September 12, 1976: A Hit for Minnie Miñoso -- at Age 53

September 12, 1976: The Chicago White Sox sweep a doubleheader from the California Angels at Comiskey Park, 2-1 and 5-1.

In the 10th inning of the opener, Sid Monge walked future Yankee Jim Spencer, and gave up a game-winning double to Brian Downing, making a winning pitcher out of future Yankee Rich "Goose" Gossage.

Minnie Miñoso, age 53, batted 9th as the designated hitter, and went 1-for-3, singling off Monge in the 2nd inning. He got the 2nd game off. A longtime player for the White Sox, he was coaching for them, and team owner Bill Veeck, seeing yet another opportunity to perk up publicity for his team, activated him. At the time, Miñoso was believed to be the oldest player ever to get a hit in a major league game.

This is because Charlie O'Leary, another coach briefly reactivated for a late-season game, in his case in 1934, was believed to have been born in 1882, so Miñoso got credit for breaking his record. Later, it was discovered that O'Leary was born in 1875, so he was just short of turning 59. So, while Miñoso's achievement was remarkable, it was not unprecedented.

In 1980, Veeck sent him up to bat again, making him a 5-decade player (1940s to 1980s), but he did not get a hit. So O'Leary remains the oldest player to come to bat, the oldest to get a hit, and the oldest to score a run.

Mexican lefthander Francisco Barrios went the distance for the win in the 2nd game. But his career would end tragically: In 1981, while still an active player, he injured his elbow, then, during the strike that season, he was arrested for cocaine possession in a Chicago bar owned by Chicago Bears player Doug Buffone.

He entered a rehab program, but the White Sox released him before the season ended. He signed with a team in the Mexican Pacific League, and pitched for them in 1982. The Milwaukee Brewers were interested in him. But he died of a heart attack, probably brought on by cocaine use. He was 28 years old.

September 12, 1976 was also the opening Sunday of an NFL season. Two new expansion teams made their regular-season debuts. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the Houston Oilers, 20-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. And the Seattle Seahawks lost to the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 30-24 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

The following week, the Buccaneers lost their 1st home game, 23-0 to the San Diego Chargers at Tampa Stadium. The Seahawks lost their 1st 5 games, before beating the Buccaneers in Tampa on October 17. They finished 2-12. The Bucs were worse: They went 0-14, and their drought stretched to 0-26 the next season, before finally beating the New Orleans Saints on December 11, 1977.

September 12, 1966: "The Monkees" Premieres

Left to right: Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz

September 12, 1966, 60 years ago: Here they come… The Monkees premieres on NBC. They are designed to appeal to kids who loved The Beatles, but didn't like how they got "weird" with Rubber Soul and Revolver and talk about being "more popular than Jesus now."

Trade publications Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter ran an advertisement in their September 8, 1965 editions, seeking "Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series." As many as 400 hopefuls showed up to be considered as one of "4 insane boys." Of these, 14 actors from the audition pool were brought back for screen tests, and the last 4 were chosen after audience research:

* Peter Halsten Thorkelson, a.k.a. Peter Tork, born February 13, 1942 in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Willimantic, Connecticut. He had been recommended to the producers by his friend, Stephen Stills, after Stills failed his audition, before becoming a member of first Buffalo Springfield, and then Crosby, Stills & Nash (& sometimes Young). Allegedly, Stills was rejected because of crooked teeth.

Tork was a skilled multi-instrumentalist, who had performed at various Greenwich Village folk clubs before moving west, where he worked as a busboy. He became the keyboard player.

* Robert Michael Nesmith, a.k.a. Mike Nesmith, born December 30, 1942 in Houston, and grew up across Texas in Dallas. His mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, had invented a correction fluid, and founded the company that became Liquid Paper. Mike had served a brief stint in the U.S. Air Force, and, like Jones, had recorded for Colpix, under the name "Michael Blessing."

Oddly, he was the only one of the 4 men chosen to be Monkees who had come for the audition based on seeing the trade magazine ad. He showed up to the audition with his laundry, and impressed the producers with his laid-back style and droll sense of humor. He also wore a woollen hat to keep his hair out of his eyes when he rode his motorcycle. The hat remained part of Nesmith's wardrobe. He became the band's guitarist.

