Soundgarden & NIN, Jones Beach, August 1, 2014 - Show Review

 

 

I had not seen Soundgarden as a group since Lollapalooza 1996, although I had seen Chris Cornell with Audioslave once, and in a solo gig once just last year - read the blog entry on that dated November 23, 2013!). It should be noted that I had tickets to see them in May of last year, at a concert in Philly (actually, I think it was technically across the river, in Camden) with Alice in Chains and numerous other acts, although as a result of my own stupidity, I did not actually wind up attending that show (let's just leave it at that!).

Also, I had never seen Nine Inch Nails, although I came fairly close to so doing a few times. The first, if this even counts, was in their relatively early days, when they had just begun to become popular, back in, I think, the year 1995. I had a friend (who shall remain nameless), who had a tendency to say and promise some wild things, but often failed to deliver. This is a guy who claimed to have a lot of connections that, in fact, he simply did not have. According to one of those connections, with a "guy who works with the band", he claimed that the members of Pearl Jam would trick girls into their tour buses (as if they needed to do that at that point in their career), and then rape them. That was one of the claims that he made back then, which serves as an example of the kind of wild claims that he tended to make about himself, which I guess made him feel more important and in the know, but which actually made him sound unreliable at best, and a downright liar, and a nasty spreader of false rumors, at worst.

In any case, he promised me that he had scored some tickets to the local appearance of the Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie tour (remember that odd pairing?), back when those two acts were touring together. Needless to say, the date came, and the date went, and I did not go to see that concert. I would eventually go to see David Bowie in concert (in fall of 2002, when he did a miniature tour of the five boroughs of New York). But even though I came close to seeing Nine Inch Nails in more recent years, I never actually did manage to see them until last night!

I had gotten the tickets on Ebay for remarkably cheap! Having hunted for a few weeks for tickets (after they had sold out), I found a pair of tickets for $74! Split between two people, that meant that it was $37 (not including the tolls and other expenses it took to get there, of course), in order to enjoy the privilege of seeing two awesome bands perform live! Not a bad deal!

Also, I always loved going to Jones Beach, because you have the option (time permitting, of course) of spending some time before the show at the beach! So, you can enjoy a day (or at least part of a day) at the beach, if you have enough free time, than unwind in the evening with an awesome show! Unfortunately, due to the weather, I had not actually brought my swimming trunks, although the weather at Jones Beach itself actually held up, and I would have been able to take a dip in the ocean, as it turns out! Over the years, dating back all the way to 1999, I've seen numerous great acts at this venue, including Roger Waters, Pearl Jam, Jethro Tull, the Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, and Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band (the first concert that my girlfriend and I went to together, just a couple of years ago!).

Now, I can add Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails to that list!

Soundgarden came out while there was still quite a bit of daylight left, and the stadium seemed more than half empty, still. The initial crowd response was weak as a result, probably as a mixture of surprise that they had come on so early, as well as simply that most people had not gotten to their seats yet. I was actually admittedly a bit angry initially that people seemed to be disrespecting such a great band! Soundgarden surely deserves better, thought I! But more and more people arrived at the show, so that by the end of their set, the place seemed pretty crowded, and the crowd response was much more appropriate as a result. It was roughly a quarter to eight when they took the stage, and the crowd seemed more pleasantly surprised than anything when they took the stage, opening with Searching With My Good Eye Closed, before exploding into Spoonman before a responsive audience.

They then launched into I've Been Away For Too Long, a track from their latest album, King Animal, which Cornell introduced, rather puzzlingly, as a B-Side from that album, even though it is actually the opening track of the album. Perhaps he meant the particular version that they would play that night? I cannot say for certain. But they performed that, which was fitting, given how long of an absence for the band prior to their latest album, before playing a song that the audience clearly knew better, The Day I Tried To Live.

Before playing Gun, Chris Cornell mentioned that they were about to try a song that they had not played in many years (perhaps even decades, I'm guessing), and which they had never played with Matt Cameron. So, he asked the audience to be lenient if the band makes a mistake or two, although he then chimed in that we probably would not even notice it, anyway.

After the song was played (flawlessly, it seemed to me), he turned back to Matt, and said that his performance had been impressive! Then he mentioned how badly Matt stresses out before shows and songs, only to perform flawlessly once he needs to. "So, why all the stress?" he asked.

Cornell addressed the crowd later in the evening as well, discussing some of the anger in the old songs. He said that the band had just needed to get that out of them, and that those were dark days, back when they were writing and performing those songs. And while the world seemed happier now, he cautioned that the world certainly was not a better place these days than they had been back then. But, he mentioned, they were pleased to be playing a tour with one of the bands that they could relate to in terms of music and attitude on this tour, mentioning Nine Inch Nails by name.

They then played a stretch of iconic Soundgarden tracks, including Black Hole Sun, Outshined, a very uptempo version of Jesus Christ Pose, Blow Up the Outside World, and Fell on Black Days.

Chris Cornell then said that the next song, "is from the Superunknown album, and it's called Superunknown", and the band played an intense version of that.

Soundgarden performed one last track from their most recent album,  A Thousand Days Before, and then launched into a heavy version of Rusty Cage. They closed their setlist with Beyond the Wheel, with Cornell simply waving before walking off the stage. Ben Sheppard and Kim Thayill remained on the stage for some time, working on the distortions, with Thayill ultimately being the last to leave.

I was a bit surprised that they did not come out for an encore, as the house lights came on immediately after Thayill walked off stage.

Their set ended surprisingly early, at around 9pm or so, after one hour and a quarter, roughly, of play. Another surprise was they they had performed only two songs from King Animal, their most recent album.

It was roughly 9:25 when, without much warning, when a very buff looking Trent Reznor came onto a stage that seemed surprisingly empty. From my vantage point (I did not exactly have the best seats in the house), I only knew it was Reznor by the audience reaction up front, when everyone started sytanding and screaming and cheering. Although the stage appeared empty (from my vantage point) the instruments had simply been pushed off to the side and largely out of view, though, and Reznor's bandmates came on very shortly after Reznor got the evening started.

Reznor walked straight to the synthesizer, house lights still on, and got the music started, as Nine Inch Nails opened with Copy of A, a track from their most recent album, Hesitation Marks. The crowd was clearly very much into their setlist from the beginning.

The band in general, and Reznor in particular, seemed to have an incredible amount of energy, moving and dancing to the music that they were flawlessly playing on the stage!

Indeed, Nine Inch Nails played their setlist with incredible intensity and energy throughout, and they sounded sharp and on point all night -  admittedly, probably a bit better than Soundgarden did, even though I personally was there more for Soundgarden.

Playing in a more traditional concert manner of saving the bigger hits for the latter part of their set (with a few notable exceptions!), Reznor and Co. really put on a clinic. The majority of fans seemed to be there for NIN last night, and nobody looked disappointed!

Granted, I was not as big a fan of Nine Inch Nails as Soundgarden, but I'll admit that I want to dig up my old NIN albums and dust them off, and give them some good listens after last night! Yes, they were that good!

Hell, I might even go out and get the new album, which I listened to a few times on Youtube a few times. Apparently, Youtube has taken to playing commercials that break up the video that you are watching. Has anyone else noticed this rather annoying trend?

Reznor's voice has held up well and not changed much over the course of years, and I was pleasantly surprised that he was able to sing with the same measure of clarity and emotional intensity, while still managing to jump and dance around onstage like a man twenty years or more his junior! Very impressive!

Perhaps the one mild surprise about the concert was that Reznor was not all that communicative with the audience. Other than the occasional "thank you" to an enthusiastic audience response after certain songs were performed, he hardly spoke at all.

Still, all in all, a solid night of rock from two heavyweights in music! It was a night for reminiscing about the nineties, as well as enjoying the new offerings that both bands had to offer!

If you are a fan of either of these groups, I strongly recommend getting tickets to this show while you can! How often can you see two such high caliber acts on the same night?

Soundgarden Setlist:

Searching With My Good Eye Closed  
Spoonman  
Been Away Too Long  
The Day I Tried to Live  
Gun  (tour premiere) 
Black Hole Sun  
Outshined  
Jesus Christ Pose  
Blow Up the Outside World  
Fell on Black Days  
Superunknown  
A Thousand Days Before  
Rusty Cage  
Beyond the Wheel 


Source: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/soundgarden/2014/nikon-at-jones-beach-theater-wantagh-ny-1bceb95c.html

NIN Setlist:

Copy of A
Sanctified
Came Back Haunted
1,000,000
March of the Pigs
Piggy
Terrible Lie
Closer
Gave Up
Disappointed
Find My Way
The Great Destroyer
Eraser  Wish  Only
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like a Hole

Encore: Hurt

Source: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nine-inch-nails/2014/nikon-at-jones-beach-theater-wantagh-ny-13ceb95d.html

 

 

 

 

The actual beach is within easy walking distance of the venue, as you walk in a tunnel under the road that takes you to the beach side. If you come to Jones Beach for a concert, you might want to consider coming at least a few hours early, to take in the beach, and perhaps go for a little swim in the ocean, if you are so inclined. I was planning on doing so myself on this day, but the weather was overcast, and there had been brief but strong storms in Jersey. But when I came here, I began to regret not having taken my swimming trunks, towel, and a change of clothes, because downcast or not, it seemed like not a drop of rain had fallen from the sky! Oh, well.....

