the meat do not contain gluten.

Does Chipotle have nachos?

Although they are not necessarily listed on the menu, it’s easy to ask Chipotle to make nachos instead of a burrito or bowl. They’ll happily comply!

Are nachos healthy?

Most of the ingredients in nachos are highly processed, making them less healthy than some foods. But if fresh vegetables are added, as well as beans as a source of protein, they can be made healthier.

How to make nachos?

A super easy snack or meal, nachos are made by piling toppings, such as cooked meat, cheese, salsa or beans, on top of tortilla chips and then baking them.

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suaasgn-blog · 7 years

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Stephen King steps up cheap jerseys malaysia

Hicks has found a number of interested bidders for the Rangers, and late last night selected a group led by Pittsburgh lawyer Chuck Greenberg to enter exclusive negotiations. cheap jerseys online from china Hicks now has 30 days to agree a deal with Greenberg before submitting plans to Major League Baseball for approval. The banks that hold Hicks' debt must also approve any sale.

The deal would mean the Hicks family retained a small share of the team. No price has been revealed, but it is estimated the Rangers could fetch up to £300m."Our family has chosen to negotiate with the group we believe will be best to protect and ensure the long-term positive future of this franchise," cheap jerseys outlet Hicks said in a statement on the Rangers website. "We understand that this is more than a transaction. You never really own a baseball team; you just have the right to be the trustee of a public institution."

Hicks has been working since last spring to sell the Rangers due to the debts held by his Hicks Sports Group, which defaulted on debts attached to the Rangers and Dallas Stars National Hockey League team in May. cheap jerseys pay with paypal Hicks also has significant debts attributed to his co-ownership of Liverpool with George Gillett.Earlier this month, Gillett completed a deal to sell the Montreal Canadiens NHL franchise but is yet to invest any of the £333m from that deal into Liverpool.

The Anfield club's debts are estimated to stand at around £240m, and manager Rafael Benítez last week suggested they were hampering Liverpool's ability to compete. Despite selling their other sporting interests, cheap jerseys personalized it is reported that Hicks and Gillett are continuing to seek investors in Liverpool.So, the Yankees. That God, in this crazy, mixed-up world, that we still live in a country where the richest franchise in baseball can spend a decade buying up a bunch of allegedly juiced-up talent and bring home the victory.

Once again last night, my attention was diverted to to MLB Network, which was showing game six of the 1977 Series between the Yankees and the LA Dodgers. The famous Reggie Jackson series. Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell on the call. cheap jerseys plain Ah, those were the days, eh? At one point, they flashed up the Yankee salaries, which at the time were considered outrageous. Guess. Before you read below the fold -- go ahead and guess what Reggie's salary was.

It was $330,000. Even in today's dollars, that's barely $1 million. Willie Randolph -- Willie Randolph! a star, the starting second baseman, a player who was very important to the team -- pulled down $60,000. cheap jerseys real That's about $210,000 in today's dollars. By comparison, the current second baseman, Robinson Cano, makes $6 million. Cano is a better player, but Randolph was plenty good (an All-Star in 1977). Cano isn't $5.8 million better.

This post is not, by the way, a gripe about athlete's salaries. If that's what the market wants to pay them, God bless 'em. I've always believed that of nearly all categories of celebrities, athletes deserve their money the most. There's no way to prove, for example, that Adam Sandler is one of the world's finest actors, even though he is one of the highest paid. In fact I think we're all fairly sure that Sandler isn't one of the world's finest actors. cheap jerseys reddit However, there is a way to prove that Derek Jeter is one of the world's finest ballplayers. He's proven it for years. He deserves every penny he can get.

This post is, however, a gripe about what's happened at the high end of the free market in the last 15 or so years. What's happened with baseball salaries has also happened with Wall Street compensation, major law partners, corporate titans and so on and so forth. Things have really gotten out of whack. cheap jerseys replica And no I'm not saying -- oh, forget what I'm not saying. I'm not going to write every post anticipating the most unhinged criticisms of the most right-wing commenters and try to preemptively rebut them, as if I might actually be able to persuade them. I said what I said. It's nuts.

Wages of average Americans are roughly stagnant, or a little better than that, since 1973. During roughly the same period, top marginal tax rates on the wealthy have been cut in half, and average earners have somehow been convinced that if Robinson Cano had to pay more than 39% on every dollar he earned above, say, $2 million, it would constitute class warfare -- not against Cano, cheap jerseys review but against them. Go figure.