* George Michael Dolenz Jr., a.k.a. Micky Dolenz, born March 8, 1945 in Los Angeles, and grew up in the nearby suburb of Valley Glen, California. The son of screen actors George Dolenz and Janelle Johnson, he had prior screen experience under the name "Mickey Braddock" as the 10-year-old star of the Circus Boy series in the 1950s. He became the drummer.

(Later singer George Michael's real name wasn't "George Michael," it was Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. And the sportscaster George Michael was born George Michael Gimpel. None of these men was related to either of the others.)

* David Thomas Jones, a.k.a. Davy Jones, born December 30, 1945 in Manchester, England, which led to his nickname, "The Manchester Cowboy." A former jockey, he had achieved some initial success on the musical stage, appearing with the cast of the Broadway musical Oliver! on The Ed Sullivan Show on the night of The Beatles' live American debut. He was appearing in Columbia Pictures productions, and recording for the Colpix record label, and had been identified in advance as a potential star for the series. He became the lead singer.

The show's music had several songwriters, including the team of Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart, who wrote their theme song and their 1st Number 1 hit, "Last Train to Clarksville"; the then-married team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, who wrote their Number 3 hit "Pleasant Valley Sunday"; and a young Neil Diamond, who wrote their Number 1 hit "I'm a Believer" and their Number 2 hit "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You." John Stewart, who took Dave Guard's place in The Kingston Trio, wrote "Daydream Believer," which became their 3rd and last Number 1 hit. 

Their silly adventures in wildly-colored outfits helped to inspire cartoons like Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? The fact that they were also a band helped inspire cartoons like The Archies and Josie & the Pussycats. And, because of The Monkees' success, another English singer named David Jones ended up changing his name, becoming David Bowie.

While the program showed them playing their own instruments, they did not do so on the recordings on which they sang. Nor did they write most of their own songs. Finally, they objected, and had one Top 40 hit that was all their own: "The Girl I Knew Somewhere."

It took 2 years, but TV viewers figured out that these guys were not as good as The Beatles. But they were certainly better than, say, The Partridge Family. But the 1960s nostalgia wave kicked in, and by the mid-1980s, they were popular on "the oldies circuit."

Davy Jones died on February 29, 2012, at the age of 66. Peter Tork died on February 21, 2019, at 77. Michael Nesmith died on December 10, 2021, at 78. As of September 12, 2026, Micky Dolenz is the last survivor, 81. His daughter, Ami Dolenz, also became an actress. Mike's son, Christian Nesmith, also became a musician.

September 12, 1966 was a Monday. Musician Ben Folds and Northern Exposure actor Darren E. Burrows were born.

Yankees Sweep Rockies, Will Commemorate 9/11 with Mets

The Colorado Rockies have the worst record in the National League, 2nd-worst in all of Major League Baseball behind the Los Angeles Angels. They came into Yankee Stadium II on Tuesday, and it seemed like a good time for the Yankee bats to get going again.

Cam Schlittler started the opener, and was brilliant, again: 7 innings, 1 run, 3 hits, no walks, 10 strikeouts. For the season, he is now 13-6, with an ERA of 2.01 and a WHIP of 0.918. If he doesn't receive the American League's Cy Young Award, it will be a travesty.

Aaron Judge returned from injury. He went 0-for-3, including 2 strikeouts, before being replaced in right field for cautionary reasons, but Heliot Ramos. The Yankees scored an unearned run due to an outfield error in the 1st inning, got an RBI double from Ryan McMahon in the 5th, and a 3-run home run from Ramos in the 8th. Tim Hill made it interesting by allowing a 2-run homer in the 9th, but the Yankees held on, and won, 5-3.

Will Warren started on Wednesday night, and he was strong as well: 6 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts. The bullpen allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk. The Yankees won, 6-1. Judge went 2-for-4, and the Yankees got home runs from Luis García Jr., George Lombard Jr. and Cody Bellinger. Two "Juniors" and the son of an ex-major leaguer. But not Jazz Chisholm Jr.: He was put on the Injured List, and Anthony Volpe was recalled, with the idea that, instead of shortstop, he would play 2nd base.

