Anybody else thinking of John Lennon tonight?

Not born by a mere eight months, though I know my mother was more upset over Elvis Presley's alleged passing. The Beatles are overrated anyway.

 

In my dorm with friends watching the game. A girl I had gone to high school with and was close to lived in the same dorm two stories up. She was a huge Beatles fan (she got mad at me for ripping on McCartney for his pot bust in Japan -- I said they should lock him up). I knew she'd be a mess and I went up to her room. She cried on my shoulder quite a bit.

Fast forward 21 years, and I hadn't talked to her in many years. But when George Harrison died I called her up at her work to offer my sympathies and we had a good visit.

 

12 years old, and I wasn't watching MNF for some reason. Probably because my Dad was bowling or something that night or else he would have had it one. My mom, sister and I were watching "MASH" when Connie Chung, then the anchor for CBS' LA affiliate, interrupted the program with the news.

I was able to see the clip of the MNF dialogue during the game, and was surprised to see that Gifford had to practically talk Cosell into reporting the death. Was greatly impressed with the Giff's journalistic instincts.

 

So, you were even a jerk back then?

 

If being a jag floats your boat, have at it.

 

Are you disputing that he's dead?

 

I was in kindergarten, but I remember hearing about it the next morning on the radio. Come to think of it, my father was pretty honest with me in regards to what happened, given my age. I remember him being taken aback, but I can't say that he was emotional.

 

i was 23, covering h.s. sports at the ny daily snooze. was watching the mnf game when howie told the world... there was no getting to sleep that night. wnew-fm was THE greatest, album-oriented rock station in the country, i'd venture to say. the great jonathan schwartz (a non-paralleled storyteller) may have been on when the news broke, i don't really recall, but by 2 a.m. it seemed he h.s. alf the station's voices had migrated to the studio.

they helped me keep it together until it was time for me to drive to the snooze's queens office, the h.s. sports headquarters (all 3 of us). about 25 reporters/editors worked out of this small office. anyhoo, several of us had radios tune into wnew-fm all day. naturally, all conversations were about lennon/the beatles.

at one point, a cranky, 'old' senior reporter -- who was probably about 60 and probably had a couple of 'long-haired, draft-dodging sons' he no longer talked to -- stormed up to the radio closest to his desk, slammed it off and shouted, 'jesus christ!! can i get any work done today or are you all going to sit around and mourn for this long-haired, anti-american, communist a--hole?!'

thank goodness our desks were all the way down at the end of the office. at least four folks beat me to getting in his face; finally, the queens editor ordered the old fart to go home.

john lennon represented so many of the ideals young america clung to from vietnam through watergate and beyond. some from my parent's generation also appreciated his music (hey, my folks were nearly as excited as i was whenever 'the beatle's' were on
'the sullivan show') and acknowledged his heart was in the right place; others, like this dinosaur, would never get it.

shockey's parents, i'm proud to report, also shed tears as we watched all the tv coverage on tuesday night...

 

Thanks for the link.

And here's a related video ... Cosell interviewing John in a happier context:

 

I was studying in my dorm room with the game on TV. I remember it vividly. It was my first semester in college.

Strangely, I later transferred to a university closer to home and started dating a girl who had lived with her mom and sister in an apartment in Decatur, Ga., when she was young. Their upstairs neighbor?

Mark David Chapman.

I still remember the chills that came over me the first time she told me that.

 

wowza.

did you ask why she didn't stop him?

 

Wore black sweat bands to our basketball game the next night and scored the only four points of my career. And the Beatles are hardly overrated. Best. Band. Ever.