What On Earth?-Column #44, January 2006

Well, here we are in 2006. 2005 was a year I certainly will remember for quite sometime.

Let's start with the New Year's festivities. We've got the College Football festivities from the parades to the games (Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, and Rose of the majors and Gator, Citrus, Ft. Worth, and Music City, etc. of the minors). Although the Cotton and Fiesta Bowls also do parades, the Grand-daddy of them all is, of course, the Tournament of Roses Parade. And speaking of the Rose Bowl, it was one year ago that the University of Texas Longhorns beat the University of Michigan Wolverines, 38-37 in the final seconds of the game. Texas was trailing by 2 points in the final seconds and a field goal sealed the deal for them. Let's hope they do it again! And let's also not forget about the Super and Pro Bowls in the NFL. Lots of people will pipe down on pizza and chicken wings and gulp down some soda and beer. As always, if you football fans have been partying too hard, hand over the keys! This year, the Super Bowl will be celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. You'll learn more about it in the next column.

This month also marks the anniversaries of 4 moments in US History. Obviously, with the possibility of another conservative judge on the Supreme Court, it's a good idea to start off with the 33rd anniversary of Roe V. Wade, the landmark 70's case that legalized abortion. The case originated in Texas in March 1970 at the behest of Sarah Weddington, a young Austin attorney who would play the leading role in pursuing the case. Weddington brought a lawsuit on behalf of Norma McCorvey, an unmarried pregnant woman of Texas, to overturn the state of Texas' anti-abortion law. The name "Jane Roe", a standard alias for anonymous plaintiffs, was used to protect Norma McCorvey's identity. After filing the initial lawsuit, the case was expanded to include several other parties, including: James Hubert Hallford, a licensed physician who had been arrested for violations of the Texas abortion statutes; "John and Mary Doe," aliases for a married couple whose doctor had advised against pregnancy; "all couples similarly situated" to the Does; and "all other women" similarly situated to Roe. At the time of the case, McCorvey claimed that she had become pregnant by rape. She has since recanted that claim and rescinded her support for the Supreme Court decision she prompted. The law in question made having or attempting to perform an abortion a crime, except by "medical advice for the purpose of saving the life of the mother." The suit claimed that the laws were unconstitutionally vague and abridged the rights guaranteed to pregnant women by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Dallas County district attorney Henry Wade was the defendant in the case. A three-judge district court ruled for "Jane Roe", but refused to grant injunctive relief against the enforcement of the laws. Thus, the anti-abortion law was overturned, and history was made. Roe V. Wade legalized abortion, and has put smiles on the faces of pro-choice advocates like myself.

Another moment, and a somber one at best, is the 20th anniversary of the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The event itself occured on January 28, 1986. It was a rainy day, but that didn't stop NASA from giving the go-ahead for the shuttle launch. That launch, unfortunately, would only last 73 seconds after take-off. Killed in the explosion was the 7-member crew of Dick Scobee (commander), Michael W. Smith (pilot), Elison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe; and McAuliffe would've become the first schoolteacher in space. Unfortunately, her life and the lives of her comrades were cut short, when the right-sided rocket booster began puffing out O-ring smoke. That same booster then knocked a whole in the shuttle's external fuel tank, which was filled with over 300,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen. That in turn, caused a small flame to leak out from the booster, and that same leak combined with the flaming tank, caused the explosion. At the memorial commemorating the lives of the 7 astronauts, President Reagan reminded us that "Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue." And even after a 2-year hiatus of the shuttle program following the tragedy, his words rang true to form. And they still ring true today. Next month will mark 3 years of the loss of another shuttle and crew. You'll read more in the next column, and you'll trust me, Reagan was right with those words. The shuttle program hasn't ended, and the journeys to outer space will continue; no matter what the mode of transportation, and no matter what the mission is.

