Better Know a Beard

http://www.daveJennings.net and dvj4.blogspot.com

Better know a few…..

Hello Folks,

My post yesterday about facial hair reminds me of a few people who I hold in regard. In this special “Better know a_______” I give you some of my favorite facial haired people of all time.

Better Know a Former Milwaukee Brewer
Rollie Fingers

Regarded as one of the best relief pitchers in Major League Baseball, he was also one of the first to be groomed for that position from his minor league days. Rollie is known for his mustache, a genuine Handlebar, roughly 100 years out of style. Rollie has had the beard since he played for the Athletics. In a true moment of steadfast, he grew the mustache to get a bonus, as did many of his teammates as a publicity stunt. He was the only one not to shave it off when traded, and it became his trademark. Now, over 30 years later no one can imagine a clean faced Rollie.

Highlights from his career: (This is right from Wikipedia!)
Fingers won both the American League MVP and Cy Young Award in 1981 while with Milwaukee. In 1974 he was given the World Series MVP Award while with Oakland, earning two saves and one win. Fingers won the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award in 1977, 1978, and 1980 with the Padres and in 1981 with the Brewers. He saved 29 games for the 1982 Brewers, but he pitched most of the season in pain and was forced to miss the Brewers' first trip to the World Series — where they were beaten in seven games by the Cardinals — and any prospect of a showdown or two with Bruce Sutter, who proved vital to the Cardinals' winning effort.

In 1992 he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, joining Wilhelm to become only the second reliever inducted (Eckersley, Sutter, and Gossage have since followed). In 1999, he ranked Number 96 on The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Fingers later pitched a season in the short-lived Senior Professional Baseball League.

Better Know A President
Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford B Hayes is an interesting one. He grew his beard when serving in the Civil War. Hayes formed a military company with some of his literary club friends from Cincinnati. He became a major in the army, and rose up the ranks to a brevetted major general by the end of the war. Under his command was another future president, William McKinley.

The 1876 election was as controversial as any other election in modern history. Hayes was a quiet guy, nice enough, and he lost the popular vote, but won the electoral vote by one vote after a special congressional commission awarded him the presidency. He was sworn in in secrecy one day before the public inauguration for fear of something bad happening.

Better Know a Weather Man….
Jimmy “Dutch” Gaines
http://www.secretsofthecity.com/magazine/blogs/dude-weather

I have no idea why Jimmy has those sideburns. He has had them for most of the time I have known him over the past 5 years. They are a part of this Weather Man (I divide it into two words because he is just that, a Man who does the weather…. Or as he also claims, a Dude who does the weather.

Jimmy is a true New Yorker, even though his stint in NYC was short, he has some great stories about his time there, and moreover he headed back to the Midwest where his NYC feel gives him an edge the Minnesota Nice is fearful of.

Please check out his video blog whether you weather in the Twin Cities, Chicago, Milwaukee, LA, SFO or NYC.
http://www.secretsofthecity.com/magazine/blogs/dude-weather

The Mafia, Baby Showers, and Teddy Roosevelt

Hello Folks,

Here I am figuring out this blogosphere world, and I ask you all to bear with me. I am starting to learn what the people want.

What I am really trying to do is have a combination of things in my life--- interesting happenings to me, followed by some larger topic that everyone can talk about and argue about, and then a little piece at the end of each entry where I take a moment to profile someone I think you should know a little information. Sometimes this will be a moment called “Better Know a Brewer,” “Better Know a Politician,” “Better Know an Improviser,” “Better Know a Hero,” and other aspects from the “Better Know a ____________.” I think it will be a good way to get stuff going around here.


INTERESTING THINGS I’VE BEEN UP TO: BABY SHOWERS AND THE MAFIA
(Some credit for this needs to go to John Haynes and others who have came to the same conclusion)

The Brave New Workshop Comedy Theatre is like the Mob. Here’s why:
· We have an internal structure.
· We’ve been around for 50 years.
· Everyone knows who we are We have connections all over the country.
· We bring people into the “family” that is the BNW.
· We’ve got our fingers in a lot of business.
· We work so closely together, and we must inherently trust one another—we share life experiences together.
· Weddings, baby showers, funerals—they are all shared.

When I started at the BNW six years ago people brought their dogs to work, now they bring their kids to work with them. In one room we will have kids watching the “Backyard-i-gans” on a lap top and playing with plush toys, and in the next room there will be actors working on a sketch with a couple trying to fuck each other in a voting booth but it goes all wrong when they realize they have differing political views on abortion (that’s not really a sketch—but I think it’s a good idea for one). There is nothing stranger than those two extremes in dynamics.

We had a baby shower for the Bozics who are awaiting the arrival of a little girl. Some of the women of the “Brave New Workshop Family” put together an amazing baby shower (kudos to Beth and Lauren for that!) It was like a scene from a mob movie set in the 1950’s where the whole family is enjoying a picnic on the estate. This is what makes the BNW so cool. We get along together, work and play cross, and we become parts of each other’s lives. ---Also, you can never leave the BNW. Once you are in, you can never leave- alive. That’s why I am moving 400 miles away. They are shipping me South. If I stop blogging, it probably means I am dead. The Don had me whacked.

BREWERS UPDATE

So I was right, the Brewers pulled it out last night with a win against the last team in the division. And then they lost today against the same team. I was watching the game on my computer during the baby shower. I could not believe it. The score was 11 to 6 at the end. The Cubs won today, so the brewers are again one game behind the Cubs and now they are heading into a series with the Cubs, this looks rough. I can’t talk about this anymore.
I will most likely be watching this entire series. (4 games) I do not want to talk about it. So scared of jinxing this.

I am working on a little diatribe on Minnesota VS Wisconsin and the feelings between residents of each great state.

BETTER KNOW A PRESIDENT

The current Brave New Workshop show has a great sketch about my favorite president of all time, Teddy “Motha-Fuckin’” Roosevelt (That’s how he’s referred to in the show). I have long loved Teddy Roosevelt. He is a hero to me. Paintings depict an amazing smile and a character prescience that transcends the ink and years since his death to stir a pride in America and the office of president that no president in recent history does for me. Below are some important facts about our 26th President of these United States. (Most of these facts actually come from a book! “Theodore Roosevelt—A Life” by Nathan Miller)

· Roosevelt’s father never laughed at his children when they asked questions as children often ask… he would instead answer then and treat his kids like adults.
· He was a sickly child who overcame asthma after his father’s encouragement to exercise, learn boxing, and travel with his family to Europe and the Middle East.
· He attended Harvard and is a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity (as is the author of this blog)
· His first wife and his mother both died on the same day in the same house
· TR was an author of several historical books
· TR delivered his famous line, “Speak softly…” at the Minnesota State Fair in 1901
· TR became president after serving as vice president for McKinley
· He declined to run for a second term since he considered McKinley’s term to have been his first one, then he pretty much handpicked Taft as his replacement, and was so furious at how Taft ran the country that he ran against him for the Republican nomination in 1912, lost, and founded his own third party.
· He was the most successful third party candidate of all time when he ran as the Bull Moose Candidate

Here's a preview of the future, THE BOARDER BATTLE—MINNESOTA vs WISCONSIN

That is all.