Nine years without a championship may not seem like a long time for most sports franchises, but for the New York Yankees, it is an eternity. On a chilly Wednesday night in the Bronx, the title-thirsty Yankees doused themselves with World Series champagne for the first time since 2000, after defeating the defending champions, Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3 in Game Six. The Yankees' 27th title had a familiar ending, cheap jerseys rugby the pitcher Mariano Rivera on the mound, retiring the final batter, just as he had in their past three World Series triumphs.

The previous 26 crowns had been earned across the street in the still-standing old Yankee Stadium but any fears that the so-called "aura and mystique" would not transfer over from The House That Ruth Built to the new ballpark in the Bronx were put to rest as the franchise broke in their sparkling $1.5bn (£900m) palace on River Avenue with a maiden title.Fans who had waited nearly a decade to witness another title roared as the manager, Joe Girardi, lifted the World Series trophy, cheap jerseys sites a moment of redemption for the man whose first season at the helm a year ago was marred by a third-place finish in the American League East Division.

The volume rose as the remaining players from their run of four titles in five seasons, the "core four", took their place on the podium, addressed the crowd and showed off the silverware. Pitcher Andy Pettitte remarked that he finally had "one [championship ring] for the thumb", Derek Jeter professed that it was great to be back on top. Jorge Posada reminded fans that this championship was dedicated to "The Boss", cheap jerseys store George Steinbrenner, the Yankees' ailing owner who began revitalising the franchise in the 1970s and now has seven World Series titles to his name. Rivera, perhaps the most important cog in the Yankees' success since 1995, later said: "I've been blessed because I have four guys, we played for 15 years together ... and we have accomplished everything together."

The crowd had plenty left for superstar slugger Alex Rodriguez, who finally tasted post-season success in 2009, an accomplishment that brought with it the fan acceptance he had been seeking since his arrival in New York.

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rtawngs20815 · 7 years

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You Need To Know About The Life of Pittsburgh Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney

WASHINGTON – Daniel Rooney died at 84 last Thursday during Holy Week in his hometown of Pittsburgh. He will be buried there on Tuesday after what will surely be one of the most crowded, loving and civic funeral masses ever held in St. Paul Cathedral, the mother church of the Diocese of the city.

The day before the mass there will be a public viewing in the Champions Club at Heinz Field, where the Steelers play. Thousands are expected. It’s the Steel City equivalent of lying in state.

If Pittsburgh, founded as a military outpost by the French in 1754, had had a king, it would have been this wiry little man who turned the Pittsburgh Steelers football team from a hapless local laughing stock into one of the most inspiring and unifying sports franchises in the world. In the process, he helped turn the NFL into a centerpiece of American culture.

Rooney and his family are the kind of public leaders that Donald Trump – who once owned a small-time football team – could not in his most egotistical dreams match.

Except for Pittsburgh and its suburbs, Trump last year won most of “Steeler Country:” Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Western Maryland. How can Democrats get those voters back? They could start by finding candidates who embody and express Rooney values.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Dan Rooney was instrumental in saving the spirit of a failing city, easing racial tensions nationally, giving crucial aid to his family’s ancestral home of Ireland, offering a timely boost to a politician named Barack Obama, and demonstrating that American Catholicism could – and does – encompass both ritual and the social gospel. And he was, for most of his life, a Republican.

He did all of this without ever unnecessarily seeking the limelight, rarely giving speeches. Even when he was U.S. ambassador to Ireland, listening to others at town halls was his preferred form of politics. He didn’t tweet. He didn’t really want his name in the paper. The Steelers PR department rarely had much to say about him, which is how he wanted it.

Of course he was not a choir boy. Between the chalk lines, the Steelers were as rough, if not more so, than the other teams. He could and did play tough in business. His manner could be tart to people that he did not know or did not care to know.

But, all in all, his public life was superb, and worth contemplating as Christians and Jews, on Easter and Passover, give thanks for the blessing of freedom and of spiritual rebirth in a time of doubt about the future of our America.

The political lesson of Dan Rooney’s life shows that it is within all of us to do good, and it is logical to start within our own lives and world – and not the more distant one that we complain about. Start with your family, your town, your work, and build out from there. It’s “resistance” one step at a time.