 

You can see a lot of empty seats for the beginning of Soundgarden's set. The start probably came earlier than many of the concertgoers expected.

 

 

 

 

As Soundgarden's set went on, the venue began to fill up in a hurry!



Nine Inch Nails begins their exciting setlist, surprisingly (to me) with the house lights still on!

 

 

As I mentioned earlier in the blog entry, the lighting and visual effects for Nine Inch Nails was impressive! You cannot really get the sense of just how bright and how fast everything on stage seemed to be moving based on these pictures, but this nonetheless might give you an idea of what it looked like, if you've never seen them in concert before. Compare this to the Soundgarden set, which was mostly during daylight, and you can see why the complete darkness of nightfall adds to the dramatic effect for a concert such as this.

 

 

The logo came out just right in this picture (the others were too blurry to post), as NIN first walked off the stage, just prior to playing their closing song, Hurt, to close out their set and end the night on.

 

On This Day in History - August 2 Iraq Invades Kuwait

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

Aug 2, 1917: Mutiny breaks out on German battleship         

On August 2, 1917, with British forces settling into new positions captured from the Germans in the much-contested Ypres Salient on the Western Front of World War I, Germany faces more trouble closer to home, as a mutiny breaks out aboard the German battleship Prinzregent Luitpold, anchored at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven.  

During the August 2 mutiny, some 400 sailors marched into town calling for an end to the war and proclaiming their unwillingness to continue fighting. Although the demonstration was quickly brought under control by army officials and the sailors were persuaded to return to their ships without real violence that day, some 75 of them were arrested and imprisoned and the ringleaders of the mutiny were subsequently tried, convicted and executed. "I die with a curse on the German-militarist state," one of them, Albin Kobis, wrote his parents before he was shot by an army firing squad at Cologne. As Willy Weber, another convicted sailor, whose death sentence was later commuted to 15 years in prison, put it: "Nobody wanted a revolution, we just wanted to be treated more like human beings."  

Discontent and rebellion within the German Imperial High Seas Fleet continued throughout the following year, as things went abysmally for Germany on the battlefields of the Western Front after the initial success of their spring offensive in 1918. It was rumored that naval commanders were plotting a last-ditch attempt, against the orders of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Reichstag government, to confront the mighty British navy and break the Allied blockade in the North Sea. The force of this rumor, combined with sinking morale, led to an even more significant mutiny at Wilhelmshaven on October 29, 1918, sparked by the arrest of some 300 sailors who had refused to obey orders.  

The unrest soon spread to another German port city, Kiel, where on November 3 some 3,000 German sailors and workers rose in revolt, taking over ships and buildings and brandishing the red flag of communism. The following day, November 4, the rebels at Kiel formed the first Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council in Germany, defying the national government and seeking to act in the spirit of the Russian soviets. On the same day, the government of the Austro-Hungarian Empire asked the Allies for an armistice, which they were granted. An isolated and internally divided Germany was forced to sue for its own armistice barely a week later, and the First World War came to an end.



Here's an event in history that I can actually remember. Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, invading Kuwait. It would annex Kuwait some months later and, early the following year, Operation Desert Shield would convert to operation Desert Storm, and Iraq would be forced to leave Kuwait.

Aug 2, 1990: Iraq invades Kuwait 

At about 2 a.m. local time, Iraqi forces invade Kuwait, Iraq's tiny, oil-rich neighbor. Kuwait's defense forces were rapidly overwhelmed, and those that were not destroyed retreated to Saudi Arabia. The emir of Kuwait, his family, and other government leaders fled to Saudi Arabia, and within hours Kuwait City had been captured and the Iraqis had established a provincial government. By annexing Kuwait, Iraq gained control of 20 percent of the world's oil reserves and, for the first time, a substantial coastline on the Persian Gulf. The same day, the United Nations Security Council unanimously denounced the invasion and demanded Iraq's immediate withdrawal from Kuwait. On August 6, the Security Council imposed a worldwide ban on trade with Iraq.  

On August 9, Operation Desert Shield, the American defense of Saudi Arabia, began as U.S. forces raced to the Persian Gulf. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, meanwhile, built up his occupying army in Kuwait to about 300,000 troops. On November 29, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq if it failed to withdraw by January 15, 1991. Hussein refused to withdraw his forces from Kuwait, which he had established as a province of Iraq, and some 700,000 allied troops, primarily American, gathered in the Middle East to enforce the deadline.  

At 4:30 p.m. EST on January 16, 1991, Operation Desert Storm, the massive U.S.-led offensive against Iraq, began as the first fighter aircraft were launched from Saudi Arabia and off U.S. and British aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf. All evening, aircraft from the U.S.-led military coalition pounded targets in and around Baghdad as the world watched the events transpire on television footage transmitted live via satellite from Iraq. Operation Desert Storm was conducted by an international coalition under the supreme command of U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf and featured forces from 32 nations, including Britain, Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.  

During the next six weeks, the allied force engaged in an intensive air war against Iraq's military and civil infrastructure and encountered little effective resistance from the Iraqi air force or air defenses. Iraqi ground forces were helpless during this stage of the war, and Hussein's only significant retaliatory measure was the launching of SCUD missile attacks against Israel and Saudi Arabia. Saddam hoped that the missile attacks would provoke Israel to enter the conflict, thus dissolving Arab support of the war. At the request of the United States, however, Israel remained out of the war.  

On February 24, a massive coalition ground offensive began, and Iraq's outdated and poorly supplied armed forces were rapidly overwhelmed. By the end of the day, the Iraqi army had effectively folded, 10,000 of its troops were held as prisoners, and a U.S. air base had been established deep inside Iraq. After less than four days, Kuwait was liberated, and the majority of Iraq's armed forces had either surrendered, retreated to Iraq, or been destroyed.  

On February 28, U.S. President George Bush declared a cease-fire, and on April 3 the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 687, specifying conditions for a formal end to the conflict. According to the resolution, Bush's cease-fire would become official, some sanctions would be lifted, but the ban on Iraqi oil sales would continue until Iraq destroyed its weapons of mass destruction under U.N. supervision. On April 6, Iraq accepted the resolution, and on April 11 the Security Council declared it in effect. During the next decade, Saddam Hussein frequently violated the terms of the peace agreement, prompting further allied air strikes and continuing U.N. sanctions.  

In the Persian Gulf War, 148 American soldiers were killed and 457 wounded. The other allied nations suffered about 100 deaths combined during Operation Desert Storm. There are no official figures for the number of Iraqi casualties, but it is believed that at least 25,000 soldiers were killed and more than 75,000 were wounded, making it one of the most one-sided military conflicts in history. It is estimated that 100,000 Iraqi civilians died from wounds or from lack of adequate water, food, and medical supplies directly attributable to the Persian Gulf War. In the ensuing years, more than one million Iraqi civilians have died as a result of the subsequent U.N. sanctions.


Also on this dat in history, Hindenburg died, which was probably the last major obstacle facing Hitler's desire for total power in Germany.

Aug 2, 1934: President of the Weimar Republic Hindenburg dies

On this day in 1934, Paul von Hindenburg, president of the Weimar Republic of Germany, dies, opening the door for the tyranny of Adolf Hitler, whom he had appointed chancellor in 1933.  

Hindenburg's life was one immersed in the Prussian military tradition. His father was a Prussian officer, and Hindenburg fought in the Seven Weeks' War (with Austria) at age 19, and later in the Franco-Prussian War. He was eventually promoted to the rank of general before retiring from the military in 1911.  

But it was during World War I that Hindenburg came to national prominence. He was asked to serve as the superior to Major General Erich Ludendorff, a prominent army strategist. Ludendorff succeeded in driving Russian invaders from East Prussia-but it was Hindenburg who was given the credit. As the war progressed, Hindenburg's stature grew to epic proportions, even influencing Emperor Wilhelm II to make him commander of all land forces, despite Hindenburg's rather dubious strategic skills. In fact, severe miscalculations on Hindenburg's part resulted in Germany's defeat, which Hindenburg then blamed on Ludendorff. (And which Ludendorff and the generals then blamed on the politicians.)  

A monarchist fond of authoritarian regimes, Hindenburg nevertheless took the reigns of the postwar republican government as president in 1925. Fearful of social unrest (from both the far right and far left), in light of the Depression and the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which demanded heavy reparations from Germany as the terms of its surrender, Hindenburg authorized his chancellor, Heinrich Bruning, to dissolve the Reichstag (parliament) if necessary and call for new elections—which he did. Those new elections ushered in the Nazi Party as the second largest party in the Reichstag.  

Re-elected as president in 1932, Hindenburg had already lost the support of many of the more conservative elements in the government, who were flocking to Hitler's party, which they saw as the key to renewed German prestige and the bulwark against Bolshevism. After a succession of chancellors proved ineffectual in reversing Germany's economic slide, and gaining the Nazi support necessary to keep a coalition together, Hindenburg reluctantly named Hitler chancellor of Germany. Hindenburg was never an ardent Hitler supporter, but he did little to impede him as Hitler began employing terror tactics in his drive to consolidate power for the Nazis.  