Manager Aaron Boone -- almost certainly, under orders from general manager Brian Cashman -- was careful with Max Fried again last night, only allowing him to throw 80 pitches. That got him through 3 1/3rd innings, so even though he allowed just 1 run on 1 hit and 2 walks, striking out 7, it felt like a "bullpen game." Michael Fulmer finished the 4th, John Schreiber got the next 4 outs, Ryan Yarbrough the next 4, Brent Headrick the last out in the 7th, and the returning Luis Gil pitched the 7th and the 8th.

García homered again, in the 1st. Two runs scored in the 2nd, 1 on a single by Volpe. The Rockies closed to within 4-2 in the top of the 7th, but the Yankees made them pay for that in the bottom of the 7th. Bellinger led off with a double, Jasson Domínguez walked, García moved the runners over with a groundout, and Spencer Jones singled them home.

Lombard popped up, but McMahon and Austin Wells walked, and then Volpe hit an opposite-field home run, getting the fans back on his side. The Yankees won, 10-3, completing the sweep. Schreiber was credited as the winning pitcher.

The Yankees are 3 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Eastern Division, with 16 games to go. They maintain the 4th seed in the AL Playoffs. Judge, Bellinger, Volpe, Cole, Fried and Gil are all back. Chisholm and Ryan Weathers could be back by September 22. Clarke Schmidt might come back to contribute in the regular season. Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham are less likely to return.

*

Today marks the 25th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. There were about 3,000 people who died that day, and another 5,000 are estimated to have died due to subsequent health issues caused by the toxic air at the site. Osama bin Laden did eventually pay for that, and al-Qaeda is no longer a serious threat to anyone.

A ceremony was held at the site of the original World Trade Center. Four Mayors attended: Incumbent Zohran Mamdani, Bill de Blasio, Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani. Eric Adams, though still alive, did not attend.

The contrast between the young Mamdani and the aged Giuliani was staggering -- as was the bigotry of Giuliani, who said Mamdani shouldn't be there because he's a Muslim. Staggering, but, giving Giuliani's past, not surprising.

Also in attendance were former Presidents and First Ladies Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W. and Laura Bush, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Joe and Jill Biden. Joe is dealing with cancer, and is older than Giuliani. Bloomberg, as far as I know, is healthy, but is even older than Biden. Both of them looked better than Giuliani.

Donald Trump and whoever he currently considers to be his First Lady were not invited. Everyone else I mentioned, even Giuliani, refused to make the event about themselves. Trump wouldn't do that.

Major League Baseball did the right thing in scheduling the 1st game of a Yankees vs. Mets series for tonight at Yankee Stadium, to commemorate the event. Both teams were exceptional in handling relief efforts after it.

There will be a pregame ceremony tonight, and, presumably, both teams will wear specialized logos on their uniforms.

Sports has helped people to heal many times, and 9/11 might be the greatest example. It can do so again.

September 11, 2001: The World Trade Center Is Destroyed and the Pentagon Is Attacked

 

September 11, 2001, 25 years ago: I woke up that warm, sunny Tuesday morning, unemployed and with no reason to get up early, and, as was always the case at the time, the first thing I did was turn on the radio. It was after 10:30, so it had already all happened.

And the announcer -- a woman whose name I never learned -- on WCBS, 880 on the AM dial, said, "The World Trade Center is gone."

What? What do you mean, "gone"? The World Trade Center is gone? A pair of 110-story skyscrapers -- actually, a seven-building complex -- doesn't just disappear. Gone? What, did aliens come along and beam it up, like on Star Trek?

If it had, there would still, theoretically, have been a chance to get it back. But, no, that was not the case.

Did I hear it right? I had just gotten up. I was still half-asleep. Maybe I misunderstood. So I went to the TV, turned it on, and... nothing. Of course. Every station had its transmitter on 1 World Trade Center. Except one, WCBS, Channel 2. Theirs was, and remains, at the Empire State Building. If you didn't have cable TV, then they were the only ones broadcasting. And all that was left of the World Trade Center was a cloud of black smoke.