Reared in a racially mixed neighborhood on the city’s north side, where his father was a saloon keeper turned new team owner, Dan attended the local Holy Ghost Fathers’ Duquesne University – just at the time when the school was featuring one of the first superstar black college basketball players, Sihugo Green. Catholic colleges overall were early in breaking the color line, but Duquesne became one of most famous and successful.

He wasn’t so much colorblind as eager to break through annoyingly outdated racial lines that stood in the way of the team’s success.

When he took over operation of the Steelers, Rooney had the novel idea of hiring the top sportswriter from the local black newspaper, The Pittsburgh Courier, to scout historically Black colleges and other universities that were willing to play African-Americans. A parade of those draft picks became NFL all-stars.

Rooney led the way for the NFL to change its hiring rules to ensure that African-Americans were considered for opening in any team’s leadership. “The Rooney Rule” worked – and has been emulated by corporate America.

He put his own money where his heart apparently was, hiring Mike Tomlin as the Steeler’s first African-American head coach.

The NFL is rife with problems, to be sure, but its share-and-share-alike business structure is in good measure due to Rooney’s influence. He led the way to guarantee revenue sharing and salary caps. There was financial self-interest, of course: he owned a small market team. But it was also consistent with his ethos, which began with family, analogizing this to the rest of his life.

During the 2008 presidential elections, the Clintons were hoping that Rooney, who generally stayed out of politics would endorse former Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Instead, he chose Obama – at a key moment in which Pennsylvania, always pivotal, made the difference in the election.

Newly elected President Obama later chose Rooney to be ambassador to Ireland. Twenty years earlier, Rooney and Ireland-born Anthony O’Reilly, former CEO of Heinz at the time, launched the Irish-American Fund. It has since poured millions into helping the poor and other social projects in Ireland. Rooney and his wife bankrolled a prestigious literary prize for young Irish writers.

At the core of all of these endeavors was family and faith. If there is a royal family in Pittsburgh today, it is not named Heinz or Mellon or Carnegie – it is Rooney.

While they surely did not intend to serve as civic cheerleaders, he in effect led Pittsburgh through tough times after he took over in 1969. The steel industry was dying; only sports – in the form of the Steelers, as well as the Pirates baseball and Pitt football teams – was thriving. The town became the self-styled “City of Champions,” encouraging the locals to think like winners.

“When you play the Steelers,” the grandiloquent ABC sportscaster Howard Cosell later said, “you were playing the whole city.”

The functional leader of that city was the slight but incredibly willful, shrewd man who lived all his life within walking distance of the stadium.

In all of this, the church was at the center. He attended mass daily, gave liberally, and was friends with bishops and cardinals, one of whom, Donald Cardinal Wuerl, had special vestments made of the Steelers black and gold colors.

But faith mixed alchemically with football. Rooney had started with the team as a water boy when he was five, taking every job that had anything to do with supporting the team on the field and its reputation off of it.

In their 1970s heyday, and sporadically since, the Steelers play like the terrifying Hounds of the Lord. You dare not get in their way. The Steelers have had only three head coaches since 1969 – Chuck Noll (nicknamed “The Pope” for his belief in his own infallibility); Bill Cowher (nicknamed “The Face” for his jut-jawed visage) and Tomlin, who is too fierce and tightly wrapped to have a nickname, but who, in press conferences, barks out answers in the manner of a drill sergeant.

But while the late Dan Rooney wanted to win as much – if not more –than anyone else in the NFL – his real idea of victory was spiritual, social, civic, racially just, and familial. It is the way to lead, and a lesson for every prominent public figure.

A month ago I attended the annual dinner of the Irish-American Fund in Pittsburgh, held at the stadium club at Heinz Field. A gentle snow had covered the turf with a dusting of white.

Inside the club, the hundreds in attendance were talking about Rooney, who was absent for the first time since he’d started the organization. He was in the hospital, suffering from an accumulation of ailments that would soon claim his life.

I sat at the Rooneys table with Arthur Rooney II, Dan’s eldest son, and the current president of team, and his wife, Greta.

Also at the table was a young man with a player’s frame and a quiet demeanor. We talked. He’d played high school ball in Pittsburgh, then was the starting quarterback at Dartmouth. He was thinking of heading to business school after a few years of working low-level jobs with the Steelers, starting as a young novitiate water boy.

Of course, he was Dan Rooney III. His grandfather and namesake was dying, but the young man seemed quite confident that he knew just how he should live his own life, carrying that name.

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rtscrndr53704 · 7 years