This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the murder of 9-year old Amber Hagerman, the Arlington girl who, while going on a bike ride, was abducted and murdered just miles from her home. That led to the creation of the Ambert Alert system, which warns us of abducted children, and gives us a description of the abductor and their vehicle. While Amber's killer has yet to be found, the Amber Alert is just the beginning.

And this also marks 20 years since Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday was instituted as a legal holiday. This had been a big debate in the first years of Reagan's presidency, and in 1983, with the urging of King's widow Corretta Scott King, Reagan signed a bill legalizing the institution of King's birthday, and it was to be celebrated the third Monday in January. His actual birthday was January 15, 1929.

Now that I've gone through the anniversaries and the significance of this first month of the year, It's time to take a look back at 2005, the significance of this column dedicated to THE YEAR IN REVIEW, and I'll be only specific with the big events, with only 4 categories.

First of the categories is NEWS. And the top headline of the year, aside from the 4th anniversary of 9-11, were the major hurricanes of Wilma, Rita, and Katrina. They respectively hit Florida, Louisiana, and Southeast Texas; leaving many homeless and many having to clean up. The clean-up is continuing and progressing somewhat slowly, but some of those evacuees have blamed the slow progress of the cleanups on FEMA and its now ex-director Michael Brown. Even more have been frustrated enough to put some of the heat on President Bush and the government for their slow responses, too. Bush, who successfully got elected to a 2nd term in 2004 and was re-inaugurated in 2005, has said that the government is doing everything they can to help. We continue the News category with some grim anniversaries and some happy ones, too. We celebrated the 10th anniversary of the OKC Bombing by remembering those who lost their lives that horrific day, and such was also the case for 9-11, and the 12th anniversary of the '93 WTC attack. For the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots won their 3rd title in 4 years, like the Cowboys did in the 90's. The halftime show went off without a hitch, and no Wardrobe Malfunction. The Iraqis elected a new government, but even with the progress THERE, we are getting close to nowhere with the violence. In Afghanistan, it's another story. We're routing out the fighters, but 4 years after 9-11 we still have NOT found Osama Bin Laden. But we're getting there. Martha Stewart finally got out of jail, and did an unsuccessful one-season version of her version of The Apprentice, which crowned Dawna Stone as her winner. After a year of waiting, Michael Jackson finally was cleared of all child molestation charges. We also lost a few familiar faces last year, from comedian Johnny Carson to Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. And speaking of the Supreme Court, we watched John Roberts take Rehnquist's place as his successor. With another vacancy coming, it should come as no surprise if Bush nominates another conservative. Last year also saw a tragic end when it came to Politics, as we witnessed the passing of Terri Schiavo, the mentally brain-damaged woman from Florida, who was at the center of a "right-to-die" case. Before she died, Republicans passed emergency legislation to keep her alive, even though her feeding tube had been removed 2 weeks prior to her death. Her husband, Michael, said she wouldn't want to live in this condition. Her parents, Mary and Bob Schindler, even appealed to the Supreme Court to keep their daughter alive. But ultimately, the courts sided with Michael, and she died peacefully at the end of March. That led to then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to declare, "The time will come for the men responsible to answer for their behavior." That comment led to a big outrage from Democrats like myself, and a few moderate Republicans, too. Michael, a Republican himself, decided to set up a PAC in his wife's honor, called TerriPAC. As you well know, this is your chance to help defeat politicians who decided to put their legal matters into personal decisions like this one. And speaking of DeLay, he had to temporarily step down from his House Majority Leader position to answer for charges of money laundering and corruption charges. The courts dropped the corruption charges, but upheld his money laundering charges, as some of us found out, he used big campaign cash to get his Republican majority, and as we all know, it's against the law to do that. Another notable figure we lost was Pope John Paul II, who was the first Pope to actually NOT come from Italy. Most of our Popes came from Italy, but he was the first Pope to come from Poland. His successor was found in Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger of Germany (the 2nd non-Italian Pope).