The planes:

* American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767, with 92 people on board, took off from Logan International Airport in Boston at 7:59 AM, meant for Los Angeles International Airport, and hit 1 World Trade Center, the North Tower, between the 93rd and 99th floors, at 8:46.

* United Airlines Flight 175, also a Boeing 767, with 65 people on board, took off from Logan at 8:14, also meant for Los Angeles, and hit 2 World Trade Center, the South Tower, between the 77th and 85th floors, at 9:03. That's when it became clear that the first one wasn't just a freak accident, like the B-25 that crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in 1945, a much smaller plane that did far less damage and killed far fewer people.

* American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757, with 58 people on board, took off from Dulles International Airport in Loudoun County, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C., at 8:20, also meant for Los Angeles, was turned back toward Washington, and hit the west wall of the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, also across the Potomac River from Washington, in Arlington, at 9:37. Victims: 184.

* And United Airlines Flight 93, another Boeing 757, with 44 people on board, took off from Newark International Airport in New Jersey at 8:42, meant for San Francisco International Airport. The passengers, having heard on their cell phones about the other planes, decided to fight back, and stopped the hijackers from reaching their target, which U.S. intelligence later decided was the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington. Instead, at 10:03, the plane crashed into a field in rural Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania, usually identified by its mailing address of Shanksville, about 65 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, and 130 miles northwest of Washington.

The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 AM. In 2003, in commemoration of the magazine's 50th Anniversary, TV Guide listed "South Tower Falls" as the most memorable televised moment ever, topping the 1st manned Moon landing in 1969. The North Tower followed at 10:29 -- mere seconds before I woke up, and the WCBS announcer said, "The World Trade Center is gone."

There's an overpass about a mile from where I was living at the time, where State Route 18 goes over the New Jersey Turnpike. It's next to the Tower Center complex, the 23-story "minor league twin towers," as I called them, where the bus takes me into Manhattan. From that overpass, on a clear day, you could see the World Trade Center. On 9/11/01, all you could see was a plume of black smoke, going south, seemingly forever.

Three days later, I stood on that overpass again, and it was a plume of white smoke. No, it didn't mean there was a new Pope, or that the Towers would be back.

My father worked at the World Trade Center, as an engineering consultant for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the complex's operator, for six months, before he decided that the commute was too long, and he quit. That was two years before the attack. It was a week before he found out that everyone he worked with got out all right.

Not so lucky were, depending whose figures you believe, and whether you count people who got sick from working the rescue and salvage jobs afterward, about 2,750 people. Eight of them were from my hometown of East Brunswick, New Jersey. As far as I know, I never met any of them.

East Brunswick's memorial

There were 1,747 who, at the time, were living in the State of New York. Of those, 1,147 lived in New York City. There were 694 from New Jersey, including 3 from my parents' hometown of Newark, and 3 from next-door Bloomfield, where they lived when I was born.

There were 92 from Massachusetts, 81 from Virginia, 65 from Connecticut, 50 from Maryland, 49 from California, 30 from Pennsylvania, 11 from the District of Columbia, 10 from New Hampshire, 9 from Illinois, 6 from Texas; 5 each from Florida and Rhode Island; 4 each from Alabama, Georgia and Maine; 3 each from Louisiana, North Carolina and Ohio; 2 each from Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Oklahoma; and 1 each from Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

There were 13 from Britain, 6 from Germany, 5 from Canada, 3 from Australia, 3 from Japan, 2 from China, and 1 each from Bermuda, El Salvador, Grenada, Ireland, Israel and Sweden.

At first, we didn't know how bad it would be. The front page of the New York Daily News on September 13 suggested 10,000 people had died. It was quickly revised to 5,000, and then, when records were checked to see who was in the Twin Towers and hadn't been found alive, and checking against duplicate entries, down to 3,000, still the worst one-day loss of life on American soil since the American Civil War.