When Hindenburg died, he was still a respected figure nationwide and was buried, with his wife, at Tannenberg, the sight of the great victory against the Russians during World War I. As World War II was came to a close, their bodies were removed so that the advancing Russians would not get at them. They were ultimately reburied by Americans at Marburg.


Origins of "Dead Man's Hand"

Aug 2, 1876: Wild Bill Hickok is murdered


"Wild Bill" Hickok, one of the greatest gunfighters of the American West, is murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota.  

Born in Illinois in 1837, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok first gained notoriety as a gunfighter in 1861 when he coolly shot three men who were trying to kill him. A highly sensationalized account of the gunfight appeared six years later in the popular periodical Harper's New Monthly Magazine, sparking Hickok's rise to national fame. Other articles and books followed, and though his prowess was often exaggerated, Hickok did earn his reputation with a string of impressive gunfights.  

After accidentally killing his deputy during an 1871 shootout in Abilene, Texas, Hickok never fought another gun battle. For the next several years he lived off his famous reputation, appearing as himself in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show. Occasionally, he worked as guide for wealthy hunters. His renowned eyesight began to fail, and for a time he was reduced to wandering the West trying to make a living as a gambler. Several times he was arrested for vagrancy.  

In the spring of 1876, Hickok arrived in the Black Hills mining town of Deadwood, South Dakota. There he became a regular at the poker tables of the No. 10 Saloon, eking out a meager existence as a card player. On this day in 1876, Hickok was playing cards with his back to the saloon door. At 4:15 in the afternoon, a young gunslinger named Jack McCall walked into the saloon, approached Hickok from behind, and shot him in the back of the head. Hickok died immediately. McCall tried to shoot others in the crowd, but amazingly, all of the remaining cartridges in his pistol were duds. McCall was later tried, convicted, and hanged.  

Hickok was only 39 years old when he died. The most famous gunfighter in the history of the West died with his Smith & Wesson revolver in his holster, never having seen his murderer. According to legend, Hickok held a pair of black aces and black eights when he died, a combination that has since been known as the Dead Man's Hand.

Philip II of Macedonia defeated the combined army of Athens and Thebes in 338BC on this date. Jews were expelled from Spain. Horace the Saussure climbed to the top of Mont Blanc. Napoleon was given title of "Counsel for Life". Charles X abdicated the throne to the Duke of Bordeaux. The first parachute jump in the United States occured on this day. The first mailboxes went up in Boston and New York City.  Lewis Carroll published "Alice in Wonderland". The Tower Subway in London was opened, becoming the firtst underground public transportation system to do so. The anniversary of the "Dead Man's Hand" is today, as "Wild" Bill Hickok was killed with a pair of black aces and black eights in his hand. Lincoln pennies began to be minted on this day in 1909. France and Germany declared war on one another in 1914, as World War I really got going. Hindenburg died on this day, which Hitler quickly took advantage of to assume more powers for himself and the Nazis, making himself Commander-in-Chief. An armed revolt broke out in Treblinka. The Potsdam Conference between Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill ended. This was the anniversary of the Pentago reporting that North Vietnam had attacked two American vessels, which led to stepped up American involvement in Vietnam, in what would become the longest war that the United States had ever gotten involved in (since surpassed by American involvement in Afghanistan). Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Kuwait on this day in 1990.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

338 BC - A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and the Aegean.

216 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of Cannae - Carthaginian army lead by Hannibal defeats numerically superior Roman army under command consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro.

257 - St Stephen I ends his reign as Catholic Pope

1057 - Frederik van Lotharingen elected as 1st Belgium Pope Stephen IX [X]

1492 - Jews are expelled from Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella

1542 - French troops leave Flanders

1552 - Treaty of Passau: Emperor Charles V accepts Lutheran religion

1578 - Battle of Rijmenam

1581 - Leiden University names Snellius math professor

1610 - Henry Hudson enters bay later named after him, the Hudson Bay

1665 - French expedition against Barbarians in Tunis/Algiers

1704 - Duke of Marlborough beats French & Bavarians at Blenheim

1718 - Austrian joins Triple Alliance

1738 - France offers emperor Karel VI mediation in war against Turkey

1776 - Members of the Continental Congress (56 of them) began formally adding their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.  

1782 - George Washington creates Honorary Badge of Distinction

1786 - Utrechtse Vroedschap flees

1787 - Horace the Saussure reaches top of Mont Blanc

1790 - The first US Census is conducted.

1791 - Samuel Briggs and his son Samuel Briggs, Jr. received a joint patent for their nail-making machine. They were the first father-son pair to receive a patent.

1798 - British under Adm Horatio Nelson beat French at Battle of Nile

1802 - Napoleon declared "Counsel for Life"

1819 - 1st parachute jump in US
1824 - In New York City, Fifth Avenue was opened.     

1830 - Charles X of France abdicates in favour of his grandson the Duc de Bordeaux

1831 - Ten day campaign begins, Dutch army occupies Belgium

1832 - Battle of Bad Axe, Wisconsin: 1,300 Illinois militia defeat Sauk & Fox Native Americans ending the Black Hawk War in the US

1858 - 1st mailboxes installed in Boston and NYC streets

1858 - Government of India transferred from East India Company to Crown

1861 - Skirmish at Dug Springs, MI
1861 - The United States Congress passed the first income tax. The revenues were intended for the war effort against the South. The tax was never enacted.    

1864 - 2nd Saratoga Racetrack (NY) opens

1865 - Lewis Carroll publishes "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

1865 - Trans Atlantic Cable being laid by SS Great Eastern snaps & is lost

1870 - Tower Subway, the world's first underground tube railway, opens in London.

1873 - 1st trial run of SF cable car, Clay Street between Kearny & Jones

1875 - 1st roller skating rink opens (London)

1877 - SF Public Library opens with 5,000 volumes

1884 - Dutch Queen Emma appointed regent

1887 - Rowell Hodge patented barbed wire.

1892 - Charles A Wheeler patents a prototype of the escalator

1894 - Death duties 1st introduced in Britain

1894 - Dutch Society for Women Suffrage gets royal charter

1903 - Unsuccessful uprising of Macedonians against Turkey

1906 - Chicago White Sox begin AL record 19 game win streak

1907 - Walter Johnson, 19, debuts with Washington & loses 3-2 to Detroit

1909 - 1st Lincoln head pennies minted

1909 - Army Air Corps formed as Army takes 1st delivery from Wright Brothers

1911 - Haiti's dictator Simon flees on US warship near Jamaica

1912 - 18th US Golf Open: John McDermott shoots a 294 at CC of Buffalo NY

1914 - Belgian government receives German ultimatum

1914 - German press falsely reports that French bombed Nuremberg

1914 - German troops overthrows Luxembourg

1914 - Germany & Turkey signs secret treaty

1914 - Great Britain mobilizes

1914 - Postdam Conference ended

1914 - Russian troops invade Eastern Prussia

1914 - Sherlock Holmes Adventure "His Last Bow" takes place

1916 - World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.

1918 - Japan announces that it is deploying troops to Siberia in the aftermath of World War I.

1920 - Marcus Garvey presents his "Back To Africa" program in NYC

1921 - Chicago jury brings in not guilty verdict against the Black Sox. Eight White Sox players were acquitted of throwing the 1919 World Series.   

1922 - China, hit by a typhoon; about 60,000 die

1924 - Joe Hauser sets record of 14 total bases in a game

1926 - John Barrymore and Mary Astor starred in the first showing of the Vitaphone System. The system was the combining of picture and sound for movies.
1928 - Benito Mussolini signs peace treaty with Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

1929 - Phillies Don Hurst sets NL record of 6 consecutive games with a HR

1931 - Spanish Catalonia agrees (99+%) for autonomous status

1932 - Charlie Grimm replaces Roger Hornsby as manager of Chicago Cubs

1932 - The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.

1934 - 1st airplane train, plane tows 3 mail gliders behind it

1934 - Adolph Hitler becomes commander-in-chief of Germany

1934 - William Franks twirls an indian club overhead 17,280 times in 1 hour

1937 - The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, essentially rendering marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
1938 - Bright yellow baseballs were used in a major league baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Chicago Cardinals. It was hoped that the balls would be easier to see.
1939 - Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Roosevelt urging the U.S. to have an atomic weapons research program.      

1938 - 1st test of a yellow baseball (Dodgers vs Cardinals)
1939 - U.S. President Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act. The act prohibited civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns.  

1939 - Hatch Act prohibits political activity by federal workers

1940 - Clermont-Ferrand sentences Gen Charles de Gaulle to death

1940 - KL-House of saxon & commandos focus on Gross Rosen, Silesia

1941 - German 11st Army surrounds 20 Russian divisions at Oeman

1941 - Hungarian Ruthenia, expels Jews

1941 - Jews are expelled from Hungarian Ruthenia

1942 - 250 Dutch Catholic Jews arrested, transported to Amersfoort camp

1942 - Col-Gen Hoth' Pantser army reaches Kotelnikovo

1943 - Armed revolt breaks out in Treblinka

1943 - The U.S. Navy patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, sank by the Solomon Islands after being attacked by a Japanese destroyer. The boat was under the command of Lt. John F. Kennedy.       

