Well, this was one fucked-up week...

[PCIntern]

I'm only 67 years old, so I only know about Pearl Harbor, the Depression, FDR's rise, WWII and Korean Wars from family and documentaries as well as commercial film and TeeVee. America before that fades into black and white films which are mostly silent, and the Daguerrotypes and accounts written in the prose-style of the day all the way back to the Revolutionary War and before that, the Colonists. I lived through moments of history: The Cuban Missile Crisis, the JFK assassination, followed by those of RFK and MLK, the drama of Watergate, then of Iran-Contra, followed by the Recount of 2000, 9/11 of course, (I failed to mention the 1980 World Series Victory of the Philadelphia Phillies and the recent Eagles' Super Bowl win )

Most of these were signal events in American History which will be reference points for hundreds if not a thousand years or more. Each changed the way we thought about Government, our fellow Americans, and our place in the world. The one thing common to each of these events is simply that at no moment did the common man have even an inkling that the Government was not up to the task of dealing with the events at hand. The assumption was, generally rightfully, that there was an infrastructure in place that would gear up, utilize the brain power of our populace, and prevail during a given time. For better or worse, the people in charge had a certain level of intellectual competence bolstered by a system which had evolved and matured in such a fashion that it was adaptable to any situation which might present itself.

This assumption is no longer valid if it even exists at all. We have become a society of shirkers and hangers-on to an individual who is not only inherently evil and narcissistic beyond most people's comprehension, but incredibly stupid and deranged on almost every axis. This execution of the "plan" to deal with this crisis is so incredibly botched that if Mel Brooks had written it as a comedy, it would have been vetoed as too outrageous. I am, as I have written in other threads, cautiously very pessimistic. I have been a clinician for 41 years now and this is my fourth major epidemic scare. For the first time, I am afraid for the country - I have no real concern for myself: what happens happens, I'm in the direct line of fire of this disease and am in three risk-categories, but I will continue to do my job as I am able. But I fear for many: what is not being discussed all that much is that the comorbidity and mortality of this epidemic will be enhanced by the moderate to severe underlying conditions which many of us possess but are generally controlled by medication. Hypertension, metabolic issues, cancer, diabetes, and many other entities will place an individual at greater risk thatn he or she might appear to be.


I awaken every morning with anxiety and hope and pray that things resolve with a minimum of disruption and death.

[jpak]

1. Fick the Eagles

[SallyHemmings]

16. The Eagles Super Bowl win

Was a big fickin deal

[BigmanPigman]

2. I like how you threw the Phila teams in there.

[DonaldsRump]

3. The only thing nearly as great as the 1980 US hockey gold medal

Was the Phillies in 1980..."ya gotta' believe"!

[Victor_c3]

5. I'm very partial to the US hockey victory of 1980

My parents own and operate a restaurant near Lake Placid, NY and have been in business since 1979. According to my grandfather who was tending bar the Thursday evening before the game, the Russian team came and got drunk at my parent’s restaurant. I was born the next day, Friday, 22 February 1980 - the day the Americans beat the Russians and got gold.

Incidentally, being born on 2/22/1980, I turned 22 on 2/22/2002. Just weird number shit...

[DonaldsRump]

6. That is super-cool!

One slight point: the US didn't win the gold until Sunday, when they beat Finland. Had they lost that game, they wouldn't have won the gold.

I read somewhere that the 1980 team (or parts of it) and Coach Brooks' family showed up to a MAGA rally. If so, that deeply saddens me, as they were perhaps the greatest American sports story ever.

[Victor_c3]

20. Ah, who cares about beating Finland

I like my version of history better, that they got gold after beating the Russians.

I call it “alternative facts”

Thanks for the correction though.

[DonaldsRump]

23. Did the Russian team come in to drink on Friday night after "The" Game?

I seem to recall that, while the US players were rightfully going nuts, they were smiling at the sheer exuberance of the US team. One of the great moments when I was a kid.

After that, I vowed to go to the Winter Olympics as soon as I became an adult and had some cash. Have been lucky enough to go 2 of them, but had I been more than a kid back in 1980, Lake Placid would have been the place for me!

Living in the Bay Area, we are a few hours away by car from Squaw Valley, CA, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. This was where Coach Brooks got cut at the last minute from the US team, which went on to win the gold. What I loved about Herb Brooks was that he let the boys in 1980 take all the glory, but he was, from everything I've read and seen, the one that made them into a real team. He also didn't want them to feel the pain he did in being so close to a gold and then seeing in disappear. Great fellow he was...

