Why We Watch
Monday, February 25, 2002
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TITLE: "Why We Watch" 
There was a famous series of films - propaganda films, by the way, produced during the World War II era by none other than Frank Capra which was titled, "Why We Fight."
The seven films in the series were:
Prelude to War (1943)
The Nazis Strike (1943)
Divide and Conquer (1943)
The Battle of Britain (1943)
The Battle of Russia (1943)
The Battle of China (1944)
War Comes to America (1945)
- "� Wait'll Next Year �" Every World War II movie ever made had at least one guy from Brooklyn who bemoaned "'da bums'" inability to beat the hated New York Yankees in a World Series. They finally accomplished the task in 1955 which was the only World Series the Brooklyn Dodgers ever won.
The Dodgers also won a "World Championship" in 1900, but that was between two National League teams, the modern version of the World Series - between the American and National League champions, did not begin until 1903.
- "� Chicago Cubs �" Have actually won two World Series - in 1907 and 1908. If they can hang on for six more seasons the drought will last a full century.
I know you're wondering about this so I looked it up: The Boston Red Sox have won 5: 1903, '12, '15, '16, '18. None, of course, since they traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees.
- "� Richard Nixon �" Nixon ran for Governor of California against Edmund "Pat" Brown and lost by about 300,000 votes.
- "� compulsory figures �" From the "So Ya Wanna Know" web site:
"Figure skating gets its name from the Compulsory Figures (also known as School Figures) skaters did in competition up until 1990. When a skater competed in Compulsory Figures, he/she would trace a set pattern on the ice, such as the ever-popular Figure 8. To make matters more difficult, the skater had to skate the Figure using a prescribed part of the blade (such as the forward inside edge of the left skate). "After the Figure was completed, judges would get off their fat butts and squat down on the ice to check the tracing and see how close it came to perfection. They took points off if the tracings didn't match the set pattern (if the skater went too far before turning, for example) and if there were additional tracings caused by putting the other foot down or wobbling. As you could probably imagine, Compulsory Figures did not exactly make for compelling television, and they were eliminated in 1990."
- "� Lea Ann Parsley �" The other day I wrote of Lea Ann Parsley - the silver medalist in the Women's (not Ladies') Skeleton:
Parsley, at 32, is a grown-up. She has been a firefighter for 17 of those years.
A number of you pointed out that meant she had begun being a firefighter when she was 15. I know nothing.
I got that from the ESPN website.
World War II Poster
- Mullings' Catchy Caption of the day:
Good Job.
(Photo: Andy Clark/Reuters)
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