1943 - RAF bombs Hamburg

1943 - Sunderland seaplanes sinks U-706 & U-106

1943 - Uprising at Treblinka Concentration Camp (crematorium destroyed)

1944 - Amsterdam soccer team "The Volewijckers" plays in orange shirts

1944 - Jewish survivors of Kovono Ghetto emerge from their bunker

1944 - Turkey breaks diplomatic relationship with Nazi-Germany

1945 - Potsdam Conference, where the victorious Allied leaders -  Stalin, Truman and Churchill -ended. it had focused on planning the postwar governance of Germany,

1953 - Betty Jack Davis, singer (w/Skeeter Davis), killed in car crash

1953 - KCPQ TV channel 13 in Tacoma-Seattle, WA (IND) begins broadcasting

1954 - Tahar Ben Ammar appointed premier of Tunisia

1955 - USSR performs nuclear test

1958 - Jordan & Iraq disolve their Arab Federation, after 3 months

1959 - 41st PGA Championship: Bob Rosburg shoots a 277 at Minneapolis GC

1959 - Milwaukee Brave Bill Bruton hits 2 bases loaded triples

1959 - SF Giants 1st baseman Willie McCovey hits 1st of his 521 HRs

1961 - Beatles 1st gig as house band of Liverpool's Cavern Club

1961 - Cyrille Adula becomes premier of Congo

1961 - St Louis Cards (NFL) beat Toronto Argonauts (CFL) 36-7 in Toronto

1962 - NASA civilian test pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 32,600 m

1963 - 30th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: All-Stars 20, Green Bay 17 (65,000)

1964 - Dutch government gives Indonesia export guarantees

1964 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Milwaukee Jaycee Golf Open

1964 - The Pentagon reported the first of two North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

1964 - Race riot in Jersey City NJ

1965 - Morley Safer's sends 1st Vietnam report indicating we are losing

1966 - Radio Vila (New Hebrides) begins transmitting

1967 - New Orleans Saints 1st pre-season game, they lose to LA Rams 16-77

1967 - US's Lunar Orbiter 5 launched; enters lunar orbit Aug 5

1967 - The second Blackwall Tunnel opens in Greenwich, London.

1968 - 35th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Green Bay 34, All-Stars 17 (69,917)

Singer-Songwriter Bob DylanSinger-Songwriter Bob Dylan
1969 - Bob Dylan makes surprise appearance at Hibbing HS Minn 10th reunion

1969 - Pres Nixon visits Romania

1970 - Baltimore defeats KC 10-8, Orioles 23rd straight win over the Royals

1970 - France performs nuclear test at Fangataufa Island

1972 - Gold hits record $70 an ounce in London

1973 - George Brett gets his 1st hit

1975 - 104°F (40°C) at Providence, Rhode Island (state record)

1975 - 107°F (42°C) at Chester/New Bedford, Massachusetts (state record)

1979 - "Broadway Opry '79" closes at St James Theater NYC after 6 perfs

1979 - Gilda Radner Live From New York opens on Broadway

1980 - Fascist bomb attack on Bologna Italy train station, 86 killed

1980 - US swimmers set 3 world records at National championships

1981 - Australia set 151 to win, all out 121, Botham 5-11 in 14 overs

1981 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA Boston Five Golf Classic

1982 - Oakland's Rickey Henderson steals his 100th base of the season

1982 - Roger Ebert's Movie News premieres on ABC FM network

1983 - STS-8 vehicle moves to launch pad

1983 - US District Court begins trying Yonkers accuse of race discrimination
1983 - U.S. House of Representatives approved a law that designated the third Monday of January would be a federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The law was signed by President Reagan on November 2.  

1984 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1985 - 5 die in a train crash in Westminster Colo

1985 - Delta Lockheed L-1011 crashes at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, 137 die

1985 - NASA launches space vehicle S-209

1986 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee (US) sets record for heptathlon (7161 pts)

1986 - TODAY/PC born today

1987 - 25th Tennis Fed Cup: Germany beats USA in Vancouver Canada (2-1)

1987 - Chris Johnson wins Columbia Savings LPGA National Golf Pro-Am

1987 - Cin Red Eric Davis becomes 7th & earliest 30 HR 30 steal man

1987 - Don Brown sets flight record for handbow (1,336 yds 1'3")

1987 - Eric Davis is 7th to hit 30 HRs & steal 30 bases in one season

1987 - Kevin Seitzer (KC Royals), gets 6 hits in one baseball game

1987 - Michael Andretti runs fastest Indy car race in history (171.49 MPH)

1987 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1987 - "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was re-released. The film was 50 years old at the time of its re-release.  

1988 - Raymond Acevedo is retired from singing group Menudo

1988 - System Enhancement Association settles case with PKware (ARC vs PKARC)

1989 - NASA confirmed Voyager 2's discovery of 3 more moons of Neptune designated temporarily 1989 N2, 1989 N3 & 1989 N24

1990 - Iraq invaded the oil-rich country of Kuwait. Iraq claimed that Kuwait had driven down oil prices by exceeding production quotas set by OPEC. The Emir fled to Saudi Arabia.  

1990 - Yankees rookie Kevin Maas hits his 10th home run in just 77 at bats

1991 - Funk singer Rick James, arrested on sexual torture charges

1991 - Hedy Lamaar is arrested for shoplifting in LA

1991 - Mike Jeffcoat is 1st AL pitcher to get an RBI since 1972

1991 - Space shuttle STS 43 (Atlantis 9) launched

1992 - "Death & the Maiden" closes at Brooks Atkinson NYC after 159 perfs

1992 - Dottie Mochrie wins LPGA Welch's Golf Classic

1992 - Tom Seaver, R Fingers, Hal Newhouser, & B McGowan enter Hall of Fame

1993 - NYC radio (WFAN) personality Don Imus' lung collapes

1993 - Peter Angelos & William DeWitt purchase Orioles

1993 - Train crash in tunnel at Vega de Anzo Spain, 12 killed

1993 - Shamrock Broadcasting, a Disney company, officially takes ownership of Cleveland's WMMS-FM/100.7 & WHK-AM/1420

1994 - Congressional hearings begin on White Water

1994 - Explosion in lead/zinc mine in Guangxi China, 120+ killed

1994 - NY Supreme Court refuses Howard Stern's non financial disclosure

1994 - Noureddine Morceli runs world record 3000m (7:25.11)

1995 - China ordered the expulsion of two U.S. Air Force officers. The two were said to have been caught spying on military sights.
1998 - 26th du Maurier Golf Classic

1998 - 30th Curtis Cup: US wins 10-8 at The Minikahda Club (Minneapolis, Minnesota, US)

2012 - 23 people are killed after two blasts in a fruit market in Lahore, Pakistan

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/aug02.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

Debate About Andre Reed's HOF Credentials, and the San Antonio Raiders?

So, it's that time of the year again! 

That's right - the NFL is back! 

Okay, true, it's still only the preseason. Many people consider the preseason as meaningless, although personally, I disagree. The preseason can determine many things about the future for a team. I remember being at the historic opening of the new Metlife Stadium, watching the Giants take on the Jets, who were technically the home team on that occasion. it was indeed a preseason game, and one that many probably assumed was a meaningless game.

But one player stood out on that day, and he made an impression not just on me, but on almost everybody watching the game. He was an unknown wide receiver at the time, and I don't believe he was favored to even make the roster. But after that day, he became everyone's darling, and was assured to be on some NFL roster, even if it was not with the Giants, because he was so impressive on that particular day!

As it turned, he did indeed make the cut to be on the Giants roster, and became a standout receiver. Within a couple of years, he not only won a Super Bowl ring with the Giants, but he had his own celebratory dance moves as his trademark after scoring touchdowns, including the first touchdown scored in Super Bowl XLVI!

Of course, I'm talking about Victor Cruz! Admittedly, I had never heard of him prior to that evening. But for the rest of the preseason, I watched him, and the Giants moves, hoping that they would have the sense to keep him on their roster. Surely, I was not alone. And surely, also, there was a collective sigh of relief from all Giants fans, like me, when he made the cut. 

I think it's safe to say that it worked out for the best for all parties involved, wouldn't you say?

In any case, yes, the preseason is an interesting time for football, with things like that that can greatly affect a team's future fortunes. Sometimes, it's not such good news. A key injury in the preseason is always possible, and has happened. Or some key moves, either picks ups or cuts. Things happen, and teams also try some new things during the preseason. 

It's certainly not always an indicator of what's going to happen during the season, although you do get some games that perhaps are more telling than more preseason games are given credit for. Take, as an example, last year's preseason game between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos. The Broncos were the "sexy pick", using the parlance of our times, during last year's preseason. But they got walloped and physically dominated in Seattle on that day, losing 42-10. So badly were they physically beaten, that John Elway actually expressed his discomfort about it afterwards - even though it was only a preseason game, allegedly. 

Most of the "experts" dismissed it, and claimed that if the two teams met in a "meaningful" game, the game would not be so obviously lopsided. 

Yet, it was an accurate indicator of what would happen, because those two teams obviously did meet again, and this time, in the most meaningful game of them all! And in the Super Bowl, the Seahawks, if anything, dominated Denver even more than they had last August, completely rendering the most explosive offense in NFL history helpless, and making them look like they did not belong on the same field as the Seahawks on that that day! The final score for that game, as everyone remembers, was 43-8! And frankly, Denver can be thankful that it was even that close, because it could easily have been far worse!