But, of all the News headlines in 2005, the biggest one of all came in March. Anna Ayala, who had just dug into a bowl of chili at a Wendy's in the Bay Area, claimed that she'd found an amputated finger in the bowl. After an investigation by the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office and San Jose Police Department, it was determined the finger did not come from a Wendy's employee, or from any employee at the facilities that provided ingredients in the chili. Though early reports suggested that the finger was "fully cooked," the Santa Clara County coroner's office initially concluded that the finger "was not consistent with an object that had been cooked in chili at 170 degrees for three hours." Of course, Ayala had had a habit of filing lawsuits against retailers in the past. So, the police investigated her home to see if there could be any other signs of where the finger came from. Ayala claims the police treated her and her family "like terrorists," acting against her violently, but neighbors downplay the event. When the police found out about her bad habit of fradulous lawsuits, they later arrested her on grand theft and grand larceny charges. The grand theft charge is allegedly in connection with the fraudulent sale of a San Jose mobile home that Ayala did not own between September 2002 and November 2003; in reality it was owned by her live-in boyfriend, according to a statement filed by San Jose police Detective Albert Morales. The attempted grand larceny charge is connected to the Wendy's chili finger case; a penalty enhancement was issued for inflicting more than $2.5 million in losses on Wendy's as a result of plummeting sales. Prosecutors portrayed Ayala as a scam artist with a penchant for filing lawsuits. Tests indicate that the finger had not been cooked in the chili, according to court records. They did not indicate where they thought the finger came from.

However, that all changed. At a press conference held in San Jose, California on April 22, 2005, local Wendy's franchise holder Joseph Desmond urged people to "please come back to Wendy's because we do serve wonderful hamburgers, shakes and everything else." Wendy's announced it would offer free Frosty shakes with any purchase to all Bay Area customers that weekend as a show of goodwill and commitment in the wake of its investigation. On May 10, Wendy's expanded its offer of free Junior-sized Frosties nationwide from May 13 to May 15, with no purchase required. But for Ayala, the troubles just continued. On September 9, 2005, in San Jose, Ayala and her husband, Jaime Plascencia, pleaded guilty to conspiring to file a false claim and attempted grand theft. On May 13, 2005, police announced that they had identified the fingertip as belonging to Brian Paul Rossiter, an associate of Ayala's husband. Rossiter had lost his fingertip in an industrial accident at an asphalt company in December 2004. Police received the information from an undisclosed caller to the Wendy's hotline. With that being said, the case was finally solved.

Next category is FINANCE. The Dow ended the year almost near 11,000. It took some time, but we're getting closer to that mark that we last saw in 1999. But with their struggles, that wouldn't stop from having 2 mergers: Diamond Shamrock and Valero merging together, with Valeros replacing Diamond Shamrocks. SBC and AT&T merged, but kept the AT&T name, and brought in a new logo.

