Why does Charlie Brown pick the ugliest, scrawniest tree in the lot?

What does he imagine this sad tree will give him?

Well, he’s asking for something simple — the true meaning of Christmas.

According to the original two-buck Chuck, Charles Schultz‘s, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965):

[first lines of story]
Charlie Brown: [Charlie Brown and Linus stop at a wall on their trip to the pond for ice skating] I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I’m not happy. I don’t feel the way I’m supposed to feel.
[begins to walk with Linus again]
I just don’t understand Christmas, I guess. I like getting presents and sending Christmas cards and decorating trees and all that, but I’m still not happy. I always end up feeling depressed.

Linus Van Pelt: Charlie Brown, you’re the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem. Maybe Lucy’s right. Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you’re the Charlie Browniest.

What is the true meaning of Christmas?

Well, Linus defines the literal Christmas with his recounting of the Three Kings and Baby in a Manger story of Jesus Christ‘s birth.

But, more to the figurative meaning of Christmas, Linus offers this idea regarding Charlie Brown’s little tree:

Linus Van Pelt: I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It’s not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love.

Can’t buy that at a Christmas sale.

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Brian Epstein was manager of The Beatles from his discovery of the Fab Four in the now-famous Cavern Club in 1961 until his untimely death in 1967.

Many believe The Beatles owe everything to Mister Brian Epstein as the architect of their band’s personality and captain of their traveling show.

Indeed, the result of his death was an ongoing dispute between Paul McCartney and John Lennon as to who should be their new leader, eventually leading to their breakup over this fateful decision.

The tragic overdose on prescription pills was so unexpected, the Beatles decided to take a vacation to India with their spiritual guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, to discover transcendental meditation and potentially communicate with their now-deceased leader.

On this day (August 27, 1967) 32 years ago, Brian Epstein left this world for his next journey, but the legend of his influence and guiding hand upon The Beatles hasn’t disappeared.

Who knows what would have become of the four mop-heads from England if Mister B.E. could have stuck around a little longer?

Check out the tribute video to Mister B. E. here.

                          

Burl Toler was the first black official in professional football, and any professional sport for that matter. His story is one of courage and profound passion for the competition and camaraderie of the game of football. But the real story begins with the college football team and the players he played and competed with.

The University of San Francisco Dons football team was undefeated in 1951, going 9-0. The following is an explanation for the dilemma faced by the team, when they had to decide whether they would go to a bowl game without their two best players — All-American Ollie Matson and Burl Toler, who were both black.

The following is taken from the USF sports information website:

“The announced reason for rejecting USF was its weak schedule, but San Francisco sportscaster Ira Blue reported that he was told by Gator Bowl president Sam Wolfson that the Gator, Sugar, and Orange Bowl committees had all decided to avoid teams with ‘Negro’ players.”

“There was also an insinuation that had the Dons been willing to play without Matson and Toler, they might have been granted a bid. Without hesitation, the players decided they would never play in a bowl game or otherwise without Matson and Toler.”

“The school needed the financial reward a trip to a bowl game would reap, in order for the football program to be sustained. The sport was costing the University nearly $70,000 a year, a deficit the school couldn’t endure any longer.”

“On December 30, 1951, the Reverend William J. Dunne, S.J., then USF’s president, announced that the school would no longer field a football team because of the financial burden. The school’s best football team was to be its last Division I team.”

Pete Rozelle — who would lead the NFL as its commissioner for three decades — was the team’s sports information director, and he proclaimed their accomplishments as his proudest moment in football.

Three players from that team went on to gain NFL Hall of Fame honors, and Burl Toler was elected to the Hall of Fame as an official with more than 25 years of dedication to the game.

In remembrance to Burl Toler, who died August 16, 2009, check out the YouTube video of the Fox Sports special during the Fiesta Bowl about the magical season of the 1951 University of San Francisco Dons, and their willingness to go beyond the game and embrace their “Negro” teammates.

Special people do special things.

                          

They came in droves, by the carload, on foot, on bikes, toting babies and blankets, some without anything but the shorts and shorts they were wearing — some with less.

In the end, nearly 400,000 people showed up to enjoy acts like The Who, Jefferson Airplane, and Jimi Hendrix.

August 15, 16, and 17, 1969 — forty years ago last week.

The New York Times has an interesting article on the recent 40th Anniversary celebration in Bethel Woods, NY.

Music channel VH1 recently showed a “rock-doc” for the 40th Anniversary.

The BBC has an interesting audio slide-show documenting some of the sights and sounds.

The Digital Ink Los Angeles pick for Woodstock nostalgia would be this YouTube copy of Joe Cocker‘s now-famous version of “With a Little Help from My Friends”. Par Excellence.