Among the notable people who died as a result of the 9/11 attacks were television producer David Angell, conservative TV legal analyst Barbara Olson, and hockey player-turned-scout Garnet "Ace" Bailey, each of them on board one of the planes intended for Los Angeles. (Bailey was no relation to the old-time hockey star Irvine "Ace" Bailey.) Alice Trillin, a teacher and film producer, and wife of author Calvin Trillin, also died that day, but her death was separate from the attacks.

In 2001, smartphones were few and far between, a lot of us still hadn't really figured out the Internet, and for those of us in the New York Tri-State Area who still didn't have cable TV, Channel 2 was the only station we had left. So we had one channel, and the same damn thing on, for an entire week.

And that's all we watched: Images of the carnage, updates from police and fire department leaders, politicians making statements, pundits speculating about America's response to al-Qaeda and its allies. The parallel was made to the 4 days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. In my lifetime to that point, the only comparable event had been the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986.

But distractions were few. No regular TV programming. Certainly, no sports, for an entire week, before the various leagues started up again.

Rudy Giuliani, Mayor of New York, put his municipal counter-terrorism center in 7 World Trade Center. They had to evacuate it. He and the others inside nearly died when the North Tower collapsed. He bounced back from this blunder to represent the City and its recovery before the public, and the editors of Time magazine named him their Person of the Year, a distinction (not an award) it gives to the person they think most affected the news during the calendar year, ahead of President George W. Bush -- and also ahead of Osama bin Laden, who approved and ordered the attacks.

For reasons that aren't worth getting into here, it took until May 1, 2011 for the victims to be avenged. The official memorial at the site was opened on September 11, 2011, the 10th Anniversary of the attacks. And the new One World Trade Center opened on November 3, 2014, with a height purposely set to match the year of America's independence: 1,776 feet.

A temporary memorial at the Pentagon, for the lives lost there, was dedicated on September 12, 2002. A permanent memorial was dedicated on September 11, 2008. The Flight 93 National Memorial was dedicated at the Pennsylvania field on September 10, 2011, the day before the 10th Anniversary. The names of the victims at these sites are also inscribed at the main memorial in Manhattan.

For those of us too young to remember the JFK assassination -- and maybe for those of us who are old enough -- 9/11 remains the most shocking event of our lifetimes. It shouldn't be.

After all, a foreign foe killed 3,000 of us, and our government said it would do whatever it took. And it lied. But the next government did what it took.

September 10, 2016: American Football's Biggest Crowd

September 10, 2016, 10 years ago: The biggest crowd in the history of American football, at any level, is recorded. And not at a place known for hosting the sport.

The University of Tennessee is in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a.k.a. Virginia Tech, is in Blacksburg, Virginia. Their stadiums are 237 miles apart, separated by Interstates 81 and 40. However, they are not rivals, because they are in different leagues: Tennessee are in the Southeastern Conference (the SEC), Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference (the ACC).

Perhaps the fact that they are not rivals made this neutral-site game easier to set up. Tech's Lane Stadium seats 65,632. Tennessee's Neyland Stadium seats 101,915. But they set up a game against each other at a racetrack, the Bristol Motor Speedway, in Bristol, Tennessee, 110 miles from Neyland Stadium, 138 miles from Lane Stadium, and 7 miles from the Virginia/Tennessee State Line that Bristol straddles. (Bristol, Virginia is home to 17,000 people; Bristol, Tennessee, to 26,000.)

The Speedway opened in 1961, is a regular on the NASCAR "short track" circuit, and is known as "The World's Fastest Half Mile." Officially, it seats 153,000. But when the Tennessee Volunteers and the Virginia Tech Hokies played each other there on September 10, 2016, the attendance was a new record for a game of the sport the rest of the world calls "American football": 156,990.

The current NFL record is 112,376, for an exhibition game at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City in 1994. The Houston Oilers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 6-0. The biggest crowd for a regular-season game was 105,121 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on September 20, 2009. The Cowboys lost this one, too, to the New York Giants, 33-31.

Here's what the 156,990 at "The Battle at Bristol" saw. Tech scored 2 touchdowns in the 1st quarter, for a 14-0 lead. The Volunteers took over from there, scoring 31 unanswered points: 4 touchdowns and a field goal, making it 31-14. The Hokies added a field goal to close it to within 31-17 at the end of 3 quarters.