Next category is SPORTS. The big talk was all about BASEBALL, and it's effect with Steroids. Famous players like Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testified before Congress on if they ever took those performance-enhancing drugs. Palmeiro said, "I've never taken steroids. Period. I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never." But after all that, he was suspended for 10 games after the league found drugs in his system after he was tested. But that talk of steroids and such wouldn't keep us from talking about BREAKING THE CURSE. In 2004, it was about the Boston Red Sox, who beat out the St. Louis Cardinals in 4 straight games, and giving the team their first championship since 1918 (breaking an 86-year old "Curse Of The Bambino", referring to the Babe Ruth trade to the Yankees). In 2005, it was about the Chicago White Sox, beating out the Houston Astros in 4 straight games, and giving the team their first championship since 1917. Next sport is BASKETBALL. In 2004, the Detroit Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers in a 4-1 series. But in 2005, the Pistons' chance at back-2-back championships were denied by the San Antonio Spurs, who swept them in 4 straight games. Of course, this era was made possible by the dominance of the Lakers and Spurs. In 1999, the Spurs beat out the New York Knicks in a 4-1 series. In 2000, the Lakers won their first championship in a 4-2 series, beating out the Indiana Pacers. In 2001, the Lakers won their second straight championship by beating out the Philadelphia 76'ers in a 4-1 series. In 2002, they won a 3rd straight championship by sweeping the New Jersey Nets in 4 straight games. In 2003, the Spurs came back and beat the Nets in a 4-2 series. In 2004, the Lakers' chance to redeem themselves after being knocked out last season came too little too late, and, as I mentioned earlier, the Detroit Pistons beat them in a 4-1 series (which I saw while in SF for my sister's graduation from Stanford). In HOCKEY, the NHL had a lockout during the '94-'95 season, but that just shortened the season to just 48 games. Obviously, team owners voted for a salary cap, with the players opposing it. This 104 day lockout stretched from October 1, 1994 to January 11, 1995. Fast-forward 10 years later, and this issue of salary caps would pop up again. This time, The lockout lasted 310 days starting September 16, 2004, the day after the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the NHL and the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) that resolved the 1994-95 lockout expired. The negotiating teams reached an agreement on July 13, 2005, and the lockout officially ended nine days later on July 22, 2005, after both the NHL owners and players ratified the CBA. It was the first time the Stanley Cup was not awarded since 1919, and the first time a major professional sports league in North America cancelled a complete season due to a labor dispute. Kinda reminds us of the MLB Strike of 1994, which resulted in the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years. The strike itself lasted 232 days (August 12, 1994–April 2, 1995).

Next category is ENTERTAINMENT. 2005 was a year of Divorces. The most recent involved native Texan Jessica Simpson and her hubby Nick Lachey. Other notable ones include Charlie Sheen and Heather Locklear, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, and Jennifer Lopez and Cris Judd. J-Lo, however, would go on to marry notable singer Marc Anthony. This all came as she called off her engagement to Ben Affleck. Affleck himself would go on to marry Jennifer Garner of the ABC hit show "Alias." For TV fans, Carrie Underwood is your new American Idol, with Bo Bice as runner-up. "Survivor" crowned 2 more winners in Tom Westman in Palau, and Danni Boatman in Guatemala. Over on The Apprentice, the Donald said to Kendra Todd (Season 3) and Randall Pinkett (Season 4), "YOU'RE HIRED!", and Martha Stewart's version crowned Dawna Stone. That version, unlike the Donald's, only lasted for one season. The Donald's version starts up Season 5 after the Olympics, which you'll hear about in the next column.

Final category is GAME SHOWS. During Christmas week, NBC took on the country with its rendition of "Deal Or No Deal," hosted by Howie Mandel. The concept is pretty simple. In front of you are 26 models with cases, each with varying amounts of money: $0.01; $1; $5; $10; $25; $50; $75; $100; $200; $300; $400; $500, $750; $1,000; $5,000; $10,000; $25,000; $50,000; $75,000; $100,000; $200,000; $300,000; $400,000; $500,000; $750,000; $1,000,000. Nobody, not even the models or Howie, knows what's inside those cases.

Anyway, the chosen player selects one case to be his or her case, and obviously whatever's inside that case is what he or she wins. But that would make things a little too easy, and it would end up being a quick game. So, the contestant starts out the game by removing 6 cases by their numbers. Obviously, whatever amounts are in those cases are not in the contestant's case. After the cases are opened, the Banker makes his first appearance. High above the stage and sealed off from the main studio, he gives an 'offer' to buy back the case from the contestant and stop the game. His goal is to prevent the contestant from winning as much money as possible. If the contestant pushes a red button on their desk, the game ends and the contestant wins the last bank offer. If not, five cases are opened, then another bank offer. Each round has one fewer case opened in each round, until just one case is opened each time. If the lower amounts are removed, the bank amounts will increase, and if upper amounts are removed, the bank offer will decrease. The contestant must decide if the bank offer is enough money to quit the game.