So, let's not knock the preseason. It's the first chance that we will get to see our favorite teams on the field, with the changes that they made, and hoping that the moves that they made, and are still in the process of making, will lead to a successful season - even, possibly, to that ultimate success of a Super Bowl championship!

And the preseason is already beginning this weekend, with the Hall of Fame Game, the traditional opener for the preseason each year.

This year, it's the Buffalo Bills taking on my New York Giants, and I, for one, will be glad to see the two New York teams take the field, as all of the questions surrounding the upcoming season at least begin to be answered!

So, I am taking a break from all of those blog entries on the two trips that I recently took to recognize that the NFL is back! And this year, my favorite team happens to be a part of the opening festivities! 

Are you ready for some football?

Controversy Over Andre Reed's Induction Into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

So apparently, some people are less than thrilled with the induction into the NFL Hall of Fame by former Bills wide receiver Andre Reed.

Personally, I don't even see what all the fuss is about.

I mean, Andre Reed was the leading wide receiver on a team that went to four straight Super Bowls! That team is the only one in NFL history to have made it to four straight Super Bowls, or even four straight NFL Championships, in a row, to my knowledge.

In other sports, some teams have managed the feat, but it is rare. The Miami Heat just pulled off the feat, winning two titles, and losing the other two. Yet, I'd be willing to bet that few objections will be raised if any of the so-called "Big Three" get into the Hall of Fame in basketball, even if, arguably, none of those guys win any more championships (I'm not making that prediction, just in case you were wondering). The New York Yankees achieved the feat in the late nineties and into the early 2000's, winning the first three (from 1998 until 2000), before losing the World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks. And in hockey, the Montreal Canadiens pulled off the feat from 1976-1979, followed immediately by the New York Islanders, who did the same from 1980 until 1983. Those teams won all of their Stanley Cup Finals appearances.

Which means that, of those teams that I mentioned, only one team did not manage to win a single title in those finals runs. That team, of course, was the Buffalo Bills, with Andre Reed.

I don't think that there would be any question that Reed would be in the Hall of Fame if the Buffalo Bills, like the Miami Heat, had managed to win two of those titles, or perhaps even one of those titles.

But people call it into question because, in this age where "winning is everything" (or, as Vince Lombardi might say, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing"), people seem intent on continuing to punish the Buffalo Bills of the early to mid-nineties for failing to win any of their four straight Super Bowl appearances. They will always be remembered for blinking at the wrong moments, right? The missed field goal by Scott Norwood that assured that the Bills would not win the Super Bowl in their most dominant season in team history. The blowout losses to Washington and emerging dynasty Dallas in the next two Super Bowls. And then, outplaying heavily favored Dallas in that last Super Bowl through the first half, only to have Thurman Thomas make a crucial mistake early in the second half, and seeing the team largely unravel after that, losing an unprecedented fourth straight Super Bowl.

Still, think of just how rare of a feat it is to have a team even qualify for four straight championships! Those examples that I just gave are the only ones that I can think of in my lifetime. You have to go back to before I was born for examples of teams that achieved that feat, or beyond. The Montreal Canadiens again, back in the sixties, managed to do it. Actually, they qualified for five Stanley Cup Finals in a row, and won four of them! The Canadiens won more titles in a longer span than any other team, winning fourteen Stanley Cup championships in a span of just under a quarter of a century! The Boston Celtics enjoyed similar, unparalleled success in basketball, famously winning eight titles in a row, and taking eleven titles in a thirteen year span! The New York Yankees achieved some similar feats in the early sixties, qualifying for five straight World Series, winning two of them. That came after a similar run by the Yankees in the mid- to late fifties, when they also went to four straight World Series, winning two of those championships, which mean that in a span of ten years, the Yankees qualified for nine World Series, and won four of those! Only in one year, about midway through this run, was their quest to qualify for the World Series interrupted (in 1959, in case you were wondering). And that came shortly after a run of five straight World Series championships by the Yankees, from 1949 to 1953! Which means the Yankees actually qualified for the World Series fourteen times in a sixteen year span!

Yes, the accomplishments of those teams is legendary. But you need to remember that, back then, there were a hell of a lot less teams for those standout teams to survive, and have to deal with. I know, I know, that some people would argue that teams these days are watered down, and on some level, that may be true. But all the more reason to make a big deal when one team truly does stand out and accomplish something undeniably great, like the Miami Heat becoming the first team in many decades to actually qualify for four straight NBA Finals. Again, in my lifetime, that feat of four straight trips to the big show has been achieved only rarely, by the most elite teams. Only one team per sport, with the sole exception being hockey, where both the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Islanders managed to achieve it since the seventies. That bears repeating: only those two teams in hockey, only the Yankees in the late 90's and early 2000's in baseball, and only the Miami Heat the last four years in basketball.

So think about that. Those great Chicago Bulls teams of the nineties? Two three peats, but they failed to reach the NBA Championship four years in a row. Ditto for the Lakers of the eighties, or in the 2000's. Ditto for Red Wings, Devils, or Penguins in the nineties and 2000's, and ditto for any team in baseball.

For that matter, ditto for the Pittsburgh Steelers in football in the seventies, the 49ers in the eighties, or the Dallas Cowboys in the nineties. In fact, despite their unquestioned greatness, none of those teams managed to qualify for, let alone win, the Super Bowl more than two years in a row!

Only two teams in NFL history have managed to reach the Super Bowl three seasons in a row: the Miami Dolphins of the early seventies, and the Buffalo Bills of the early nineties.

For the Dolphins, nobody questions their greatness. They had that perfect season in 1972, a year after getting crushed by Dallas in Super Bowl VI. And then, they followed up that season of perfection with another dominant regular season, and another convincing Super Bowl win.

Which leaves the Buffalo Bills, who dominated the AFC like no team I have seen before or since.

Think about it: for four straight years, nobody managed to knock them off, and they remained on their perch high above the other AFC teams during that time span. Hell, one AFC team even had a 32-point lead in a playoff game against those Bills, and that was not enough to finish them off! Yes, the Bills famously pulled off the greatest comeback in NFL history to keep their run of AFC Championships intact! They crushed many of their playoff opponents, from the LA Raiders in the first AFC Championship (51-3!) to the Miami Dolphins twice, to the Kansas City Chiefs in the final AFC title game of that epic AFC run by the Bills, knocking out star quarterback Joe Montana in the process!

The Denver Broncos, who enjoyed a run of three AFC titles in a four year span, never dominated the AFC like that!

True, they were not better than the best that the NFC had to offer. But they were right there with those teams. They beat both the Dallas Cowboys (admittedly and notably, without Emmit Smith) and the San Francisco 49ers, the two biggest bullies of the NFC during that era, in the regular season, and did so on the road! That game against the 49ers was a shootout at the old Candlestick Park (which the 49ers just closed out this past season), and it was the first NFL game without any punts, which the Bills managed to win, 34-31! During that era, the Bills beat those two teams, as well as the both Washington and the New York Giants (twice) in regular season meetings, as well as other standout NFC teams, such as the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints. They were almost unbeatable at home for a while, and you kind of got used to teams like the Atlanta Falcons going into Buffalo and getting humiliated, 38-7. That's how good those Buffalo Bills teams were!

And remember, they had that historical comeback, down 35-3 in the AFC Wildcard Game on January of 1993, only to have backup quarterback Frank Reich orchestrate an incredible come from behind win! The Bills qualified for the AFC Championship Game five times in a six year span, losing in the 1988 season to the Cincinnati Bengals, and then returning to the AFC Championship two seasons later, to begin a run of nine straight playoff wins against AFC opponents! You cannot say enough about what they managed to achieve during that era!

But all that people remember is their one vice: losing each Super Bowl that they qualified for. Like the Denver Broncos of the eighties before them, and like the Minnesota Vikings of the seventies before them.

You know what, though? Those were some great teams, with some great accomplishments. And the Bills were the greatest of those teams! Their accomplishments during their runs dwarfed that of both of those other teams, even if it also underscored their failures in not actually winning the championship!

Yes, I know that not winning the Super Bowl is a considerable knock against them. But think of all the great teams, and great players, that failed to even qualify for one Super Bowl! Think of the 1998 Minnesota Vikings, a historically dominant regular season team that did not even reach the Super Bowl! Or the Danny White era Dallas Cowboys, that went to three straight NFC Championships, losing each one. The Cleveland Browns of the mid- to late-eighties, who kept losing to those same Denver Broncos in each the AFC Championship Games. think of some of the great talents in the NFL that never made it to the Super Bowl! Barry Sanders, Dan Fouts, Randall Cunningham, Chris Carter, Doug Flutie (some would debate his credentials), Warren Moon, Ladamian Tomlinson. Or players still playing, but who are in serious risk of never reaching the big game! Guys like Adrian Peterson, Carson Palmer, and Philip Rivers. Teams like the San Diego Chargers of the 2000's, or the 2009 Minnesota Vikings who, like the 1998 Minnesota Vikings, are one of the best single season teams that I have ever seen fail to qualify for the Super Bowl.

Hell! Neither the Cleveland Browns nor the Detroit Lions, two franchises that have been around for many, many decades, and won championships in the fifties, have even been to the Super Bowl one single time yet!