The Vols scored 2 more touchdowns in the 4th quarter. The Hokies added a touchdown, but that would be it: Tennessee 45, Virginia Tech 24. Tech football is known for 2 things: Michael Vick and good defense. On this night, they had neither.

Tennessee went 9-4, staying at home for the postseason, winning the Music City Bowl in Nashville. Virginia Tech went 10-4, winning the Coastal Division of the ACC, losing the ACC Championship Game to Clemson, and winning the Belk Bowl (now the Duke's Mayo Bowl) in Charlotte.

September 9, 1966: "The Green Hornet" Premieres On TV

Lee, and Williams aiming the Hornet Sting,

behind the Black Beauty

September 9, 1966, 60 years ago: Riding the success of his version of Batman, ABC premieres producer William Dozier's update of the Green Hornet. While Dozier narrated every episode of Batman, he only narrates the opening montage of The Green Hornet, with Al Hirt on trumpet leading Billy May's orchestra in playing the character's established theme song, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's 1900 composition "Flight of the Bumblebee."

Van Williams, one of the stars of the earlier private detective series Surfside 6, plays Britt Reid, publisher of the Daily Sentinel newspaper in an unidentified city -- updated for this version as also owning a TV station -- who embarks as a masked hero pretending to be a masked criminal, in order to sabotage rackets from within.

Bruce Lee, not yet widely known, plays Reid's valet Kato, thus making the character Chinese, where he had previously been Japanese and, later, due to rising tensions with Japan, Filipino on radio, and Korean in the 1940s film serials.

While Kato's mechanical genius and driving expertise had been established on the radio in 1936, and emphasized in the 1940 and '41 film serials, he had rarely been shown fighting before, and was either unknown or mainly an accessory as far as the Hornet's opponents were concerned. Lee's skills made him, and all versions of Kato who have followed, a martial arts wizard, and a familiar and indispensable partner for the hero-playing-villain.

In the radio show and the film serials, Kato had souped-up Britt's car, the Black Beauty. For the TV series, it was a 1966 Chrysler Imperial, and Kato loaded it to the point where it was a more powerful car, in terms of speed and weaponry, than Adam West's Batmobile.

As with the radio and the movies, Kato invented the Hornet's signature weapon, a gun that produced knockout gas. For the TV series, he also invented the Hornet Sting, a retractable weapon the fired sonic waves that could start fires, pick locks, and, at full power, blow down steel doors. I saw a YouTube comment that called it "The Cadillac of Weapons."

Only 2 others know the Hornet's dual identity. Britt's secretary, Lenore Case, an unknowing sympathizer in the film serials, who had found out and later married him on the radio show, here knows the secret from the beginning. Britt maintains a playboy image, and she is rather jealous, but he does give indications that he loves her, too. She is played on TV by Wende Wagner.

Also knowing is District Attorney Frank Scanlon, played by Walter Brooke (the "plastics" advisor in The Graduate), who tips Britt off to suspected rackets and helps where he can. On the radio, it had been the police commissioner who took this role, but since Batman already had Commissioner Jim Gordon, Dozier decided to change this.

The other constant character is Mike Axford, the Daily Sentinel's crime reporter and an old friend of Britt's father, the Sentinel's previous publisher. Lloyd Gough played down Axford’s previously-established stereotypical Irish accent and well-meaning bumbling, but kept the pride of an aging crimebuster and the clueless hatred of the Hornet.

The first episode is titled "The Silent Gun," and shows the Hornet and Kato already established, as the series never shows an origin story, only once alluding to Britt having taken to fighting crime due to his father having been framed for murder. (The large painting of the elder Reid in Britt's office suggests that his name was cleared, but whether this happened before he died is left hanging.)

Despite taking a serious approach – Williams said he wouldn't have done the series if it was campy like Batman -- poor ratings led ABC to try a crossover episode with Batman, suggesting that Britt Reid and Bruce Wayne were rivals since childhood (but definitely establishing that Britt lives somewhere other than Gotham City). That couldn't save the show. Nor could the sloppy "Alias the Scarf," in which the Hornet took on a villain coming out of retirement. Nor could the desperately campy 2-part season finale, "Invasion from Outer Space," which became the series finale, airing on March 17, 1967.