4 years ago, while the primetime version of Weakest Link was still struggling to bring back ratings after 9-11 (and that included doing non-stop celebrity and theme shows), the daytime version debuted. It was hosted by George Gray, a popular comedian who had hosted a few other game shows in the past. Unlike Anne, he takes the putdowns to his roots as a comedian. While you might hear Anne say things like "Who's several fries short of a Happy Meal?" or "Which village is missing its idiot?"; you'll hear George say, "On this Rodeo Drive, who is the 99 cent store?" or "Who's still waiting for some British lady to ask the questions?" There are 6 players, and with a top prize of $75,000; here's what the chain looked like: $250-$500-$1,000-$2,500-$5,000-$12,500. The rules remain the same, with the 5th round being a double round (like Round 7 on the primetime version). The final round is a best-of-3 shootout (unlike the best-of-5 shootout on the primetime version), with Sudden Death being played if there's a tie.

Now, onto the traditional stuff. Family Feud has a brand spanking new set, with no changes to the rules. Millionaire's got a brand new logo, but nothing else has changed. Jeopardy's got 2 additions to the Clue Crew in Jon Cannon and Kelly Miyahara. Plus, the Ultimate Tournament of Champions crowned Brad Rutter as the best Jeopardy! player ever, beating out the show's juggernaut of Ken Jennings. But for those who have some or all of the tournament on tape and/or have a copy or two of a brand new Jeopardy DVD (which I got for Christmas, and the DVD itself came out in November), I won't spoil the outcome, until May (which is when the tournament ended). You'll hear about the tournament format in the next column, though. And its sister show Wheel has made some changes. The prize that traditionally would be found in the second round has moved up to the first round, there are now 3 "Gift Tags", and there will be a commercial break after the first round but not after the bonus round. Other than that, nothing else has changed.

Now, I'll wrap this column up by telling you that the Winter Olympics start up next month in Turin, Italy. It'll be the 4th Winter Games since the IOC decision 20 years ago (1986) to separate the Summer Games and Winter Games and reschedule them on four-year cycles two years apart (1992 was the last time we'd see the Winter and Summer Olympics together, with the Winter Games in Albertville and the Summer Games in Barcelona). 1994 would be the first year of this cycle, with the Games held in Lillehammer. In the figure skating event of those Games, Nancy Kerrigan, who fell victim to the clubs of 2 bodyguards of fellow competitor Tonya Harding, knew that the horrible events that January 6, 1994 didn't stop her from taking home the silver medal (Oksana Baiul of Ukraine got the gold). She also took home a bronze from the Albertville Games. However, for Harding, the troubles just continued, even before AND after the Games. On February 1, 1994, about a week or two before the Games, Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly, who participated in the attack, accepted a plea bargain in exchange for his testimony against Harding. Harding herself avoided further prosecution and a possible jail sentence in that scandal by pleading guilty on March 16 to hindering the investigation into the attack. She received three years probation, 500 hours community service and a $160,000 fine. She maintains her innocence in the planning of the attack itself, contradicting the confessions of the alleged conspirators.

But even after her sentencing, it didn't end there. After conducting its own investigation of the attack, the U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped Harding of her 1994 US Championship title and banned her for life from participating in any of its sanctioned events, or from becoming a sanctioned coach, because it concluded that she had indeed known about the attack before it happened.

Anyway, the US redeemed itself with the next 2 games. In the 1998 Nagano Games, Texan Tara Lipinski took home the gold; and in the 2002 Salt Lake Games, the gold went to Sarah Hughes of New York. Michelle Kwan, who competed in both those Games, took home the silver from Nagano and the bronze from Salt Lake City. This year, she tries to go for Olympic gold! Good luck!

Until next column, this is John Lee wishing our US Olympic athletes good luck next month in Italy! Win some Gold! Now, "Go HOME!"