# It was 30 years ago today. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399 "2010-12-08T13:44:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/41 "2010-12-09T14:39:51Z")
Here’s the text of what was spoken on-air that night: Gifford: “And I don’t care what’s on the line, Howard, you have got to say what we know in the booth.” Cosell: “Yes, we have to say it. Remember this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous, perhaps, of all of The Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that news flash, which in duty bound, we have to take.” ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/42 "2010-12-09T15:46:03Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > Here’s the text of what was spoken on-air that night: > > Gifford: “And I don’t care what’s on the line, Howard, you have got to say what we know in the booth.” > > Cosell: “Yes, we have to say it. Remember this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous, perhaps, of all of The Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that news flash, which in duty bound, we have to take.” Well, I made it all the way to this post before tearing up. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/43 "2010-12-09T16:06:18Z")
And [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gcdz1IRVoM)’s a YouTube clip of Howard Cosell making that announcement in his unique diction. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/44 "2010-12-09T16:13:22Z")
> [@BaneSidhe](#): > > And I hope that whenever Chapman goes to his final reward it’s in a very special hell. I’ve heard that it plays elevator music 24/7, the all-Beatles channel. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/45 "2010-12-09T16:31:36Z")
It should probably be noted that yesterday was also the 6th anniversary of the onstage murder of Dimebag Darrell Abbot (by another nutso fan who also killed 3 others). I don’t think it’s ever been really determined what the shooter’s motive was (though he was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic), so it’s hard to know whether he was aware of the Lennon anniversary. It could have been intentional or it could have just been a bizarre coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/46 "2010-12-09T17:10:04Z")
There was a TV movie called [John and Yoko: A Love Story](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089380/) in the 1980s. They cast an actor named Brett Lomax as John and by all accounts he was great, but he was fired shortly after shooting started and recast the role because producers learned his birth name was [Mark Lindsey Chapman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Lindsay_Chapman). I understand their reasoning I suppose, but terrible break for the actor (who has since resumed use of his real name). The movie’s not terrible but because it was sanctioned by Yoko there’s a lot of whitewashing. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/47 "2010-12-09T22:46:49Z")
[Reagan’s comments on Lennon’s murder.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9feI2R12wY&feature=related) Funny to hear what he says about gun control, having no idea what was going to happen to **him** just a few weeks later. ETA: And see, he really did have it together before he was shot. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/48 "2010-12-09T22:49:32Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I’ve heard that it plays elevator music 24/7, the all-Beatles channel. :eek: While Yoko shoves a pineapple up his ass. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/49 "2010-12-09T23:54:53Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > [Reagan’s comments on Lennon’s murder.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9feI2R12wY&feature=related) Funny to hear what he says about gun control, having no idea what was going to happen to **him** just a few weeks later. ETA: And see, he really did have it together before he was shot. I can’t watch the video – can someone summarize it for me, or tell me what he said? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/50 "2010-12-10T00:04:30Z")
John Lennon’s death is the first news story I ever understood. Of course, I wasn’t quite four yet, so my understanding was that a singer that Mommy and Daddy liked a lot had been killed by a confused man who **really** like his songs. Somehow I’d gotten the idea that he’d been stabbed instead of shot, and I didn’t realize the mistake until I was in middle school. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399.md?page=2)