Special

Thank Eve It's Friday!

"Hot as a 'mother' out there, huh? Get it? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Golden

Heading into the weekend the Rio Olympics has done a splendid job of keeping my mind off of more distasteful subjects. Yesterday saw a number of splendid performances by American athletes...

Ashton Eaton defended his 2012 Olympic title in the decathalon, winning the gold medal to become just the third man in history to win the event twice at the Olympic Games.

Helen Maroulis became the first U.S. woman to win a gold medal in wrestling, defeating the three-time Olympic gold medalist and 13-time world champion in the finals of the 53kg event.

Ryan Crouser won the gold medal in the shot put, setting a new Olympic record in the process.

His teammate Joe Kovacs won the silver medal.

Dalilah Muhammad became the first American woman to win the gold medal in the 400m hurdles.

Her teammate Ashley Spencer won the bronze.

Kerron Clement held off a couple of strong challengers to win the gold medal in the 400m hurdles, his first Olympic gold.

"Wow! That's a lot of gold medals in just one day!"

And that was just the highlights...

Five

Last night my beloved Kansas City Royals returned to Kauffman Stadium on the heels
of a 5-1 road trip, and having won four straight games and four consecutive series. They got the four-game home series with the Minnesota Twins off to a good start with a comfortable 8-1 victory.

Now 5-6, 4.52 ERA

Royals starter Dillon Gee had his best start of the season, allowing only a single run (a solo homer by the game's first hitter) on just five hits in his seven complete innings of work. He struck out seven batters and allowed only a single walk.

RHP Chris Young pitched two scoreless innings of relief to finish the game, running his scoreless streak to 9 2/3 innings.

"BOOM!"

The Royals didn't even get their first hit until there was one out in the bottom of the 4th inning, but after three walks and a hit batter the Royals tied the score at 1-1. Then LF Alex Gordon unloaded a grand slam home run to blow the game open.
It was the third straight game in which Alex has homered.

3B Cheslor Cuthbert had three of the Royals seven total hits, raising his BA to .296, and scored twice.

"Five in a row! Time to start printing playoff tickets!"

That won't be necessary, I'm afraid...at this point, the goals are to stay competitive, finish above .500 for the fourth straight season (which would be the second-longest stretch in team history, and the longest since 1975-1980), and keep evaluating the roster for 2017...

No "Pivot" After All, Folks

From the pen of Lisa Benson, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

When I was a kid, my first TV exposure to many of the musical artists I enjoyed was
on programs like American Bandstand, Shindig!, and even The Ed Sullivan Show on occasion. But the artists appearing on those programs were almost never performing live. For a variety of reasons, television producers insisted that the artists perform an elaborate mime routine as a recorded version of their song was played. This was known as lip-syncing, and it was the norm even into my early years of college.

On August 19, 1972 the NBC network aired an experimental musical variety show called  
The Midnight Special. Unlike those earlier shows, however, the performances on The Midnight Special were live, not lip-synced.

The show was a ratings and critical success, and gave birth to a series that premiered in February 1973 and ran until May 1981.

NBC gave the show a slot following its popular The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on Friday nights, and for guys like me who had scant social lives it was must-see TV every week.

Today's send-off is one of my favorite '70s bands, REO Speedwagon, performing their 1978 hit "Time For Me To Fly" on the show in 1980. Enjoy...