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Early Women's Basketball - and a Surprising Precursor to the NBA Logo
The NBA logo is one of the most recognizable logos in American sports. Silhouetted against a background of vertical red and blue bars, a long, lean, athletic body leans in as it slashes toward the...
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Grover Cleveland, William Jennings Bryan and Ballistic Missile Submarines - a...
A “Safe &Sane” Fourth is not just for humans.The Ohio Class Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine (SSBN) of the United States’ submarine fleet is arguably the most dangerous and explosive weapons’...
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Cellar Doors and Trolleys - the History of Playground Slides
Everett Bird Mero, American Playgrounds, their Construction, Equipment, Maintenance and Utility, Boston, Massachusetts, The Dale Association, 1909, page 66. PLAYGROUND SONGIn friendly feats of skill we...
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Handbells, Cowbells and Jingle Bells - a History of American Handbell Choirs
History always repeats itself.In 1926, the humorist Abe Martinlooked back – and not fondly – on the glut of Swiss Bell Ringers in the previous century: Yes, Swiss bell ringers wuz as thick an’ common...
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Straw Hats, White Hats and White Shoes - a History of Wearing White Before...
Library of Congress.The people will think – what I tell them to think! Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane. These sentiments reflect Orson Welles’ take on the journalistic philosophy of newspaper...
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President Trump, President Cleveland and the History of not getting elected...
Early in the morning of October 24, 2017, in response to criticism from a Senator from his own party, President Donald Trump tweeted that Senator Bob Corker “couldn’t get elected dog catcher in...
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Red Skelton, Pat Riley and the NFL Players' Association - a History of...
In October 2017, NFL owners met behind closed doors to discuss the League’s response to the “Anthem” controversy, “to kneel, or not to kneel,” that was the question. During the meeting, Houston...
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Margarete Steiff, Morris Michtom and Teddy Roosevelt - Hunting Down the...
President Roosevelt in Hunting Costume -Topeka State Journal (Topeka, Kansas), November 11, 1901, page 7.The standard American origin-story for the “Teddy Bear” goes something like this:President...
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Oyster Saloons and Brothels - a History of "Red-Light District"
I first learned of the association between red lights and prostitution from the Police’s song, Roxanne.Roxanne, you don’t have to put out the red light . . . .The Police, 1977.But red lights had been...
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Skidaddle, Skidoodle - Tastes like Home - the origin of a tasteless meme
[WARNING: This post contains adult themes. Apologies in advance to anyone offended by tasteless, juvenile "humor."]This post is a departure from my standard practice of writing about pop-culture...
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Patent Medicine and Baseball - Wahoo's Deep Roots in Cleveland
The Great Wahoo Polka – 1863.The Makio - 1906 (Ohio State University Fraternity Yearbook), Columbus, Ohio, 1906, page 12.In the opening sequence of Paul Thomas Anderson’s film, Magnolia, the narrator...
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From Stuhldreher to Castner and Crowley to Staubach - a Last-Second History...
Hail Mary pass : a long forward pass in football thrown into or near the end zone in a last-ditch attempt to score as time runs out —often used figuratively. Merriam-Webster online.The expression “Hail...
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When did Barbara Bush Become Everyone's Grandmother?
This image is not from former First Lady, Barbara Bush’s, obituary – it is from a post-mortem of her husband, President George H. W. Bush’s, one term in office. Alice Steinbach, writing in the...
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A Tale of Two Executions - an Etymology of Twenty-Three, as in 23 Skidoo!
A Tale of Two ExecutionsThe catch-phrase, “Twenty-three, Skidoo,” was one of the most popular slang expressions of the early twentieth century. The Vaudevillian, Billy Van, introduced the expression...
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Buck Rogers and President Trump - an Out-of-This-World History of Space Force
Redlands Daily Facts, September 23, 1959, page 1.On March 13, 2018, President Trump floated the idea that he might create a new branch of the military – the “Space Force.”The reaction was predictable....
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The Pittsburgh Pirates of Penzance – the Dramatic and Musical Origin of the...
The Pittsburgh Pirates of Penzance – the Dramatic and Musical Origin of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Team NameJ. Palmer O’Neil, “Pirate King” and President of the Pittsburgh Pirates, chasing an elusive...
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Get Behind and Smoke a Homo - Illustrating the Fluid Nature of Language
They say a picture is worth a thousand words.Add the caption and it's at least 1008 words.I'm speechless.Get Behind a Homo - Smoke the Homo Cigar!!!The Times (Munster, Indiana), May 8, 1916, page 2.In...
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Liquor, Sugar and Booze - a Bring-Your-Own History of BYOB
The family of “B. Y. O.” initialisms, of which “B. Y. O. B.”, for “Bring Your Own Beverage (or Booze or Bottle)” is the most familiar, may have been coined by a cartoonist for the Montgomery (Alabama)...
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Horses, Jokes and Bells - an Unfunny History of "Old Chestnut" Jokes
A Chestnut. We greet it with smiles, as a friend, not a stranger, And laugh loud and long at his old-fashioned fun. Those worm-eaten chestnuts, Those grizzly old chestnuts, Those old...
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Sunday Baseball and the Cleveland Spiders - How the St. Louis Browns Became...
The bird-logo may seem an obvious choice for a team called the Cardinals, but the birds were not added until 1922, more than twenty years after becoming the “Cardinals” at the start of the 1900 season....
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