I can understand questioning Reed's entry into the Hall of Fame if the Buffalo Bills qualified for one Super Bowl, lost, and went away. It's a great accomplishment to even get to the Super Bowl, and people too quickly forget that. Even two straight, although that's an even greater accomplishment, would be something that numerous teams have managed to do. But four Super Bowls? Not just four overall, but four years in a row? Whether you liked them or were sick of them by the end of that run, the fact of the matter is that it was a great run, one of the standout runs in recent pro sports memory. That I was able to mention the franchises that have come before that managed to pull off consecutive championship game or series appearances is saying something, and should tell you that what the Bills managed to achieve is, indeed, something unique and historic. They are the only team in football to have so achieved it. Unfortunately, it is hard to overlook that they did not win any of those Super Bowls. But it is a testament to how great that team was that they managed to get their four straight seasons! When's the last time a team lost a Super Bowl and even qualified for the playoffs the next season? It was actually the Buffalo Bills, back in 1993, the last of their four AFC Championship runs. A lot of teams that qualified for the Super Bowl since, both winners and losers of the big game, failed to even qualify for the playoffs the following season, including the Giants and Ravens, the two previous Super Bowl champs before Seattle won it this last time around. Three times since the Bills last lost the Super Bowl, both participants in the Super Bowl ended up not qualifying for the playoffs the next season (XXXIII, XXXVI, XXXVII). In one case, neither teams has qualified for the playoffs since their Super Bowl meeting well over a decade ago, that being the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders, who met in the big game after the 2002 season!

The point is, the Bills accomplished something (even if there seems a measure of futility in getting there and repeatedly losing) that very few teams in all of sports ever achieve! Only the very best dynasties can compare (favorably, admittedly) to what the Bills managed to do! The fact that the Buffalo Bills can be mentioned, with some measure of legitimacy, in such company should tell you something about the significance of what they managed to achieve in those years.

So, to me, there really is no controversy regarding Andre Reed's induction into the Hall of Fame. When a team managed to accomplish so much, they deserve tremendous recognition. I believe that all of the major guys involved with that team - from head coach Marv Levy, to quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, linebacker Bruce Smith, and possibly even Darryl Tally and Cornelius Bennett, could rightfully be in the Hall of Fame. In some cases (Marv Levy, Jim Kelly, James Lofton, Bruce Smith, and Ralph Wilson), some of those guys in fact did make it to the Hall of Fame.

Andre Reed is easily and justly mentioned in that same category, as the leading wide receiver for a great Bills team. It's only fair!

The only argument against it would be the same sour grapes arguments that people had in the last two years or so of that remarkable Bills run, that people were essentially sick and tired of the Bills always reaching the Super Bowl, only to lose. The fact of the matter is that if any team in the AFC had been good enough to knock off the Bills, they would have. The fact that nobody in all of that time managed to do so in the AFC reveals something perhaps about the AFC at that time, but it certainly also tells you something about the quality of the Bills organization at that time, as well. Some people argued, when the Broncos got blown out in all of those Super Bowls in the eighties, that they probably were not even the second or third best team in those seasons. But the same argument is not likely the case with the Buffalo Bills for most of those seasons, particularly the 1990 season and the 1991 season, and frankly, probably the 1992 and 1993 seasons as well.

The Bills were a great team, and it's time to recognize the guys that helped make them so.

Thus, Andre Reed takes his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, as an honored member of that Buffalo Bills team that made history repeatedly!

Two sides to Andre Reed’s ‘call to the Hall’ NFL Preseason 1:21 mins Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab looks at Andre Reed’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame:

http://sports.yahoo.com/video/two-sides-andre-reed-call-192622424.html

The San Antonio Raiders?

Now, this rather surprising news from the Raiders: team owner Mark Davis, son of legendary former owner and team founder Al Davis, was in San Antonio, and happened to meet with city officials while there. He did not deny that there were talks about possible relocation to San Antonio from the team's present home in Oakland, but nor did he confirm this.

Is he possibly seriously considering a move by the silver and black to the city who's only other pro sports team also dons silver and black?

Probably not. Here, according to the article on the subject by Frank Schwab:

It's fair to wonder if this is a bluff by Davis, a move to put some heat on Oakland officials to get a new stadium. But it's worth noting that the meeting happened about a week-and-a-half ago, and the story was leaked to a San Antonio newspaper. If the Raiders were really just engaging in a public staredown, using San Antonio as a bargaining chip, part of that process is actually making the meeting public. Unless the Raiders decided to leak it to a media outlet in Texas first, they were very quiet on the situation.

Hmmmm....so, it seems that this is a crafty psychological play by Davis to force Oakland's hand to build the Raiders organization a new stadium, which is probably what he really wants.

You know, let's see what happens. But personally, I'm a bit tired of sports franchises like this threatening relocation if they do not get exactly what they want, especially when what they want is a new stadium, largely at taxpayer expense.

And if you watch the video, it might not even behoove Davis to move the franchise, since it might threaten his majority ownership of the team.

Ah, internal politics.

You know what? Let's just start playing the game again. Are you ready for some football?

Oakland Raiders owner talks to San Antonio about move by Frank Schwab of Shutdown Corner, July 29, 2014:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/oakland-raiders-owner-talks-to-san-antonio-about-move-232336327.html

On This Day in History - August 1 World War I Breaks Out

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

Aug 1, 1914: First World War erupts in Europe 

On August 1, 1914, four days after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, two more great European powers—Russia and Germany—declare war on each other; the same day, France orders a general mobilization. The so-called "Great War" that ensued would be one of unprecedented destruction and loss of life, resulting in the deaths of some 20 million soldiers and civilians and the physical devastation of much of the European continent.  

The event that was widely acknowledged to have sparked the outbreak of World War I occurred on July 28, 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was shot to death with his wife by the Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo. Over the weeks that followed, Austria-Hungary blamed the Serbian government for the attack, hoping to use the incident as justification for settling the problem of Slavic nationalism in the tumultuous Balkans region once and for all. However, as Russia supported Serbia, an Austria-Hungary declaration of war was delayed until its leaders received assurances from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support their cause in the event of a Russian intervention. This assurance came on July 5; Austria-Hungary subsequently sent an ultimatum to the Serbian government on July 23 and demanded its acceptance within two days at the risk of war. Though Serbia accepted all but two of the ultimatum’s terms, and Russia declared its intention to back Serbia in the case of such a conflict, Austria-Hungary went ahead with its war declaration against Serbia on July 28, one month after the assassinations.  

With that declaration, the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers was shattered: Germany warned Russia, still only partially mobilized, that to continue to full mobilization against Austria-Hungary would mean war with Germany. While insisting that Russia immediately halt mobilization, Germany began its own mobilization; when the Russians refused the German demands, Germany declared war on the czarist empire on August 1. That same day, Russia’s ally, France, long suspicious of German aggression, began its own mobilization, urging Great Britain—the third member, along with France and Russia, of the Triple Entente alliance—to declare its support. A divided British government declined to do so initially, but events soon precipitated Britain’s move towards war as well. On August 2, the first German army units crossed into Luxembourg as part of a long-planned German strategy to invade France through neutral Belgium. France and Germany declared war against each other on August 3; that night, Germany invaded Belgium, prompting Great Britain to declare war on Germany.  

For the most part, the people of Europe greeted the outbreak of war with jubilation. The great majority of people—within government and without—assumed that their country would be victorious within months, and could not envision the possibility of a longer conflict. By the end of 1914, however, well over a million soldiers of various nationalities had been killed on the battlefields of Europe, and there was no final victory in sight for either the Allies or the Central Powers. On the Western Front—the battle line that stretched across northern France and Belgium—the combatants settled down in the trenches for a terrible war of attrition, which would continue, in Europe and other corners of the world, for the next four years.



Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

30 BC - Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic.

527 - Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire

607 - Ono no Imoko is dispatched as envoy to the Sui court in China (Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607).

649 - Pope Martinus I chosen successor of Theodorus I [or 8/7]

860 - Peace of Koblenz: Charles the Bare, Louis the German & Lotharius II

902 - Aghlabidisch emir Ibrahim II destroys Taormina, Sicily

1021 - Synod of Pavia: emperor Henry II convicts married priest

1086 - Results of the Domesday inquiry presented to William the Conqueror in Salisbury (the date of compilation and the Great Domesday are historically contestable)

1177 - Peace Treaty of Venice: Emperor Frederik I & Pope Alexander III

1203 - Alexius IV Angelus appointed co-regent of Byzantium

1291 - Everlasting League forms, basis of Swiss Confederation (Independence)

1485 - Henry (VII) Tudors army sails to England

1498 - Christopher Columbus lands on "Isla Santa" (Venezuela)

1588 - English admiral Howard van Effingham beats Spanish Armada

1589 - Assination of French King Henry III by friar Jacques Clément

1619 - 1st black Americans (20) land at Jamestown, Virginia

1626 - Earl Earnest Casimir conquerors Oldenzaal

1628 - Emperor Ferdinand II demands Austria Protestant convert to Catholicism

1664 - Battle at St Gotthard: Earl Raimondo Montecucculi beats Ahmed Kiprulu

Explorer of the New World Christopher ColumbusExplorer of the New World Christopher Columbus 1690 - Battle at Staffarda: French army beats Victor Amadeus van Savoye

1711 - Surrounded Czar Peter the Great flees Azov

1714 - Monarch Georg Ludwig becomes king George I of England

1715 - 1st Doggett's Coat and Badge race (Waterman's race) held on Thames River (London Bridge to Chelsea)

1732 - Foundation laid for Bank of England

1759 - Battle at Minden, Westfalen: Ferdinand van Brunswick beats France

1774 - Joseph Priestley, English theologian and chemist author discovers oxygen

1780 - Sweden declares neutrality

1781 - English army under general Cornwallis occupies Yorktown, Virginia

1785 - Caroline Herschel becomes 1st woman discoverer of a comet

1789 - US Customs begins enforcing Tariff Act

1790 - 1st US census (population of 3,939,214; 697,624 are slaves)

1793 - France becomes 1st country to use the metric system

1794 - Whiskey Rebellion begins

1798 - Battle of Abukir on the Nile-Nelson defeats French fleet

Russian Tsar Peter the GreatRussian Tsar Peter the Great 1812 - Rare tornado hits Westchester County NY

1814 - Belgium King Willem I accept blame in Southern defeat

1820 - London's Regent's Canal opens.