You and your family must have had some incredible experiences.

[Victor_c3]

25. To be honest, I'm not sure if the Russians visited us again

I believe they closed the restaurant on Friday as I was busy being born. My parents have the note they wrote and put on the door of the place in an album that they keep.

Aside from the 1980 Olympics, not a lot of interest has ever happened up there. We did have a serial killer come through the town and rob the bank my girlfriend’s dad was president of, if you want to count that as noteworthy...

https://www.pressrepublican.com/news/local_news/fbi-serial-killer-robbed-tupper-bank-in/article_72fc55c4-1adb-58bd-8c4c-86c707db07cb.html

[paleotn]

18. Absolutely beautiful place, Lake Placid.

Good name for it.

[Victor_c3]

19. That it is

If you can deal with the cold and the snow, it’s a great region to retire in. Property and homes are very cheap and taxes are very reasonable, at least compared to the NYC area.

Decent jobs are far and few between, but if you can work remotely or are retired it’s the place to be.

In any place except Lake Placid itself, you can buy a nice 4 bedroom waterfront home for around $300,000. I plan on permanently moving back to the region in about 8-10 years, when my kids graduate high school.

[paleotn]

22. Yep, great place to retire.

The snow can be a killer, but some of us crazy people enjoy the winter. I'm a relatively close neighbor in the lower Champlain valley. It's 50 miles as the crow flies to Lake Placid, but takes us nearly 2 hours to get there.

[Aquaria]

31. I dunno

The SF Giants winning in 54 was epic (Giants win the pennant!), as was their win in 2010. And that Ishikawa walk-off home run to win the 2014 NLCS was dang special in its own right.

However...

If you want to talk about crazy time championships, I don't think anything tops San Antonio when the Spurs won the NBA title in 1999. We moved here when that was going on. I had lived in or been in other championship towns during their runs (LA, SF, Dallas), and I'd never seen anything like what happened here. The weekend we signed the lease on our apartment was during the NBA playoffs. In fact, that very day was when the Memorial Day Miracle happened, which is when Sean Elliott did this:

(Go to 1:30 for The Shot.)

We were driving back to the Valley with the game on the radio at that moment. People were swerving all over the road, and then getting out to dance and hug each other or even perfect strangers.

When we were living there at last, there were random impromptu pep rallies at the grocery store, the mall, restaurants, bars, the Riverwalk, outside players' homes--the displays of team spirit were nuts. Every building had Spurs colors flying, buildings lit up with the team colors or the "Go Spurs Go" motto, every marquee was cheering on the Spurs. And then there were the individual fans, black jerseys everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. Still can't get over the Honda Civic that sported a gigantic stuffed gorilla on its roof...wearing a Spurs jersey (Robinson's #50, specifically). That gorilla was bigger than the car--and bigger than the guy driving it, too.

Never seen anything like 1999 here. Don't think I ever will again.

[DonaldsRump]

32. USA Hockey in '80 v. Spurs in '99?

YMMV, but there's kinda' no comparison. I don't even remember the Spurs.

Interesting you would make this comparison.

[monmouth4]

4. Beautifully written, thanks PC...n/t

[DonaldsRump]

7. Agreed

I got side-tracked talking about sports, and forgot to compliment you on your eloquence.

[FM123]

8. Well said.

[Danascot]

9. Colbert said

"What I wouldn't give for a dull moment."

[infullview]

10. I'm about the same age, and I too fear for this country.

I've never seen it this bad. My biggest worry at this point: if things do get really bad, the orange goon may decide to impose martial law and call off elections effectively making himself a dictator.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. He can't call off the election. Elections are controlled by the individual states.

This has been discussed at length for days now. I repeat: Trump cannot call off or change the date of the election.

[ConstanceCee]

11. Only

I love how you said you are "only 65 years old."

[Boomer]

12. I've got a target on my back

I'm 65 years old with compromised lung function and heart disease. My wife is 68 years old with MS and diabetes. At first glance we don't look all that old or all that sick; thanks to drugs and a quiet lifestyle, we get through each day pretty well, but we're always walking on thin ice where our health is concerned. Coronavirus would rip right through us.

