The Naked Prince

Naked photos of Prince Harry (in Las Vegas) were published by TMZ, but most British newspapers declined to publish them.

Rupert's paper put the picture on the front page. The headline was: "Heir it is"

Gotta admit, that's a good one.

Navy SEAL identified

One of the members of Navy SEAL Team 6, the group that carried out the Bin Laden raid, was supposed to go on a book tour. All kinds of efforts had been made to ensure that his identity wasn't revealed. But Fox News found out who he was, and identified him yesterday.

I wonder if there was an ethical debate at Fox over whether or not to reveal his name.

I'm joking, of course.

Who do you side with?

This is an interesting website. It's called I Side with. It asks a series of questions about policy issues, and then tells you which candidate most closely resembles your beliefs.

I was afraid I would end up with Romney. That didn't happen, thankfully. Instead, I think I've been exposed as a left wing radical. I wasn't even sure who Jill Stein was--I had to look her up.

Here are my results...
92% Jill Stein (Green Party)
82% Barack Obama
64% Gary Johnson (Libertarian)
39% Ron Paul
27% Mitt Romney

I also agree with Illinois voters 64%, and American voters 62%. Does that mean most of us are also left wing radicals?

Hmmmm.

Cubs 365, August 24

On this day in 1894, future Cubs shortstop Jimmy "Scoops" Cooney was born.

Cooney was already 32 years old when he joined the Cubs in 1926, but he had only played parts of four major league seasons (two with the Cardinals, one each with the Red Sox and Giants).

But the Cubs had no one else to play shortstop when they acquired him, so he was given the full-time job. During that 1926 season, he hit only .251, his on-base percentage was a woeful .288, and he had a whopping 24 extra base hits in more than 500 at bats.

Still, his glove kept him in the lineup. The following season (1927) he was still the starting shortstop when that glove made major league history. On May 30, 1927, in the fourth inning of a game against the Pirates, Cooney caught Paul Waner's liner, stepped on second to double Lloyd Waner, and tagged Clyde Barnhart coming down from first, to record an unassisted triple play.

No other National Leaguer would do it for the next 65 years. In 1992, future Cub Mickey Morandini finally broke the streak by recording an unassisted triple play for the Philadelphia Phillies.

How did the Cubs reward Cooney for his miraculous play? They traded him to the Pirates eight days later.

Beatles history

During my hiatus this summer I haven't had time to check out Bob Dearborn's The Olde Disc Jockey's almanac. I read it this morning, and remembered how much I love it. Today there were a handful of Beatles stories from this day in history, and many of them featured details I had never heard before. That's not easy to do.

It turns out that August 23rd is a big day in Beatles history.

50 years ago today...

August 23, 1962…Paul McCartney and George Harrison were witnesses as John Lennon married Cynthia Powell at the Mount Pleasant Registry Office in Liverpool, England. At the time, Cynthia was two months pregnant with their son Julian. Manager Brian Epstein, who served as John's best man, bought lunch for the wedding party at a local cafeteria and gave the newlyweds use of his apartment. That night, John and the Beatles performed at Liverpool's Riverpark Ballroom. The Lennons divorced in November 1968.

48 years ago today...

August 23, 1964…In Los Angeles, the Beatles played the Hollywood Bowl in a concert recorded for a planned upcoming live album. The sound quality, however, was so bad due to screaming teenagers that the tape sat mostly unused until 1977, when "The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl" album was released, combining songs from this show and a similar Hollywood Bowl concert that took place a year later. In 1967, some applause from the original tapes was used at the start of "With A Little Help From My Friends" on the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album and also added to the end of the title track's reprise to simulate the end of the "concert."

46 years ago today...

August 23, 1966…On their final tour of America, the Beatles played Shea Stadium in New York City, but unlike the previous year's performance which had sold out, there were 11,000 empty seats in the 55,600 seat stadium. The promoters blamed the turnout on competition from the many other concerts in the area around that time.

44 years ago today...

August 23, 1968…Thoroughly disgusted by the difficult, acrimonious sessions for the "White Album," Ringo Starr became the first band member to (temporarily) depart the Beatles, telling John "I'm leaving the group because I'm not playing well and I feel unloved and out of it and you three are really close."

Believing that his time with the band was over, Ringo and his family went on vacation to Sardinia, and while there he got the idea for "Octopus's Garden" from a boat captain who told him how those creatures use shiny objects to create "gardens" for themselves.

While Ringo was gone, Paul recorded the drum tracks for "Dear Prudence" and "Back In The USSR." Ringo returned a few days later to find flowers surrounding his drum kit as an apology from his bandmates. He decided to stay.

38 years ago today...

August 23, 1974…Local newspapers reported that John Lennon spotted a UFO while staying in his mistress May Pang's apartment in New York during his infamous "lost weekend." "Walls and Bridges," Lennon's next album, contained a notation in the inner booklet that reads: "On 23 August 1974, I saw a UFO J.L."

Cubs 365, August 23

On this day in 1971, Cubs manager Leo Durocher completely lost his composure in the clubhouse, and in so doing, may have lost his team forever.

It was before a game against the Cincinnati Reds. The Cubs were 11 games over .500 and only 4 1/2 games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates. But Leo was still upset with pitcher Milt Pappas. The previous game he had allowed the winning run in a 4-3 loss when Doug Radar hit an 0-2 pitch for a double.

Leo called a club meeting and ripped Pappas for his stupidity. After his little speech he opened the floor for comments.

Joe Pepitone was the first one to defend Milt. He said: "He didn't want to do it. Why are you always blaming people?" Ken Holtzman and Pappas also spoke out, ripping Durocher.

That's when Leo lost it. He tore into every player on the team in a legendary expletive filled tirade. Among those he ripped was team captain Ron Santo. He said that Santo was a malingerer who played politics with the front office. Among his charges was that Santo was pouting and demanding a Ron Santo day.

That's when Santo lost it. He called Durocher a liar and had to be physically restrained by his teammates.

The Cubs somehow went out and won the game, but afterwards they spiraled into a deep losing streak. They lost 16 of their next 21 games.

Cubs owner Phillip Wrigley didn't speak up about the dispute until a few weeks later, but when he did, he left no doubt where his loyalties lied. He took out a full page newspaper ad praising Durocher.

He wrote: "Leo's is the manager and the 'Dump Durocher Clique' might as well give up. He is running the team, and if some of the players do not like it and lie down on the job, during the off-season we will see what we can do to find them happier homes." He added a P.S. "If we could only find more team players like Ernie Banks."

Ernie retired a few weeks later. Leo was gone by the middle of the next year. And the Cubs didn't register back-to-back winning seasons again for more than 30 years.

Mancow on TV

Looks like Chicago will get to listen to/and even watch Mancow again. From Robert Feder's column this morning...

"Mancow Muller’s morning radio show is coming to WPWR-Channel 50, starting this fall. As first reported by the Tribune’s Robert Channick, a simulcast of Muller’s Mancow Experience radio show, syndicated by Talk Radio Network, will air from 6 to 8am weekdays on the Fox-owned station. No start date has been announced. The show, currently originating from Cumulus Media studios at 190 North State Street, will move to Channel 50’s studios at 205 North Michigan Avenue."

I'm Free

All three of my boys are officially in school all day beginning right now.

Tom Taylor

Over the summer while I was on my blogging hiatus, one of my favorite radio columnists hung up his keyboard. Tom Taylor of Radio-Info.com stepped down when that company was purchased by Talkers Magazine.

Taylor's column was a must read for anyone in the business, and I never missed it (even when I wasn't blogging). He always had some information that no-one else had, and he presented it in an entertaining way.

Talkers is trying to keep the column afloat with new guys, but it will never be the same. Plus, if I can just be candid for a moment, Talkers Magazine has always been a mouthpiece for right wing talk radio...my least favorite kind of radio ever created. I've already unsubscribed.

I sent Tom an e-mail wishing him well, but I thought I'd do it publicly too.

First Day of School

Everyone around the word, c'mon. Yahoo! It's a celebration. The boys are off to school.