1828 - Bolton and Leigh Railway opens to freight traffic.

1831 - London Bridge opens to traffic

1832 - The Black Hawk War ends.

1834 - Slavery abolished throughout the British Empire - Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into effect

1836 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin returns to Bahia Brazil

1838 - Apprenticeship system abolished in most of the British Empire. Former slaves no longer indentured to former owners.

1840 - Labourer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.

1842 - Rotherhithe Thames Tunnel opens

1842 - Lombard Street Riot erupts

1852 - SF Methodists establish 1st black church, Zion Methodist

1855 - Castle Clinton in NYC opens as 1st US receiving station for immigrants

1861 - Brazil recognizes Confederacy

Naturalist Charles DarwinNaturalist Charles Darwin 1863 - Battle of Little Rock, Arkansas; start of Chattanooga campaign

1863 - Cavalry action near Brandy Station-End of Gettysburg Campaign

1864 - Battle of Petersburg, VA

1867 - Blacks vote for 1st time in a US state election in the South (Tenn)

1869 - 1st voyage down Colorado River

1873 - SF's 1st cable car begins service

1876 - Colorado becomes 38th state

1881 - US Quarantine Station authorized for Angel Island, SF Bay

1883 - A papyrus offered to Brit Museum for £10,000 (forgery)

1883 - Amsterdam's Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky gets electric lights

1883 - Inland postal service begins in Great Britain

1886 - Great Britain annexes Kermadec-Island near New Zealand

1890 - Cecil Rhodes' colonies reach Lundi

1893 - Henry Perky & William Ford patent shredded wheat

1896 - George Samuelson completes rowing Atlantic (NY to England)

1901 - Burial within SF City limits prohibited

1902 - Building begins on Dutch public housing

1902 - Mine accident in Wollongong, Australia (100 die)

1903 - 1st coast-to-coast automobile trip (SF-NY) completed

1906 - Bkln Dodger Harry McIntire no-hits Pitts for 10 2/3 loses in 13th

1907 - Bank of Italy opens 1st branch at 3433 Mission Street, SF

1907 - Signal Corps of US army starts aircraft division

1907 - First Scout camp opens on Brownsea Island.

1909 - British SS Waratah disappears on Sydney to London, 300 killed

1911 - Omar N Bradley (18) begins education in West Point

1914 - British fleet reaches Scapa Flow

Last Tsar of Russia Nicholas II AleksandrovitchLast Tsar of Russia Nicholas II Aleksandrovitch 1914 - Emperor Wilhelm II declares war on his nephew Tsar Nicholas II (WW I)

1914 - France & Germany mobilize

1914 - Trois Vierges: German 69th infantry regiment enter Luxembourg Germany declares war on Russia in WW I

1916 - Hawaii National Park forms

1917 - Frank Little, IWW organizer, lynched in Butte, MT

1918 - British troops enter Vladivostok

1918 - Pittsburgh Pirates beat Boston Braves, 2-0, in 21 innings

1919 - Queen Wilhelmina opens 1st Air Fair in Amsterdam

1919 - Treffers soccer team forms in Groesbeek

1920 - Papendrecht soccer team forms

1920 - Peace of Riga-Independence of Latvia

1922 - Hendrikus Colijn becomes political editor-in-chief of The Standard

1925 - Shortwave-radio link between Kootwijk & Netherland East-Indies

1926 - Battles between Druzen & French in Damascus

1926 - Failed assassination on Gen Primo de Rivera in Barcelona

1927 - Earliest date for a film to be considered for the Academy Awards

Baseball Great Babe RuthBaseball Great Babe Ruth 1928 - Babe Ruth hits HR # 42 & is 4 weeks ahead of his 1927 pace

1933 - Carl Hubbell sets record of consecutive scoreless innings (45 1/3)

1933 - Death penality for anti fascists in Germany

1933 - Dutch colonial regime in Batavia arrest ir Sukarno

1933 - NRA (National Recovery Administration) forms

1936 - Adolph Hitler opens 11th Olympic Games in Berlin

1936 - Benjamin E Mays named president of Morehouse College

1941 - Luftwaffe bombs German 23rd division

1941 - NY Yankee Lefty Gomez walks most (11) in a shutout (Yanks 9, St L 0)

1941 - The first Jeep is produced.

1942 - Deurne soccer team forms

1942 - German occupier demands listing of all Dutch telephone subscribers

1942 - Race riots in Harlem, New York

1943 - Japan declares Burma Independence under U Ba Maw

1943 - Race riot in Harlem NYC

Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolph HitlerDictator of Nazi Germany Adolph Hitler 1943 - Sunderland seaplanes sink U-454 & U-383

1944 - Adam Clayton Powell elected 1st black congressman from East

1944 - Anne Frank's last diary entry; 3 days later she is arrested

1944 - General Montgomery takes command of 12th & 21st army

1944 - US 90th division occupies St Hilaire-du-Harcourt

1944 - US troops enter Tessy-sur-Vir

1944 - Uprising in Warsaw

1945 - Japanese city Toyama destroyed by B-29's

1945 - Mel Ott is 1st in NL to hit 500th HR (joins Babe Ruth & Jimmy Foxx)

1945 - SVBO soccer team forms in Barger-Oosterveld

1946 - Pres Harry Truman establishes Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)

1947 - "Medium & The Telephone" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 211 perfs

1947 - Valleivogels soccer team forms in Scherpenzeel

1948 - The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded.

1950 - 1st Major League baseball player to fight in Korea (Curt Simmons)

33rd US President Harry Truman33rd US President Harry Truman 1950 - American Bowling Congress ends all-white-males rule

1950 - Guam adopts constitution (Organic Act)

1950 - King Leopold of Belgium abdicates, Baudouin becomes King

1950 - Territory of Guam created

1951 - David Ben-Gurion's Mapai-party wins Israeli parliamentary election

1953 - California introduces sales tax (for education)

1953 - Fidel Castro arrested in Cuba

1953 - KMBC TV channel 9 in Kansas City, MO (MET/ABC) begins broadcasting

1953 - KOBI TV channel 5 in Medford, OR (NBC) begins broadcasting

1953 - Northern Rhodesia becomes part of Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland

1953 - Red Sox Ben Flowers sets then record of 8 consecutive games in relief

1954 - Louison Bobet wins his 2nd Tour de France

1954 - WKBT TV channel 8 in La Crosse, WI (CBS) begins broadcasting

1955 - 1st microgravity research begins

1955 - Tengku Abdul Rahman forms Malacca government

Dictator Fidel CastroDictator Fidel Castro 1955 - WILL TV channel 12 in Urbana-Champaign, IL (PBS) begins broadcasting

1956 - KRCR TV channel 7 in Redding-Chico, CA (ABC) begins broadcasting

1957 - 1st coml building heated by Sun (Albuquerque NM)

1957 - Gil Hodges hits his NL record 13th career grand slam (Last by Bkln)

1957 - Glen Gorbous throws a baseball a record 136 m (445'10")

1957 - US & Canada create North American Air Defense Command (NORAD)

1958 - 1st class postage up to 4 cents (had been 3 cents for 26 years)

1958 - US atomic sub USS Nautilus 1st begins transit of North Pole "operation Sunshine"

1959 - New Continental baseball league formed

1959 - Pope John XXIII publishes encyclical Sacerdotii nostri primordia

1959 - WAAY TV channel 31 in Huntsville, AL (ABC/NBC) begins broadcasting

1960 - Aretha Franklins 1st recording session

1960 - Benin (Dahomey) gains independence from France

1960 - Chubby Checker releases "The Twist"

1960 - Islamabad declared as the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan.

1961 - Benaud rips through England team for Aussie win at Old Trafford

1961 - German DR limits traffic to West Berlin

1961 - New SF Hall of Justice opens

1961 - Whitney Young Jr named executive director of National Urban League

1962 - Boston Red Sox Bill Monboquette no-hits Chicago White Sox, 1-0

1962 - Failed assassination on president Nkrumah of Ghana

1963 - Beatles Book is sold out on its 1st day of sale

1963 - Germany FR annexes Elten village

1963 - WQAD TV channel 8 in Moline, IL (ABC) begins broadcasting

1964 - ALM (Antillian Airlines) begins operation

1964 - Beatles' "Hard Day's Night, A," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 2 weeks

1965 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Waterloo Golf Open

1966 - Charles Whitman wounds 31 & kills 16 at University of Texas

1967 - Izaak Samkalden becomes mayor of Amsterdam

1967 - WBRA TV channel 15 in Roanoke, VA (PBS) begins broadcasting

1968 - Canada begins replacing silver with nickel in coins

1968 - Cleveland Metroparks begins operating Zoo

1968 - WXIX TV channel 19 in Cincinnati-Newport, OH (IND) begins broadcasting

1968 - The coronation is held of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei.