                          

“I would come home to listen to a football game — there weren’t other sports on — and I would get a pillow and I would crawl under the radio, so that the loudspeaker and the roar of the crowd would wash all over me, and I would just get goose bumps like you can’t believe. And I knew that of all the things in this world that I wanted, I wanted to be that fella saying, whatever, home run, or touchdown. It just really got to me.“

If Vin Scully were an inanimate object, he would probably be a nighttime freight train that has run the same country tracks, at the same times, bringing the same vital cargo to small-town America for each of the last 60 years — the lone whistle comes drifting in, loud and true, a soothing presence in the midst of darkness and uncertainty, allowing the dreamer to rest and relax, as all is well in an uncertain world.

“Hi everybody, and a very pleasant evening to you, wherever you may be. It’s time for Dodgers baseball!” The words spoken from a wise sage of baseball, indeed, of life, who has seized upon the hearts and minds of baseball fans for 60 years. Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Steve Garvey, Maury Wills, Ron Cey, Kirk Gibson, Darryl Strawberry, Orel Hershiser, Manny Ramirez, and the rest of Dodgers immortality.

Born in the Bronx on November 29, 1927, Vin Scully turns 82 years-young this year. For 60 years, he’s showed up to work EVERY DAY, having missed only five scheduled broadcasts in that time. Repeat, in over 60 years of broadcasting Vin Scully has missed only five scheduled broadcasts in that time frame. This includes the untimely, heartbreaking death of his first wife, Joan Crawford, in 1972.

He’s an emblem of all things right about man, and of the nature of kindness, simplicity, and blessed character. He has spoken to race riots, war, famine, presidential assassinations, catastrophes, and everything in between. Somehow, Vin Scully always has something good and proper to say. Somehow, Vin knows just what the listener needs to hear.

Case and point:

In 1974, Hank Aaron was facing death threats as he approached the all-time home-run record. Vin Scully’s words on that fateful evening: What a marvelous moment for baseball. What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol. And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly Hank Aaron.

On June 29, 1990, one of Vin’s favorite Dodgers, Mexican-born Fernando Valenzuela, hurled a no-hitter near the end of his career with the team. Vin’s call of the final out: If you have a sombrero, throw it to the sky!

Vin Scully recently announced he would be retiring after his next season with the Dodgers — in his characteristically self-deprecating manner, he stated, “If they’ll have me back again.”

For his service to the Dodgers, Major League Baseball, and the entire world of sportsmanship and athletic competition, Vin Scully is a hero to me.

“As long as you live keep smiling because it brightens everybody’s day.” O.K., Vin, we’ll try, but it seems so easy for you.

                          

No doubting the fact New Orleans is mired in a real swamp. Nearing the four-year anniversary of Katrina, the city is still rebuilding, and a shrinking economy has made this growth as stagnant as Mississippi River mud at low tide.

Enter stage left, Benjamin Button, otherwise known as Brad Pitt, who makes a lucrative living as a movie star and make-believe sweetheart of a tough guy.

His Make It Right Foundation has managed to build 150 sustainable, hurricane-proof, energy-efficient and Frank-Gehry designed homes in the now infamous 9th Ward.

With the New Orleans mayoral race nearing, Pitt’s got a crew of supporters who like the carnivalesque behavior of mindless politics, with an eye for wresting control of the Crescent City’s maddened political atmosphere and changing the face of NOLA politics as it currently exists.

This sounds great in theory, but what will it look like in practice? In considering an answer to this question, consider that Mayor Ray Nagin, the man-in-charge during Hurricane Katrina, has been worse for the City of New Orleans than anyone could have imagined.

Who could possibly be worse than Ray? Except Katrina.

                          

The abysmal Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball are at it again. With a record of 46-66, they are 20 games below .500.

That’s just 2009, so far. The Pirates are the worst franchise in all of professional sports, with even a close-second Los Angeles Clippers having had winning seasons in 2005-2006.

After the 1992 season, manager Jim Leyland was hoping to rebuild the team with younger, more hungry players. In a flummox to Pirates fans, their team has been unable to come up with a winning season since, accumulating a 16-year losing streak.

This current losing season streak has tied the Philadelphia Phillies, who had losing seasons from 1933–48, the longest in any of the country’s four major professional sports leagues.

Bring back Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, Kent Tekulve, Phil Garner, Bill Madlock, and Omar Moreno. And Three Rivers Stadium.

Thirty Years since the “We Are Fam-i-ly” cheers, and the funny box hats.

Miss some Big Willie. And Three Rivers, of course.