Lee stunningly died at age 33 in 1973. Gough died in 1984, Brooke in 1986, Dozier in 1991, Wagner in 1997, Hirt in 1999, May in 2004, Williams in 2016.

Football Under a Dome: Forfeiting the Home-Field Advantage

SoFi Stadium, Inglewood California,

home of the Los Angeles Rams and the San Diego Chargers.

Football under a dome might look good,

but it it takes away certain home-field advantages.

The Detroit Lions had a big home-field advantage playing at Tiger Stadium. In 1975, they moved into the suburban Silverdome. In 2002, they moved back into the city, but into Ford Field. People might be afraid of going into Detroit, but they're not afraid of the Lions.

The Minnesota Vikings had a big home-field advantage playing at Metropolitan Stadium. In 1982, they moved into the Metrodome, and in 2016 to U.S. Bank Stadium. Nobody's afraid of going into Minneapolis to play the Vikings.

Now, the Chicago Bears, the ultimate tough-guy team, the team of George Trafton, Bronko Nagurski, Bill George, Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary, want to build a new stadium. After 50 years at Wrigley Field, 31 seasons on the shore of Lake Michigan at the original Soldier Field, an interim season at the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium, and this being their 24th season at the new Soldier Field -- admittedly, a weird-looking facility known as "The Eyesore on Lake Shore" -- the Bears' organization wants a dome. 

And the Cleveland Browns, who have played their entire existence on the shore of Lake Erie, first at the old Municipal Stadium, and now at a more modern stadium -- also want to build a new stadium. Their stadium is also relatively new, 27 years old.

Both the Bears and the Browns have long benefited from playing on the shore of a Great Lake, exposed to the elements, making warm-weather teams miserable, and making cold-weather teams wish they were in their own cold stadium back home. But these teams want to do what the Lions did in 1975, and what the Vikings did in 1982: Throw that tremendous home-field advantage away.

Domed stadiums tend to hold in noise, but, as the Green Bay Packers (in a cold-weather city but not quite on Lake Michigan), the Kansas City Chiefs (in a cold-weather city but on the Great Plains) and the Seattle Seahawks (in a cold-weather city but not quite on Lake Washington) have proven, you don't need a roof holding sound in to have a loud stadium.

What's worse, both Da Bears and the Browns want to build their new stadiums outside their cities. The Bears have narrowed their sites down to 2: In Arlington Heights, on the former city of the Arlington Park racetrack, in the northwestern suburbs of the city; or at an industrial park in Hammond, Indiana, across the State Line, but actually a little closer to downtown Chicago than the Arlington Park site. The Browns want to build in Brook Park, Ohio, southwest of Cleveland.

Each would be built close to its city's airport, but not to its downtown. Rail service is already in place to the Bears' Arlington Heights site, but only bus service is available to the Hammond site. Rail service is available to Cleveland's airport, with, presumably, a shuttle bus being provided for the stadium.

Some cold-weather teams have chosen to remain men. The Giants and the Jets did, when they chose to go in together on what became MetLife Stadium, remaining at the Meadowlands. So did the Philadelphia Eagles, who built Lincoln Financial Field at the same South Philadelphia Sports Complex where they'd previously played Veterans Stadium, and, on a few occasions before that, at Municipal/John F. Kennedy Stadium.

So did the New England Patriots, when they built Gillette Stadium next-door to Foxborough Stadium in the southern suburbs of Boston. The Buffalo Bills just built the new Highmark Stadium, to replace the old stadium with that name, formerly known as Rich Stadium, Ralph Wilson Stadium and New Era Field. It's got a roof to protect fans from rain and snow, but the cold air and the wind can still get in to provide "Bills Weather." And the Green Bay Packers chose to modernize Lambeau Field, the open-air cold-weather stadium they already had.

Why do the owners of the Bears and the Browns want to build domed stadiums? Because they want to host a Super Bowl, and make a hell of a lot of money on it.

Really? A climate-controlled Super Bowl appearance should be a reward for having survived a long season under all possible conditions. But a team shouldn't get to host a Super Bowl -- which, most likely, they won't even be playing in -- simply because its greedy owner managed to con a City, County or State government into squeezing its taxpayers to build a new stadium that the owner, most likely, can afford to build himself, a few times over.

But it's the National Football League. Built on greed and violence. The greed of the men who run it, and the violence of the men who play it, encouraged by the men who coach it and the men who run it.

Sometimes, I hate football. It's a great game when it's played well. But, sometimes, it's just not worth it.

The NFL season kicks off tonight, at 8:20, on NBC, when the Patriots visit the Seahawks in a rematch of last season's Super Bowl, won by Seattle. There will be a game tomorrow night, as the great rivalry between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams is played on the other side of the Pacific Coast, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the foremost sporting venue in Australia. That game will only be available on Netflix.

The Jets will debut the 2026 season on Sunday, at 1:00, on CBS, away to the Tennessee Titans, who are also building a new stadium, adjacent to their current one, across the Cumberland River from downtown Nashville. I can't criticize them for throwing away a cold-weather home-field advantage, because they don't have one. The Eagles have a 4:25 kickoff, on Fox, home to the Washington Commanders. And the Giants start the season that night, at 8:20, on NBC, home to the despised Dallas Cowboys.

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NFL teams playing home games indoors:

1932: Chicago Bears, Chicago Stadium, moved NFL Championship Game there due to a blizzard. Fixed, makeshift turf.

1968-1996: Houston Oilers, Astrodome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1971-2008: Dallas Cowboys, Texas Stadium. Fixed, artificial turf.

1975-2001: Detroit Lions, Silverdome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1975-2004, 2006-present: New Orleans Saints, Superdome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1976-1999: Seattle Seahawks, Kingdome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1982-2013: Minnesota Vikings, Metrodome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1984-2007: Indianapolis Colts, Hoosier Dome (RCA Dome). Fixed, artificial turf.

1992-2016: Atlanta Falcons, Georgia Dome. Fixed, artificial turf.

2002-present: Houston Texans, Reliant Stadium. Retractable, artificial turf.

2002-present: Detroit Lions, Ford Field. Fixed, artificial turf.

2005: New Orleans Saints, Alamodome, San Antonio, 3 games while Superdome was being repaired. Fixed, artificial turf.

2006-present: Arizona Cardinals, State Farm Stadium. Retractable, real grass.

2008-present: Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium. Retractable, artificial turf.

2009-present: Dallas Cowboys, AT&T Stadium. Retractable, artificial turf.

2016-present: Minnesota Vikings, U.S. Bank Stadium. Skylight, artificial turf.

2017-present: Atlanta Falcons, Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Retractable, artificial turf.

2020-present: Los Angeles Rams, SoFi Stadium. Skylight, artificial turf.

2020-present: Los Angeles Chargers, SoFi Stadium. Skylight, artificial turf.

2020-present: Las Vegas Raiders, Allegiant Stadium. Skylight, real grass.

MLB teams playing home games indoors:

1965-1999: Houston Astros, Astrodome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1977-1999: Seattle Mariners, Kingdome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1977-2004: Montreal Expos, Olympic Stadium: Fixed, artificial turf.

1982-2009: Minnesota Twins, Metrodome. Fixed, artificial turf.

1989-present: Toronto Blue Jays, SkyDome/Rogers Centre. Retractable, artificial turf.

1998-present: Arizona Diamondbacks, Bank One Ballpark/Chase Field. Retractable, artificial turf.

1998-2024, 2026-present: Tampa Bay Rays, Tropicana Field. Retractable, artificial turf.

1999-present: Seattle Mariners: Safeco Field/T-Mobile Park. Retractable, real grass.

2001-present: Milwaukee Brewers, Miller Park/American Family Field. Retractable, real grass.

2012-present: Miami Marlins, LoanDeport Park. Retractable, artificial turf.

2020-present: Texas Rangers, Globe Life Field. Retractable, artificial turf.