1969 - 110,000 attend Atlantic City Pop Festival

1969 - 36th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: NY Jets 26, All-Stars 24 (74,208)

1969 - Mariner 6 sends close-up photo's of Mars

1970 - EAA Convention moves from Rockford Ill to Oshkosh, Wi

1970 - KTSD TV channel 10 in Pierre, SD (PBS) begins broadcasting

1970 - Willie Stargell (Pirates) ties record of 5 extra base hits in a game

1971 - Bangladesh refugee concert with George Harrison

1971 - CBS presents Masterpiece Theatre's 6 Wives of Henry VIII

1971 - George Harrison's concert for Bangladesh takes place in NYC

1971 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA Bluegrass Golf Invitational

1972 - 1st article exposing Wategate scandal (Bernstein-Woodward)

1972 - Nate Colbert of SD Padres hits record tying 5 HRs in a double header

1973 - H J Witteveen appointed as director of IMF

1973 - Munson & Fisk get into a brawl at Fenway Park

1974 - Virginia Squires trade Julius "Dr J" Erving to NY Nets

1975 - 38 government leaders signs Helsinki accord

1975 - 41st NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Pittsburgh 21, All-Stars 14 (54,103)

1975 - Billy Martin replaces Bill Virdon as manager of NY Yankees

1975 - Helsinki Pact guaranteeing boundaries, rights signed by 35 nations

1975 - CSCE Final Act creates the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

1976 - 21st Olympic games close at Montreal Canada

1976 - Flash flood in Big Thompson Canyon Colo on Route 34, kills 139

1976 - Liz Taylor's 6th divorce (re-divorces Richard Burton)

1976 - Seattle Seahawks play 1st (preseason) game (SF 27, Seattle 20)

1977 - SF Giant Willie McCovey hits NL record 18th grand slammer

1977 - Former Lockheed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers crashes the news helicopter he was flying in Los Angeles

1978 - Braves stop Reds Pete Rose's hitting streak at 44 games

1978 - Commandos occupy Iraqi embassy in Paris, 1 dead

1978 - Pete Rose goes hitless, ends his 44 game hitting streak (ties NL)

1979 - Maria de Lurdes Pintasilgo forms government in Portugal

1980 - Gerd Wessig of East Germany set high jump record

1980 - Waldemar Cierpinski wins 19th olympics marathon (2:11:03

1980 - Buttevant Rail Disaster kills 18 and injures dozens of train passengers in Ireland.

1981 - MTV premieres at 12:01 AM

1981 - Poland premier Jagielski resigns

1982 - Beth Daniel wins LPGA Columbia Savings Golf Classic

1982 - Greg Louganis, US becomes 1st diver to score 700 (752.67) in 11 dives

1982 - H Aaron, F Robinson, T Jackson, & H Chandler inducted in Hall of Fame

1982 - Heavy Israeli air bombardment on Beirut

1982 - Petra Schneider swims world record 400m medley (4:36.10)

1983 - New Zealand score their 1st Test Cricket match victory in England

1985 - 15.4 cm rainfall at Cheyenne, Wyoming (state record)

1985 - Emmy 12th Daytime Award presentation - Susan Lucci loses for 6th time

1985 - Vince Coleman steals 2 bases in 1st inning, for NL rookie record 74

1986 - Bert Blyleven becomes 10th pitcher to strike out 3,000

1986 - Cleveland sets AL attendance record for twi-night doubleheader, 65,934

1986 - Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia release from hospital after 3 week coma

1987 - Crossbow flight record (2,005 yds 1'9") set by Harry Drake in Nevada

Heavyweight Boxing Champion Mike TysonHeavyweight Boxing Champion Mike Tyson 1987 - Mike Tyson beat Tony Tucker in 12 for heavyweight boxing title

1987 - Nurse Mary R Stout chosen chairperson of Vietnam Veterans of America

1988 - Deep Rover 1-man research submarine unveiled at Crater Lake, Oregon

1988 - Rush Limbaugh begins his national radio show.

1989 - Australia take 3-0 series lead over England to regain Cricket Ashes

1990 - "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" closes at Eugene O'Neill NYC after 149 perfs

1990 - Indians' Alex Cole sets club record with 5 stolen bases in one game

1990 - Iraq pulls out of talks with Kuwait

1990 - Soyuz TM-10 launches

1990 - Stanton Cook becomes CEO of Chicago Cubs

1991 - Actress Hedy Lamarr, 77, arrested for shoplifting in Florida

1991 - Italian/Argentine Soccer star Diego Maradona retires

1992 - "Salome" closes at Circle in Sq Theater NYC after 9 performances

1992 - NBC's "Saturday Today" premieres

1992 - USA/USSR Around World Air Race begins at Santa Monica

Soccer Legend Diego MaradonaSoccer Legend Diego Maradona 1993 - "In the Summer House" opens at Beaumont Theater NYC for 25 perfs

1993 - "She Loves Me" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 61 performances

1993 - Missie Berteott wins LPGA Ping/Welch's Golf Championship

1993 - Reggie Jackson enshrined in Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY

1993 - Walter Koenig, Checkov of Star Trek, suffers a heart attack

1994 - 99.9°F (37.7°C) in Berlin-Dahlem: record

1994 - The Rolling Stones begin Voodoo Lounge world tour

1994 - Train crash in Havana Cuba, 6 killed

1995 - Westinghouse purchases CBS-TV network

1996 - M2, MTV's second TV channel is launched

1998 - -8] Gay & Lesbian Games #5 open in Amsterdam

2001 - An agreement is reached on the position of the minority Albanian language in the Republic of Macedonia.

2001 - Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia join the European Environment Agency.

2001 - Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a Ten Commandments monument installed in the judiciary building, leading to a lawsuit to have it removed and his own removal from office.

2004 - A supermarket fire kills 396 people and injures 500 in Asunción, Paraguay.

2007 - The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour.

2012 - Typhoon Saola kills elven people and displaces over 150,000 in the Philippines

2012 - 8 Women's badminton doubles players are disqualified from the 2012 summer Olympics for "not using one's best efforts to win a match"

1498 - Christopher Columbus landed on "Isla Santa" (Venezuela).   1619 - The first black Americans (20) arrived at Jamestown, VA.   1774 - Oxygen was isolated from air successfully by chemist Carl Wilhelm and scientist Joseph Priestly.   1790 - The first U.S. census was completed with a total population of 3,929,214 recorded. The areas included were the present states of Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia   1834 - Slavery was outlawed in the British empire with an emancipation bill.   1873 - Andrew S. Hallidie successfully tested a cable car. The design was done for San Francisco, CA.   1876 - Colorado became the 38th state to join the United States.   1893 - Shredded wheat was patented by Henry Perky and William Ford.   1894 - The first Sino-Japanese War erupted. The dispute was over control of Korea.   1907 - The U.S. Army established an aeronautical division that later became the U.S. Air Force.   1914 - Germany declared war on Russia at the beginning of World War I.   1936 - Adolf Hitler presided over the Olympic games as they opened in Berlin.   1944 - In Warsaw, Poland, an uprising against Nazi occupation began. The revolt continued until October 2 when Polish forces surrendered.   1946 - In the U.S., the Atomic Energy Commission was established.   1953 - The first aluminum-faced building was completed. It was the first of this type in America.   1956 - The Social Security Act was amended to provide benefits to disabled workers aged 50-64 and disabled adult children.   1957 - The North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) was created by the United States and Canada.   1973 - The movie "American Graffiti" opened.   1975 - The Helsinki accords pledged the signatory nations to respect human rights.   1976 - The Seattle Seahawks played their first (preseason) game. The Seahawks lost 27-20 to San Francisco.   1978 - Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds) ended his streak of hitting in 44 consecutive games.   1986 - John McEnroe and Tatum O'Neal were married.   1986 - Bert Blyleven (Minnesota Twins) became only the 10th pitcher to strike out 3,000 batters in his career.   1988 - Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" opened.   1993 - Reggie Jackson was admitted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.   1995 - Westinghouse Electric Corporation announced a deal to buy CBS for $5.4 billion.   1998 - The U.S. books and music chain Borders opens its first European outlet with a 40,000-square-foot store on London's Oxford Street.   2006 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro turned over absolute power when he gave his brother Raul authority while he underwent an intestinal surgery.




1790 The first U.S. census was completed, showing a population of 3,929,214 people. 1876 Colorado became the 38th state in the United States. 1936 Adolf Hitler presided over the opening of the Berlin Olympic Games. 1946 President Truman signed the congressional acts that established the Atomic Energy Commission and the Fulbright Scholarship program. 1981 MTV made its debut at 12:01 AM. The first video shown was Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles.


The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/aug01.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory