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The Daily Dose/October 13, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around The Human Experience...
HUT, HUT HIKE: Official Writer's Shack faves the Mount Union Purple Raiders continue exciting Ohio Athletic Conference play Saturday, traveling to Tiffin to take on Heidelberg.
The Student Princes, really, that's their nickname, is 4-1 on the year, their only loss coming to Baldwin-Wallace, 35-20, on September 17. Heidelberg has been playing football since 1892 and has won seven OAC football titles, including four in the 1950's, and none since 1972.
Breakdown Segment: This will surprise you, but Mount Union leads the series! We are not making that up. These things happen when you win ten (10) Amos Alonzo-Stagg Bowls, which is the D-III national championship game, we don't know if we've mentioned that before. Our Purple Raiders have won 41 times, while Heidelberg has won just 13 times, the last time a 24-14 win in 1988. Mount Union won the first meeting 34-10 in 1910, and they won last year 45-7.
Dry, Technical Matter: Heidelberg spent many years playing off campus and is in their second full season playing at on-campus Mayer Field and will be Mount Union's first game on the Heidelberg Campus since a 20-12 Heidelberg victory in 1942.
TripTik: Tiffin is about 120 miles due west of Alliance. Better plan about three hours for the drive, just to be safe.
Yawn: Mount Union is coming off a 62-0 workout over Marietta that wasn't as close as the score indicated. Our Purple Raiders led 21-0 after one quarter and rushed for 327 yards while giving up just minus three yards on the ground.
Numbers Racket: Showing the type of dominance that has already won them ten (10) NCAA Division III football championships and that will win them number eleven this season, Mount Union ranks first in D-III averaging 48.2 points per game and while giving up 170.6 yards per game. Their lowest ranking is 209th in Kickoff Returns, probably because they only return one or two kickoffs per game.
The School From Up North: Two-time defending national champion UW-Wherever won their 35th straight game Saturday, clawing their way past UW-River Falls 42-10. This week the love-in that constitutes Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play continues when UW-Wherever hosts UW-Stout Friday night.
God, We Hate UW-Wherever: Unlike our ten-time national champion Mount Union Purple Raiders, UW-Wherever does not rank first in any NCAA stat category. Their highest national ranking is sixth in Total Defense, a category our Purple Raiders lead the nation in.
IT'S GOOD TO BE KING...YOU CAN KILL PEOPLE WITH IMPUNITY: Nero becomes emperor of Rome on this date in 56. He reigned for 14 years, making a name for himself by arranging for the deaths of, among others, his stepbrother and mother, who history seems to think killed Nero's predecessor. Nero was also an enthusiastic, early persecutor of Christians, whom he burned not only for their entertainment value, but for the light they produced. Nero also participated in chariot racing at the ancient Olympic Games, getting thrown from his chariot, and he enjoyed singing in public.
Take This Job And Shove It: Facing execution after the Roman senate declared him a public enemy, Nero killed himself by driving a dagger into his throat in June of 68.
Warning! Moderate John Adams Content Ahead! The United States Navy, then known as the Continental Navy, is formed on this date in 1775. John Adams, then a member of the Second Continental Congress from Massachusetts, is instrumental in getting the Congress to authorize two warships to help fight the British.
Great Moments In Public Housing: The cornerstone to the White House is laid on this date in 1792. Architect James Hoban based his design in part on the home of the Irish parliament, Leinster House in Dublin. John Adams, now the second president of the United States, would move in in November, 1800.
Uh, Could We Get A Recount? We're Just Curious: Voters in Texas, still an independent nation though Congress had already voted to annex them, adopted a state constitution on this date in 1845. Texas had declared independence from Mexico in 1836, and would become the 28th state in December.
No Lockout Here: The American Basketball Association (ABA) plays its first game on this date in 1967, when the Oakland Oaks defeat the Anaheim Amigos 134-129. The ABA would last until merging with the NBA in 1976.
Going…Going…Gone: The World Series ends on a home run for the first time on this date in 1960, as Bill Mazeroski's home run in the bottom of the ninth inning gives the Pirates a 10-9 victory over the New York Yankees in game seven.
Put Me In Coach: Mark Kiger of the Oakland A's becomes the first modern player to make his major league debut in the postseason on this date in 2006, coming in as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning of game three of the American League Championship Series.
Kiger would make his final big league appearance in game five, again as a defensive replacement. He is the only player in big league history to play his entire career in the postseason.
Oh Jesus H: The first player to make his major league debut in the postseason was Bug Holliday of the Chicago Cubs, then known as the White Stockings, who debuted in game five of the 1885 postseason series against the St. Louis Browns, champions of the American Association. Holliday would return to the big leagues in 1889, and play for ten years.
FunFact: The Browns are now the St. Louis Cardinals.
Thought For The Day: The one finds the smell is the one who sniffs. - Nicholas Monsarrat, Smith and Jones
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Don Baylor also hit a two-run home run for the Boston Red Sox in the ninth inning of game five of the 1986 American League Championship Series.
Today's Stumper: What ABA team never played in the NBA, but whose owners still get a share of NBA television revenues?
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