Monday is my first day working from home, and we've topped up our emergency pantry so we can begin "social distancing". But we're both aware that this isn't a new lifestyle that we can keep up indefinitely. So sometime in the near future we'll have to break isolation long enough for some serious estate planning, because the odds are much higher now that both of us could go around the same time.

We're also at the age where most of our family and friends are in their 60s and older, so we're also braced for the effect of COVID-19 on our cohort. We have several older (70+) Trump-fan in-laws who still think this is all a hoax and overblown, so if they go unfortunately they'll take even more family with them.

Our hope is that we can wait out the worst of the storm and postpone getting ill until the healthcare system is not under tremendous strain.

[gordianot]

13. To me Trump's show yesterday marked a huge turning point.

He gave up and from this point his only function will be that of a critic. Not only does he not take any responsibility for this mess by promoting private sector solutions he is setting them up for blame. Any bad news will get a specific scapegoat. In his abdication of responsibility the coming days are foreshadowed by blaming Democrats for not doing enough. Whatever he touches dies and anyone in physical presence of him is at risk of contracting the virus. You just simply cannot bully a contagion.

[Magoo48]

14. May Peace and Good Health find us All.

[mgardener]

15. I am 65

I remember adults that had mild cases of polio.
Have had measles, mumps chicken pox and German measles. NOT fun.
I was a school nurse and know how fast things can spread

What we have witness is a total failure of our government.
As soon as I heard about what was going on in China I knew this would be a pandemic and was shocked at how slow Trump was to address this. I checked, 350,00 Chinese students attend American universities. Most of these students had come back from winter break before Trump even closed our border.
I am NOT blaming the Chinese for this epidemic and refuse to call it the Wuhun flu. It is a flu. That needs to be felt with.
This was a MAJOR failure.
Our president was WRONG at every stage off this pandemic
He blamed and called this a hoax by Democrats. He said we only had 15 cases and it would be gone 2 weeks ago.

Trump is devious, malicious, incompetent and dangerous. He refuses to listen to experts. He is a narcissist and his ability to take action is hampered by his inability to care about others.
He did not want this flu to impact his re election. It is apparent that he does not give a damn about American people. He cares about himself and money. That what motivates Trump.
WE WILL REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER.
Vote like your life depends on it.
Because it has been proven right now that it does.

[c-rational]

17. i am only a couple of years behind you but share your view of history. I also beleive we have

become a society which is controlled by the few with little thought to our future or the welfare of all. Our reThuglican minority has gammed the system and does whatever it takes to go home wih the most chips. This event is certainly a wake-up call for most. I hope we can take baack control of our government in the fall and set our ship on a sustainable course.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

21. A week highlighted by one bizarre hour!

Trump’s confusing speech. Tom Hanks. The NBA: How coronavirus gave us 2020’s wildest hour yet.

Onstage in a furry cotton candy-colored bear suit, former vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin high-kicked and fist-pumped as she rapped: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.”

The surreal scene capped off an episode of “The Masked Singer,” where celebrities dress in disguise and perform musical numbers. As the last notes of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” faded just before 9 p.m. Wednesday, Fox cut away from Palin to a breaking-news bulletin introducing President Trump’s Oval Office coronavirus address.

Welcome to the wildest news hour of the year — so far. By the time the clock struck 10 p.m. on the East Coast, the world would learn that Trump had restricted most travel from Europe for 30 days, actor Tom Hanks had been diagnosed with covid-19 and the NBA had suspended its season indefinitely.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/12/coronavirus-basketball-tom-hanks-trump/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=

[Initech]

24. Calling this "the week from hell" is an understatement if there ever was one!

I can't imagine hell is much worse than this.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

27. You left out a signal event: Rotten Ronnie's recession

Remember Farm Aid concerts? S&L scandals, foreclosures, homeless explosion, etc.

[BumRushDaShow]

28. You forgot

Lord Stanley in '74/'75 (and almost had a three-peat)!!



(Bernie Parent FTW! )

And the dream team of '83!

[Drahthaardogs]

29. I am not a clinician, but an environmental toxicologist

And i have been involved in emergency responses over the years. I also am no epidemiologist, but I understand the outputs well since I use that data to guide my own responses.

I have been exposed to bad things, been in Level A and B hazmat gear, and even played in sulfur dioxide and radioactive waste sites.

I have never been scared before dealing with these hazards, but I am now.

[crickets]

30. K&R for the post and the discussion.